Circumspecte

On April 15, 2014 an estimated 200+ girls at the Chibok Government School in Borno state of Northern Nigeria were abducted by armed militiamen suspected of being members of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram. The girls had just returned to school to take their final physics exam following school closures across the region after targeted attacks by Boko Haram. Almost 20 days after the incident, over 200 16- to 18-year old girls are still missing, with about 50 escaping and returning to tell their harrowing tale. Accounts from nearby village inhabitants, who witnessed a mass wedding taking place indicate that the girls may likely have been "married off" to the militiamen, have left parents and relatives at wits end. There are also fears that the girls  may have been trafficked into neighboring Chad and/or Cameroun. Their parents received this information when they ventured into the wilderness with bows and arrows in search of their daughters. Two weeks after their dau...

Kenya. Who would have thought that one of Africa's brightest would be in the news for other than economic prowess and technological advancements? And yet it happened. On Saturday, September 21, members of the Somali extremist Islamist movement Al-Shabab attacked Nairobi's popular WestGate mall , killing an estimated 62 people and injuring up to 150 others. The victims and injured comprised of both Kenyans and non-Kenyans, with some as young as 2 years. One of Ghana's own - renowned poet and former statesman Kofi Awoonor - was caught in the crossfire as well. The fact that this happened is heartbreaking and still unthinkable; no amount of empathy could make it possible to understand the why behind such an unacceptable act.  That said, anyone who limits this unfortunate incident to an act in the name of religion is sorely missing the point in this recent attack as well as past terrorist acts by known Islamist groups like Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Qaeda. Africa...

It's funny to think that after all this time I NOW get why Muslims are encouraged to learn Allah's 99 names .  We have a guest in our home, and according to Dagomba tradition, her name for the first week of her life here on earth is "Saanpaga", which means "Lady guest". The male equivalent, "Saandoo" also means, take a wild guess, "Man Guest". Total ingenuity, I know. Anyway, today Saanpaga will finally get her own name according to Islamic tradition. And during the last 10- and what is deemed the holiest- days of Ramadan too! MashAllah. In addition, as per family tradition, she will get a Dagbani middle name. Yes, her Islamic name will most likely have "tu" affixed to the end as most Islamic female names do.  No, it's not a fad, but rather a grammatical rule, as "tu" serves as a female indicator. Kind of like the French 'e'. My full name for instance, is Jemila(tu) Wunpini Abdulai. Jemila means beauty...

In an authentic Hadith, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said:  "Man is influenced by the faith of his friends. Therefore, be careful of whom you associate with." One of the distinct features of Ramadan that I have come to love is the feeling of camaraderie, of being one anther's keeper and of going out of ones way to show love and support. In my opinion, (wo)man's capacity for kindness is never more evident than during this Holy month. Its a time when complete strangers sit together in prayer shoulder to shoulder for hours and contemplate the wonders of God's creative abilities. When families who live in the same house yet have very separate lives pause for a moment and rediscover one another. When people go out of their way to lend a helping hand to the needy and orphaned in society. And perhaps, what's most beautiful, when the indescribable bond between humanity - Muslims and non-Muslims - is renewed. Over the years and during my time away from home I have experi...

Ramadan Kareem! The Holy month is here again, and started on August 1 for most of the world. This year's Ramadan is significant for me in a number of ways. Numero uno, it's my first Ramadan in 6 years with my entire family in Ghana! And by family I mean nuclear family. Previous Ramadans were spent with various 'family members' in the US, France, Senegal, and virtually. So now we're back to home base, Alhamdulilahi, and that also means there are some key differences, the least not being the fact that I actually eat properly during suhoor (dawn meal) and iftar (evening meal) thanks to mummy :) I've probably mentioned on here how every year right before Ramadan something usually pops ups to mess with my equilibrium and then the entire month is essentially spent delving within and trying to regain my internal balance. So far there has been nothing of the sort. Alhamdulilahi I'm swimming in harmony; my family and friends are close, I have an interesting job, e...

Beautiful sunset in Salim Sarr, Louga Dear Senegal, I don't know how I made it through this one. I really don't. It's kind of hard to imagine you'd be sitting int he waiting lounge at the airport with all one, two, three pieces of excess luggage checked in...at virtually zero cost. Something that should have otherwise been at least $300 came down to a tip of 10,000CFAs, the equivalent of $20. It's at times like this that I re-resolve to continue proclaiming "I'm blessed", or as Nikki Minaj would say, "No, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed." Aside my friend's brush in with your police force - who have apparently (and ironically) decided to use the Holy Islamic Day of Friday to arrest invidivuals who don't have their national ID cards on them, and then consequently exact a bribe of 10,000CFAs (Ha! Come try that one in Ghana!) - everything went as well as can be. Funny what 10,000CFAs can do in one night huh? Anyway, who am I to cal...

Salam (Peace Be Unto You)! This post was supposed to be a quickly copied article or embedded video on Eid-ul-Adha (The Festival of Sacrifice), but after some thought I decided to just write an entire post on Islam's second most important festival. Besides, it's been a minute since I wrote a good letter, and given how far we've come since my last Islam-related post during Ramadan, I believe I owe God one. However, before I get into all the juicy details about the different shapes, sizes and aromas of the succulent lamb chops that grace Eid, I'd like to talk a bit about another equally important event in Islam - and probably the singular largest gathering of people in the world - that is sometimes overlooked in the haste for the Eid holiday: the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. The Fifth Pillar of Islam: Hajj Islam has five pillars or foundations that each Muslim is required (or should I say tries their best) to follow: Khalimat Shahaddah (bearing witness to the Oneness of ...

All too soon, we have come to the end of another opportunity to partake in the Holy Month of Ramadan. Pending the moon sighting, there are speculations that Eid-ul-Fitr (the festival celebrating the end of Ramadan) will take place on Friday, September 10 or Saturday, September 11. Either way, Alhamdulilahi, we've made it through another Ramadan and for that we should give thanks. But that's not the purpose of this post. I'll do a recap on my Ramadan experience later. For this post I'd like to talk about the Pastor in Florida who in all his wisdom has decided to organize a "Burn a Qu'ran" Day: Rev. Terry Jones. A Meeting of Significance: September 11, 2010 Yes, Mr. Jones is a pastor in a relatively small town in Florida, and yes, he only has a congregation of 50, but his actions, or rather his proclamations, bear a lot of weight. Why? Because he has chosen two 'things' that are important to not just tens or hundreds, but millions of people: t...

Before I start, just a quick 'thank you' to Moi for reminding me that I even intended to share my Ramadan experience/lessons on here. Like you said, God sometimes speaks through people :) Okay, back to the scheduled program. Days two through five of Ramadan have been filled with so many lessons, I'm surprised I even have the energy to write this post. Unlike Day one which was essentially a physical test of my adaptation to the Senegalese sun and long hours, these three days have been a revolving door of churning out my thoughts and feelings. I keep going back and forth on this same issue, but this time it's a bit different. Actually, let me speak plainly. That was lesson number one: Say what you need to say. Speak your truth. Not THE truth, mind you. But YOUR truth. Most situations involve many truths. Hence speak YOUR truth. And allow others to speak their respective truths as well. I don't want to believe that God made life out to be this complicated, it'...