Bismillah... Long time no blog. Music. I'm not entirely sure as to whether or not I've covered this topic on my blog before but it's been on my mind recently so here I am. See, I'm not here to give you 100 Sahih references about music being Haraam in Islam - Google can do that. I just want to discuss it on a (hopefully) more relatable level, Muslim to Muslim, Sinner to Sinner. Both Muslims and non-Muslims might ask at some point "but why  is Music forbidden in Islam? Not all music is bad, right?"... Unfortunately, it kind of is. The thing is, 'haraam' or not, it takes control of us without us even fully comprehending its ability. I can act as a first hand witness to this, having recently started a job in retail which sees it as necessary entertainment to provide customers with music whilst they shop. You know why? Because it's been proven to make people want to buy things. Take Christmas for example, we don't play Christmas songs all day ev...

Dear Dad, on what would have marked the beginning of the 54th year of your life. I know that you will never be able to see this message, but I will still continue to used the 2nd person pronoun to address 'you'. I know you will never be able to see this message, but it could quite possibly withhold the most meaningful words that I've ever said to you, or more so never did say. I know that you will never see this message, but I wish that you could.  Happy Birthday, Dad. Or at least it would have been, had you been here. I remember your last birthday with us in this World. We all came to visit you in the hospice, me, Daniel, Callum, Tasha, your sisters, and more. We thought it would be a good idea to surprise you, Daniel and Tasha set up your room with banners and balloons, I bought some cupcakes and placed candles in each spelling "Happy Birthday". I bought you a comfortable pair of pyjamas, since there wasn't much else that would be useful to you by that poin...

Bismillah.  I think we are all familiar with the tension and dread that daunts us prior to, during and after exams - not to mention that multiplied significantly when results day is close. But why?  I saw a photo on Instagram that said something along the lines of "All I want to do is learn stuff and not have compulsory tests on it, like, I love learning new stuff and reading new books, but when I stress myself out to the point where I'm crying because of exams; that kinda takes the fun out of it".  I think everybody that is studying something that they genuinely enjoy can relate to those words. Thing is, we make it sound as though it's impossible.  Solution 1: Don't go to University.   This was my plan for a long time. Secondary education is compulsory for us here in the UK as far as I know, but any other subsequent means of education aren't. For that reason, there was a time when I didn't want to be sucked into university just because society mad...