abdullah shihipar

I’ll admit that I think about death every now and then. The thought creeps into my mind during the day, on the train, in the shower, late at night in bed. This is part of being Muslim – you are taught that your time on earth is brief, that you are but a traveller in… Continue reading what keeps me going

Mr. Scott MacKendrick President The University of Toronto Alumni Association J. Robert S. Prichard Alumni House 21 King’s College Circle Toronto, ON M5S 3J3 Dear Mr. MacKendrick, Thank you for your response to our open letter calling for Faith Goldy to be stripped of her Cressy Award.  While I appreciate a response, I was extremely… Continue reading Letter to UTAA

ne me quite pas.  We’ve all done it. One day after remembering someone and noticing they haven’t posted on Facebook for a while, we check to see if we’re still friends. Sometimes we are and we breathe a sigh of relief that someone still likes us. When we’re not, we do the necessary mental gymnastics… Continue reading casualties of spring cleaning

I’ve been listening to a lot of Coloring Book lately. Songs like Blessings have been on repeat for the past month or so.  Lyrics about praises and blessings play in the background as I contemplate my ever changing relationship with God.  Some days I have really good days where my prayers are good, other days… Continue reading what i believe

This morning, the sun came up as it always does and if you’re like me, you were lying on your bed for a good hour thinking “is this really happening”?  It has been a difficult 24 hours for a lot of people and people have had various ways of coping – some are still processing… Continue reading the sun came up

I have been doing a lot of thinking since leaving university – about my activism in particular. Over the past few months, society has had to come to terms with the phenomena of Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States. More startling than the candidate though are his supporters; violent, openly racist and… Continue reading ego as consciousness

Last week, I had the privilege to hear Junot Diaz in conversation with Sunil Yapa at the Toronto Reference Library with a few friends.  The library was packed, with hundreds of people lined up either to hear Junot Diaz upstairs or listen to poet, Rupi Kaur downstairs.  There were a lot of things I heard… Continue reading on acceptance.

My grandfather used to get up every morning, tie his sarong and prepare to head out to the small tea estate our family owned. I imagine he would have made his morning prayers, drank a cup of tea – perhaps the read the newspaper or listened to the morning news, before making the a mile… Continue reading i am enough

As we approach the final days of the year, I find myself reflecting on the past. This past year has been a whirlwind and it has left me out of breath.  There have been a lot of good and bad experiences, some of which will make for good stories in the future.  But as I… Continue reading write for your life

Hi everybody. This is my first blog post. I figured I get all official and have a domain name. Anyways, there will be more to come hopefully. I just wanted to set this up.