other|matters

Retreads are quality posts from yesterweeks that are given a second run on Fridays. This piece was originally posted by ABD on 4 May 2006.

Welcome to the community. Now grab a bottle of water (or maybe a voice recorder), because ten seconds into any conversation with a Muslim you’ll have to repeat your conversion story. And a pen and notepad, because you’ll have to take down a lot of advice. (One of the things you’ll need in your expanded wardrobe is a thicker skin.) If you thought this was going to be a private affair, think again.

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Our guest contributor this week is ABD, a student of political theory and a one-time regular at othermatters.org.

The heart of the believer is between two fingers of the Merciful.

- Prophet Muhammad, on him be peace (Muslim, Ahmad)

The women at the table in front of me—sisters, mother, date—lean in when he speaks. He wears glasses and a nervous, half-embarrassed smile. He may not stand out at a different table, but he holds court here. There is an attentiveness to him that has nothing to do with him. He is a window, a tuning fork, a string of lights out into the bay.

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Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un.
Indeed, to God we belong and to God is our return.

I knew Amadou. I knew him by his knowing smile, his soft laugh and his shake of the head in response to something silly I might have said.

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Retreads are quality posts from yesterweeks that are given a second run on Saturdays. This piece was originally posted by ABD on 2 Nov 2006, and has been revised.

Clarity doesn’t precede decisions, it proceeds from them. Someone heard or read this somewhere, and thought it insightful enough to pass on. I am reminded of it now as I stand at an impasse of my own.

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Life is a terminal illness
That shivers in the shadow of death
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Work in progress. Suggestions welcome.