Turkish kindness kills the imaginary thief
ISTANBUL – The first heavy snow glistens in the darkness of the city I’ve fallen in love with in the last year. We are six, three children and three adults, who pile in the station [...]
A mystical space
On the northern edge of the Silicon Valley in Fremont, tucked behind a narrow suburban road is a mystical space open to anyone who wants to connect with God, even Salaffis. Taleef Collective launched in [...]
When a Pakistani meets an Afghan in Istanbul
I was giving a talk about the drug trade in Afghanistan based on my book Opium Nation with the Istanbul Book Club when Yamna, a member of the club and a graduate engineering student from [...]
Bathhouses and chai from Herat to Istanbul
Four days after a suicide bomber killed 10 tourists and injured 15 at the most popular tourist destination of Istanbul, I took a good friend visiting from Kabul and my two girls to Sultanahmet Square [...]
How a child learns to accept differences
My 4-year-old sat on my lap as I massaged my broken leg in a cast on the Istanbul Metro train. In front of us sat a woman wearing a black niqab with only slits of [...]
Your tomorrow is my today
On November 3, my little family of four packed eight years into five suitcases and flew from San Francisco to Istanbul. Our temporary apartment was just right with a panoramic view of the city. We [...]
Rock the Kasbah co-opts stereotypes to reveal truths
This blog was first published in my HuffingtonPost blogspot. I was 9 years old when my family fled Afghanistan and sought asylum as refugees in the U.S. during the Soviet invasion. It was surreal to [...]
Muslims donate without doubt
Amal, a Syrian in Fremont, said her cousins, uncles and aunts had all died in Raqqa, Syria. The elderly woman sighed repeatedly and spoke in quick Arabic without pause, squeezing her prayer rug between Farida, [...]
The trouble with Mother’s Day
Few harp on Mother’s Day. I have yet to hear holiday critics deconstruct the celebration as a consumerist ploy to further capitalism. But it is, and marketers will exploit every American holiday to boost sales. [...]
Reflections from the Gulf
I spent August 2014 in Sharjah and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates visiting my in-laws but also getting to know the migrant women and men who live in the Gulf. As I toured malls [...]
