Preparing for Ramadan: An Evening with Tharik Hussain

It was an honour to host Tharik Hussain on 24 February @rumiscave as part of a series of launch events for his new book ‘Ramadan Mubarak: A Little Inspiration for the Blessed Month’

The book is filled with inspiring verses from the Qur’an, hadith and quotes by prominent Muslim figures from the past and present including several Muslim women of diverse backgrounds.

If you are looking for some inspiration to help you grow and form new positive habits over Ramadan or just learn more about the month from a holistic perspective - this is the book for you.

I picked out some key themes in the book, to share, which resonated with me more at this point in time including the shared act of fasting across different faiths- and the role fasting plays as a spiritual cleanse/ the importance of righteous behaviour and being just against all costs/and reducing waste and embedding sustainable behaviour over Ramadan and beyond.

We also spoke about Tharik’s other award-winning book Minarets in the Mountains: A Journey into Muslim Europe where Tharik followed in footsteps of 17th century Ottoman traveller - Evliya Celebi. It’s a beautifully told story of Muslims in ‘Eastern Europe’ - not just in Bosnia which we are familiar, but Macedonia, Montenegro and even Serbia.

This concept of indigenous Muslims in Europe and a living legacy of Islam destroys all narratives that depict Europe as a Judeo-Christian land only. It is very eye-opening and a subject many people don’t know much about because it’s been written out of history or ignored due to anti-Muslim sentiments.

It was an uplifting evening - thanks to Tharik for sharing such wonderful insights. You can buy the book here: https://shorturl.at/MPWY9