Did you know London footwear guru Dato’ Jimmy Choo OBE, was born and brought up in Malaysia?

Maybe I’ve had my feet in the sand, but I didn’t!

In fact, Choo, (born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat in Penang), made his first pair of shoes in his native Malaysia when he was 11 years old.

Tiptoeing up to the Red Carpet

Jimmy was born into a family of shoemakers and went to London to study, graduating in 1983. He worked part time as a waiter and a shoe factory cleaner to help pay for college.

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I’m very interested in the issue of interfaith between our global Muslim community and those of other religions around the world. In 2010, there are almost as many Muslims in the world as there are Christians, and the religions are full of similarities and parallels. Some would say it’s time Muslims and Christians recognized just how similar we are, and that the fate of the world depends on it.

This was in fact the subject of an open letter signed in 2007, and launched from Jordan to the Vatican by 138 Muslim leaders and scholars.

First Class from Jordan to The Vatican

The 29-page letter — entitled A Common Word between Us and You  was organized by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Amman, Jordan.

The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and 25 other named Christian leaders.  It emphasized that world peace depends on greater understanding between the two faiths. This powerful message for mutual understanding represented the first time so many high-profile Muslims united to make such a public call for peace.

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Yes, I’ve been tracking down love poems for my collection again! This time I jumped on a cyber train to Karachi.

I’d heard of Zeeshan Sahil before but I’d never gotten around to looking him up. Turns out he was an extraordinary, shy, gentle Karachi writer who loved his country, his family and life’s simple pleasures and beauties.

“I love trees, the air, travelling and dreaming. I love flowers, colours and words but water and skies are my favourites. I am afraid of loneliness and stagnation.” – he said in a 2002 interview with dawn.com.

All You Need Is…

Love, is indeed the focus of Zeeshan’s work – more than anything his love of Karachi, and his love of poetry, so much so that he named his 1995 anthology after the city.

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As a Muslim who lived and studied in the UK for a while a few years back, I like to keep up to speed what’s going on there, particularly when it comes to the Muslim community.

The UK has a thriving and well-integrated Muslim population for the most part and London has long been known as one of the largest centres for Islamic finances. I was still quite surprised to read last month that Sharia law is going to become part of the UK’s tax budget!

How? Ah, that bit’s simple: The UK Treasury plans to simply rewrite Britain’s tax rules to incorporate elements of Sharia law that deal with lending, borrowing and taxation and therefore make money matters easier for Muslims.

The question is WHY?

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Sophie Ashraf has recently shot to fame in and beyond her native India as The Burqa Rapper. This 21-year old Muslim wordsmith is to all intents and purposes making a rather revealing statement with her art. Let’s take a quick look at how this feisty young Indian woman’s donning of the “burqa” while rapping has placed Islam on centre stage and right at the heart of her art.

As Sobia points out in her wonderful article on Ashraf in Muslimah Mediawatch, watching Sophie proudly sport her headscarf in her pics and vids, one’s first reaction might be:

“Wait a minute: that’s not a burqa!”

See for yourselves here. Read the full story »

There’s a rather extraordinary Italian Muslim woman I’d like you to meet. In fact, I’m willing to bet my bottom bite of bolognaise that this is an Italian Muslim woman unlike any you’ve ever met before.

Burqa Barbie was designed by Italy’s Eliana Lorena in cohoots with Mattel, who are celebrating 50 years of everyone’s favourite plastic blonde. BB, as we’ll call her for arguments’ sake (and believe me she’s caused a fair bit of argy-bargy) is being auctioned online for a Save the Children fundraising campaign.

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Love poetry in the form of letters has been a part of Arabic culture for centuries. Not just a way of expressing feelings, these intricate and eloquent declarations of love were also a sign that their author was educated and cultured.

From that day to this, classic Arabic love letters have generally fallen into one of 4 categories:

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Saïd Mosker likes to shake things up. He’s one Moroccan man who isn’t afraid to say, or rather sing what he thinks of social issues, politics, love and peace. It’s been almost 20 years since he first released his rai-funk-reggae debut album “Ghitouni.”

The summer of 2009 saw him on the road for a whistlestop tour of Moroccan music festivals and to launch a new album, which focuses on the dreams of youth and which he decided to release just after Ramadan.

Saïd also teamed up with MC Anou of Fez City Clan, Nabila Maan, Khansa Batma and other stars for the pop track “Nodo Tsawto” (”Go Vote”) in the run-up to Morocco’s recent elections. Read the full story »