Saf's Diary

Well, hello there, fellow humans! Or rather, Assalamu alaykum. Or perhaps Greetings sounds best.

I really don’t know. I’m rather not good at this you see. For someone who’s written an entire novel, it seems rather silly to state this but ‘the truth hurts’ as they (whomever ‘they’ are) say: I’m a terrible blogger. I either find myself sounding an awful lot like a dry, old 18th century schoolteacher from the Victorian times or an insanely happy sailor with an insanely wide smile on an insanely sunny day. Go figure.

But this time, I am pleased to announce that things will be different for I have embarked on a mission to cure myself from bloggilitis – the epidemic of horrendous blogging. And no, I’m not making this all up. Only some of it.

And so, I, Safaa Baig, hereby vow to forever cherish the sacred bond between blogger and bloggee, until smashed keyboard do us part.

Right, so on a more serious note. What is Saf’s diary all about?

Islam. Dreams. Writing. Adventures. Story-telling. Inspiration.

In a nutshell. Also, the latest book news and updates, articles, interviews, book reviews and heaps more InShaaAllah.

Right, that’s all for now. Farewell humans. Okay, I think that just sounded a little bit like I was going to ‘kaboosh’ you all.

Asta la vista. Do svidaniya. Au revoir.

Signing out, Saf

A Ramadan Reminder: Making du’aa for Marriage

Four Ramadans ago, I was hurting. I was in a bad place emotionally and all I sought was contentment and peace. It was one of the best Ramadans of my life.  You see, when we come to Allah needy and desperate, hungry for His mercy, our heads lowered and palms outstretched like true slaves, that is when our Du’aas truly have meaning and our hearts truly become receptive. I had just come out of a testing ‘proposal’ and in all honesty, I wanted nothing to do with marriage for a while. I told my parents I didn’t want to meet or […]

8 lessons I’ve learned from our long distance relationship

Whoever said long distance was easy clearly fractured their skull during their childhood.  Boy, is it something! In the three years that I’ve been married, I’ve had my fair share of long distance – ranging from seven months to a few weeks – to the point that I’ve lived away from my husband more than I’ve lived with him! So by now, you could say I consider myself quite the pro.  For those navigating through long distance right now or those who anticipate that they will experience it at some point soon, here are 8 tips and advice that I’ve […]

Because He knows best

Looking back at my life, I can pinpoint so many moments where I wanted something and Allah gave me something else. I remember making so much du’aa for certain things, believing that they were exactly what I needed at the time. And yet He knew what I needed better than I did. And had He granted me what I wanted… I don’t even want to begin to imagine how different my life would be right now.  There was a time I believed that having Tawakkul and putting my trust in Allah meant trusting that He would grant me what I […]

Lessons from a missed flight

They had waited 6 weeks to see each other.                                                                                   They had anticipated this reunion over 19 weeks of separation.                                     She was going to surprise him with homemade cookies.                           […]

Carpe Diem

‘In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.’ – Albert Schweitzer Too often, we dream about the future and we create imaginary fairytales in our mind of what our future will hold. Or we live in the past and yearn to zap ourselves back in time to our carefree, childhood days. We wish we could escape the present somehow. Because happiness is not here, it’s there.

Steps and staircases

“When are you writing your next story?” I get asked this all the time. And my response usually consists of a guilty half-laugh, a nonchalant shrug and an evasive reply about my busy life.

Free Book Giveaway!

Enter for a chance to WIN a free copy of Soul of a Butterfly! *Giveaway is now OPEN worldwide!* ENDS: 31st January 2016 So, I’m pretty super duper excited for this. My first ever Giveaway. *Gulp* Bismillah. Requesting your precious du’aas as always! Head on over to Goodreads now and enter the giveaway! It’s as simple as the click of a button. Link to enter: https://www.goodreads.com/…/168402-soul-of-a-butterfly

Magnificence of the Qur’an

During my Linguistics studies, I came upon something pretty amazing, and thought I’d share it with you… In Linguistics, it is commonly understood that translation from one language to another is complicated; in that, no language can ever fully depict the essence and magnificence of another language, whether it be the culture, ideologies, or simple nature intrinsically present within that language. Poetry, is even more complex, forget that, it’s said to be impossible…

Limitless!

What if, you could have any superhero power in the world? What would you choose? Gosh, that’s a hard question. Speed of lightning, superhuman strength, invisibility, teleportation, telekinesis, optic blast, enhanced healing, shape-shifting, time-traveling, telepathy, flight, enhanced hearing, x-ray vision… Okay, just hold on; just give me a moment to think. I really need to digest this all. I mean, you have no idea how mega this is. This is super mega.  Sorry what? What was that you just said? What if, you already have a superpower? 

Why I write

Ask my friends and they’ll tell you I’m a storyteller by nature. Every once in a while, I meet someone amazing and the same thought pops into my head each and every time. “I’m going to write their story.” It doesn’t always happen like that though. Sometimes I’m hit by a good old classic plot. [And imaginary voices begin to fill my head]. I can still vividly remember the first time I was hit by one. It was wondrous and uplifting and filled me with a bubbly fizz of excitement [sort of like when you’re about to scare the life […]