Rumi wrote: There’s joy in my heart: I have joined my lover tonight; Finally free from the pain of our parting tonight. As I dance with my lover I pray, oh…

Last post, I promised to write something less toxic, so this is it – I have been thinking about both the personal characteristics and the characteristics of friendship itself, required to…

Preamble: I am using the feminine only for ease of writing. Do not misunderstand this to mean that men cannot be mean-girls. Being a little shit is not specific to…

A woman has been taking contraceptives behind her husband’s back. Wow. She’s come to me to ask WHAT? (I all-too-often honestly don’t understand how people function.) That you don’t want…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a man wants to marry more than one woman. His wife has already said she will divorce his sorry ass if he does; she’s come to…

A very unpopular subject this week about an often silenced conversation r- Muslim women being involved with non-Muslim men. We all know the ruling, but I focused on our freedom…

Last week, I was discussing the challenges of being a single woman in today’s world. We talked about what lessons should be taught to daughters and to sons and from…

If you met someone who lived in a part of the world you had never considered moving to, would you cut your losses or would you pursue it and not…

A Momma-in-law had hoped that she and her new daughter-in-law might become fast and intimate BFFs, but the daughter-in-law has very different ideas about family-in-law entanglements… “…the duties and obligations…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a woman is caught between her family’s pressure to pursue marriage, and her gut’s panic to absolutely NOT. “Fun Fact! It is always hard to find…

I recently woke up to an email which read, in part: I fell in love with you the night H introduced us at Oliver’s and you argued with me about…

Very recently, I received some information about someone with whom I had once dealt. From a person unknowing about the involvement, so unadulterated, unfiltered details. The kind of information which…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a woman secretly mourns the death of a past suitor. A little at sea, she is uncertain of what to tell her husband and how to…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a newly married woman asks what she should do when her husband won’t let her join his alone marriage-counseling sessions. On his own. By himself. Without…

This week, I was asked about inheritance laws and allowances by a single woman, the only daughter with two brothers: …your parents can in fact provide you with the inheritance…

For those who have lived here long enough, you remember him from the original post of 2008, because – oddly – I receive references about ‘the stand-up guy’ regularly from…

Preamble: I know it’s hard. We all know it can be crushing to recover from any ending, but we have all recovered. Each of us. We have all moved onto…

At The Chai Diaries, a man’s wife tells him she doesn’t “love [him] anymore” – confused, lonely, and worried about their children, he reaches out and asks what (if anything)…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a woman gets shamed and mistreated for telling a man she cares about him. I think he is a knob-head who reacted disproportionately, and then gave…

At Chai Latte Diaries, I am asked to explain what is ‘gaslighting’, one of the more insidious forms of emotional violence: The effects on the gaslightee are: – To doubt…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a man belittles a woman for a reality entirely out of her hands, and she is beginning to internalize the gender-specific nonsense with which women must…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a man kind of likes a girl. But maybe he’s not sure. Also, he might not be ready. Maybe. What should he do? If she is…

Primarily, I process via collision course. I dive into an emotion head-first and then use blocks of logic to dismantle it. And by ‘dive’, I in fact mean face-plant. It…

  And I responded with a variation of the following. Because I talk too much. ‘Ramadan’ is the name of the month (like October or November) and the Muslim calendar,…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a lovely woman who has been waiting to hear from a man for two months asks ‘What do I do now?’: [If you are currently too…

Three foundational notes: (1) Yes. We get that sometimes we all falter and we lose perspective and we are hurt and confused by a wo/man’s behaviour because we like them…

At Chai Latte Diaries, I am asked for advice on an unwelcome and insecure-male-driven ‘love triangle’ as well as how to react to when our good intentions are maligned: This…

At Chai Latte Diaries, I am asked how to re-engage trust after our trust has had its bottom handed to it, by no fault of our own (or, as always,…

“Economics is the social science that studies production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services, and the […] choices concerning the allocation of scarce means and resources.” “Don’t make…

At Chai Latte Diaries, I’m asked about sexual and household obligations inside of marriage: (1) Islamically speaking, sex as mutual pleasure is (without coercion) an obligation for you and your…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a woman depleted asks how to take a break from the dating scene, and mentions something about how the grass is greener: You jump off the…

The Maha Monday series is now officially a video & column response, with this the first one. It’s grainy and has terrible lighting and I may have made up the…

A part of tomorrow’s MahaMonday column touches lightly on the subject of when we should cut a platonic or romantic relationship out of our lives. With my own Shut-Off Valve…

At Chai Latte Diaries, he tells us that she’s told him she doesn’t love him anymore. Now what? As to what can be done now, in your present situation: the…

There are a few rumors running around this budding emotional entanglement. What then? Here, I advise you to keep things simple and clean. I very strongly encourage you to ask…

At Chai Latte Diaries, she’s asking how to get past first date awkwardness: The most important response to your Qs however, is that you are not a fisherwoman and men…

Dear Humans: STOP THIS PRACTICE. It’s gross. At Chai Latte Diaries, a dude whose meh about commitment has instead chosen to ghost on women. Repeatedly. He’s now looking to change…

At Chai Latte Diaries, a mansplainer tries to mansplain a woman’s safety away; I get into the perameters of safe online (and offline) dating scenarios: Always, the first three rules…

At Chai Latte Diaries, I am asked how to deal with the recent hate-driven executions of Yusor Mohammad, Deah Shaddy Barakat, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Mustafa Mattan: The answers to…

Because  mommas be crazy, this is a reminder of how we – their seeds – need to respond: I have been there. Often. I don’t know one daughter who has…