I came to Islam late. I was by now in my 40s, embarking on a break in my career as a nurse to do a PhD in another city. I had lived in London for a long time and enjoyed it, but work was becoming exhausting, and it was time for something different. For my final year, I moved into shared hospital accommodation to save money before my PhD and lived with a psychiatrist who liked a drink. On my last Sunday, as I sat reading in the kitchen with a cup of green tea, he came in and asked if I would like some prosecco. I said no, we chatted for a bit, and as soon as I had finished my tea, he poured me some prosecco. 

When I became homeless in 2015, I didn’t worry much, thinking: ‘Surely, the Ummah will have my back.’ How wrong I was!

I came to the UK in 2013 and got quickly immersed in the universe of ISOCs and humanitarian charities which, along with any mosque I would go to, would preach on repeat: ‘The Ummah is like one body!’

Our annual meet-up to break fast in the Holy month of Ramadan with many Crescent members across the country in Cambridge.

The retreat was lead by one of the mosque’s former Imams, Ali Tos. The programme included a week of morning classes on the fundamentals of belief, prayer and practice, followed by afternoon excursions to historical sites in and around the city of Konya – home of Mevlana Rumi. A number of workshops in arts & crafts were , including Ebru (traditional marbling), calligraphy, classical nasheeds and mosque visits.

I feel really blessed that I had the opportunity to visit Konya, in Turkey, with the Cambridge Crescent. We had the chance to visit and enjoy so much that the city has to offer, with trips, tours, demonstrations, gatherings and talks. 

When Nabila and I conceived of the idea to set up a buddying scheme at the Cambridge Crescent, we thought initially of the skills we might need to learn. Sitting in the back garden of the Cambridge Muslim College on a blazing summer’s day, we listed the resources we would gather, the structures that would need to exist. We looked for problems so we might be prepared.