Mathematics

Enter any Muslim household regardless of nationality, and you are bound to come across some representation of Islamic art. Maybe Turkish biomorphic motifs inspired by flowers on a Turkish vase in a kitchen, Moorish tessellations on ceramics varied in geometric patterns and colors in a washroom, or South and Southeast Asian symmetrical wooden Jali carvings on furniture or window screens …

In the beginning, God made Adam, then from his rib Eve, and after a couple of sins, humanity arrived at the ineffable truth that 1+1 = 2, that there is such thing as “zero”, and we no longer needed God, for we had Math, the absolute authority on “fact” and correspondingly, our reality. To my mother’s great dismay, however, I …

In stacks of one-dirham notebooks with plastic covers, Haboba keeps track of things. Accompanied by a classic CASIO calculator, scrap paper from knitting print-outs and a pen, she documents anything that can be quantified. She has kept track of her life as our family expanded in numbers and scattered across countries. At some point, the calculator became redundant. She says …

For centuries, Africans have used patterns, discovering and manipulating geometric concepts to make them symbolic systems. So, mathematics wasn’t far from being a language. They transformed abstractions into knowledge. Ideas from their human minds were then communicated in a highly artistic manner. The significant geometric patterns are visible on decorations covering architectural styles: buildings, traditional monuments, and temples.

It’s 2016, and I’ve been swindled into a math competition. I’ve always been “good” at math. The monotony of it suited me; the rote memorization of formulae and obvious pattern recognition, while anxiety- inducing in others, came to me instantly. It also meant that, once I understood something, I also didn’t care to spend an hour and a half doing …

I wonder. What purpose would I serve if I had a different religion, and if I wasn’t forced to practice the one I do? Right about now, you’re wondering too: which religion is he talking about? Is it mine? Am I forced too?! Or maybe you’re not anxious, and you’re just going to keep on reading to find out. Go …

in the beginning: there is water; the world is without form, an empty void; a hen scatters sand poured from a snail’s shell as a god watches on; life is breathed into clay figurines; the sun emerges from a mound; order unravels from chaos; a great flood recedes from the land; matter coalesces from a big bang; there comes a …