I have been building towards writing for many years, drawing on almost five decades of life as a Muslim since accepting Islam at the age of 22.
I was born in New Zealand and grew up in Canada. Later, while raising my children, I lived for many years in Damascus and Amman. My travels took me through Central Asia and China, and I now live in Tunisia with my husband.
My understanding of Islam has been shaped by study and teachers, as well as by raising a family and learning to keep faith at the centre of daily life, whatever the circumstances and wherever I have lived.
For much of my professional life, I worked as a French-English translator. That work deepened my sensitivity to language and taught me how much care is needed to carry meaning from one culture into another. A translation can be technically correct and still fail to convey what lies beneath the words. History can likewise be reduced to dates and events without showing how they connect, why they matter, or what they reveal about the people who lived through them.
Over the years, I often realised that while I knew many individual events from Islamic history, I did not always see how they fitted into the larger story. Writing became a way of bringing those pieces together, both for myself and for readers who may have had the same experience.
I write because Islam is so often misunderstood or misrepresented. Much of what reaches the wider world is filtered through headlines, political arguments, or familiar stereotypes. I hope to present Islamic history and faith in a way that is grounded, thoughtful, and deeply human, without oversimplifying the subject or assuming that every reader already knows its language and background.
My first book, The Hijrah: The Journey That Changed History, begins with the moment Prophet Muhammad ﷺ received the first verses of the Quran in Makkah and follows the events that led to the migration to Madinah and the Battle of Badr. It explores the circumstances that led to the Hijrah, the faith and courage of the early Muslims, and the transformation that followed when a persecuted community was able to begin building a new life in Madinah.
The book is written for Muslims who want to understand the life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and the history of early Islam more fully, whether they are encountering the story for the first time or returning to it after many years. It is equally intended for non-Muslim readers who approach Islamic history with sincere curiosity and would like a clearer understanding of the people, events, and beliefs that shaped it.
Another book now in progress explores spiritual growth and our return to Allah. It considers essential themes of faith and the ways the experiences of this life can change us, deepen our relationship with Him, and prepare us for the journey home.
Through all my writing, I hope to offer readers greater clarity, a deeper sense of connection, and something meaningful to carry into their own lives.
“The sirah is not only history. It is a map of faith under pressure.”
— Habiba Barbara Dingwall, The Hijrah: The Journey That Changed History