Wael Abdelgawad's Blog, page 8

Help Me Indie Publish “The Repeaters”

Wael and his daughter.

I have used my websites in the past to raise money for causes such as disaster relief and refugee assistance.

This time I’m raising money for my own project. I’ve recently completed an urban fantasy novel called The Repeaters. I intend to indie publish or self-publish it, but I don’t have the funds for essentials like typesetting, cover design and the ISBN number.

Please donate to my GoFundMe campaign to help me raise the money to publish the book. Jazakum Allah khayr....

Gratitude: the Path to Love

By Wael Abdelgawad | WaelAbdelgawad.com

If a life comes down to what a man or woman has learned, then I’ll say this: you may feel discouragement, anxiety or despair, but you never know what’s coming tomorrow. Never give up on God, and never give up on yourself. God brings life and light from darkness. A closed room opens and becomes a road to the sunrise. Miracles happen every day, and I am a witness to that.

Gratitude

First, take nothing and no one for granted. Remember to be grateful for ev...

ICNA Talk: Role of fiction in shaping the view of Islam and Muslims

I’m sitting at a table in the Baltimore Convention Center, where the ICNA convention is ongoing. I haven’t been to one of these conventions in years and didn’t realize how huge they’ve grown. There are thousands of Muslims here – 20,000 they say – along with hundreds of vendors, and multiple Islamic sessions going on in various rooms.

People stroll past me in crowds: women wearing balloons stuck to their hijabs – I have no idea why – young sisters walking arm in arm, boys with fade haircuts,...

Pieces of a Dream ebook has been released!

Great news! I have just released the ebook version of my novel, Pieces of a Dream, alhamdulillah. The paperback will follow within a week, God willing.

This is “Muslim fiction” taken in a new direction, featuring an Iraq war vet and San Francisco cabbie named Louis, and his journey to the Islamic faith. It’s a difficult path he has chosen, compounded by his mother’s rejection, even as he tries to help his gambling-addicted father, and falls in love with an African-American Muslim woman named...

See Me at ICNA-MAS 2017

If you’re interested in fiction writing, come see me at the 2017 annual ICNA-MAS convention (Islamic Circle of North America and Muslim American Society) in Baltimore, Maryland on Saturday, April 15th. MuslimMatters.org is sponsoring my trip. Sister Umm Zakiyyah and I will be speaking about writing and hopefully conducting a writer’s workshop between 2 pm and 5 pm that day.

The official topic of my session is as follows:

Fiction inspires. It is a space that is filled with imagination and crea...

Not Giving Up On Humanity

By Wael Abdelgawad | WaelAbdelgawad.com

I’m not ready to give up on humanity. The world is torn by war, and billions are crushed by poverty and hunger. Torturers practice dark arts in the prisons of the world. Raveners consume the rainforests. The oceans fill with garbage…

But I’m not ready to give up on this world, or on the human experiment. We were not created in vain. God said to the angels, “‘Verily, I will place humankind generations after generations on earth.’ They (the angels) said:...

2017 Writing Projects

I have several exciting projects on the table at the moment:

1. The Repeaters

This supernatural thriller / urban fantasy novel – the first in a trilogy – has been completed and edited. All it needs is a cover design and formatting, and I will make it available as an e-book on Amazon Insha’Allah (God willing). Look for it in April 2017.

Synopsis:

A select group of men and women live hidden among us. They are known as repeaters, and they reincarnate again and again, growing stronger with each c...

Poem: Build a Dream

Build a Dream

I have trudged through sands.
I have come with empty hands
to build a dream.

I’ve given my all to you
and worn ragged shoes.
I’ve grown lean.

I’m walking this path
out of the dark past
carrying child and faith.

I’m late on the scene
but I am not done trying
to build a dream.

Wael Abdelgawad
January 26, 2014
Fresno, California

Poem: Bring it In

Let’s bring it together.
Everything moves in circles,
everything whirls, but sometimes
you cut across the tide
and find yourself in the light
of a strange sun. Bring it in.
Smaller circles, far from the din
of the city, we meet:
your breath and mine,
warm and sweet,
tighter, closer, moving in time
to the galaxy, earth, air,
until we are the center, paired,
and all turns in harmony.
Let’s bring it in, become
lion and lioness, oak and stone,
shelter and home.
Mother and father,
husband and wife,
lover and loved,
p...