I decided a long time ago that the whole point of existence is people.

I’ve been meaning to ask you is an interview series where Kathryn Mockler invites people to answer questions on being human Kathryn Mockler: What is your first memory of existing?

Aamir Hussain: My first memory is of me arguing with my sister over which one of us is older. Considering that she is my older sister, it is a fact that the first moment of my consciousness I can recall is of me being wrong about something. Aside from being a funny little story, I do think this early experience, and others like it (many at the hands of my sister again) have given me a healthy amount of introspection, an ability to check my assumptions, and a need to delve deep into subjects that I want to have opinions on.

KM: Do you have a preferred emotion to experience? What is it and why?

AH: I was a very absent minded and bookish child, so much so that I've been told that once my family could not find me after school and turned the school grounds upside down only to find me in the corner of a classroom lost in a book. That sensation, of being able to disconnect completely from the world and lose myself in a story, is one that I have lost as I have grown older and my worries and responsibilities have as well. I miss it.

KM: What do you cherish most about this world?

AH: I cherish the people of this world. I think I decided a long time ago that the whole point of existence is people. What makes this bearable to me is my added conviction that the vast majority of people are fundamentally decent and humane.

KM: What would you like to change about this world?

AH: While I truly believe that most people are fundamentally decent and humane, I also believe that we are overwhelmingly conformists by nature. This conformity, in many cases, overrules our decency and humanity if we need to get by in an indecent and inhumane society. I wish we had more courage as a whole to not comply in these situations, find each other, and push back.

KM: What advice would you give to your younger self? Your younger self could be you at any age.

AH: My science fiction loving self is too leery of the 'Butterfly Effect' where a slight change in the past could lead to major unpredictable changes in the future. Still, I think I would risk going back to a time when I really badly needed a hug, and giving myself one.

KM: If you could send your love to anyone, who would it be and why?

AH: I would send my love to the people of Palestine. I wish I could do more to help bring an end to the unimaginable pain and suffering being inflicted on them. More than our thoughts and prayers, they need our material support and I wonder what the point is of all the wealth and power our developed societies have accumulated if they are not devoted to preventing this crime of crimes... genocide. Even worse is the knowledge that even a little bit of our resources are being sent to fund it, arm it, and ensure it continues.

Aamir Hussain’s debut novel coming out this fall. Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published Under the Full and Crescent Moon by Aamir HussainDundurn Press, 2025

Buy Under the Full and Crescent Moon

Publisher’s Description

In a battle of words and beliefs, a young woman must defend her city against zealotry during the Islamic Golden Age.

After his long-time scribe retires, Khadija’s father, the city’s leading jurist, offers his introverted daughter the opportunity to take on the role of his assistant. In accepting, Khadija is thrust into her community, the medieval hilltop city of Medina’tul-Agham, where she, as a motherless young woman, has spent little time. Led by Imam Fatima and guided by the Circle of Mothers, it is a matriarchy — the only one in the empire. Though forced to set aside her quiet life among the books and parchments of her family home, Khadija thrives, finding her power and place in the world with the support of her new friends and strong female mentors.

Yet Khadija’s idyllic new life is shattered when fanatical forces weaponize Sharia law to threaten the very fabric of the society. Using only the power of her parchment and quill, Khadija must win the support of the people and write fatwas to fight against injustice, or the peace and prosperity of her city will be nothing more than a footnote in the annals of history.

Aamir Hussain was born into a family of strong women in Pakistan, grew up in Saudi Arabia, and moved to Canada when he was fifteen years old. He works in the tech sector in Toronto. Under the Full and Crescent Moon is his debut novel. He lives in Milton, Ontario.Send your love to Send My Love to Anyone!

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