Upon you peace and blessings! :handshake:
A Kamariana, a Human-Centric Teacher and Design Engineer;
A Muslim, a husband to a beautiful wife, a father of three, and a Mandinka from the Gambia.
A Jambanjelly native, I now live in
Brikama,
Brusubi,
Busumbala.
My roots spread from The Gambia (Kiang), Senegal (Bajo Kunda) and Mali (?); and originated from the ancient Ghana Empire, which was located in present-day Mauritania and Mali.
I'm not perfect; but I try to do everything with beauty and excellence (al-ihsaan) and trusting God with the results.
Deeply interested in faith and technology; liberal, slow thinker; book lover; community, people, and projects builder (building people, so that they can in-turn built people and projects — especially youth — God-willing).
Acknowledgment
On this ongoing journey, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the following, with whom I have received valuable assistance either in person or by studying their life-work.
- Lamin Barrow - (Who introduced me to design and the web and gave me all the tools I needed to get started. He is my big brother and a lifelong friend since high school)
- Bianca Gandolfo - (My JavaScript teacher)
- Harry Roberts - (My CSS teacher)
- Hamza Yusuf - (My spiritual teacher)
- Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan - (My Arabic and Quran teacher)
- Malcome X (Malick Shabazz) - (When I read him, he teaches me how to purge myself from my past (I did a lot of things in the past that I regret) and start over. And start over again with courage when the truth surfaces, regardless of who it's from.
The assistance or the life-work of these people was — and still is — instrumental in consolidating my faith and technology and providing a sense of purpose as a Muslim and a Technologist in what I should be doing with my life.
background, interest, and work
Blending a background in user experience design, history, and computer science, my work fits under the umbrella of teaching, UX research, UI design, and front-end engineering — and generally thinking about humans first.
I'm deeply interested in faith and technology. God-willing, these are the two important area of my focus for promoting human well-being and creating positive change in the world. faith and open web technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and various web APIs are my favorite tools to enhance and amplify human efforts.
Currently co-founder and lead design engineer at Eilix — a product design and engineering company and a partner at Owl Technologies
On the side, I teach at Csaydimba — a non-profit community that provides the space, content, and companionship necessary for a healthy understanding and realisation of faith and technology.
I possess nothing. I have done nothing. I am nothing.
Who knows, maybe, you might be reading this now while I'm long gone by the destroyer of pleasures (death), may be turned to dust — and only God knows my condition — underneath the earth.
If that is the case, please remember me in your prayers.
Imam Al-Ghazali, the professor, put it this way:
Remember your contemporaries who have passed away and were your age. Remember the honors and fame they earned, the high posts they held, and the beautiful bodies they possessed. Today all of them are turned to dust. They have left orphans and widows behind them, their wealth is being wasted, and their houses turned into ruins. No sign of them is left today, and they lie in dark holes underneath the earth. Picture their faces before your mind's eye and ponder.
Study carefully, thoughtfully, and with meditation, the entire preceding quotation, for there you will find the "reality of this life" which, if not faithfully observed — and especially not remembered — overtakes us by surprise.
As stated in Tazkiya (Purification of the Soul), Maulana Wahiduddin Khan mentioned: "Remembering death means: remembering the most delicate moment of man's life. He must keep thinking about the time — which is certainly going to come — when his eternal future will be decided".
and I'm ok with our difference.
We all do not need to think the same or have the same beliefs — this is part of the Divine decree that we are all different — but we can respect and love each other despite our differences.
It requires a broad base of committed principle-people of different beliefs to have a better community, country, or world.
Love and gratitude
Giving
There are two things: what you earned and what you spent, both will be asked. What you give to others is what really belongs to you. Everyone of us is giving in our own unique way. The question is, what are we going to do?
- Generosity is when you give without been asked — giving beyond Zakaat is a duty and is also a duty to reach out and look for who you should give to; giving 11% of monthly income to relatives and people in need.
- Living a simple life (we want to be simple people); minimise material consumption.
- Prioritise purchasing from local small businesses; in general, paying attention to who you give your money to.
- Reach out and encourage others to give with the little they have and support local businesses.
- Teach and share what you know with others that can't afford it.
And remember, when you reach out and give, do it genuinely for the sake of God (Allah) and never expect anything besides His mercy and blessings.
Meaning
- We should side with what is right and good (we should be with the truth) no matter who/where it's coming from.
- History is our life line - (Un/re)learn history and connect the dots to the modern global culture of today that's killing us, thus making it difficult for us to pursue what is meaningful.
Community
Gambian Communities
- Kids in Technology
- Gambia Muslim Developers
- Algorithms meetup - A supportive community dabbling in algorithms
- Csaydimba
- Gambia Homeschooling Community
- Read, a small reading circle that build the culture of reading
- Give, a small giving circle that help people in need