Cradle is a new category I decided to create, taking after the famous adage: “The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.”

It is a tribute to my mother firstly and foremostly, and then to my aunts and my grandmother - all of whom have rocked my cradle. They are the waters that have sustained the oak, the Northern Stars that shone down in the black of the night, the winds that have channeled the hurricane, indeed they have been the massive tectonic plates that have firmly anchored the mountain.

Not often has it been found that I have given any deep thought to the fact that no matter what I do, I cannot find anything that would repay my mother for even the first scream she took …

… may Allaah ta3ala grant her Jannatul Firdaus, ameen.