Faith you taught me to pray, the words and offering to the Divine: a God who kept you safe when we couldn’t – now I speak: a different language; I take your prayers, fashion them into riddles: questions on faith, but I seem faithless to holy men. I am shot through with doubt, racked with guilt. I take my last touch, of fingertips to your cold skin; your hair catches; I drop your shroud. I clasp my trembling palms and... Read more
To all the girls whose thighs touch, with stretchmarks laid like gold across their backside, with bellies too full for any inadequate hands, thank Goddess for your abundance. – Kim Katrin Crosby “There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t have to think about my body – how much I’ve moved it (or not), what I’ve put into it, what it looks like in whatever outfit I’ve chosen to wear. But thinking about my body isn’t something particularly new,... Read more
Dear Love Inshallah, I have been dating a man for a few years now and we’ve been discussing marriage. However, he is of a polytheistic faith. Although he is liberal in his practice, he has a strong belief in God. We have not had any problems with faith interrupting our relationship, since we have the same morals and values and we have been blessed to be very compatible and loving towards one another. He is also very active in taking... Read more
A few years ago, I was standing with a friend at a wedding when an aunty approached us. Beti! she addressed my friend, you’ve gained so much weight! What happened? My friend and I froze before I did the first thing that came to my mind: I pretended like I hadn’t heard the question to save my friend the embarrassment of having to address it with an audience. I picked up my phone (even though it hadn’t rung) and yelled... Read more
Some phenomenal recent reads: Author, www.patheos.com/blogs/loveinshallah editor, and anthology contributor Deonna Kelli in Slouching toward Mecca: “I sat in many church pews as a child and I dipped in many waters. My paternal grandmother made sure that I had a proper Methodist christening. Thirteen years later, I dunked into Southern Baptist waters by my own conviction. Men in my family did not take me to church or talk too much about God. By the time I drank from the Zamzam... Read more
Love is the poetry of life Gratitude its prose Kindness the sentences In patience composed Prayer is the syntax As Heaven knows (more…) Read more
Love, Inshallah’s fiction debut! The False Phoenix Not a drop of rain had fallen in six weeks. Then one August afternoon, Zeenat watched from her window as day turned to night in under a minute, pregnant charcoal clouds overpowered the sun, and the sky roared as rain started to pour. Zeenat had a tingling sensation in her fingertips, as a strange half smile teased her lips. She watched the sheets of rain appear and disappear like magical clothes swaying on... Read more
Watch this fascinating video by Zina Saro-Wiwa as she explores African cultural ideas around public smooching and expressions of love. The artist Zina asks: How do Africans kiss? How do you like to be kissed? When was your heart last broken? What is love? Interesting parallels with many Muslim cultures, which tend to be less publicly demonstrative also. “Eaten by the Heart” is a video installation and documentary project conceived, produced and directed by Zina Saro-Wiwa. Commissioned by The Menil... Read more
Lately I’ve been thinking about the business of babies, since I found out two friends are now expecting, and a third is enjoying the trials and travails of having a two-year old. When you become a parent, what exactly does that mean? Sure your whole world as you know it is never the same again, and there are many upheavals as well as joyous milestones to experience. But what does it mean to be a parent? (more…) Read more
My roommate and I sat side by side on our couch, hunched over our respective laptops. “Are you sure about this?” I asked her. “Yes, I want to go to Cape Town,” she said. I showed her my three Kayak windows, open in separate tabs before me. “Buenos Aires costs about the same to get to from New York, but everything will be way cheaper when we’re actually there. And look at these flights to Istanbul: they’re half the price,... Read more
Love, InshAllah
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In