I was around three when my mother met him. He said I took one look at him and hid behind her dress. I peered around as he reached down to pick me up, frantically screamed and did a wiggle move out of his arms. That was the start of our relationship. My father (technically step-father), Halil, grew up in rural Turkey. He worked hard and was eventually offered a full paid scholarship to the University of Basel in Switzerland. That... Read more
Brown Skin Lady for Sara I never looked at you like you were brown skinned meaning you are not black, meaning your tongue can wrap around America (more…) Read more
Sisters, our time is here. The groundbreaking International Muslim of Women’s online global exhibition, Muslima: Muslim Women’s Arts and Voices has a call for submissions for Muslim women anywhere to share our art, music, poetry, perspectives, and personal stories. (more…) Read more
Dear Love, InshAllah: I’ve met a girl I really like. We have been good friends for a while. She and I are both Muslims, both born in a Muslim country, but raised in America. I really like her however, she had (relatively) many sexual relations prior to meeting me. She has never been married. In fact, she never even dated the guys she had sex with – they were just flings and so forth. I know that this is common... Read more
Sometimes love is a place. But only if people you love defined that place for you. There’s a scene at the very end of the movie, Amelie, where Audrey Tatou is sitting on the back of a motor scooter, her arms around the driver’s waist, driving along the streets of Paris dappled in Indian summer sunlight. The lighting is exquisite. Melodic accordion music plays in the background as she hurtles down those streets, and the narrator intones, “September 28th, 1997. It... Read more
Love, InshAllah is proud to feature occasional author interview podcasts. This episode features Deonna Kelli Sayed interviewing Bushra Rehman about her Poets and Writers featured novel, Corona. Deonna Kelli Sayed (DS): Here at Love, Inshallah, we are proud to focus on powerful personal stories from Muslim women and men, and sometimes, writers of other faiths, on love, marriage, family and life, in general. The 2011 call for Love, InshAllah book submissions asked for something simple yet transformative: American-Muslim women writing on something many people do... Read more
This. Is. Awesome. Bring Skateistan to the US – would love to see more girls skating here too. You can support Skateistan’s programs here. Read more
I’m the kind of person that tries to block out painful, embarrassing memories. Recent media attention on sexual assault and violence against women made me realize that victim blaming runs deep in our societies – and within ourselves. After hearing many women give voice to their awkward, strange, or traumatic experiences, I felt compelled to share my own story of what I call “politeness gone wrong.” My mother lives by the mantra, speak softly and carry a big stick. She... Read more
A few weeks shy of turning forty-years old, www.patheos.com/blogs/loveinshallah editor, writer Deonna Kelli Sayed, pens a letter to her twenty-year old self. Listen to the audio to hear Deonna read this piece, accompanied by music haphazardly composed and performed by the author. Dear Deonna, You will be forty-years old in a few weeks. Here is it, birthday you’ve dreaded: the big 4 – 0. It came so fast. I want to take you back to your twenty-year old self. I imagine... Read more
I Have Exchanged My Heart I have exchanged my heart for a new heart so love me all over again Look at my eyes I have filled them from the font of a new sea I have exchanged my skin for a new skin so let us unlearn the habits we have borne (more…) Read more
Love, InshAllah
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In