Warsan Shire’s poetry leaves us breathless and aflame. She is a Kenyan-born Somali poet and writer based in London. Born in 1988, she is an artist and activist who uses her work to document narratives of journey and trauma. Follow her blog, Twitter and tumblr and get her book, Teaching my mother how to give birth, here — “The Letter My Mother Would Have Written Had She Known English” by Warsan Shire Dear Daughter The women in our family are known for their lucid hearts... Read more
Dear Love InshAllah, My wife does not perform oral sex on me. It aggravates me. In past relationships, I have enjoyed oral sex and I am missing it in my marriage. What should I do to convince her to go down on me? Should I remind her that there is nothing haram (prohibited) about it? Signed, Marriage Sucks Shy Desi Boy replies: (more…) Read more
Since publishing Love InshAllah, we’ve received countless e-mails from women and men with questions about love, relationships, and sex. For many of us, there isn’t a safe space to voice our most intimate concerns without fear of shame, humiliation, or judgment. Recognizing that we all have questions – but not all of us have someone to turn to for answers – we are launching a bimonthly Love InshAllah advice column to answer your burning questions about love and sex and... Read more
A fun New Year comic by cartoonist Connie Sun. Best of luck with your 2013 resolutions! Read more
I’ve had many humbling experiences in my life, including voluntarily going homeless for one week every year as part of an awareness-raising project. But my most humbling experience so far has been being unemployed. Since I left my job in October, I went from being the man-of-the-house to the man-in-the-house. My new househusband role begins at 6:45 am when I wake up to make and pack my wife’s lunch. By 7:15 am, I’ve also ironed her clothes. At 7:30 am,... Read more
Born in the 1970s at the tail-end of the women’s lib movement, I was a Gen X girl trying to figure out my role in an era of change and uncertainty. Girls in the 80s grew up fast. My mom’s lectures regarding my future involved college and career choices, not marriage. All of the girls I knew had boyfriends and little pills. Boyfriends were a cultural norm and very much a part of family nights and holiday dinners. The idea... Read more
Wishing our friends, family & readers a blessed and beautiful 2013 from the city in which Love, InshAllah was born! Read more
2012 – what a year! We started it with a love note to Jon Stewart and, a few days later, the New York Times featured Love InshAllah, catapulting the book to #1 on Amazon’s Women’s Studies List and in the top 200 books in the nation. Amazing press coverage continued, with reviews and features in the global media, including NPR, BBC, The Washington Post, Times of India, and Dawn Pakistan. Love InshAllah is now in its 5th printing and will... Read more
Hayah in Cape Town, 2009 July 3, 2009 – the day that I finally got the divorce papers in my hand. Walking away from the lawyer’s office, tears streaming down my face, heart overjoyed, arms wrapped for dear life around the precious file, I knew I was finally free. The three years prior to that day had been difficult. I had consented to an arranged marriage, despite alarms going off like sirens inside my head, in spite of a very... Read more
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai “I hear he walks around high school with his shirt unbuttoned, gold chains around his neck, and a girl on each arm,” my friend Shireen said. “No way!” I replied, feigning disdain. I hoped she didn’t catch the flicker of intrigue that crossed my face whenever she talked about the local bad boy, Faisal. Shireen and I were on the rishta track. We were marriageable Pakistani-Canadian girls: young, pretty and oh-so-housewifey. At sixteen, we were only... Read more
Love, InshAllah
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