My first long-term relationship was with an Iranian woman I met shortly after arriving for duty in Tehran as a draftee in the U.S. Army. I was 24. Though technically not a virgin, I was pretty inexperienced with the opposite sex. In college I was too busy for dating. There was a war underway. A lottery for the draft assigned me the unlucky number of 29. Any free time I had as a student at Kent State was spent manning... Read more
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.” -Hafiz I picked up Love, InshAllah with unfair expectations. I hoped that it would give me – a 30-year old woman – some solace in my continued plight of singlehood. Perhaps I secretly believed that one of the stories would inspire me to do something different and, magically, I would be engaged... Read more
Eid mubarak & a joyous Friday to all of our wonderful readers! The Brass Crescent Awards results are in: We won in both categories – Best Female Blog and Best Post – thanks to your amazing support! And, our Twitter Eid contest winner is @SyaTaha, who also blogs at A Musliminah in NL. We will be sending her autographed copy of Love InshAllah to the Netherlands in appreciation of her winning tweet, below: I came to a foreign town & Couchsurfed while finding an apartment.... Read more
It wasn’t until I had sex that I truly saw myself as a woman. Gender and gender issues simply did not matter to me in the way that they seemed to matter to others. When I took a gender studies class, I nearly went out of my mind. These students, mostly women, saw gender as the defining quality in their lives. Anything that anyone else—especially men—did emanated from the essential fact of their gender. Though I acknowledged that prejudice existed... Read more
Let me detail my faults before I showcase my better parts. I am not a patient person. I am actively trying to identify deep zen moments when I become particularly impetuous about my being in the world. I cannot say that I always have a great deal of success, but I am making a real effort to improve. I sometimes invest too deeply in people who do not invest in me. I hold on too long and hurt too much.... Read more
Here’s your chance to get a free, signed copy of Love, InshAllah! In celebration of Eid al-Adha and the themes of sacrifice, love, faith, commitment and familial bonds, we are inviting our readers to tweet us @loveinshallah your best love story. In 140-characters or less, share your love story (spiritual, romantic, familial, etc) — bonus points for humor! Deadline for tweets is Thursday, October 25th at 9:00pm PST. Ayesha & Nura will announce the winner on Friday morning and the... Read more
Reading Love, Inshallah inspired me to reflect on my own relationships, some of which I wrote about in my travel memoir, Abu Dhabi Days, Dubai Nights. As a non-Muslim American, I traveled to Abu Dhabi to teach English, and learned a lot from my Emirati and Arab female students about their relationships with men. Some of the older students told me about their arranged marriages, and my younger students shared what they hoped to find in their future husbands. Through... Read more
It’s the fall after my first year in college. Honestly, I don’t know how I survived it. I studied intensely in high school, graduating at the top of my class and earning enough scholarships to avoid loans. I worked as a cashier and volunteered with animals. I knew how to drive and manage my money. I thought I was ready for college and all its offerings: a foothold toward my future, a social and professional network of friends, and a... Read more
Welcome & thank you for visiting our site after listening to today’s Here & Now show! You can read more stories from our 25 wonderful contributors, perspectives from our global community of readers, or purchase Love InshAllah here. Read more
Pakistani activist Malala Yousufzai, speaking in 2009 aged eleven: “I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is education. And I’m afraid of no one.” Read more
Love, InshAllah
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