This past week saw the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid-al-Fitr celebration. We hope you and your family had a beautiful holiday and may the blessings and baraka of this sacred month sustain us until the next one! With a perspective on community and Eid festivities, writer and community activist Hind Makki: “…I didn’t celebrate with the congregants of the mosque I grew up attending; I didn’t offer my Eid prayer in a massive soccer field... Read more
Many of our readers have told us that they were incredibly touched by the story of Tolu Adiba, who wrote so movingly about being a closeted lesbian in an orthodox Muslim community. The writer, Ify Okoye, pens a post about her recent decision to come out, below. “I think the responsibility that we have as gay Americans to the extent that we can — and we ought to be really ambitious about the extent to which we can —... Read more
On a cold New York night in a dimly lit dive in the Lower East Side, I went on eighteen dates in exactly ninety minutes. A close friend from college forwarded me an e-mail with details about a South Asian Muslim speed dating event. With the curiosity of an amateur anthropologist and the idealism of a single girl hoping to finally meet a guy to take home to her parents, I decided to sign up and walked into the evening... Read more
As Jane Eyre says, Reader, I married him. Or should I say, I married them? After all, we are three — I, my husband, and our daughter, little Lemon. There is much to write about our marriage, our new home, the life we are settling into together. I will get to all that in due time — after all, even my husband sends me text messages pleading, “Update your blog!!!!!!” (with multiple exclamation points, no less, the blasphemer). It’s July... Read more
Last time we heard from Yusef, he had written a wonderful post for this blog entitled Who I need to be for you, detailing how he changed himself to become more open to finding the love of his life, Samira (below, mashAllah!). This time, Yusef is going homeless. (more…) Read more
I didn’t mean to misplace my spirituality. I just lost it while searching for my identity. After a tumultuous marriage and divorce, all I wanted to do was scrape the remnants of the relationship from my being. In Pashto, a girl’s reputation is like a mirror, a chip or crack makes it look ugly. Thinking that my divorce was a mar on my honor, I wanted to not be me: the 24-year old girl married and divorced while her friends... Read more
The crippling obsession with skin color or “fairness” isn’t limited to South Asia, but wherever it surfaces it can deeply impact self-image, professional success and the search for a lifelong partner, particularly for women. It’s wonderful to see celebratory images of darker-skinned South Asian women and men combating this shadeism/racism through the new Tumblr “Dark, Lovely & South Asian.” Take a look & submit images of your own! Read more
Deepest love, respect and prayers for the fallen and their families at the gurdwara in Wisconsin, from your Muslim sisters. Read more
With her Judo match today, Olympian Wojdan Shahrkhani became the first woman to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympic Games. “I am happy to be at the Olympics,” [Shahrkhani] whispered in Arabic, her brother, Hassan, holding both her arms. “Unfortunately, we did not win a medal, but in the future we will and I will be a star for women’s participation.” Her father, Ali, a judo referee, told The Associated Press he “cried like a baby” watching his daughter compete.... Read more
Omid and Roya Some women have dreams about their weddings. Some men dream about finding “the one.” I’ve dreamed about having a kid…ever since I was 12. Yup, it’s kind of freaky, but I have always wanted to be a dad. (more…) Read more
Love, InshAllah
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