When I did something wrong, I wasn’t grounded or sent to my room. My mother threatened me with becoming a spinster. “No one will want to marry you if you behave like that,” she’d call out. I heard a longer version of that refrain once, and it affected me so deeply I vowed never to behave in a way that would warrant hearing it again. I was ten years old, and I had disobeyed my grandfather. He had asked me... Read more
Schloss Neuschwanstein, Germany Hello to the lovely women that wrote this book, My name is Lydia. I am not American neither am I a Muslim. I am German but I always felt drawn by the culture of the Middle East and Southwest Asia… I can’t tell you how often I cried while reading this book. Every story moved my heart by the beauty of it with or without happy end. Even if I am not an American neither a Muslim... Read more
Yusef & Samira I’m not a marriage counselor but it doesn’t take much to see that young Muslims’ unrealistic expectations, fears, families, and career ambitions – among other factors – are contributing to a high rate of single and divorced Muslims. In my own circle, for every happily married couple that I know, there are three or four people still looking for the right connection. For a long time I was one of those people. I was a true romantic,... Read more
Join Love, InshAllah co-editor Nura Maznavi this weekend at the LA Times Festival of Books at USC! She’ll be presenting on the panel, Love: American Style, on Sunday, April 22nd at 3pm in the Norris Theater. The panel will be moderated by LA Times columnist Meghan Daum and feature Nura and co-panelists Diane Farr and Ryan Van Meter. To reserve your (free) tickets, visit the LA Times Festival of Books website. Read more
Photo via Flickr Pareerica In ‘Love InshAllah we’re introduced to the raw reality of the American Muslim experience…the levels of religiosity, the many perspectives, the different journeys of love, passion, and faith. But what drew me to the anthology were not just the stories, but the women behind them. The realization that I could relate to each and every single one of them and that just as my story is multi-dimensional and justified… so is everyone else’s story. After reading... Read more
It has been 18 years since I met my husband online. Now my 13-year-old daughter is beginning to venture out into the same territory of cyberspace, but it is a world completely transformed from the one I navigated as a young college student. I find myself worrying about her as she spends her evenings in front of her laptop screen. Sometimes I’ll slip behind her, ask her some unrelated question like, “I hope you settled that issue with your best... Read more
My mother died the same day I submitted the final version of my story “Punk-Drunk Love” for Love, Inshallah. It was sudden and unexpected. I sent my manuscript in at 3 pm, and my little sister called me at 9 pm to say that Mom was being taken to the hospital after having been sick for three days. At 1:35 am I got the agonizing call that she was no longer with us. By 6 am, I was on a flight... Read more
Being a part of this book has, in ways, affirmed and strengthened my connection with my husband, while at the same time putting it under a scrutiny I had never expected. Our love story is tame compared to the wrenching stories of love, loss, and triumph in the rest of the book. I jokingly refer to us as the filler, the fluff, and I’m ok with being that. Years ago I said to friends that having a boring life is... Read more
Nura is back in San Francisco for two weeks and we’ve been having a glorious Bay Area and NorCal book tour, including readings in SF, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Mill Valley (at Throckmorton Theater with author Jane Ganahl) and waaaay up north near the Oregon border in Arcata, CA. Why Arcata? Nine years ago Nura met not only her hot personal trainer Rohan (whom she writes about in Love InshAllah) during her year in Sri Lanka as a Fulbright scholar, but... Read more
(From L to R: Love InshAllah writers Zahra Noorbaksh, Tanzila Ahmed, Nijla Mumin, Nura Maznavi, Ayesha Mattu & Asiila Imani) Because of your incredible support, ‘Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women‘ was listed by Amazon as one of the top 200 books in the nation and #1 on the women’s studies and Islam bestseller lists. It’s also been featured by global media including the New York Times (+ almost every major paper in the US), NPR, BBC, The Guardian, Times... Read more
Love, InshAllah
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