Love, InshAllah editors Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi recently sat down for a conversation with UC Riverside Professor Toby Miller as part of his cultural studies podcast series. Over brunch at Downtown LA’s delicious and historic Nickel Diner, the three chatted about the intention, purpose and history of the book and the editors’ hopes once the book is released next week! The entire podcast is available via podbean and iTunes. Read more
Leila Khan was born in Pakistan and has lived in various countries in Asia and Europe before settling in the US at the age of 11. A lawyer by training and profession, her writing has largely been academic, in the form of book reviews, law review comments, and chapters in books. A couple of years ago, she joined a writing group and started writing about her life experience of searching for belonging as a Pakistani, Muslim woman who spent most of her... Read more
An excerpt from Angela’s story, “Love in the Andes”: “It was 2:00 am. Somehow, four hours had passed like minutes while we shared our life experiences about places we had visited around the world, our families, our jobs, our likes and dislikes. I was entranced by this man who spoke four languages fluently, enjoyed international travel as much as I did, and took care of his whole family back in Brazil. He was attractive, well educated, and amused by my stories. “I have to go.” I... Read more
Huda Al-Marashi’s piece in Love InshAllah is an excerpt from a manuscript she’s been working on for six years. She first started writing after September 11th, and relates her writing journey: “I started writing scenes that spoke to the experience of growing up Muslim and American in California, but over time, I realized I was writing to an agenda rather than telling a unified story. I had to step back and think about the story I most wanted to tell, and I... Read more
Tolu Adiba (pen name) is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants and converted to Islam as a teenager. She resides on the East Coast and has been involved in volunteering with a number of prominent American Muslim initiatives and organizations over the years. An excerpt from Tolu’s story, “A Prayer Answered”: “I was drawn to Islam’s simplicity. I set out on a path, like so many lesbians and gays, trying to reconcile my faith and my sexuality, both of which I believed stemmed from... Read more
Yasmine Khan is a graduate student whose professional interests lie in advancing multiculturalism, diversity training, and fund development. She’s also a photographer and long term blogger at SweepTheSunshine.com. An excerpt from Yasmine’s story, “It Will Be Beautiful”: “Slowly, we connected over Facebook comments, emails every few days, and intermittent text messaging. Many of our conversations were about books, sharing recommendations and discussing novels we had both read. One night in late January, as we wound down a Gmail Chat conversation, he said, “I... Read more
Chinyere Obimba is in her final year at Harvard Medical School. She was born and raised in Michigan, via Arkansas and Nigeria, where her parents are from originally. She loves languages, double-majoring in Spanish and Cellular and Molecular Biology in college, and recently learning Portugese. She is currently applying for residency in family medicine and hopes to focus her career on community health and maternal-child health, saving time to write and maybe dance a little samba on the side. An excerpt from Chinyere’s... Read more
Aida Rahim is a Malaysian-American engineer and lover of the outdoors. She is currently working for a company that develops fiber optic instruments. During her free time, she loves physical activity, especially hiking. From Aida: “The best hike I’ve been on was up Franconia Ridge in New Hampshire. The hike was strenuous and the views from the ridge were breathtaking! The craziest hike was in the Adirondacks. We hiked up in a snow blizzard in substandard protection (running shoes, rain jacket, track... Read more
Zahra Noorbakhsh is a writer, actor and stand-up comedian, whose one-woman shows All Atheists Are Muslim and Hijab and Hammerpants have appeared at the New York International Fringe Theater Festival, San Francisco Theater Festival, and Solo Performance Workshop Festival to widespread critical acclaim. Zahra says of her love for comedy: “As an Iranian woman with a heritage rich in satire, I’ve always loved the power of comedy to bring people together. We can sympathize all we want in drama, but in order to genuinely laugh at... Read more
Melody Moezzi is an activist, attorney and author. She won a Georgia Georgia Author of the Year Award in 2007 for her first book, War on Error: Real Stories of American Muslims. She is currently writing her second book (to be published by Penguin), a memoir about her experiences with bipolar disorder and also with a bipolar identity as an Iranian-American Muslim woman. An excerpt from Melody’s piece, “Love In the Time of Biohazards”: “When I first called Matthew from Montana, I must... Read more
Love, InshAllah
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