Not another Muslim Christmas Song!

Last updated on: December 26, 2017 at 12:20 pm By NbAMuslims

The holiday season in the United States seems to begin earlier every year. This year, people hastily took down their scary Halloween décor and replaced it with happy Christmas ones. Stores, offices, and other establishments pipe a steady stream of holiday songs, and almost everyone purses their lips to let out a constant refrain of “Happy Holidays!” Consequently, for many American Muslims, the season is saturated with pressures (including from inside some Muslim communities) to participate in events and activities... Read more

Live Discussion: Black Muslim Resistance Asserting Our Space in the American Ummah

Last updated on: December 17, 2016 at 11:21 pm By NbAMuslims

Black Muslims navigate discrete social intersections of religion, race, and national identity. As a subgroup of American Muslim culture, Black Muslims encompass a spectrum of national experiences, from the enslaved to immigrants. Black Muslims played a vital role in Islam becoming a bona fide American religion and can lay claim to a rich social justice heritage rooted in continuous resistance against racism and inequality since slavery as well as anti-Muslim discrimination, anti-Blackness in Muslim communities and immigration. Black Muslims... Read more

False Attack Claims Reveal Muslim Youth Identity Crisis

Last updated on: December 16, 2016 at 7:59 am By NbAMuslims

False claims of anti-Muslim attacks potentially shed skepticism on any report made by Muslims. The broader society is inclined to ignore issues of racism, xenophobia, and gendered violence, all of which serve as catalysts for such attacks. Instead, there is a demand to have Muslims, especially Muslim women, provide a steady stream of incidents to feed a national preoccupation that portrays them as defenseless. Police recently discovered that a young Muslim college student lied that she was harassed on a subway by... Read more

American Muslim Women Resist Soft Target Stereotype

Last updated on: December 12, 2016 at 7:27 pm By NbAMuslims

Today’s media is saturated with stories featuring Muslim women targeted by predators infused with hatred. One consequence of tenacious presentations of Muslim women as victims promotes stereotypes of them as feeble soft targets for anti-Muslim aggression. 8 Muslim women writers and thinkers (including me) share their perspectives about social narratives making them less safe. The Salafi Feminist The media’s framing of Muslim women as passive victims plays into a convenient narrative that lends to the idea of nonMuslims – or... Read more

Live Discussion: Prayer and Pepper Spray: American Muslim Women Safety

Last updated on: December 8, 2016 at 4:55 pm By NbAMuslims

The increase of attacks on Muslim women across the country once again raises questions about the safety of Muslim women, hindrances on their autonomy, and the importance of dialogues about defense of self in American Muslim Communities. The of aggression against easily-identified covered Muslim women and prevalent media portrayal of them as perpetual victims also regenerates the need to address issues of the politicization of hijab, examine national narratives stereotyping us as feeble, and foster a shift from victimization to... Read more

Don’t Confuse Anger for Fear

Last updated on: November 21, 2016 at 1:33 pm By NbAMuslims

Embed from Getty Images Editor’s Note: This piece is a guest post, written by Sahar Abdulaziz Abdulaziz’s post is third in a 3-part series amplifying the voices and perspectives of NbA White Muslim women as members of the American Muslim culture. By Sahar Abdulaziz Tyranny masked as democracy has reared its vile head and won, and those who have been marginalized, tyrannized, threatened, and vilified are once again propped up as targets for outright unabashed aggression and violence. Moreover, those... Read more

White Muslims and Racism: Joining the Conversations

Last updated on: November 18, 2016 at 9:39 pm By NbAMuslims

Embed from Getty Images Editor’s Note: This piece is a guest post, written by Lindsay Angelow. Angelow is an international health / community health professional who accepted Islam in 1993. She is seeking to build a network of like-minded Muslims to strategize around engaging white Muslims in racial justice work both within the Muslim community and in society at large. Angelow’s post the second in a 3-part series amplifying the voices and perspectives of NbA White Muslim women as members... Read more

Keith Ellison’s DNC Chair Bid and Muslim Social Citizenship

Last updated on: November 16, 2016 at 9:40 am By NbAMuslims

By Layla Abdullah-Poulos First Muslim US congressperson Rep. Keith Ellison formally announced that he would seek to become the next Democratic National Committee chairman. Ellison already received support from notable Democratic Party members, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Chris Murphy, and Amy Klobuchar. While the election for the political party’s next chair probably will not be until February or March 2017, the early support for unapologetically Muslim Ellison by some prominent party members serves a sharp contrast... Read more

White, Muslim, American and Hijab-Strong

Last updated on: November 18, 2016 at 1:31 pm By NbAMuslims

Editor’s Note: This piece is a guest post, written by Danielle LoDuca. LoDuca is a third generation American of European descent and writer of the blog The Muslim Next Door. LoDuca’s post is the first in a 3-part series amplifying the voices and perspectives of NbA White Muslim women as members of the American Muslim culture. By Danielle LoDuca It’s funny; being light-skinned, blue-eyed and named “Danielle”, removing my hijab really could work as a plan to disguise my... Read more

#Muslimahvote2016 – Sisters Hit the Polls

Last updated on: November 16, 2016 at 2:14 am By NbAMuslims

American Muslim women all over the country cast their ballots for or against candidates this election. The election season was tumultuous, to say the least. Despite apparent apathy felt by many voters, the importance of voting was not lost on many American Muslim women. American Muslim women hit the polls early on the east coast: They brought their children with them, including me: And they voted into the evening: Some sisters even stopped for a post-election treat: The... Read more