altMuslimah.com (“altM”) grew out of a grassroots effort within the Princeton, NJ community that was focused initially on gender-related discourse through a book club. One of the book club’s early meetings discussed Living Islam Out Loud, a collection of essays by Muslim American women, and the club had the pleasure of hosting the book’s editor, Saleemah Abdul Ghafur, at its meeting. The conversation that ensued that day was eye opening in that it revealed the deep-seated frustrations of Muslim American women, ages 18-45, and their need for a forum to discuss and find solutions for their concerns.
Today, altM has become a unique space for compelling commentary on gender-in-Islam from both the male and female, Muslim and non-Muslim, perspectives. In addition to a large and ever-growing readership, altM has received numerous invitations from prestigious universities, think tanks, and mainstream media to speak publicly at various fora, partner on gender-related programming, and, perhaps most notably, to share content with the likes of the Washington Post.
Scroll through the interactive timeline below to view the his/herstory of altM.