What do Islamic notions modesty entail in the business of selling modest clothing? Sarah Farrukh spoke with the Jabir Tarin, founder of Maqbool Islamic Clothing, about the story behind the brand and the unique challenges of catering to both faith and fashion.
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Lanky models in high heels saunter down the catwalk, one wearing a huge pink rose headpiece while another’s face is draped in a taupe silk headscarf adorned with dangling gold accessories.
But this is not a typical fashion show. There’s no-see-through sheaths, naked midriffs or long exposed legs that scream sexy. Instead, everyone on the runway at the Islamic Fashion Fair show is covered from head to toe in loose-flowing fabrics with a variety of textures and colors.
Award-winning slam poet Ainee Fatima spoke to Altmuslimah’s Shazia K. Farook about being featured in one of the most popular mainstream teen magazines
today, “Seventeen.” Ainee talks poetry, love, and her social justice pursuits.
Social Media Activist-Blogger Amir Ahmad Nasr, a digital revolutionist, recently spoke to Associate Editor Shazia Kamal Farook about his new book “My Isl@m: How Fundamentalism Stole My Mind—and Doubt Freed My Soul”—a work that chronicles his path to finding himself through cyberactivism.
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Michael Muhammad Knight’s books bend things. His writings stretch across literary genres, blurring the neat demarcations between identity and faith, and interrogating the boundaries of what is accepted as truth. Knight is an acquired taste, to be sure. Yet, he never fails as a writer to explore the outer margins of American Islamic identity and creative expression. Tripping With Allah: Islam, Drugs, and Writing (Soft Skull Press, March 2012) is his latest piece of work that keeps on bending.
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I have spent some time on this site commenting about the TV show, Parenthood. Today is no different, especially since Parenthood’s ambitious and successful working mom, Julia Braverman, appears to be the poster child for the latest development in feminism: Sheryl Sandberg and her advice to women to “lean in.”
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There was once a young four-year-old Moroccan girl named Rajae who lived in West Amsterdam. One day, she accompanied a Dutch friend to ballet classes and it was there she heard Chopin and Mozart for the first time.
It was a moment that changed her life.
“When I heard this music,” she tells me over Skype, “It was like a spiritual experience.” She intuitively knew she was destined for an artistic life.
“SubhanAllah!” I heard my friend screaming as I was brushing my teeth one morning. Alarmed, I ran into her room to see if she was all right. She sat in front of her computer, beaming from ear to ear. “A company has finally invented a halal nail polish!” she grinned. Like my friend, many Muslim women throughout the world are rejoicing over the recent invention of a “wudu [ablution]-friendly” nail polish, known as O2M Breathable polish.
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Some time ago, I complained to a friend that there were few good children’s books on Muslims or Islamic themes. I’m an American-born Muslim woman, and I was looking for books to share with my older daughter Maryam, then three. I wanted lively, upbeat bedtime books that would introduce her to our faith and identity while emphasizing universal values.
My friend, a thoughtful educator at a local Islamic school invited me to visit the school’s library. Unfortunately, that visit largely confirmed my dismal view.
February 1, 2013 marked the first World Hijab Day, a day organized by New Yorker Nazma Khan to allow women to experience the hijab firsthand. Citing discrimination from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, she conceived of the idea so that those who have never worn hijab themselves could walk in the shoes of women who have.
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