Do you know what this means?”, she said in a desperate tone. Her husband looked down with distraught eyes, as if to mourn. He knew the challenges that lay ahead. All his thoughts were now filled with dread. To bring up a girl child in this world, To protect her…
Read More
This election cycle has been difficult to experience, even for adults. Civil conversations and respect for diversity have been sidelined, and the loudest voices in politics and on television now are frighteningly extreme. Unsurprisingly the hateful rhetoric has filtered into American schools. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has just…
Read More
Mariam: The biggest challenge I face as a working mom is striking the right work-home balance. I’ve taken various career detours to make sure that I’m able to be home as much as possible when the kids are home. This included changing my area of legal specialization, going on flex-time schedules,…
Read More
My son, Ibrahim, arrived small yet mighty in a Central Asian hospital one February morning, a miniature version of his Afghan father; brown skin, dark hair, a broad brow. On the inside, he carried my O- blood. I knew that this child was cut from the same cloth as my…
Read More
Parents today are justifiably concerned about raising their kids in the Islamophobic and anti-Arab climate that seems to prevail in much of the Western world. Now is a good time to look at the potential silver linings and strategies we can use to make our children and youth stronger from…
Read More
The nation’s capital is currently debating legislation that would provide paid family and medical leave for all of its residents and employees. And, no, I do not mean the U.S. Congress, but the D.C. Council—the local government that services the residents of the District of Columbia. But if this legislation…
Read More
This piece is a follow up to the essay, “Accidentally Childfree”.
“Do you want to be in your marriage?” She asked me, matter-of-factly.
For months I wrestled with this question, always too afraid to broach it during daylight hours. But here we were, in her bright little office, and her words flooded the room.
On that day, I did not have an answer for her.
Raising a child is a difficult feat. Raising a brown child in America is even trickier. Raising a brown, Muslim child in America seems almost impossible. Although I experienced the stress and love of caring for my son Ibrahim, who endured an illness and eventually passed away, I am now…
Read More
<< From the AltMuslimah Archives >>I have no issue with Christmas. It’s a wonderful and festive time of year, but my husband and I just don’t consider it to be a part of our household’s celebrations.
Read More
Are you part of the 9/11 or are you ISIS?” “Did you ever kill anyone?” “Are you going to bomb this place?” These are some typical questions that 12-year-old Abdu Rrahman Mohamed says he’s been asked by his non-Muslim classmates week after week in his Long Beach, California, school, he…
Read More