Trigger warning: This essay contains graphic descriptions of domestic violence and spiritual abuse. “And when the female infant buried alive is asked. For what sin she was slain.” Qur’an (81:9–10) I dug my nails into the green carpet of the bedroom floor to drag my stiff, red marked body toward…
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Being Black and Muslim in America isn’t easy. Whenever I meet someone new, curious about my racially ambiguous features dressed in modest Islamic clothing, including the hijab, they usually ask where are you from? I say Massachusetts. And then they say no, where are you from from? And I answer, I’m American, Black and Latina, and Muslim….
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*This is the first part of a series of post related to the impact of COVID-19 Like ripples in water, the whole world is experiencing the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. And with each wave, we are trying to find ways to cope with this “new normal”. Although some of the…
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I have always loved the month of Ramadan. It was always my springboard for the rest of the year, and I used it as a time to pause and reflect. I found the actual fasting hard, and so I devoured books around the virtues abstaining from food and drink for…
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March has become exhausting. A month that is supposed to be dedicated to women has now every women’s issue crammed in. We have no time to celebrate. We just have more to explain than ever. Last year for International Women’s Day, I issued an invitation to the AltMuslimah readers on…
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Clue/Pssst: The secret is hidden in a woman’s body This is our month. March goes beyond International Women’s Day on March 8th. It includes for the rest of the world both the celebration of spring and Mother’s Day. It is a time for celebration of the beginning of life, and…
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Throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, Christian and Muslim communities have historically discouraged dating. Religious values and cultural pressure both demand that men and women do not spend time together until they are ready to get engaged, usually to a partner who they don’t know very well. Of…
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Editor’s Note: Most people think the term a “Muslim romance author” is an oxymoron, but Islamic history reveals that stories of a romantic or sensual nature are very much a part of our tradition. After all, sexuality, love and marriage are as much a part of a Muslim’s humanity as they are…
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What inspired you to write this book? You’ve shared on social media that it was a decade-long project: take us through that journey briefly. Huda: I took my first stab at drafting a memoir at the height of the Iraq War. I knew I wanted to do something to put…
Read More“Men are the qawwamoon (protectors and maintainers) of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they [the men] support them [the women] from their [the men’s] means.“ Qur’an 4:34 Most Muslims, and perhaps even some non-Muslims, are familiar with this contentious Qur’anic verse. The Arabic…
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