Today I was interviewed for a Radio 4 documentary that will most probably come out in a way that doesn’t reflect my full feelings. It is being made by Sayeeda Warsi whose politics and complicity in structural violence as a Conservative party member, former Cabinet minister and House of Lords peer, I ardently oppose. She asked me questions about myself and my views and I … Continue reading What does it mean to be a Muslim woman?
I meant to write a different blog post, I’ve been meaning to for ages – something about the sexualisation of Muslim women and how islamophobia colludes with the patriarchal imagination to dominates us in ways specific… But it’s a complex piece to write. And I feel a different thought flowing through me today so let’s go with that instead. I’ve been thinking a lot about … Continue reading Theatre meant a chance to delay homework by one night and pack an extra packet of crisps in your lunchbox for the bus home
Since 2013, February 1st has been marked as an annual “World Hijab Day”. The intention behind this labelling was that women (Muslim and non-Muslim) globally would be invited to experience wearing a head-covering for one day in hopes of fostering “religious tolerance and understanding”. I get where this comes from, I do – but I do not support the endeavor. In suggesting that one must actually … Continue reading This World Hijab Day put your money where your mouth is
I fully fully back the importance of representation. I get it. I get that it matters who we see because that impacts what we can imagine. It hurts to be unimaginable. It hurts to never be an image equated with beauty. It matters that more and different body types and shapes and colours with different features and hair textures and skin tones get visibility and … Continue reading Becoming Market Niche isn’t the same as Becoming Free
This time last year I wrote a summary post titled, ‘An A-Z on being Muslim in Britain in 2015’. Looking back, as 2016 ends, I have no idea how. No idea how I could list it like that; explain it like that. Since then it feels like everything has changed and nothing has. Brexit happened, Trump is happening, refugees are innumerable, existence is criminalised, but … Continue reading Muslims Like Me
A friend of mine once told me that one of the things she most respected about her partner was her ability to say, ‘I don’t know’. ‘I don’t know’ was the humility to admit her lack of knowledge and to acknowledge that some things just had not been thought through yet. It deserved respect because it was rare, indeed, it is rare to hear those … Continue reading Not Everything has (or needs) a Feminist Explanation
I’ve noticed that Islam and my identity as a Muslim are the things I mention least on this blog. If I’m honest I have deliberately avoided talking about Islam at times this year. My silence has felt heavy, but the truth is that it’s been difficult to talk about. Difficult as an individual, difficult as a Muslim and difficult as someone who visibly identifies with … Continue reading An A-Z on being Muslim in Britain in 2015
Content Warning: discussion of misogyny, racism, Islamaphobia, imperialism, oppression and mention of war, religion, Western beauty standards, sex, slut-shaming, victim-blaming and rape. This is quite a self-indulgent post. A post about trying to work out by working through, where my feminism stands in regards to others and about my conceptualisation of “feminism” itself. Lately I have begun to feel slightly torn about my own perception … Continue reading Intersectional, Radical, Unpalatable and Abrasive; that is the feminism I’m about.
The Brown Hijabi 