It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race

Product Information

Similarly, Saima Mir’s ‘ A Woman of Substance’ – if I can just stop with the starry-eyed dreaming and giggling (vom!) for a second – is one of the most romantic stories I have ever read. Divorce is sometimes and very much a dirty word in my culture, though I’m slowly noticing the tides shifting (more so for the generation before me), and Saima Mir’s journey in ‘ A Woman of Substance’ is one for the silver screen. Her essays showcases that love is possible even after divorce. Honestly, even the coldest of hearts will be melted by this. I even heard Kaz Brekker say, “ Awwwww!” Can you believe it? On the Representation of Muslims by Nafisa Bakkar Years later the state of the national discourse has deteriorated even further, and Muslim women’s voices are still pushed to the fringes – the figures leading the discussion are white and male.

It’s Not About the Burqa – Mariam Khan in conversation It’s Not About the Burqa – Mariam Khan in conversation

We are all Muslim women – but that doesn’t mean we have the same opinions or personalities and through editing and events and the friendship we’ve built amongst the INATB sisterhood I’m grateful that we are all Muslim women but each individual with different opinions and views and we aren’t afraid to respectfully explore each other’s views. As much as this book is a dialogue with the reader, we, the contributors were speaking to each other too.Another striking piece of writing comes from the journalist Saima Mir in a bracing essay on marriage and independence. At 25, Mir had been married and divorced twice. Her first husband, a Muslim doctor in Mississippi, was 11 years her senior; the couple had met only once before their wedding. Mir was 23 when she married her second husband, also a Muslim. The relationship took the form of a bond of servitude. “A few months in and I was cooking all the meals and cleaning the house, waiting on everyone hand and foot.” In 2016, Mariam Khan read that David Cameron had linked the radicalization of Muslim men to the ‘traditional submissiveness’ of Muslim women. Mariam felt pretty sure she didn’t know a single Muslim woman who would describe herself that way. Why was she hearing about Muslim women from people who were neither Muslim, nor female? Bollywood has changed so much, it’s unbelievable, but it is reflective of India at the moment. I loved old bollywood, kabhi khushi Kabhi ghum, Kal Ho Na Ho, but, no, it’s not the same anymore. I don’t know if I can complain because, now, it is more realistic.

It’s Not About the Burqa – Edited by Mariam Khan Book Review: It’s Not About the Burqa – Edited by Mariam Khan

It’s Not About the Burqa is a timely collection of essays by Muslim women in the U.K. — poets, writers, journalists, lawyers, engineers, researchers – on a panoply of subjects ranging from clothing and sex to marriage, divorce, discrimination, immigration, mental health and representation. One issue often overlooked is that religious clothing can excite provocation even within the ranks of minority groups themselves – examples include the radio talk show presenter Maajid Nawaz and the author Ayaan Hirsi Ali – who find currency as self-appointed reformers. Elsewhere, clothing manufacturers such as Nike or Jo LaMode take an apparently atheistic view of religious apparel, while women who are veiled or cover their hair with mitpachats have been accused of monetising their faith or aiding radicalism. A lot of people want to listen and a lot of people don’t want to listen. It’s by default become my job to point out privilege and challenge how and by who by Muslim women are represented in society. I’m here to challenge people – if you feel challenged by the book and by me then good because I’ve been uncomfortable with Islamophobia and racism and sexism for a long time. We can’t make those with power share their power but it’s about time those with privilege were challenged and made uncomfortable too.’ Morning Digest | PM Modi, President Biden welcome progress in defence ties; Ukraine war unlikely to end in immediate future: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and moreWe wanted to be able to encourage a conversation that wasn’t always made up of Muslim women talking about the hijab or why they weren’t oppressed. Amaliah was created as a space for Muslim women to exist on their own terms, whether that was talking about dodgy dates, mental health, significant cultural moments or smashed avo on sourdough.” Contributors: Mona Eltahawy, Coco Khan, Sufiya Ahmed, Nafisa Bakkar, Afia Ahmed, Yassmin Midhat Abdel-Magied, Jamilla Hekmoun, Mariam Khan, Afshan D’souza-Lodhi, Salma Haidrani, Amna Saleem, Saima Mir, Salma El-Wardany, Aina Khan OBE, Raifa Rafiq, Malia Bouattia, Nadine Aisha Jassat MY REVIEW In her essay, Nafisa Bakkar remembers an obsession of finding someone who looks like yourself in an unusual position. Bakkar recounts the time she discovered the CEO of PepsiCo was a woman of Indian heritage. Bakkar looked for every titbit of information that could reinforce the idea that women like her could be successful. Reading this collection, I found many women like me, all of whom have found success in some way.

It’s Not About the Burqa’, edited by Mariam Khan Review: ‘It’s Not About the Burqa’, edited by Mariam Khan

This is such a a good read indeed, lot of things to take away and energising me with so many thoughts. Also writing about sexuality and Muslim women, Afshan D’Souza Lodhi explores queer spaces as a hijabi woman of colour. Navigating these spaces, especially when wearing that all-defining piece of fabric, has interesting consequences. As much as Islamophobia, another prominent theme that is interwoven throughout the collection is feminism. I have generally been avoiding white feminism because it doesn’t serve me, and the more I inhabit spaces outside of my community, the more I realise that my gender doesn’t seem to be much of the issue, but more so my faith and race. This meant that I wasn’t as passionate as I would have liked to be in the portions where feminism was explored in a Western context, however, Mariam Khan’s ‘ Feminism Needs to Die’ was an essay that I felt has echoed and given voice to my more recent concerns. I was left feeling and thinking a number of things after reading ‘It’s Not About the Burqa’ which is why I would especially recommend doing a buddy read with not only friends, but your family too. You’ll find yourself needing to have plenty of discussions once you finish reading, you’ll see. I’d recommend this to late teen readers as well as it captures some of the experiences that they’ll inevitably come to know.I found Salma el-Wardany’s A Gender Denied: Islam, Sex and the Struggle to Get Some an interesting read as gender segregation is not something I face much of. She interrogates interactions between the sexes especially when it comes to marriage and sexual fulfilment. Her essay centres around the idea that the repression of conversations about sex results in Muslim women being woefully underprepared for healthy relationships. What does it mean, exactly, to be a Muslim woman in the West today? According to the media, it’s all about the burqa.

be a Muslim woman? Spoiler: It’s not What does it mean to be a Muslim woman? Spoiler: It’s not

Moving, witty, enlightening and empowering - this is an anthology that, regardless of what walk of life you come from, should be considered compulsory reading. This is a vital book for non-Muslims and those seeking to understand Muslim feminism in the West. It will also add to an already rigorous body of writing about veiling. More insightful analysis can be found in Pious Fashion: How Muslim Women Dress by Elizabeth Bucar. Readers should also turn to Leila Ahmed’s bold Women and Gender in Islam, published in 1992. Mariam felt that too often, only one narrative of Muslim women was portrayed within the national news headlines, and what’s more, this narrative and the conversation surrounding it are not only being lead by those who are white and male, but they exclude Muslim women themselves entirely.

PDF EPUB Download

For the longest time, I wanted everyone else to realise the diversity of what it meant to be a Muslim woman. That’s why this book exists but along the way, I cemented this belief for myself too. I really embraced how different we all are. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. Nonetheless, Sofia I loved reading this. And sincerely pray that you may achieve guidance, sucess and prosperity in whatever you venture in ameen. Although I am not a bollywood fan esp of commercial movies which depicts frivolity and corrupts youth, esp when it comes to love and being obsessed with love ie Ashiqi.