Muslim Women Speak

Living Islam Out Loud presents the first generation of American Muslim women who have always identified as both American and Muslim. These pioneers have forged new identities for themselves and for future generations, and they speak out about the hijab, relationships, sex and sexuality, activism, spirituality, and much more. Contributors: Su'ad Abdul-Khabeer, Sham-e-Ali al-Jamil, Samina Ali, Sarah Eltantawi, Yousra Y. Fazili, Suheir Hammad, Mohja Kahf, Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, Asra Q. Nomani, Manal Omar, Khalida Saed, Asia Sharif-Clark, Khadijah Sharif-Drinkard, Aroosha Zoq Rana, Inas Younis

In the wake of September 11th. Muslim women in the West found themselves more marginalized than ever by a panicked discourse that did little to promote a true understanding of Islam or the Islamic world. Here. in this ambitious volume that includes essays. poetry, fiction, memoir, plays, and artwork, Muslim women speak for themselves, revealing a complexity of experience and thought that escapes most Western portrayals. Islam is, as editor Fawzia Afzal-Khan puts it only "one spoke in the wheel of our lives." In Shattering the Stereotypes. essays by such writers as Ayesha Jalal, the Pakistani-American historian, poems by award-winning poets including Sucheir Hammad and Nathalie Handal, and a selection of short fiction and plays that are not just ethnically but attitudinally diverse, together make a more rounded portrait of what it is to be a Muslim woman in the 21st century.

Muslim Women Speak challenges western stereotypes of Muslim women and their roles in family and community. Through this rich tapestry, the voices of Muslim women reveal the variety and complexity of life often covered by the veil.

Muslim women have mostly been discussed and studied as passive victims who have no agency. Muslim Women Speak seeks to correct this by traversing an expansive canvas of dreams, aspirations, memory and everyday lives of both the ‘researcher’ and the ‘researched’ in an extensive study conducted in several states of India. Through a presentation and analysis of Indian Muslim women’s narratives about their own situation, the book challenges the image of Muslim women as historic victims of Islam and Muslim men. The book includes insights on the agency of young Muslim women and the impact of violence on their everyday lives after a violent ‘event’ or ‘episode’ passes into history and memory. It brings forth not only the ‘voices’ that have long been considered ‘silent’ but also dwells upon the epistemological and socio-political concerns of this ‘silencing’. In doing so, this book confronts the fault lines within the Indian feminist sisterhood and offers a considered critique of the women’s movement in India from within. The book will be mandatory reading for activists, government departments, policy planners, and students and scholars of gender studies and sociology.

"In this breakthrough of startling, refreshing voices, superficially simple women's lore (like the singing of lullabies) comes alive." --Whole Earth Review This volume is a collection of autobiographical and biographical writings by and about Middle Eastern women. Many of the selections have been translated by the editors from Arabic, Persian, or French; they not only represent real women from a wide range of occupations, points of view, and socioeconomic status, but also touch on major themes in the contemporary Muslim world.

Selected as Emma Watson's Jan/Feb 2019 pick for her feminist book club, Our Shared Shelf A Guardian Best Book of the Year Shortlisted for London's Big Read From established literary heavyweights to emerging spoken word artists, the writers in this ground-breaking collection blow away the narrow image of the 'Muslim Woman'. Hear from users of Islamic Tinder, a disenchanted Maulana working as a TV chat show host and a plastic surgeon blackmailed by MI6. Follow the career of an actress with Middle-Eastern heritage whose dreams of playing a ghostbuster spiral into repeat castings as a jihadi bride. Among stories of honour killings and ill-fated love in besieged locations, we also find heart-warming connections and powerful challenges to the status quo. From Algiers to Brighton, these stories transcend time and place revealing just how varied the search for belonging can be. Alongside renowned authors such as Kamila Shamsie, Ahdaf Soueif and Leila Aboulela are emerging voices, published here for the first time.

The twentieth century should be remembered in missions as the time when women got lost. Over that time, the voices of women missionaries, leaders, and facilitators of new Christian movements were all too often excluded from missiological discourse and strategic mission discussion. It is hoped that this book signals a revival in the contribution of women to mission in a way that values what they have to offer.