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. 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. 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. Where is the space for Muslim women to comment? To share their own thoughts, truths, opinions and realities? Feeling as though the voices of Muslim women were being pushed increasingly into the very fringes of the conversations of which they were the subject, Mariam set into action, and It’s Not About the Burqa began to take shape. Here, Mariam tells us what she’s learnt in the last year.

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

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 Nonetheless, Sofia I loved reading this. And sincerely pray that you may achieve guidance, sucess and prosperity in whatever you venture in ameen. This is such a a good read indeed, lot of things to take away and energising me with so many thoughts. 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. I loved this essay, and now, reviewing this, I’ve realised just how much Nafisa Bakkar’s essay continues to resonate with me and will continue to do so. The Clothes of My Faith by Afia AhmedTaking one of the most politicized and misused words associated with Muslim women and Islamophobia, It’s Not About the Burqa is poised to change all that. Here are voices you won’t see represented in the national news headlines: seventeen Muslim women speaking frankly about the hijab and wavering faith, about love and divorce, about feminism, queer identity, sex, and the twin threats of a disapproving community and a racist country. Funny, warm, sometimes sad, and often angry, each of these essays is a passionate declaration, and each essay is calling time on the oppression, the lazy stereotyping, the misogyny and the Islamophobia. I’m not here to speak on behalf of all Muslim women,’ Afia Ahmed writes in Clothes of My Faith, an essay in which she explores the notion of choice towards wearing a hijab. Ahmed remarks that this piece of clothing has become a politicised, fashionable contradiction far removed from what she believes are its theological roots: a statement of faith and Islamic identity. 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 What does it mean, exactly, to be a Muslim woman in the West today? According to the media, it’s all about the burqa. 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?

It’s Not About the Burqa, edited by Mariam Khan Picador

The book provides a collection of diverse experiences and opinions, a refreshing change from the staid representation in the mainstream media of the Muslim community as a monolith. But while some essays are very good, some others, such as Afia Ahmed’s and Raifa Rafiq’s, pale in comparison. 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. 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 more 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.And if they do not give us the mic to speak, we build our own stage – I was never a fan of their stage anyway; how correct it stood, how sturdy and mute, how cold it was.” – Raifa Rafiq It’s Not About the Burqa by Mariam Khan (Editor) 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.