She moved to New York City at 17 to attend university, feeling unsure of her sexuality and of America’s gay culture. This is a very nice memoir weaving in the author's interpersonal stories and connecting it to different elements of the Quran. Muslims are no strangers to being shunned for being different, so it frustrates me, too, that cultural conservatism still lingers in the Muslim community. Born in South Asia, she moved to the Middle East at a young age and has spent years feeling out of place, like her own desires and dreams don’t matter, and it’s easier to hide in plain sight.

Hijab Butch Blues — Lamya H

Lamya remembers examples of this, like when early on this couple “bemoaned the ‘homosexual agenda’” – as well as how they have grown in their allyship since then, making queer friends and confronting their prejudices. The essays in each part are linked by theme — one part for grappling with the various intersections of their queer, Muslim, immigrant identities; one for addressing the difficulties of coming out as queer, of navigating the world as queer, genderqueer, Muslim, and brown; and the last one for illustrating the ways in which their faith has helped guide them in creating a life for themself that “fourteen year old [Lamya] couldn’t even begin to imagine.I don't care if "queer Muslims exist", their deviant tendencies and blasphemous beliefs should NOT be "represented" or encouraged! I think another aspect of the community thing is also really just building communities of queer Muslims that are able to practise in ways that feel more expansive and queer and not gender-segregated, for example. An insider’s account of the rampant misconduct within the Trump administration, including the tumult surrounding the insurrection of Jan.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H: 9780593448762

Hutchinson, who served as an assistant to Mark Meadows, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, gained national prominence when she testified to the House Select Committee, providing possibly the most damaging portrait of Trump’s erratic behavior to date. Lamya H does a great job of writing about the intersection of her queerness with her Muslim and immigrant identities.butchness, butch-femme dynamics, and masc-of-center identity and not really branch out to work that touches more broadly on gender dynamics in queer spaces. Hafsa’s debut non-fiction book Modesty: A Fashion Paradox, was launched at the 2020 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. I think those are the things that have really saved me in the end – having access to community, and feeling a part of something that feels like it’s building towards justice.

Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H, Hardcover | Barnes Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir by Lamya H, Hardcover | Barnes

Their relationship helped Lamya understand the importance of focusing on “curious, kind dialogue and to support those I love—instead of fighting to fend off racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, [and] Islamophobes. and the LGBT community can calm down because I am not attacking them, I am explaining our religion, and how this book is a complete misrepresentation of it, and how if they want to talk about rights, talk about how this book is destroying ours.

Chapter by chapter, readers will feel a growing appreciation for Lamya’s intelligence, eloquence and courage. As I was reading, I thought about the novel — one of my favorite novels of all time — the title of the memoir is derived from, Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg. I’ve always thought of these characters and figures in the Quran as deeply human and messy, and this definitely made me way more empathetic towards them,” says Lamya, who began writing the book with an essay about Hajar, the wife of Prophet Abraham. A single Quranic verse is used to justify intimate partner violence because the Muslim mainstream is still beholden to ancient interpretations that are almost entirely made by cis straight men.

Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H - BookPage Book review of Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H - BookPage

And there is some other silliness that demonstrates how they only sees thing from this ultra-lefty college campus lens (I lean left, and work in a graduate program at a well-known university and these were many things that made me roll my eyes.An image of Lamya does, however, appear on the US cover of her book, featuring the author dressed in a hoodie and hijab, photographed from the back, her profile ever so slightly visible. Lamya intertwines personal history and journeys with her interpretations of the prophets' stories in the Quran. But one day in Quran class, she reads a passage about Maryam that changes everything: When Maryam learned that she was pregnant, she insisted no man had touched her. As is the nature of a memoir, many topics are discussed and could be considered trigger warnings for many people. I know what my staying entails: becoming part of the settler colonialist project that is this country, contributing toward imperialist wars with my taxes, becoming complicit in the government-backed abuse of other marginalized people.