Why I Don’t Compete in Love
Posted: May 16, 2013 Filed under: Your voices | Tags: american muslims, dating, From Rae with love, love, Love InshAllah, Muslim love, Muslim relationships, relationships, women writers, your voices 1 Comment »
In the past couple of years I’ve watched friends, former lovers and exes alike choose people to boo up with and partner up with. Some I’ve been surprised by, others made sense to me. Real talk, it doesn’t matter what I think at the end of the day. If you like it, I love it.
I could ask why someone chooses one person over another person but I don’t think there’s any real rhyme or reason. It’s like asking why one person’s voice sounds like a warm and lovely lullaby while another person’s voice sounds like nails against a chalkboard.
I just don’t think we have a choice in the matter.
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Thoughts of a Wasat Girl: On Writing
Posted: March 13, 2013 Filed under: Thoughts of a Wasat Girl | Tags: Ali al Saeed, american muslims, Bahrain, creativity, Deonna Kelli, faith, Islam, Love InshAllah, Muslim love, Muslim men, Muslim relationships, Muslim women, Muslim women and writing, personal transformation and writing, Phoebe Boswell, power of writing, Third Space, transcultured identity, women writers, writing 5 Comments »Editor’s note: Writer and Love InshAllah anthology contributor Deonna Kelli Sayed is coming on board as a LoveinshAllah.com editor and our first monthly columnist!
Look for her column, “Thoughts of a Wasat Girl” every second Wednesday of the month!
I delivered a lecture about almost two decades ago at a regional conference sponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on Islam in America. That academic-type gathering occurred years before my marriage, in the middle of graduate school, and during my early stage as a writer and a Muslim.
In that long-ago lecture, I suggested the success for Islam in America was not merely about institution building or matters of isolation versus assimilation. What we needed, I pompously postulated, was to embrace the position of being in-between multiple cultures, because this transcultured space was globalism living out loud. It was where culture was happening, and we had to claim and name our power, that middle space – “wasat” culture. I predicted that Muslim women would be the ones to first secure this middle space through writing and cultural expression. I called such women Wasat Girls.
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Baby, you’re a big girl now
Posted: March 6, 2013 Filed under: Your voices | Tags: family, Geisha School Dropout, Julie Kang, Love InshAllah, Mother-daughter, motherhood, mothering, Muslim love, Muslim men, Muslim relationships, Muslim women, parenting, time flies, women writers, your voices 3 Comments »
Dear Emi,
In a couple weeks’ time, I will be ironing a navy blue pinafore and a crisp white Peter Pan collar blouse and hanging them in your closet in preparation for your first day of kindergarten. I will be cutting the price tags off of your new backpack and lunchbox, filling the latter with sensible snacks and a note reading, “So proud of you! See you soon!” I will update my Facebook stream with an ironic comment that will mask how I really feel. I will then try to sleep… but instead, I will remember.
I will remember the day you were born, the relief I felt as your took your first breath. I will remember your big brother, 3 years old, greeting you for the first time with “Let’s see the baby! Hello, baby!”
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On Silence
Posted: February 20, 2013 Filed under: Writers | Tags: Cheryl Strayed, Love InshAllah, motherhood, Muslim dating, Muslim love, Muslim men, Muslim relationships, Muslim women, silence, spirituality, Wild, women writers 1 Comment »
It’s 6 o’clock in the morning and though the house is still and dark, I am awake. It is the way it is these days. As much as I want to hibernate like a bear storing up my unconscious hours like an extra padding of fat for the coming months ahead when a little one will be waking me up every few hours, I can’t. I treasure my sleep. I adore my sleep. I could sing odes, sonnets, and serenade sleep– and yet it is the very thing that eludes me these days.
Still, in some ways, the silence in this early hour, though entirely unwanted, is beautiful in its own way. I felt reminded of this yesterday at my now-weekly checkups at the doctor’s office when they strapped me to a heart monitor and left me to my own devices for twenty minutes. Or rather, they left me without my own devices as my Kindle and brand new iPhone were tucked away in a purse just beyond my reach. I lay in the quiet, fluorescent room with nothing to do but lie back and feel my son do the samba inside me.
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Friday Love: Love, Alhamdulillah!
Posted: December 21, 2012 Filed under: Friday Love | Tags: 2012 wrap-up, american muslims, love, Love InshAllah, love stories, Muslim love, Muslim relationships, Muslim women, New Year, relationships, women writers 6 Comments »
2012 – what a year!
We started it with a love note to Jon Stewart and, a few days later, the New York Times featured Love InshAllah, catapulting the book to #1 on Amazon’s Women’s Studies List and in the top 200 books in the nation.
Amazing press coverage continued, with reviews and features in the global media, including NPR, BBC, The Washington Post, Times of India, and Dawn Pakistan. Love InshAllah is now in its 5th printing and will be translated and published in Spring 2013 in Indonesia.
We kicked off our Love Tour in San Francisco just before Valentine’s Day and read to packed houses in Boston, New York, DC, and LA. We continued our appearances throughout the year with over 30 readings across the country (from Atlanta to Chicago to the SF Bay Area), book festivals (what’s up, LA and Miami!), and online, Skyping with book clubs and university classrooms from coast to coast.
We started this blog to provide a safe and open space to discuss the issues impacting all of us, no matter what our faith or background – love, relationships, intimacy, and community. We’re thrilled by the stories and posts you’ve shared with us! Your contributions and support led to two Brass Crescent Blog Awards: Best Female Blog and Best Post.
We’ll be on hiatus until January 2nd, but as we enter 2013, watch this space for more love stories, posts, and exciting new developments, including:
A sex advice column!
A podcast!
and
A sequel?! (YES!)
Thank you to our amazing writers, families, friends, and readers for helping us amplify the voices of American Muslim women. The support, encouragement, and love we’ve received this year is overwhelming and inspiring.
Wishing you all a blessed new year filled with health, happiness, and love, inshAllah!
With love and salaams,
Ayesha & Nura
–
PS – We leave you with a video of another wonderful event this year, Nura’s wedding! (And, find out what happened before her wedding by picking up your copy of Love InshAllah today!)
Have a wonderful holiday season and see you back here on January 2nd!
Your voices