By Mariam Sheikh Hakim @MariamKSHakim Like many myths about Islam, the Quran and Muslims, I’ve always heard the worst from Islamophobic extremists and Islamist extremists alike. They tend to share pretty much the same language, online content and perpetuate the same awful narratives about Muslims and their supposed religious practices. As time wears on I’m starting …
Last month the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, wrote in The Times newspaper that a significant number of British Muslim women could speak little or no English language. He wrote: “Consider this: new figures show that some 190,000 British Muslim women — or 22 per cent — speak little or no English despite many having …
#TraditionallySubmissive – An Interview with Dr Sukaina Hirji Read More »
Every stranger. Every person. Every human. Every hair. Every contour. Every wrinkle. Every ignorant line. She searched their faces in earnest, would it be him, could it be him, could it be them. What was it that drove them to such cowardice  and evil? She was afraid. The fear could be seen on her …
by Aisha Hussain Rasheed @ishahr Maldives is a small island nation in the Indian ocean known for its scenic beauty. What most people don’t know about the country is that it is young democracy where the first democratic elections were held in 2008. The first democratically elected government was forced to resign due to police …
by Roszeen Afsar @Roszeen In my previous piece, ‘The Unwritten Woman’, I highlighted the need for women of different backgrounds to write about their experiences,  here I want to focus on women writing as a profession. The idea for these two blog pieces really came into my mind when I picked up a book called ‘Black …
The Writer Woman (Thoughts on ‘Black Milk’ by Elif Shafak) Read More »
Only if you have been living on another planet would you have not heard about the Great British Bake Off, the television show which has the taken the UK by a storm. Ahead of tonight’s final, we thought we would list ten reasons why we think finalist Nadiya Hussain is awesome and should win! She …
by Sabrina Mahmood @sabrina01m Did I really just read that? That was my initial reaction after I read the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ series. Everybody was talking about it, it was trending in all the charts, and I just had to know what the fascination was. And we all love a good love story right? …
by Roszeen Afsar @Roszeen The literalist way of thinking among certain Muslims is sad to say the least. I’ve been exposed to it many times, but the most memorable was in my university prayer room. I remember being hauled into a discussion about Sufism amongst a group of girls who carried a negative opinion of …
The Feminine as the Balancing Force; Poetry & Literalism Read More »
by Sabrina Mahmood (Trigger warning: this article contains references to rape, which may be distressing for some) Have you ever seen ‘The Last House on The Left’? It’s classified as a horror film, and being a well-known name in the horror world, I decided to watch it. When I read the info on the …