NYT article: “In ‘Love, InshAllah,’ American Muslim Women Reveal Lives”

Editors Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi

Remember how when you’re young they tell you to follow your passion and pursue your dreams? Later, all that gets lost as practical considerations intervene and guide our lives.

I took this year off to focus on my twin passions – my son and my book – and the unfolding has been surreal & blessed. Yesterday, advanced readers reached out to tell us that after reading the stories, they finally felt like they had a home within the ummah, that they were no longer alone.  Today, the New York Times featured the anthology. Tomorrow, it ships to the thousands of people who pre-ordered it, prompting our publisher to print the second edition before the first even hit bookstores.

You create and work on something close to your heart and then release it into the world, where it takes on a life of its own. So very proud of the 25 brave and sassy women who dared to write the truth about their lives and share it with the world.

Sexy Muslim women bring the trolls to the blog

It’s been a crazy three days.

On Tuesday, our article headlined at HuffPo Comedy and brought the nation together in our shared love for Jon Stewart.

Yesterday, our amazing friends and families rallied in support and our book climbed to #8 on the Amazon women’s studies bestseller list.

Today, a light-hearted excerpt from our anthology was published by HuffPo Books – with a photo of a niqab-wearing woman heading it.  That was enough to bring the Stealth Sharia Islamophobe trolls out in force and there are almost 1,000 comments on the piece already.

I had to stop reading after awhile; too much vitriol. But this must be said: the many readers standing up against the hatred are what makes this country great.

I’ve learned a few things from the drama surrounding our book excerpt in HuffPo Books this morning:

1. Sexy Muslim women bring the trolls to the blog (943 comments & counting)

2. Ask & ye shall receive – once the editors understood how the photo perpetuated stereotyopes, they changed the niqabi pic – to a pair of juicy pink lips

3. There is no such thing as bad publicity. We are now #5 on Amazon’s women’s studies bestseller’s list and in the top 450 books in the nation.

Suck THAT, trolls.

Top 5 ways to support Muslim women writers today!

Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women hits the shelves in just three weeks! It’s a moving and provocative non-fiction anthology featuring 25 American Muslim women speaking openly for the first time about their search for love.

Here are the top five ways you can help amplify Muslim women’s voices right now:

• Order the book today!
• Share this post with your family, friends, and networks and ask them to support Muslim women writers by ordering the book
• Select Love, InshAllah for your book club–we’ve included discussion questions at the back of the book
• Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter - and then ask your networks to do the same!
• Connect us to your university or a community organization (e.g., place of worship, student association, non-profit org, etc.) to organize a reading/panel discussion

This book wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful writers, families and friends. Thank you for supporting Muslim women in telling their own stories and sharing their perspectives!

Why Muslim women find Jon Stewart irresistible

Our latest piece, “Muslim Women for Jon Stewart 2012,” is up on The Huffington Post:

Buried in the “controversy” over Bradley Cooper’s selection as People magazine’s most recent Sexiest Man Alive is a little known fact: If you had polled American Muslim women the winner would have been — wait for it — Jon Stewart.

Read more about our campaign “Jon Stewart 2012″ on The Huffington Post!

Call of the wild

Bean is almost 22-months-old and in the past month has started singing, reciting memorized portions of storybooks, and jumping off of every object he can climb (as he says, “Big Jumped!”). He dances to birdsong, waves, wind chimes, jazz, and even Arabic recitations of the Qur’an. For him, this wondrous world  inspires some serious grooving.

At my parents’ suburban home over the Christmas holidays he gazed out of our bedroom window directly onto an apple tree, largely denuded of leaves but with a few bright fruit still hanging stubbornly on in the mild California winter. I could see the connections being made in his mind – those are apples! on a tree! birds are eating them! and then pooping! – as he stood there awestruck for long minutes, watching.

And that is when I was struck again by my recurrent desire to move to a more rural area. I want Bean to know where his food comes from, to grow his own, to develop a connection to and curiosity about nature, to have unfenced green spaces to roam in and explore. But, at the same time, I adore San Francisco and cherish many of the values of urban living where everything we need is in walking distance or a short train ride away and we don’t even own a car. And, of course, a connection to nature can be wrought here too for Bean.

There is a part of me that only flourishes where I hear trees growing. There is a part of me that contemplates and writes more often and deeply when surrounded by forests and water. But, as I’ve often said to Basil, ‘I love nature – from behind glass.’  Do I have it in me to move from my  city of joy and urbanite lifestyle to the self-sufficiency and solitude that small town life has to offer? Does adding a car and commute to Basil’s day outweigh the benefits of living more lightly on the earth in other ways?

I’ll be thinking about these issues as the new year unfolds. Have you ever moved from the city to the country, or vice versa? What did you love or find challenging about that shift? What brings you joy where you live now?

Love letters and the new year

I loved reading Taz’s beautiful resolution on the first day of this new year:  to write love letters to all the people who are meaningful in her life.

She inspired me to complete the letters I’ve meaning to finish for awhile now. Her mother passed away last year and through her resolution Taz reminded me that we simply don’t know how long we’ve been given with the people we love, to tell them how much they mean to us, the ways in which they are an intrinsic part of who we are and dare to be in this world.

In addition to writing love letters (and my perennial resolutions to eat better and exercise more!), I hope to:

* Connect in person and on the phone with friends and family whenever possible rather than through the Internet

* Embrace the necessity of silence and reflection and the joy that can be found therein

*  Write and live authentically, without fear of judgment or repercussion – as articulated so beautifully, here. 

Thank you for the love and support you’ve given me since I began writing here in 2005. In my darkest days, you were the light that kept me moving forward. In happier times, your encouragement and friendship helped me fulfill my dreams, including that of publishing my first book. You have truly helped me become the person I am today.

Wishing you & yours a beautiful new year! Please share your hopes for the new year too

Sisters are doing it for themselves

The Love InshAllah anthology website is live! Please come meet our 25 gorgeously powerful writers and read what early reviewers have to say.

It’s been an extraordinary five-year-long journey to this moment on the brink of publication. I am so proud of the honesty and beauty with which each woman has shared her most intimate thoughts on love, faith, and sexuality.

Also, our first op-ed was published in Altmuslimah this morning. We discuss the freedom of choice/religion issues that are highlighted in the TLC show “All-American Muslim” and its depiction of Muslim women. Our opinion:

Some Muslims may not always agree with the way in which these women practice their faith, but the authenticity of their beliefs and identity as Muslims are not ours to question.

Looking forward to your feedback on the site & article!

And a special thank you to my blog readers over the years – this project would not have been possible without your participation, support and outreach to the women you know. Almost each and every story in the anthology has some connection back to this blog and to you. Thank you!