As many of you know, a friend and I have been working on an anthology project entitled ‘Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women‘.
We received some incredible submissions and great feedback from agents and publishers. We’ve been asked to include more stories and are reaching out in the hopes that you will consider writing and/or help us spread the word.
We are soliciting auto-biographical stories written by American Muslim women on love, dating or courtship. While we prefer that authors write under their real names, we recognize that some topics – including sex, sexual orientation, polygamy, mutah, etc. – are sensitive, so we are accepting a limited number of anonymous submissions.
If you are interested in submitting a piece, please send a first draft (1,500-4,000 words) to relationship DOT anthology (at) gmail DOT com by Monday, February 28th.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at the e-mail address above. Please re-post this entry or the link, here.
Thanks for your help and support!
13 comments
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January 30, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Arif
What’s the purpose of this work? Just curious.
January 30, 2011 at 10:48 pm
Baraka
Salaams & thank you for your question. You can see the original call for stories, here, which also provides the background for the anthology.
January 31, 2011 at 7:39 am
maya
good jon, why should there be a purpose, can’t it just be thats omeone wants to write and there is an outlet to share–
January 31, 2011 at 7:39 am
maya
That would be ” good job”
January 31, 2011 at 7:22 pm
S
Baraka I am really looking forward to the stories.I have reached that point in my life where love and marriage are important issues but alas there are a limited number of books I can relate to or can learn from.I can’t tell you the number of times I have scoured the Islamic scholarship section at my university’s library!!I have finally had to resort to forums or blogs to learn more.
January 31, 2011 at 9:33 pm
Baraka
Maya – Exactly.
S – Thanks so much for the support!
Please make dua for us that we find the right publisher for these great stories.
Warmly,
Baraka
February 2, 2011 at 2:46 am
Little Auntie
Asalamu aliakuam,
While I LOVE the idea of the book, I have to say I’m a bit wary of including stories about ‘dating and sex’. After all, dating (if you mean it in the Western sense of the word) is really not ‘permissible’ Islamically.
The Prophet sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam said:
“All of my Ummah will be forgiven of their sins except those who flaunt their sins.”
So that’s why I suggest keeping the project as only ‘marriage’ stories, rather than ‘risking’ writing something that may end up being Islamically incorrect.
Warm wishes that it is a project you are proud of on the Day of Judgment,
February 3, 2011 at 4:45 pm
nerda
Little Auntie, I’m the co-editor of this project. Thanks for your feedback. Our intention when we set out to compile these stories was to humanize Muslim women as the thinking, feeling and loving people that we are — and also to open up a dialogue within our community about issues of love, dating and sex. As a community, we can choose to bury our heads in the sand and pretend that certain things are not happening. Or, we can talk about them frankly (and talking does not equal “flaunting”) and open up an honest discussion about the state of our community and where we are headed. That is the point of this book. InshAllah, Baraka and I will both be proud of this project on the Day of Judgment because God knows that our intentions are sincere.
February 4, 2011 at 10:14 pm
liara
Is’nt it against Haya to make your private activities public ? Also will they seek permission from thier partners to make thier details public ? Let see but it seems a bad idea a – a typical humanities project.
February 5, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Baraka
Salaams dear Liara,
The anthology is a celebration of Muslim women and their diverse stories & perspectives, showing our humanity through the universal search for love.
Each writer deals with her partner and family in her own way, some through using pseudonyms to protect their privacy, some writing under their own names with their loved ones’ support.
Not sure what your non sequitur at the end means, but further details on the anthology & its intentions can be found at our site:
https://sites.google.com/site/loveinshallah/
Thank you.
March 11, 2011 at 6:41 am
Khanum
u have very unique blog !
Baraka!
I like the title Rikshaw diaries lol.. good to meet another pakistani here.
April 13, 2011 at 6:23 am
Romail
Salaam,
This looks like a fantastic idea! There is a strong need for a frank discussion in our Ummah about these very toipics. We can go about this as adults and I don’t belive having an honest conversation means you are flaunting. I think everyone worried about these authors modesty and haya needs to relax and understand that they should be more worried about THEIR haya and leave other to make their own descions with their best intentions.
Question, will their be a companion piece for Muslim men? =)
April 13, 2011 at 7:26 am
Baraka
Salaam dear Romali,
We have spoken about a companion piece to present Muslim men’s diverse views. Let’s see how the first one goes. Thanks for the support
- Baraka