Category: Women in Islam

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Behind Picket Fences: A Review

by Corbin ♥ 9 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

A new book is out today, and I had the pleasure of getting an advanced copy.

Behind Picket Fences, by Hend Hegazi, is a fiction novel that follows the lives of 4 couples in one neighborhood. Honestly, I was not super jazzed about reading the book at first because most everything I pick up to read lately has been disappointing. :/

But after the first chapter of Behind Picket Fences flew by, I knew this book would was going to break the literary dry spell. Once I had finished the second chapter, I was living the story. Behind Picket Fences has so much raw, emotional truth in it that it brought me to tears, both happy and sad, a number of times. 

behind fences

 

Every chapter leaves you wanting more. And every new chapter picks up the thread of another couple’s story. Each tale beautifully interwoven with the others as the neighbors lives profoundly affect one another.

All couples see each other’s lives as some how better than their own, even though each couple has their own struggles to wade through. 

But the best part about this novel is that it normalizes Muslim life in America in a time where we desperately need to see that.

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Trolls, Lies, and Ego

by Corbin ♥ 14 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

It all started when I wrote about my Islamic experience, and a major news network picked up the “story”. I spoke about my journey and what I learned beyond just myths. I spoke about how we can defeat hate if we dispel ignorance.

And that pissed quite a few people off. My truth contradicted the lies haters/Islamophobes/self-described ‘infidels’ tell themselves. And their attack of me began, and hasn’t ended to date. Because how dare I promote peace and understanding? How dare I!

haters

So I spent a lot of time being hurt, traumatized, and heart-broken because I am a human being and have actual feelings. After thousands of tweets, messages, emails, comments from people calling me every name in the book and wishing me every manner of harm, I realized it’s not important. Getting angry or fighting back about who I am just doesn’t matter. It’s not about me. And I still struggle with this. The ego is a hard thing to keep in check.

But when people lie about Islam, it is a problem.

I have seen this really ignorant meme with my face and quote on it floating around twitter for sometime now and I feel it is high time I correct its ignorance because it is not about me. It is about Islam. 

untruths about Islam

I cannot be quiet when Islam is slandered. I cannot stand for that.

Likewise, I will not stand with any Muslim who claims to follow Islam when they mean plain ole misogyny. While the claims in the meme are not true about Islam, they are true actions from some who call themselves Muslim. And that, to me, is even worse than non-Muslims lying about Islam. I cannot ignore that. I will not stand for that either!

Read more about my journey to Australia to speak out against Muslim misogynists here.

Update: After some research, I have found that I was incorrect about the stoning of the married adulterer. This can be found in authenticated hadith and is the punishment for both a man or a woman who commits adultery while married. I have changed the graphic to reflect this. Thanks to Stephanie Siam for keeping me on my toes and always pushing me toward correct knowledge.

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Homeless in Hijab

by UmDayo ♥ 20 Comments

Written by Kaighla Um Dayo

100% of the regular writers here at islamwich are Muslim. 100% of us are women. 66% of us have been, at one point or another, homeless Muslim women.

Let me tell you: it’s no party. 

Recently, I had a Muslim convert come forward and tell her heart-wrenching story of homelessness as a Muslim woman, and I could relate all too well.

Here are just a few things we wish our fellow Muslims knew about what it’s like being homeless, female, and Muslim.

homeless in hijab

1.”But where is your family? And friends?”

Need we remind you about how much fun it is being a new convert and having most/all of your friends and family turn their backs on you? You can head on over to “Convert Central” for more on that.

Common sense would dictate, though, that if a person had any family or friends to turn to, they would surely have gone that route before appealing to a perfect stranger.

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Islamophobia, Radicalism & Oz

by Corbin ♥ 4 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

So you might have noticed that I have been phoning it in lately. If you have noticed this, it was for a good reason. If you haven’t noticed, then forget I said anything. 😉 At the beginning of this month (Dec 2015), I travelled to a far away land (20 hours of hard-core plane travel away) to present my research on women in Islam at the 2nd Annual Australasian Conference on Islam.

ACI-2015-promo

It was an amazing experience filled with learning, meeting amazing people, and exploring Sydney, Australia.

opra house
Oprah house at Sydney Harbour. Pic taken by the hubby

The thesis of my research (boiled down a ton) amounted to the fact that a form of Islamophobia, with misogynistic roots, exists within the Muslim global community.

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Myth v. Reality: Excavating Shariah – Law of Evidence Part II

by Corbin ♥ 6 Comments

Law of Evidence

Written by Saadia Haq in collaboration with Theresa Corbin

Part I here

August 1947, Pakistan was created for its citizens both men and women as a state where they would live free of discrimination and deprivation, as stated by the newly born constitution proposals of Article 25 and 34.  Its founding leaders strove for equality for both men and women in all spheres, but soon after this nation fell into the hands of corrupt politicians and dictators obsessed with a harsh view of Islam.

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Myth v. Reality: Excavating Shariah – Law of Evidence Part I

by Corbin ♥ 14 Comments

presenting

Written by Theresa Corbin in collaboration with Saadia Haq

Part II here

As a faith community, we are facing a serious crisis in human (and God given) rights violations. Many of those “in charge” are and have been misusing religious texts to cripple more than half of our population- women.

We are a global community and these issues have infected our lives on a global scale. Because of these issues, Saadia Haq and I are “Excavating Shariah” in an attempt to chip away at the fiqh interpretations (human understanding of the Shariah (Islamic) law) that have either intentionally or unintentionally ignored the female experience, oppressed women, or co-opted women’s religious dedication.

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‘To Khul’ a Mockingbird’, or A Woman’s Right to Divorce

‘To Khul’ a Mockingbird’, or A Woman’s Right to Divorce

by UmDayo ♥ 15 Comments
graphic by Kaighla Um Dayo
graphic by Kaighla Um Dayo

EDITOR’S NOTE: **UPDATED, This piece previously stated that two people who have been divorced by khul cannot be remarried later. It has been brought to our attention that khula is, in fact, not a permanent end between two people, should they wish to reunite later, assuming they draw up a new contract. We sincerely apologize for this mistake. May Allah forgive and guide us all, ameen.**

It was early April and my sister had just left Egypt. We enjoyed a wonderful family vacation to Luxor, Hurghada and the pyramids at Giza– all on her dime.

Something happened inside my heart being with my sister, being in this strange place with another person for the first time ever who really knew and understood me. I gained a new awareness of the true me I had been forced to repress for years. So when my husband began oppressing and neglecting me again after she left, I knew that I had had enough.

This was the final straw in 5.5 years of heaps of emotional, spiritual, mental and financial neglect.

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