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It's Not About the Burqa
It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race | Mariam Khan
14 posts | 10 read | 27 to read
When was the last time you heard a Muslim woman speak for herself without a filter? Its Not About the Burqa started life when Mariam Khan read about the conversation in which David Cameron linked the radicalization of Muslim men to the traditional submissiveness of Muslim women. Mariam felt pretty sure she didnt know a single Muslim woman who would describe herself that way. Why was she hearing about Muslim women from people who were demonstrably neither Muslim nor female? Taking one of the most politicized and misused words associated with Muslim women and Islamophobia, Its Not About the Burqa has something to say: twenty Muslim women speaking up for themselves. Here are essays about the hijab and wavering faith, about love and divorce, about queer identity, about sex, about the twin threats of a disapproving community and a racist country, and about how Islam and feminism go hand in hand. Funny, warm, sometimes sad, and often angry, each of these essays is a passionate declaration, and each essay is calling time on the oppression, the lazy stereotyping, the misogyny and the Islamophobia. Its Not About the Burqa doesnt claim to speak for a faith or a group of people, because its time the world realized that Muslim women are not a monolith. Its time the world listened to them.
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Cazxxx
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Pickpick

This is such an important collection of essays written by Muslim women. They describe passionately their lives and the struggles they‘ve had to face from both internal and external sources. I learned a lot from this book and would urge everyone to read this

36 likes3 stack adds
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Hestapleton
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Mehso-so

Got this audiobook today at work. While some essays were insightful and raised new perspectives, it did start to feel a bit repetitive towards the end and some of the essays struggled to stay on task. 6 points for #littenlisten

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ONH
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These women do a wonderful job of explaining the difficult situations they have been put in by racism, sexism, and Islamophobia. I am moved by their courage to live fully at the intersections of their identities and to fight for other women to do the same. I learned a lot about Islamic religious teachings and the associated cultural practices.

My only disagreement stems from my atheism. No religion of ANY kind deserves applause for existing.

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wicdiv
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Pickpick

Been in a bit of a book slump lately but picked this up today and it's SO good. A collection of feminist essays written by Muslim women exploring so many topics.

The media often misrepresents Islam and the amount of free will Muslim women have, and this book sets to right that. Promoting intersectional feminism, these essays are an amazing illumination of the internal and external pressures on Muslim women.

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madams421
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“Part of the journey, for me, is owning these inconsistencies in myself and my stories - we cannot change our past perspectives, but we can certainly reflect on them, own them, and commit to growing from them. We must cultivate compassion for our past selves, trusting that we did the best we could at the time, while simultaneously striving to do better.”

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myrtillius
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Pickpick

"Every White Feminist I have come across will argue until they are blue in the face that women should have the right to decide how to dress themselves. And then those same people are unwilling to stand up for a Muslim woman who wears a hijab or burqa because they 'don't believe in it' or 'feel like Muslim women are oppressed'." #feminist #essays

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myrtillius
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In his book 'The Descent of Man', Grayson Perry writes about the way the world revolves around the idea of the default man, who is white, middle-class, heterosexual and usually middle-aged. The default man is seen as 'the reference point from which all other values and cultures are judged'; he and what he represents is the backdrop against which all other identities exist.
#feminism #essays

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kaysworld1
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Pickpick

Most of the stories in this book are brilliant these ladies are so brave and they should be proud of who they are.
They have been threw a lot with race and religion I am glad they all came out stronger and wiser. I am glad I found this book it took a while to get from the library but it's worth the wait.
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#librarybooks #feminism #muslim #faith #sexuality #race #Burqa #books #readong #femaleauthor #female #femalewriters 📚♀️🧕🌹♥️

kaysworld1 P.s the pictured story was my favourite 💖♀️ 5y
readinginthedark This sounds so good! 5y
27 likes1 stack add2 comments
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kaysworld1
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#currentlyreading it's not about the burqa by Mariam khan
An important collection of essays that explores the pressures of being Muslim and woman today.
Passionate, angry, self-effacing, nuanced in ever way.
#librarybooks #feminism #muslim #faith #sexuality #race #Burqa #books #readong #femaleauthor #female #femalewriters 📚♀️🧕🌹♥️

28 likes2 stack adds
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AntoinetteBuchanan
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Fresh on the car stereo this morning.

19 likes2 stack adds
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arlenefinnigan
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Pickpick

This is a great, diverse collection of Muslim women's voices. The main recurring themes seem to be the danger of conflating culture and religion, and of seeing Islam as a homogenous group, and the work that mainstream feminism needs to do to be more inclusive.

37 likes2 stack adds
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arlenefinnigan
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25 likes1 stack add
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Emilymdxn
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Pickpick

Essential reading for anyone in the uk today, or wanting to understand it. Islamophobia is one of the defining problems of British society rn and this contained so many fascinating perspectives on being a Muslim woman in Britain today. I heard about sexuality, divorce, sex, education, fashion, morality, and the heritage of powerful women in Islam. I really want to read more about the Prophet‘s wife now, as I didn‘t know anything about her before.

suzisteffen Ohhh that sounds like an important one to read. Thinking about you all SO MUCH these wild and stupid Brexit vote days. 5y
SW-T Sounds like a must read! Adding it to my ever expanding TBR. I learned a lot about American Muslims reading (edited) 5y
Emilymdxn @suzisteffen thank you! I feel like we‘re the laughing stock of the world right now, but then I guess that‘s been true for a while 😬 5y
Emilymdxn @SW-T I haven‘t heard of that, thanks for recommending! I‘ll stack that! 5y
suzisteffen @Emilymdxn I mean the Tories are, but ... 5y
53 likes5 comments