October 14, 2019

Khadijah Knew


Khadijah knew a prophet was coming. We are amazed by Khadijah’s surety in the prophet, peace to him, when he came back from the cave saying, “Cover me, cover me”. He was worried something had happened to him, but without fear, Khadijah states with certainty, “Never! By God, God will never disgrace you! You keep […]

September 30, 2019

Marital Rape


The conversation around consent has evolved over the past decade. 10 years ago, it wouldn’t be uncommon to hear a male character on a TV sitcom laugh about attempting to get a woman to sleep with them by giving them ample alcohol. It’d be equally as likely to see female characters laugh about “getting so […]

September 23, 2019

Why do people get married? (1)


Why do people get married? I was asked recently by a young woman after my lecture on the age of Lady ‘Aisha. Though the purpose of the question was vague, I answered anyhow; people marry for love, companionship, etc. Well, she followed up, how could someone find that with a 6-year-old? One of the biggest […]

August 30, 2019

Islamic studies


I stumbled across one of Sheikh Nuh’s old pamphlets that someone had given me years ago. Early in its pages, he lays out the profound difference between Academic Islamic studies and Traditional Islamic studies. He states: University degrees… indicate a certain earnestness and effort of those who possess them but it cannot take the place… […]

August 26, 2019

Prayer for connection


There was a time when I felt afraid of making dua. My reasoning? I didn’t want to be angry with God. If things didn’t work out -if I prayed for something that didn’t come to pass, what was I supposed to feel? If God didn’t give me what I wanted I feared I’d be left […]

August 19, 2019

Women are more sexually fluid, but most still choose men


In a study measuring sexual arousal, heterosexual women were found to be equally aroused by gay, lesbian and heterosexual sexual scenarios —some would call this “sexual fluidity”. Interesting enough most of the women still said they were mostly aroused by the heterosexual sexual scenarios. Why would this cognitive dissonance exist? The LGBT community would like […]

August 6, 2019

Moving away from debate


When I started studying Islam somewhat seriously, I listened to everyone —perennial Sufis, Salafis, Shia, and traditional scholars. For a while my favorite scholar was Bilal Philips. It took a while until I found my way and when I did I stuck with. After a year or two of going to lectures and conferences, I […]

July 15, 2019

We need gender norms… but which ones?


She started to create a bizarre ritual where she would call the maid to the dining room, stand in place, then send the maid away. Through a bit of digging Freud discovered that her husband, to whom she was separated, had been impotent on their wedding night. After attempting several failed attempts to “deflower” his […]

June 27, 2019

New Online Event: Islam & Feminism


Join us for a discussion on Islam and Feminism where we’ll answer the following questions: What is Feminism? How has Feminism affected our discourse around gender? Is it possible to be Muslim and Feminist? Is Feminism compatible with Islam? And how do we condemn some of the missteps of Feminism without ignoring lived experiences of […]

June 17, 2019

God is not the father nor a ‘she’


In Islam, unlike in Christianity, God is neither a literal man nor a metaphorical male. God is never referred to as ‘father’ but we do have to grapple with the same masculine third person singular that, for some, is problematic. In the Chapter titled, The Iron, God says, “It is He who created the heavens […]

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