By Mabel Background story: I’m a Chinese and have yet to convert, but am on my way to learning about Islam and embracing it. This article was just a mini-epiphany experienced after a tough day. Today I sit in front of my notebook determined to write, because there is no other way I can adequately…
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Ask Before Touching
*Content Note: Post discusses rape and marital rape It is common practice to ask before touching something that is not yours. The same rule applies to bodies. A husband does not own his wife or her body and must ask before touching it. She is the sole owner of her body and has the right…
Read MoreThe Gift of Listening
By: Diana Rahim [Transcript of speech given on International Women’s Day 2015 in Hong Lim Park] Imagine the 1960s. Everything around you is heavy with the scent of tropical heat and greenery. Somewhere in the village my grandmother directs men to carry the furniture from the house into the truck that would drive their possessions…
Read MoreHow Sufism Healed My Islam
My love for sufism is well-known amongst my friends. But my love for it transcends beyond the customary nod to the poetry of Rumi, stories of Rabia Basri or knowing the distinction between the different Sufi orders. I think what really compelled me towards sufism and the way it communicates Islam, is that the language…
Read MoreThe Disease of Womanhood.
Exiting the bathroom stall Sweat drips from forehead absorbed by cotton hijab Red drops drip from skin absorbed by cotton pads I lift my jumper and check my butt in the mirror Leggings stained with spots The marker of my womanhood It is here. I scurry outside to the sea of white and blue Clenching…
Read MoreExodus 3:14 or Decolonizing the Multi-Racial Body
By Diana Rahim My body is the world because – You won’t let me be myself. History won’t let me be myself. Cultures won’t let me be myself. My skin holds down blood that does not know which ocean to return to. Creases on my skin demarcate borders between countries. When I shift my bones, continents…
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Beyond The Hijab 