Table of Contents
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR LOVE INSHALLAH
With a sonic boom, Love InshAllah breaks through the tired sound bites and stereotypes that can drown out authentic voices of Muslim women. This refreshingly diverse collection of stories about heartbreak, happily-ever-afters, and everything in between affirms that no oneorthodox or progressive, gay or straightis immune from the universal hunger to love and be loved.
NAFISA HAJI,
award-winning author of The Writing on My Forehead
and The Sweetness of Tears
These are gorgeously powerful women who love men and women, fight and laugh, lie to themselves and hold back nothing.Youll fall for some and be frustrated by others... You will not be able to put down these stories of women risking themselves for love.
LAURY SILVERS, author of
A Soaring Minaret: Abu Bakr al-Wasiti and
the Rise of Baghdadi Sufism
As the Sufis say, the quest for the beloved is ultimately the hearts longing to unite with God. Listen with an open heart as these Muslim women reveal their journeys into the divine mystery of love.
KAMRAN PASHA, author of
Mother of the Believers and Shadow of the Swords
Love InshAllah is the most moving and emotionally honest book I have read in a long time. These bold new voices share stories that are romantic in the very best sense of the wordby turns intimate, sexy, funny, and sad.
CLARE WINTERTON, Executive Director
of the International Museum of Women
Given the damage done by Muslim men, non-Muslim men, and non-Muslim women claiming the sexual lives of Muslim women as their political territory, these stories provide a desperately needed corrective.
Michael Muhammad Knight, author of The Taqwacores
Love InshAllah is beauty on paper... Each story is as captivating as the next, the writers bravely peeling back the corners of the heart, inviting the reader into their diverse worlds. Please read this book.
KATHY LEMAY, author of The Generosity Plan
This illuminating anthology... should be applauded, not only for its rarity and timeliness but also for its ability to celebrate these utterly normal, healthy, messy, and all-too human discussions about love and sexuality which for too long have been buried under a veil of shame, fear, and self-imposed censorship.
WAJAHAT ALI,
author of Domestic Crusaders
What makes the book special is its celebration of differences and the ultimate transcendence of love. It is this common experience that connects not just the writers, but also the readers, pulled in as we are to these resonant, human stories told with exceptional skill.
ASMA T. UDDIN,
founder and editor-in-chief of AltMuslimah.com
Deeply touching and intimate... a perfect book to upend the stereotypes of veiled and abused Muslim women, these tales are filled with hope and humor and life.
IRVING KARCHMAR,
author of Master of .the Jinn: A Sufi Novel
How we understand what love and America look like is expanded and made more representative of this country we all share thanks to this collection.
ALIA MALEK, author of A Country Called Amreeka
Meaningful, poignant, and powerful.
RABBI RACHEL BARENBLAT, author of
70 Faces: Torah Poems
Love Inshallah provides us a rare glimpse into the intimate lives of Muslim women from very different backgrounds. The stories show that although the roadmap may be unique, the destination is universalto love and be loved for who we are.
MANAL OMAR, author of Barefoot in Baghdad
This collection is challenging and provocative. Youll be surprised, even shocked at their stories and the honesty with which they lay open their joys, as well as their vulnerable and sometimes wounded hearts.
SHELINA JANMOHAMED, author of
Love in a Headscarf
This book is an irreverent, witty reality-check. The women in this book are not only fulfilling a mission close to my hearttelling their own stories as Muslim American women, shattering stereotypes, building bridgesbut they are doing so in a way that will entertain you, shock you, and make you fall in love with them.
ZAHRA SURATWALA, author, editor
and co-founder of the I Speak for Myself series
To all those searching for love
Introduction
Muslim womenwe just cant seem to catch a break. Were oppressed, submissive, and forced into arranged marriages by big-bearded men.
Oh, and lets not forgetwere also all hiding explosives under our clothes.
The truth islike most womenwere independent and opinionated. And the only things hiding under our clothes are hearts yearning for love.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about Muslim women, even thoseespecially thosewho have never met one. As American Muslim women, we decided this was an opportunity to raise our voices and tell our own stories. And what better tales to tell than love stories, which have universal appeal?
The search for lovewith a Muslim twistis captured in the title of this book, Love, InshAllah. InshAllah (God willing) encompasses the idea that it is only through the will of God that we attain what we seek in life, and is used widely among Muslims, regardless of their level of religious practice.
The subtitle, The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, generated more controversy than we anticipated. Some accused us of playing into an Orientalist fantasy about Muslim women, or of writing a salacious expos of our faith community. Our intent was neither. We wanted to challenge the stereotypes of the wider American audience by presenting stories that are rarely heard, and, within the faith community, to create a space for Muslim women to share their lives honestly, across the full range of their experiences.
This book is not a theological treatise or a dating manual. It is a reflection of reality. We recognize that no book can fully capture all the voices and perspectives within the community, but we offer this as a beginning. We hope these stories start conversations within families and between communities about the similarities that bind us together, while recognizing and respecting the differences that enrich us.
We had only one criterion for women submitting stories to this book: that they self-identify as both American and Muslim. Some within our country doubt our Americanness by virtue of our faith. Some in our faith community gauge our Muslimness based on adherence to practice. The writers of Love, InshAllah present complex lives and identities that defy both of these assumptions.
We start with Allahu Alim. Every important journey ends by profoundly changing the one who undertook it. These writers set out on a path to find something greater than themselves.
The writers in Alif narrate the firsts that shaped their ideas about romance, sex, and their sense of self.
In International Habibti, women live out the fantasy of falling in love with a beautiful stranger while traveling in Argentina, Sri Lanka, France, Egyptor rounding an unexpected corner in New York City.
Next comes Third Times the Naseeb, where three women find unexpected and lasting love the third time around.
