Progressive Muslim Identities
Over the past twenty years, people have circulated many narratives about Muslims. Most of these narratives serve to divide and disconnect at a time when we are sorely in need of unity and connection. This collection of personal essays explores the joys, struggles, and humorous misadventures of the lives of American and Canadian Muslims. I was glad to share my journey of faith for Progressive Muslim Identities.
NBA Muslims Black Muslim Reads
“Black Muslim authors tell hybrid stories. They fuse Islamic and American literary traditions. Like other African American writers, they use fiction to articulate their experiences, raise consciousness and effect social change. American literature is rich and variegated. So is Black Muslim literature. The Black Muslim Reads anthology includes a spectrum of fiction and non-fiction genres. Here, you'll find poetry and prose; memoir; children's stories; mysteries; and contemporary, romance, and urban fiction. All reflect their authors' intersecting identities. All subvert the tenacious stereotype that associates being Muslim with being foreign. Native-born American Muslim writers take ownership of their faith and their citizenship and interweave them dynamically. In doing so, they reveal their layered, complex social and emotional experiences of being Black and Muslim in America.”
I was pleased to contribute a short story for this anthology, a gentle mystery set in the Black Muslim community of Philadelphia. Stories about working-class and poor Black people often center around deprivation and violence, and while those things are present, what are equally present are mutual support, joy, wisdom, and love. I write nosy older women like Halima and Mrs. Cassey because they represent the shrewd, diligent and deeply kind women who raised me, and who I hope to be one day.