3 Ways to Honor 9/11 Without Being Islamophobic September 11, 2019 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment The anniversary of the September 11th attacks is always a precarious time. Because this tragedy is wrapped up in nationalist sentiments, the memorializing of our national grief easily gets caught up in anti-Islamic sentiments. Grief and pain and nationalism all seem to get conflated and simplified during this time. This anniversary is often a time of heightened vigilance for … [Read more...]
Sharing Our Whole Selves in Community: 3 Self-Love Practices I’m Embracing This Ramadan as a Queer Black American Muslim May 6, 2019 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment Ramadan began two weeks ago, and across the world, Muslims who are observing the month abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset for thirty days. For those of us who fast, readiness is a layered concept. For some of us, it’s the physical component that is difficult to prepare ourselves for. Denying yourself food and drink during the daytime hours is difficult. It’s … [Read more...]
The 2018 Midterm Elections Showed: The Future Is Women of Color November 16, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment The recent US congressional midterm elections were a resounding success when it came to electing candidates better representing the country’s remarkable diversity based on gender, race, class, sexuality, and religion. Despite the very real problems of gerrymandering, voter suppression, and outright lying by the Republican party (part of their reactionary strategy to respond to … [Read more...]
“Are You Hot in That?” and 3 Other Hijab Questions People Can Stop Asking November 3, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment There’s something about difference – almost any kind of difference – that makes people in dominant cultures or identity categories feel like they can disregard and disrespect others' boundaries by asking deeply personal questions or physically crossing the boundaries of people who embody that difference. And isn’t this the foundation for cultural appropriation? White people, … [Read more...]
The Good, the Bad, and the Weird of Being Queer and Muslim August 12, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment Both of my parents converted to Islam in the early 1970s, so I was born and raised as an African-American Muslim in the US. When I was younger, my connection to Islam, spirituality, and Allah was tenuous at times. I wouldn’t understand faith and spirituality in a deep way until I left home for college. This is the way for many people who were raised in religious … [Read more...]
What Safer Space Looks Like For a Queer Black Muslim Woman May 23, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment What does it mean to fully bring all of yourself into a space? As a person who occupies several different identities that are often marginalized in many spaces I walk into, this is a question that I consider on a regular basis. I am not someone who can easily compartmentalize all of my identities. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time compartmentalizing my queerness in … [Read more...]
The (Anti) Black A** Roots of America’s Islamophobia May 19, 2018 by Nessa, Guest Writer Leave a Comment The Body Is Not an Apology’s goal is to share the myriad ways human bodies unshackle the box of “beauty” and fling it wide open for all of us to access. Our goal is to redefine the unapologetic, radically amazing magnificence of EVERY BODY on this planet. When we do, we change the world! Join the movement and become a subscriber … [Read more...]
Creating Community as a Queer, Black Muslim: An Interview with Kaamila Mohamed, Co-founder of Queer Muslims of Boston April 2, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment A few years after I moved to New England, I decided that I was ready to start searching for queer Muslim community. This wasn’t something that I’d ever done before, but I was at a place in my life where I was feeling a desperate need for a spiritual and religious community where I could (potentially) be my whole self. I wanted to bring all parts of myself into a faith … [Read more...]
We Been Here: Black Muslims in America March 28, 2018 by Samaa Abdurraqib Leave a Comment The Body Is Not an Apology’s goal is to share the myriad ways human bodies unshackle the box of “beauty” and fling it wide open for all of us to access. Our goal is to redefine the unapologetic, radically amazing magnificence of EVERY BODY on this planet. When we do, we change the world! Join the movement and become a subscriber today! bit.ly/NoBodiesInvisible. When I … [Read more...]
Not in Our Queer Names: We Must Support Muslim Immigrants and Refugees February 22, 2018 by Katie Tastrom Leave a Comment Within days of Trump implementing his ban on refugees from certain Muslim majority countries (which, let’s call it what it is, a Muslim ban) he also announced he would keep the protections for federal LGBT employees that Obama implemented. Whether this was on the urging of his daughter and son-in-law, or his own idea (hah!), this is not something to celebrate. Do not … [Read more...]
Why I Took Off My Hijab September 30, 2016 by Arlita Rachmawati Rahman, Guest Writer Leave a Comment This article first appeared in Magdalene.co, an Indonesia-based feminist web magazine, and is reposted with permission. An increasing number of women have approached me to talk about their hijab-wearing decision. One person told me she has been having thoughts about taking off her hijab because she felt she has grown increasingly "naughty" and “bad.” Her reason for this was … [Read more...]
You Don’t Owe Disrespectful People Your Respect: George Carlin, Islam and the Freedom of Choice July 2, 2016 by A.X. Ruiz Leave a Comment One of my favorite old George Carlin bits was his close-reading/rewriting of the Ten Commandments. The whole routine is widely available as both text and video online but in particular, he says something about the instruction to “Honor thy Father and Mother” which I’ve always appreciated as simply a truth of life that is rarely taught: Obedience, respect for authority. Just … [Read more...]
Radical Worldview Wednesday: Zika Outbreak Abroad, U.S. Reparations & One Inspiring Muslim Ballerina February 3, 2016 by Chelcee Leave a Comment Every Wednesday, we, at The Body is Not an Apology, will be exploring some of the current stories in the media through the lenses of radical self love and body terrorism. Zika Outbreak: A Question of International Reproductive Rights? Watching videos of infants possibly affected by the Zika virus is heartbreaking and terrifying, but what seems to be equally terrifying is the … [Read more...]
