Allah Himself has told us that He has forbidden opression for Himself and has forbidden it amongst us. How then, can we in the same breath, believe that our oppression is sanctioned by Allah? He is the Most Just and anything that feels oppressive is not from Him.
The advantage of physical strength should be used to care for and protect women, rather than maltreat them. One must then wonder how this translates to superiority?
By compiling this anthology, we are unearthing the various ways in which the pandemic affected the lives, livelihood and relationships of Muslim women.
The world was so bold and confident in bullying us into believing that we are only worthy if our lives are marked by hardship. Embracing the soft-life is emboldening ourselves and changing the narrative. It’s giving the middle finger to those who desperately want to see us miserable.
This festival marks the launch of the global Muslim Women’s Arts Foundation, set up by the founder of MACFEST, Qaisra Shahraz MBE to celebrate and elevate Muslim female artists across the globe.
Other young mums I spoke to would often hit me with clichés such as “everyone feels like this, it gets better with time” etc. I never truly felt like I was supported in any way by my family
As a first-born Muslim daughter, I was neither sad nor happy. There were challenging situations, but there were beautiful memories too. I kind of feel like it has moulded me into a stronger person. I can handle a lot of things because of what I went through.
Fitriya Mohamed: Absolutely, but I did not let my difference stop me from pursuing sports. More so, with
my teammates, the love and support I received from them encouraged me to continue playing. On the other hand, I was discouraged on multiple occasions by members of my community and family members, because to them, “sport is for boys, not girls”. I was told to focus on other things that would get me somewhere. They tried to use religion to exemplify their reasonings but that did not make sense to me because deep down, I knew what I was doing was not wrong.
We do brunch together to catch up on life and laugh till our bellies hurt, drop off a dish we cooked and get something else in return in that butter tub. I can give them constructive criticism and advice with good intentions. I’m there to catch them or pull them up whenever they are about to fall.
. “Our stories are universal,” says Cadar. “So we want to create an international community where we can have real talks and be inspired by one another”. She stressed that as Africans, black women inherited the art of storytelling from their ancestors, so the digital sisterhood is tapping into the incredible power of storytelling to change lives.
