Culture

Islam offers guiding principles on wellness and health and taking appropriate measures to ensure it. When we are physically ill, we take precautions for rest or medication if and when necessary. We exercise to build healthy bones and keep our heart strong and oxygen flowing within our blood. We eat foods that nurture our bodies. But what do we do when something ails us internally? Certainly Muslims are humans who have emotions which can be abused, and thoughts which can be challenged.

On Mar. 10, alongside philanthropist Melinda French Gates, human rights activists Panmelo Castro from Brazil and Rebecca Lolosoli from Kenya, three Muslim women were honored by Vital Voices Global Partnership, a Washington, DC-based organization that works to empower women around the world. The need to recognize the work of Muslim women is important. Type the search terms “Muslim women” or “women in Islam” online and chances are that a majority of English-language hits will consist of stories relating to what Muslim women wear on their heads or how women in Muslim-majority countries are subjected to physical abuse, or subjugated under the false pretext of religious principle.

Muslim screenwriters are still a rarity in Hollywood, but that may soon be changing. I recently conversed with the quick-witted Sameer Asad Gardezi, winner of the Writers Guild award for his work on ABC’s Modern Family. His previous projects include writing for the groundbreaking Aliens in America on the CW network, which sympathetically portrayed a young Muslim immigrant. The USC film school graduate shares with us his perspective on identity politics, the unique opportunity Muslims have in reshaping representation, and his advice to aspiring Muslim writers and artists.



“Who here has read Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Infidel?” For the first time in three years, not a single person raised their hand. At book club meetings, church gatherings, women’s groups, and Islamic presentations across this country, countless hands usually shoot up in the air in response to my question. My predominantly non-Muslim American audiences love to embrace Hirsi Ali’s experiences as applicable to Muslim women the world over. Why are they so quick to believe one ex-Muslim woman’s autobiographical tale?

In thinking back to my school days, perhaps my scariest (and simultaneously most amusing) memories have to do with gym class. Yes. Gym class. Always the last to be chosen on every team, I not only was one of the worst players, one of the last to finish the mile run, and definitely NOT a favorite of my gym teachers, I also was the awkward and funny looking “brown” girl wearing pants underneath her shorts because her religion called for it. How’s that for a prescription for low self-esteem and self-image?

Tahmena Bokhari is a Muslim, a Canadian, a feminist, a social worker, an educator and holds the title Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan World). Bokhari’s accomplishments are as varied as they are impressive, and perhaps seem contradictory to many. She holds a Master’s degree in social work and has worked at a number of women’s shelters and on a series of humanitarian initiatives. She currently teaches social work at two different colleges, and also acts as a diversity consultant, all the while competing in beauty pageants.

How important is a Muslim American cultural imperative? Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah says, “identities that are rooted in deep cultural contradiction are easily thrown into states of confusion and doubt.” He suggests a “sound cultural nexus” is needed to remedy this identity crisis. The media (and sometimes even us consumers of the message) like to focus on the fringe as the only ones confronting singular expressions of faith. While the former expressions are one patch in the quilt that makes up the dynamic nature of the Muslim American community, they shouldn’t receive a disproportionate amount of attention.

The HEART Women and Girls Project, in conjunction with Altmuslimah, is committed to empowering women and girls from faith-based communities by teaching them to connect a healthy mind, body, and soul to achieve an overall sense of well-being. In the first installment of a new monthly column, HEART Director Ayesha Akhtar explores the issue of Vitamin D deficiency in Muslim women.

Muslim women have often used literary works, paintings, or other forms of artistic expression to paint a deeply sensitive and intimate portrayal of how Islam, culture, and society impact their realities. “Breaking the Veils: Women Artists from the Islamic World” is an art exhibition organized by the Royal Society of Fine Arts in Jordan and the Pan-Mediterranean Women Artists Network of Greece, to dispel the negative stereotypes surrounding women throughout the Islamic world, including Indonesia, Yemen, and Morocco. The showcase consists of 72 art pieces by 51 women representing a spectrum of religious beliefs in over 20 Islamic countries.