Resisting the War on Muslim Women

Growing up, I did not think I would spend my adult years campaigning for equality and women’s rights. My dream was to live a life doing the things I love with the people I love the most; to talk about the recipes I tried out at an unknown city; the bookshops I visited on my travels and the strangers I came across, whose stories beautifully inspire me. I did not think I would spend my adult years defending why I should exist as a full human.

Then came the Twitter storm, over a few years. Muslim men, self-proclaimed guardians of the faith, declared me a Kaafir, (an unbeliever). Others, in a twisted display of ‘caution’, branded me a heretic, warning women to stay away from me, if they wanted to keep the faith—a ridiculous, pitiful attempt to break me. I laughed, a dry laughter born of defiance. Years of activism and study have forged me into a woman of unyielding conviction. I will not be defined by the whims of a community that seeks to control me. My faith is mine alone, a personal covenant between me and my Lord. I will not apologize for my refusal to submit to a male-centred Islam that seeks to erase my existence.

‘Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord; do not follow other masters beside Him. How seldom you take heed!’ Qur’an 07:03