Category: Visuals
Country: Egypt

About

Heba Amin is a young Egyptian artist whose work addresses the role of urban environment on human behavior.

Heba’s early work revolved around the theme of Bedouin women and the effect of urbanization on Bedouin culture, after she spent time with different Bedouin tribes. She has produced many drawings, paintings, photography, installations, interactive media and projections which have been exhibited throughout the US.  She recently illustrated an award-winning children’s book that profiles women role models from the Muslim World titled Extraordinary Women in the Muslim World. Her work is also featured on the WISE website.

Heba says about Muslim women, “The image of Muslim women in the United States is of veiled, oppressed people who have no voice. But in fact, Muslim women have a long history of remarkable achievements.”

Heba was born and raised in Cairo. She moved to the US where she attended Macalester College in Minnesota to study Studio Art. She is currently teaching at the American University in Cairo.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: United States

About

Since its founding in 2003, IslamicGems remains faithful in their commitment to providing the highest quality hijab jewelry to the fashion forward Muslimah. The company has over 8 years experience in producing unparalleled innovative design. Combining functionality and beauty, IslamicGems’ pins provide dual support and quick interchangeability without compromising style. With a loyal fan base in 19 countries, the demand for our pins continues to grow locally and internationally.

About the designer, Nida Mirza:

Self taught custom hijab jewelry designer Nida Mirza, builds on her strong Islamic traditions as well as her interest in design. In 2003, while completing her dual degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan, New York; she realized the lack of Islamic inspired accessories. This motivated her to create contemporary hijab jewelry for herself and her friends. Based on the positive response and increased demand for her unique style of hijab jewelry, in 2008 she created an E-boutique called IslamicGems.com. What started as a hobby, making a few pins, grew to being several original collections and a successful online business.

Nida currently lives in Queens, NY and continues to design and inspire Muslim women around the world to feel confident and incorporate fashion in their Islamic attire while still being modest and true to their religious obligations.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

“I entered the world of fashion when there was a great need for decent/modest but elegant and fashionable clothes. I wanted to help women like being fashionable but still feel Middle Eastern.” - Muna AbuSulayman

Samples from the Spring 2011 Collection

Click to View the more from the Spring 2011 Collection

Category: Performing
Country: Tunisia

About

Hend Sabry is a Tunisian actress and lawyer. She received her law license at the Faculty of Law of Tunis in 2001 and her Master’s degree in law (intellectual property and copyright) in 2004. At the age of fourteen, Hend starred in her first film, The Silence of the Palace (1994) as one of its main characters, Alia¹. The film, which was set mostly in Tunisia in the 1950s during the reign of the country’s last monarchs, tells the tale of a kitchen servant and her daughter. The film, which was described as a “universal coming of age story with a feminist twist” follows Alia as she grows up in the palace during a time when female servants were expected to be sexually available to the men they served.²

Hend’s breakthrough film, Mothakarat Morahiqa, or “A Teenager’s Diaries,” was released in 2001 and made her a star across the Middle East. Some of her earlier films include Mawsim Al-Rijal, meaning “The Season of Men,” and Samt al Soqoor.³

In 2011, when anti-government rallies began in Tunisia, Hend severed her ties with former Tunisian President Ben Ali, who she had been coerced into supporting along with his family. In a Facebook post, Hend warned Ben Ali against ordering his security forces to open fire on protestors. She later admitted that making such a public gesture had been a frightening experience. She feared that she might have been forced to leave the country, or her relatives might have been harmed.⁴

Hend is currently in the pre-production phase of her new film Asmaa, which is being produced by Mohamed Herzy and written and directed by Amr Salama. Asmaais based on a true story and addresses taboos in Egypt. ⁵

[1] Hend Sabry: Biography.

[2] Movie Review: The Silences of the Palace (2004), The New York Times Review.

[3] Hend Sabry’s Official Website.

[4] “An Arab spring for women,” CBS News.

[5] Hend Sabry’s Official Website.

Category: Literary
Country: Kosovo

About

Flora Brovina, born in 1949, is a Kosovar-Albanian poet whose work reflects her dedication to women’s and children’s issues. She is the author of three volumes of poetry. The first volume, Verma emrin tim (Call me by my name), was published in 1973 and consists of 42 poems. Bimë e zë (Plant and voice), the second volume, appeared in 1979. More than two decades after her first publication, her third, Mat e çmat (With the tape it measures), has been described by Robert Elsie as “the most compelling and impressive of her volumes” for its reflections on “the fate of her people, with freedom and self-determination.”¹

A scholar of Albanian literatue and language, Elsie published a single book entitled Call Me By My Name: Poetry From Kosova. In addition to her concern for the future of the people of Kosovo, Flora’s poetry deals with “the fate of women in society” and women as mothers as well as the “personal, maternal, and feminist” dimensions of the “problems and aspirations of individuals.”²

In 2000, Flora was one of two recipients of the Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award given by PEN American Center to honor threatened or imprisoned writers. The previous year she was awarded Swedish PEN’s Tucholsky Award that similarly recognizes writers under threat of persecution or exile.

[1] “Flora Brovina. Call me by my name,” website of Robert Elsie.

[2] ibid.

Category: Visuals
Country: Pakistan

About

Born in Kuwait, Hamra Abbas is an artist who works in a variety of media to reframe culturally loaded imagery. Though her main interest is sculpture, she has also used everything from stained glass to film to photography to installation work to simultaneously critique both modern Western and Islamic cultures. ¹

In her work Battle Scenes, Hamra takes inspiration from 16th century miniature painting from the Mughal Empire.  Using photos of London park-goers conscripted for the project, she recreates a battle scene from a diptych portraying the accomplishments of Mughal emperor Akbar. The subjects, from different ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds all dressed in jeans and t-shirts, pose as warriors in two snapshots that are then used in a simple animation. The piece is intended to be “a critique of war and contemporary systems of neo-imperialism” in a “post 9/11 context.” ²

Hamra’s stained glass piece Woman in Black delves into the role of women in conflict.  Using religious imagery from the Christian tradition while incorporating styles found in Indian miniature painting, she depicts a woman caught in the middle of a violent scene, recalling the “worldly realities of contemporary society”: the central female figure appears either to be interceding in the conflict or under attack herself.  ³

Hamra earned a bachelor of fine arts and a master of arts in visual arts at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan.  She completed postgraduate work at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, Germany. Living and working between the United States and Pakistan, she has exhibited her work around the world including at the Sharjah Biennial, the Istanbul Biennial, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, United Kingdom. 

[1] “Hamra Abbas: Artist Talk,” Asia Society.

[2] “Work,” HamraAbbas.com.

[3] ibid.

Category: Visuals
Country: United States

About

Ameena Khan is an artist who works with a variety of media. Her work is inspired both by her religious convictions and by nature: Islamic calligraphy and other religious imagery are a central part of many of Ameena’s pieces, while more abstract works reflect her fascination with the natural world of north-central Florida, where she grew up. She often incorporates metal objects and yarn into acrylic painting to add texture and dimension to her pieces.

Muslim Women in the Arts, a network of artists, featured one of Ameena’s works entitled He is Not Me. Another work, We are not He, garnered a great deal of attention at the 2nd Annual International Muslim Artists Exhibition. The piece consists of an outer layer with an image of a “terrorist” surrounded by slanderous epithets for Muslim and Arab people and an inner layer that requires the viewer to lift up the first one to reveal outlines of individual Muslims on a background of multiple colors representing the diversity of the world’s Muslim population. The inspiration for We are not He was the planned Quran-burning that was to take place in Gainesville, Florida, where she lives. ¹

Ameena’s nature-inspired paintings may not have the same political messages, but they are painted thoughtfully and with a moral in mind. Becoming Dragons, for example, is an acrylic and oil painting that inspires reflection with its calming blue hues and curved forms.  For Ameena, the reflection is on the story of a Chinese legend about a koi that swam up a waterfall and became a dragon.  “Like the Koi,” says Ameena, “we too can meet challenges with determination and strength, and in doing so, be magnificent.” ²

[1] “Artist Series: Ameena Khan,” Muslim Women in the Arts.

[2] ibid.

Category: Fashion
Country: United States

About

From a young age, Zahiyya Abdul-Karim felt a passion for fashion design, graduating from high school with a concentration in art. She went on to Philadelphia University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to study fashion design. She later opened her own design company called Region Design Studio, Inc.¹ In addition to women’s clothing, Zahiyya also designs jewelry and baby clothing.

Zahiyya’s designs blend Afro-inspired prints with an urban edge. In her Heartland Collection, for instance, Zahiyya artfully combines military chic with everyday comfort. For one look, she designed an army green wraparound dress with three quarter length sleeves and a slight v-cut neckline, and in another, she used a green camouflage print to create a long sleeved shirt with ruched sleeves.² Her t-shirt collection consists of silk screened designs of “afro chic” and “afro diva” ladies in bold, fun colors.

Zahiyya was also awarded a grant by the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation to work as a Fellow at the Harlem Textile Works, a nonprofit organization which trains underprivileged youth in art, textile design, and entrepreneurship.³ Before launching her own line, she worked as a designer for many fashion design companies in both the United States and abroad. Her work has been awarded the National Association of Menswear Buyer’s “Excellence in Menswear” and “Best of Show” awards, and “Most Creative Collection” from Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, and her designs have been featured in numerous articles from The New York Times, DNRM, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The City Paper, American Vision and Sew News Magazine.⁴

[1] Designer Zahiyya Abdul-Karim, Region USA.

[2] Gallery, Region USA.

[3] Designer Zahiyya Abdul-Karim, Region USA.

[4] ibid.

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

Umm Juwayriyah, a pen name for Maryam Sullivan, is a Muslim author of West Indian-American ancestry. A mother of tow, she is dedicated to increasing indigenous African-American Muslim narratives in the literary world. She is the founding member and former two-term assistant director of the Islamic Writers Alliance, as well as the current editor for the New England Muslim Women’s Association. Umm is also a poet, playwright, ESL instructor, and founder and owner of Kanz Enrichment Online. Her work has been appeared in print magazines such as SISTERS, Azizah, An Nisaa, and As Sunnah An Nisaa.

In 2006, Umm Juwayriyah published her internationally-acclaimed novel, The Size of a Mustard Seed, the first urban Islamic fiction novel ever published. In 2012 she will publish her second novel, Hold Fast. She has been the recipient of many awards, scholarships, and grants including the prestigious Lorraine Hansberry Scholarship for contributions to multi-cultural fiction, and Canada’s An Nisaa’s Muslim Fiction Writer of the Year Award.

Having always been an avid reader, Umm desires to write about the urban Islamic experience in America. “As I became older, it became increasingly frustrating to me that none of my favorite authors wrote about little Muslim girls who lived where I lived and had the kind of life that I had. That lack of representation became my muse for years. I needed to write fiction that urban Western Muslims, specifically American Muslims could relate to.”¹

[1] “The Size of a Mustard Seed, Umm Juwayriyah,” IslamicBookstore.com.

Category: Crafts
Country: India

About

Shyama Baskar is a fine jewelry designer. From a young age, Shyama was taught to appreciate beauty and elegance as she grew up in Simla, India, a resort town in the Grand Himalaya Mountains where many festive balls and performances were held for the Indian viceroy and royal court.¹ In an interview with Azizah magazine, Shyama reflected on her childhood, saying, “I was taught to value beauty, grace, and elegance – truth and integrity. All these attributes are essential to design.”² Based out of Los Altos, California, Shyama Baskar now owns her own jewelry design business, Reveti. 

Shyama works with precious and semiprecious metals and gems – diamonds, pearls, rubies, gold, silver, emeralds, among others – in creating intricately luxurious necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. She also worked on designing a silver trophy chest, which was given by Queen Elizabeth to India on the 50th anniversary of India’s independence.³ After travelling at various design schools throughout Europe, she honed her skills under the supervision of Dennis Gardnier, the former master designer for Cartier. She finds inspiration for her work in spirituality. “Your work is an expression of yourself and you must have balance and harmony within before you can create it outside. You have to evolve as a person. Designs have to evolve out of you.”⁴

[1] Nuzalita, “Precious and Unique,” Azizah Magazine, Volume 4, Issue 1.

[2] ibid.

[3] ibid.

[4] ibid.

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Born in Flint, Michigan, Liza Garza is a Mexican-American, Emmy award-nominated vocalist. Liza began her career as a poet and spoken word artist, winning a string of poetry slams after she graduated from high school. While attending the University of Michigan, Liza continued to perform at open mics and competitions.¹ In an interview with Azizah Magazine, Liza said she grew up in a family of musicians. “We’d always gather and sing. I did it through high school, none of it was professional then, out to open mikes.”²

Weaving hip hop beats with Mexican folk song melodies, Liza sings about social inequities and the structural violence in urban jungles. In 2005 she published a collection of poetry entitled “You Never Knew Until I Spoke” and the following year released her debut album, “Bloom Beautiful.” In her poem “My Everything,” Liza writes about the importance of remaining accountable to one’s decisions:

“they said we’d become victim to the streets
as if the concrete could creep up and catch us
in the midst of walking lift up and grab us
cock back and blast us
backhanded slap us
and we believed em
did everything to create some sort of distance
in between em
the souls of our sneaks and the hot pavement beneath
anything just to bring us a lil closer to heaven
as if 18 inches was the next best thing to ascension
in a life full of question”³

Liza has performed on stage with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Amir Sulaiman, Mos Def, and Jill Scott, and was a featured poet on HBO’s ‘Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.’⁴ In addition to her musical career, Liza recently launched a jewelry line which she says was “inspired by the desire to preserve my cultural heritage and a means to celebrate our unique identity.”⁵

[1] Nadirah Z. Sabir, “Rhyme and Reason,” Azizah, Vol. 6, Issue 1.

[2] ibid.

[3] “Liza Garza—My Everything,” Poetrygrrrl.com.

[4] “My Story,” LizaGarzaSignature.com.

[5] ibid.

Category: Literary
Country: Iran

About

Simin Behbahani is an prolific, award-winning Iranian poet and women’s rights advocate. 

Simin began publishing poetry at the age of fourteen. She has since written over fifteen volumes of poetry, which examine themes of politics, culture, and moral oppression. Some of her works include A Cup of Sin,The Broken Lute, Footprint, Chandelier, Marble Resurrection, A Line of Speed and Fire, Arzhan Plain, Paper Dress, and A Window of Freedom.¹

In her early poetry, Simin used the Char Pareh style of Nima, a prominent Persian poet. This style eventually turned into a free flowing style of poetry similar to the sonnet called the ghazal. Simin has contributed significantly to the development of the ghazal over time by adding theatrical subjects, everyday events and conversations. She has said to have “expanded the range of traditional Persian verse forms and produced some of the most significant works of Persian literature in the twentieth century.”²

More recently, Simin’s poetry has addressed the issue of women’s rights in Iran with works such as Stop Throwing my Country to the Wind and For Neda Agha Soltan. For Neda is about a young girl who was killed during protests surrounding the 2009 Iranian presidential election. The poem is short yet powerful: You are neither dead, nor will you die/You will always remain alive/You have an external existence/You are the voice of the people of Iran.³

Simin has received numerous accolades for her work. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997 and has served as mtvU’s Poet Laureate and Iran’s national poet.⁴She has also been awarded a Human Rights Watch-Hellman/Hammet grant and the Carl von Ossietzky Medal for her efforts to achieve the freedom of expression in Iran.⁵

[1] Simin Behbahani, Iran Chamber Society.

[2] ibid.

[3] “Poet Simin Behbahani: Neda is ‘Voice Of The People of Iran,’” NPR.

[4] “The Lionness of Iran, Simin Behbahani, Banned From Leaving Country,” Payvand Iran News.

[5] mtvU Poet Laureate: Simin Behbahani.”

Category: Literary
Country: Iran

About

Forugh Farrokhzad was one of Iran’s most pioneering female poets of the twentieth century. Though she died in her early thirties, she created a significant body of work in her lifetime.

Born in 1935, Forugh never finished high school and, against her family’s wishes, got married at the age of sixteen. Her marriage ended bitterly in three years and her husband was given full custody of their son since the court had ruled her unfit to raise a child. This ruling and its consequences became a “haunting force” in her life and poetry.¹ 

Some of the themes of her early poems were young love, the pain of separation, and the desperate search for love. In the 1950s, Forugh published three collections of poems in quick succession: Asir (Captive) in 1955, Divar (Wall) in 1956, and Osyan (Rebellion) in 1957. Although her poems are now regarded as “manifestly refreshing in the millennium old tradition of male Persian lyricism,” initially they were received with significant negativity from critics and readers. Forugh developed an unfortunate reputation as a result and was considered a threat to the Iranian sense of female modesty.²

This negative criticism took its toll on Forugh in September 1955 when she had a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized for almost a month. Once she recovered, she began to address social issues in her poetry and developed a new interest in filmmaking with Ebrahim Golestan, a leading filmmaker. Together, they made four documentaries entitled Yek Atash (A Fire) in 1959, Khastegari (Courtship) in 1960, Ab va Garma (Water and Heat) in 1961, and Mowj va Marjan va Khara (Waves, Corals and Flintstones) in 1961. Some of these works received prizes at various European festivals, while her 1962 film about lepers, Khaneh Siah Ast, was considered her best.³

Forugh died in 1967 in a vehicle accident at the age of thirty-two. Her final poems were published in a posthumous volume entitled Iman Biavarim beh Aghaz-e Fasl-e Sard (Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season).⁴

[1] “Forugh Farrokhzad: A Landmark Iranian Artist, Revisited,” Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas.

[2] ibid.

[3] ibid.

[4] ibid.

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

Farzaneh Milani is a writer and poet born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She attended French primary and secondary schools and earned her BA in French Literature from California State University at Hayward in 1970. She latter transferred to the University of California in Los Angeles where she completed a graduate degree in Comparative Literature in 1979. Her dissertation focused on the poetry of prominent Iranian poet, Forugh Farrokhzad.¹

Currently, Farzaneh is a Professor of Middle Eastern and South Asian languages and cultures at the University of Virginia. She also is the author of Veils and Words: The Emerging Voice of Iranian Women Writers.² It is the first book that focuses on the writing of Iranian women, specifically prominent writers of poetry, fiction and autobiographies. Some of the featured women include Tahereh Qorratol’Ayn, Parvin E’tessami, Forugh Farrokhzad, Simin Daneshvar and Tahereh Saffarzadeh.

Veils and Words examines the history of these writers in the context of social and cultural practices of their time such as veiling, unveiling, silence and revelation. Her book also discusses the hardships these writers faced for their craft, many of whom were confronted with accusations of immorality, promiscuity, heresy and some even were called lunatics.³

Farzaneh has had her poetry published in several literary journals. Her poems include Nimeye Digar, Par, Barrayand, Daneshju, Omid and Avaye Portland. In 1999, she published A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani with Kaveh Safa.⁴ To date, Farzana has contributed to 100 articles, book chapters, introductions and afterwards in Persian and English and lectured at over 150 colleges and universities around the world. She is also the past president of the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies and the recipient of the Alumni Teaching Award in 1998.⁵

[1] Farzaneh Milani.

[2] Scholars Online: Milani.

[3] Veils and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers.

[4] Scholars Online: Milani.

[5] ibid.

Category: Performing
Country: Canada

About

Azam Ali is an Iranian-born singer who grew up in India from the age of four in the state of Maharashtra. While there, Azam attended an international boarding school that stressed art, spirituality and social transformation through moral and academic excellence. Her education and the rich culture and musical tradition of India would eventually influence Azam’s career in music.

After the Iranian Revolution Azam moved with her family to the United States, where she studied classical Western repertoire as well as Indian, Persian and Eastern European music techniques. However, she always kept the melodies from her childhood in Iran and India close to heart and continued to explore the immense potential in her voice as she developed as an artist. According to Azam, the human voice has the capability to “transcend language, cultural, and spiritual barriers when expressing pure emotion.”¹

Azam’s breakthrough onto the international music scene came with her duo Vas’ best-selling first album. They went on to create four albums from 1997 to 2004. Their music blended Azam’s earlier Indian, Persian and Western influences and focused on the relationship between percussion and the human voice.

Her next music project was with a new group that she co-founded in 2004 called Niyaz. The group created a unique sound that was a blend of acoustic instrumentation, electronic music, sufi poetry, and folk songs from Iran, India, Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East.² Niyaz has been described as a “miniature electro-worldbeat supergroup” and the sound on their first album has been described as “complex and frequently highly danceable.”³ Together they have performed in the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Italy, UAE and Mexico and have been featured in many prominent music festivals such as Globalfest in New York City, and the Montreal Jazz Festival and Vancouver Jazz Festival in Canada.

In addition to her work with Niyaz, Azam is also a solo artist. In 2010, she released her third solo album, From Night to the Edge of Day, which she considers her most personal project.⁴ 

[1] Azam Ali: Biography.

[2] ibid.

[3] Review: Niyaz.

[4] Azam Ali: Biography.

Category: Performing
Country: India

About

Zeenat Aman is an Indian actress and former beauty queen. She was born on November 19, 1951 to a Muslim father, Amanullah Khan, and a Hindu mother, Scinda. Her father was one of the writers for the Bollywood film classics Mughal-e-Azam and Pakeezah.¹

Zeenat’s movie career began with a part in O.P. Ralhan’s Hulchul in 1971. However it was Hare Rama Hare Krishna, with its hit song, Dum Maro Dum, that made her famous. She received a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award and Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Award for Best Actress for this role. With her 1973 film Yaadon Ki Baaraat, her popularity grew particularly for the scene in which she carries a guitar and lip-syncs Asha Bhosle’s Churaliya Hai Tumne Jo Dil Ko. 

Zeenat is known for breaking the stereotypically shy image of Bollywood actresses with several controversial roles.² In Roti Kapda Aur Makaan, Zeenat played the role of an ambitious girl who contemplates abortion to pursue her career; in Hare Ram Hare Krishna, a disenchanted hippie; a girl who falls for her mother’s former lover in Prem Shastra; and a woman having an affair on her crippled husband in Dhund. Zeenat has also acted in more conventional films such as Dostana, Chhaila Babu and Chori Mera Kaam.

Zeenat continued to make movies through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s including Ishq Ishq Ishq (1974), Kalabaaz (1977), Insaaf Ka Tarazu (1980) and Lawaaris (1981). Her last leading role was in the film Gawahi (1989). Zeenat has made several cameos in more recent Bollywood films such as Let’s Fall in Love (2006), Chaurahen (2007) and Ugly Aur Pagil (2008).

At the 2008 Zee Cine Awards for Bollywood films, Zeenat received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to Indian cinema.³

[1] Zeenat Aman Biography.

[2] Interview: Zeenat Aman.

[3] Zeenat Aman Biography.

Category: Performing
Country: Iran

About

Shohreh Aghdasloo is an Iranian actress who was born in Tehran in 1952 to an intellectual family. From an early age she was drawn to the theatre and by her early twenties was acting with various avant-garde performance groups such as the Drama Workshop of Tehran. Shohreh was soon noticed and cast by two prominent directors of the Iranian New Wave, Abbas Kiarostami and Ali Hatami, and played leading roles in their 1977 films Gozaresh and Sutedelan.

By the late 1970s, Shohreh’s work as an actress was either censored or banned by Ayatollah Khomeini’s strict new laws. Looking to escape post-Revolution Iran, Shohreh left her husband and her career to go to London. While there, a friend presented her with an opportunity to act in Rainbow, a play about the Revolution and the turmoil that ensued. The play was a success and brought Shohreh to the United States, where she married her second husband and settled in Los Angeles. 

Though initially Shohreh found it difficult to find non-stereotypical roles for Middle Eastern women in Hollywood, she eventually found herself starring in Vadim Perelman’s adaption of the bestseller The House of Sand and Fog. In the film she played Nadi, a strong but submissive Iranian American wife, and was cast opposite Ben Kingsley. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination. She went on to have a recurring role on the popular television series 24 and starred in a number of films including The Exorcism of Emily Rose, American Dreamz, X-Men: The Last Stand, and The Lake House.¹

Shohreh also starred in two short films in a trilogy by fellow Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat entitled Possessed and Pulse.² In 2008, Shohreh starred in Cyrus Nowrasteh’s The Stoning of Soraya M, a film about an innocent woman, Soraya, who has been condemned by her husband and a village mob for adultery. Shohreh played Soraya’s aunt, who acts to defend her from her ill fate. The Stoning of Soraya M was the runner up to Slumdog Millionaire at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival for the Audience Choice award.³
 

[1] “Shohreh Aghdashloo,” NY Times Movies and TV.

[2] “Shohreh Aghdashloo,” Pars Times.

[3] “Movie Review: The Stoning of Soraya M,” NY Times.

Category: Performing
Country: Pakistan

About

Tina Sani is a Pakistani singer of ghazals, or dramatic poems. Her first experience with the professional world of singing was in 1980 when she was introduced by Ishrat Ansari on a television program for youth. “It was the first programme of its kind, with live recording,” Tina remembered. “I had taken up singing only six months prior to that, more for kicks than anything else, and my appearing on television was a culmination of that short period of practice. Considering that I had never been in the public eye, it was a luxury to have such a captive audience before me.” ¹

After her debut, Tina continued to make television appearances. However, she kept her engagements limited to ensure that she would continue to grow as a singer and not burn out too early in her career. She received her big break when she was asked to sing a ghazal by the famous Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz entitled Aai meray dil meray musafir. For Tina, singing this ghazal earned her a great deal of support from her listeners, along with her family and friends.²

According to Tina, her musicians have the room to play as they please. She believes that music comes not just from the instrument, but from the musicians themselves, a philosophy she applies to fusion as well. Perhaps this view is best demonstrated in an encounter Tina had in Greenwich Village in New York City.“There was a Spaniard singing a ballad which had been used by Raj Kapoor in one of his movies and I spontaneously started singing it in Urdu,” Tina recalled. “He came up to me and started playing the chords for me and then I sang Meray Hamdam, Meray Dost and just by hearing the melody, he played it for me. Before we knew it, we had gathered an audience that was applauding us madly. That was true fusion.”³

Tina’s career has allowed her to sing “inspirational, conscience-arousing lyrics” from a variety of sources. One of her future projects is to record an Urdu translation of the poet Rumi’s Mathnavi with Iranian and Turkish musicians.⁴

[1] Tina Sani—Interview.

[2] ibid.

[3] Tina Sani—Interview.

[4] “Tina Sani’s songs of hope,” The Hindu.

Category: Performing
Country: Malaysia

About

Sheila Majid is a Malaysian singer who has been present on the music scene for more than two decades with her signature style: contemporary pop music blended with jazz and rhythm and blues. Her debut album, Dimensi Baru (New Dimension) was released in 1985 and created a new dimension in the Malaysian music industry and sold-out concerts for Sheila.

Her second 1987 album Emosi (Emotion) allowed the Malaysian singer to become part of the music scene in Indonesia. She was not only the first non-Indonesian to win the BASF Award for Best Female Artist in R&B in 1987, but also embarked on a successful nationwide tour in 1988.

The following year Sheila and her music traveled to Japan, where she performed at the Tokyo Music Festival. She later performed in the Okinawa Music Pageant in 1990. To date Sheila remains the only Malaysian artist to successfully penetrate the Japanese market. While busy touring the region, Sheila released her third album Warna (Colour) in 1988 and later Legenda (Legend)  in 1990. The latter was her fourth and best-selling album to date and paid tribute to the late P. Ramlee, one of Malaysia’s most famous entertainers.

After a six-year hiatus, Sheila released her fifth album Ratu (Queen) in 1996. This album received much critical acclaim as her maturing and evolving style allowed her to collaborate with some of the world’s best musicians including Nathan East of the American Jazz group Four Play, Rex Goh of Air Supply and Japanese violinist Aska Kaneko. With this album, Sheila achieved another first for a Malaysian artist. East West Records, her UK affiliate label, arranged a special release of Ratu at Tower Records in Piccadilly Circus, London.

In 2000, Sheila won four awards at the Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM), including Best Pop Album for her sixth release Ku Mohon (I Pray). Cinta Kita, her seventh album, includes collaborations with some of Indonesia’s foremost entertainers such as Andi Rianto, Tohpati and Indra Lesmana.¹

[1] Sheila Majid: Bio.

Category: Performing
Country: United Kingdom

About

Shazia Mirza is an award-winning, British Asian stand-up comedian from Birmingham, England. She has toured in the United States, Sweden, Denmark, France, Holland and Germany and has appeared on 60 Minutes (CBS), Last Comic Standing (NBC), and Have I Got News for You (BBC). Shazia’s comedic talent has been featured on television shows such as Beautiful People, F**K off I’m a Hairy Woman, Richard and Judy, and The World Stands Up, as well as radio programs like On the Dot – Comic Fringes, a Good Read, Midweek, The Now Show, Between Ourselves, and Women’s Hour.¹

Shazia was also credited as a script consultant on fellow comedian David Baddiel’s 2010 release The Infidel, a film that humorously addresses ethnic identity and the troubling competition between religious groups in Britain. The hero of the movie is played by Omid Djalili, who portrays a moderate Muslim living a quiet life in East London when he discovers he was adopted and his birth parents were Jewish.² 

Shazia has received rave reviews from a number of top publications including The New York Times, which stated, “In that global menagerie of Comedy Mirza is that rarest of rare creatures. Mirza is a proven draw.”³She has won a number of awards for her work including the GG2 Young Achiever of the Year Award in 2003, the Columnist of the Year PPA Awards in 2008, and the Arts and Culture Award in 2010.⁴

In regards to her work and her faith Shazia commented, “I totally believe in my religion. I think if I were a practicing Muslim and a stripper, then there would be a problem. But there isn’t a problem with me being a practicing Muslim and a stand-up comic.”⁵

[1] Shazia Mirza: Biography.

[2] “The Infidel,” The Guardian.

[3] Shazia Mirza: Biography.

[4] ibid.

[5] “Funny, Shazia Mirza Looks Muslim,” The San Francisco Chronicle.

Category: Performing
Country: Pakistan

About

Sanam Marvi is a Sufi singer based in Pakistan. She began studying music under the guidance of her father, Faqeer Ghulam Rasool, until the age of seven. Eventually Sanam visited India, where she trained under Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of Gwalior. While there, she felt that Indian audiences were more appreciative of her talent than those back home. She also observed that Indian audiences responded positively to Allama Iqbal, a famous Pakistani poet. Sanam often recited his poem Gesu-e-tabdaar ko aur bhi tabdaar kar during her performances in India.

One of Sanam’s goals as a musician is to make Sufi music more popular with both Indian and Pakistani youth. “I have never performed any pop song in my life and don’t even plan to,” she declared. “My objective is to perform at every Sufi festival across the world so that people of my generation and many more come (to be) familiarized with this culture. I am only 24, and if I can get fascinated by it, so can others.”¹

As an artist, Sanam is inspired by the women of Sindh who have a special song for every occasion that they sing to the beat of a dhol, or Eastern drum. She hopes to break new ground with one of her upcoming projects, a collection of Sindhi songs. ²

Sanam not only hopes to break new ground musically, but socially as well. In February 2011, Sanam performed with Indian singer Rekha Bhardwaj in a concert for Aman ki Asha, an India-Pakistan peace project which was initiated by the Times of India and Pakistani Jang Group news outlets in an effort to spread peace through music. Rekha seemed to sum up the central message of the concert, saying, “I do not believe in Islam, I do not believe in Hinduism, I do not believe in any religion. All I believe in is the power of love and humanity.” ³

[1] <"Sanam Marvi: taking the Sufi world by storm," Daily Times..

[2] ibid.

[3] “Rekha, Sanam Marvi to perform together,” The Times of India.

Category: Performing
Country: India

About

Nargis Dutt was born Fatima Rashid on June 1, 1929 in Allahabad, India. Her first film was Taqdeer in 1943, but it was not until she played a role in Mehboob Khan’s Andaaz in 1949 that she became a star. With her portrayal of a modern girl caught between Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in the 1949 film Barsaat, Nargis achieved widespread fame.¹ She was described as the “perfect muse” for Raj Kapoor, whose film company produced the movie because of Nargis’s unconventional beauty.²

As an actress, Nargis was said to have brought a sense of authenticity and self-assurance to every role she played. She was described as “savagely elemental” in Anhonee and possessed a “sense of quietness” in Jogan.³

However, she may be best remembered for her portrayal of strength and purpose in Mother India in 1957. Mother India is the story of an Indian peasant and a remake of the 1940 film Aurat. The title is said to be an allegory for Mother Earth and Nargis’ performance in this role, in which she cruelly kills her own son in the end, won her a Best Actress Award at the Karlovy Vary Festival. The film was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

During the shooting of Mother India, Nargis met her future husband Sunil Dutt. After marriage, Nargis focused her attention on humanitarian causes. Still, her voice and silhouette appeared in Sunil Dutt’s Yaadein in 1964 and in 1967 she portrayed a woman with a split personality in Raat ur Din, for which she won the Indian National Award.

In 1981, Nargis died of cancer at the age of 52. Her family set up the Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation to continue charitable work in her name,⁴ while her son Sanjay Dutt followed in his parents’ footsteps and became an actor.⁵

[1] Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation.

[2] Barsaat—Movie Review, The Bollywood Ticket.

[3] Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation.

[4] ibid.

[5] Sanjay Dutt—Family/Biography.

Category: Performing
Country: Pakistan

About

As an actress, painter, model, and singer, Meesha Shafi is a gifted artist with multiple talents. A graduate of the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan, Meesha comes from a family with a rich tradition of art and culture. Her mother Saba Pervaiz, for example, is a famous Pakistani television actress. When asked if going into entertainment was an obvious choice given her family background, Meesha responded, “If it’s in your blood, there’s no escaping it. I know I was born with the performing bug in me. If it was there from such an early age, it was probably because of my mom.”¹

Meesha is a member of Overload, a percussion-based fusion performing group considered to be the loudest band in Pakistan. Overload’s music has a heavy rock influence with an element of fusion through the sound of the dhol, an Eastern drum. As the group’s lead vocalist, Meesha is seen as Pakistan’s first female rock star. She recently performed a “groovy rendition” of “Alif Allah Chambay di Booti” with Arif Lohar on Coke Studio, a Pakistani music program.²

When Meesha is not making music, she is busy modeling. She is considered one of Pakistan’s leading fashion models and was selected as the country’s L’Oréal Paris’ spokesperson. In regards to this accomplishment, Meesha commented, “I definitely feel extremely flattered. It gives me great pride to represent the world’s largest beauty brand and to know that they chose me to communicate to thousands of beautiful women across the country.”³ With her position at L’Oréal, Meesha hopes to represent the limitless beauty of Pakistan, its tradition, culture, and exotic beauty, much of which she feels the world is unaware.⁴

[1] “Meesha Shafi – The Dum guttkoon, Jugni ji Girl,” from Dawn.

[2] ibid.

[3] Meesha Shafi talks to Fashion Central.

[4] ibid.

Category: Visuals
Country: United Kingdom

About

Lateefa Spiker was born to American and English parents, both of whom were converts to Islam. Growing up, Lateefa often felt that she did not belong to any one group, having lived and studied in the United Kingdom, Spain, Jordan and the United States, Egypt, and Morocco. She once remarked that her favorite kinds of conversations are nonverbal ones, and that she translates her experiences of not belonging into the universal language of visual art.¹

Lateefa’s work explores the structures and flowing forms of traditional Islamic art and its relationship to the experiences of contemporary life. She examines the boundaries of established order and its encounter with postmodernism and the frontiers of chaos, providing a unique visual meditation on the delicate balance between them. Lateefa uses a wide range of media that include oil on canvas, gouache on gesso board, engraved gesso boards, prints, drawings and kinetic installations.²

In one of her latest collections, Lateefa combines traces of American Indian color schemes, luscious waterfalls and Indonesian ikat fabric. She uses a smooth velvety gesso that she says is reminiscent of the adobe architecture present in her New Mexican childhood. Although Lateefa draws on traditional Islamic patterns, she brings to them a new fresh perspective, which is popular amongst many Western Muslims. She believes that “traditional art is like a time machine that can bring the past into the present. I think Islamic art is one of the most relevant traditional forms as it represents infinity, nature, things that are timeless. But you need to speak in the language of the time.”³

Lateefa is currently based in East London, where she has been teaching and collaborating with other artists since 2006. She completed her foundation course in the Building Arts program at the Princes School in 2000 and went on to study painting at Northumbria University, both in the United Kingdom.⁴

[1] “Unravelling Disorder—Profile of Artist Lateefa Spiker,” Emel Magazine.

[2] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.

[3] “Unravelling Disorder—Profile of Artist Lateefa Spiker,” Emel Magazine.

[4] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.

Category: Performing
Country: Pakistan

About

Haniya Aslam and her cousin Zebunissa Bangash are internationally known as Zeb and Haniya, Pakistan’s first all-female music group. Their debut album Chup, a collection of 10 songs, was met with rave reviews from Pakistan’s major newspapers. They are from the Northwest Frontier Province, an area that is widely synonymous with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Through their music, a blend of eastern and western influences, they present a different image of their homeland. Paimona, a Pashtun love ballad set to the sound of blues, is one of the best illustrations of their unique style. Although they are not involved in politics, Zeb and Haniya feel it important to dispel stereotypes about their country abroad. ¹

In the band, Haniya is the main songwriter and provides some vocals, while Zeb is the lead vocalist. While completing their album Chup the duo were helped greatly by local musicians. After the album’s release, Zeb and Haniya received praise by young Pashtuns for promoting their culture. Haniya has said that her family was a big influence on Zeb and Haniya’s musical development. Her father was always very enthusiastic about music, and everyone in her family plays an instrument.  Her grandmother was a poet and spoke three languages fluently.  ²

Deutsche Welles has described Zeb and Haniya as “among the most innovative musicians in Pakistan.”  ³ To date they have performed in Pakistan, Malaysia, Italy, France, and at music festivals in the United States and Norway. Their music, with its variety of sound and language – Pushto, Urdu, Dari and Turkish – has been claimed by a diversity of audiences. ⁴

In addition to her talents as a musician, Haniya is also a photographer. Through her photographs she captures the beauty of Pakistan and everyday life. Her work includes pictures entitled Afternoon in Jinnah Bagh, Early Morning Lahore, Lahore Fort Façade, Baadshai Masjid Gallery, Pakistan Today and Vespa Gone Native.  ⁵

[1] “Pakistani Girl Band Creates a Stir,” BBC.

[2] ibid.

[3] Zeb and Haniya’s Official Website.

[4] ibid.

[5] Haniya Aslam’s Photography.

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

Adrian Jasper is a writer who was born and raised in Sacramento, California. She discovered her passion for writing as a child: at the age of five she began songwriting and by six, she began writing short children’s stories. One of her early successes was winning first place in The Afro Contest, a picture book contest. Adrian continued writing throughout her teenage years and into her twenties. Although she openly wrote short stories and poetry, she remained quiet about her songwriting until the increasing popularity of spoken word encouraged her to overcome her shyness.

Over the years Adrian has developed her poetry to address the political, the cultural and the religious. She started the Adrian Jasper Publishing to promote Islamic culture through poetry.¹ In May 2011 she wrote Lady Muslim with a Pen, which has been described as a unique and creative body of poetry influenced by Quranic verses and infused with Adrian’s spirit.² Her poems, which are often accompanied by the verses that inspired them, include Mama Said A Prayerand Liquor and Pork. In Lady Muslim with a Pen, Adrian touches upon a number of topics including prayer, women’s dress, motherhood, Quranic science, religious messengers, terrorism, the African slave trade, and the oneness of God.³ 

According to a book review by Imam Omar Shareef of Sacramento, Adrian is truly an Islamic poet: “Her use of prose and irregular stanzas strikes of authenticity and freshness, allowing the words to flow to the consciousness of everyday ordinary people.” ⁴

Adrian is currently the secretary of the Council of Sacramento Valley Islamic Organizations (COSVIO) and is working on an English Degree for Letters and Science online at National University.⁵

[1] Adrian Jasper: About.

[2] Adrian Jasper: Chapter Excerpts.

[3] ibid.

[4] Adrian Jasper: Book Review.

[5] Adrian Jasper: About.

Category: Culinary
Country: Turkey

About

Ebru Akpınar is a head chef at Istanbul’s Günaydın steakhouse chain, responsible for 23 locations. She has been carving a niche for herself in a male-dominated world for 15 years. She readily debunks the traditional idea that girls learn to cook from their mothers in the home.  Her mother “cooks awfully,” she says, and her father, preoccupied with his work in the textile industry had no interest in cooking.¹ 

It was restaurateur Ömer Salur who poached her from her university studies in economics in order to learn the restaurant business. Though she learned the technical side of cooking and restaurant management from Ömer, she believes she also has an innate talent. “I believe God gives everyone a talent.  Some are born to make music, […] I was born to be a chef,” asserts Ebru.² Specializing in Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines, she has traveled to Antep, Urfa, Mardin, Trabzon, and Kayseri to master the nuances in the local cooking that contain different spices and ingredients.

As she has risen through the ranks and has been given more and more authority in the kitchen, Ebru has had to deal with men that were skeptical about being given direction by a woman. She has no tolerance for insubordination and says that the skeptical are soon swayed to her way of seeing things by her dedication to her work as well as her experience.³ 

[1]“Female chef in Turkey takes on male-dominated world,” Hürriyet Daily News.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Category: Visuals
Film-making
Country: Malaysia

About

Born in 1958, Yasmin Ahmed was an acclaimed Malaysian film maker. Beginning her career through her work in television commercials, Yasmin created the advertisements for the Malaysian oil firm Petronas. In her commercial work, Yasmin wove emotionally charged parables about contemporary society, and her advertisements earned her several awards and nominations.¹ 

In her lifetime, Yasmin produced six films that chronicled the socio-economic and racial politics of Malaysia. In her well-known film, Sepet, a 19-year-old Chinese boy who sells VCDs and a 16-year-old Malay school girl fall in love as they talk about poetry and films. Through their story, Yasmin portrays a complex narrative which comments on a variety of Malay issues such as mixed racial couples, evolving languages, and the relationship between Chinese, Malay and Indian peoples in Malaysia.²  The film was one of the first to reflect how Malay people talk in everyday life by showing the linguistic blends of English and Malay in conversations. Amir Muhammad, a fellow Malaysian filmmaker, admired her choice to reflect Malaysia’s diversity. “Most films in Malaysia are only in Malay, but she saw our multicultural heritage as a blessing rather than a burden, which is how her films gained their colourful mix of languages and people.”³ 

Yasmin’s other films include Rabun, Gubra, Mukhsin, Muallaf, and Talentime. Yasmin’s films have been shown at numerous film festivals and won several awards, including Most Original Story and Best Film by the Malaysian Film Festival for Sepet in 2005 and Best Screenplay and Best Film by the Malaysia Film Festival for Gubra in 2006. Yasmin also received the Berlin International Film Festival Grand Prix award, which was awarded by the Kinderfilmfest International Jury and Generation K-Plus Crystal Bear.⁴ 

[1] Amir Muhammad, “A Dreamer’s Dream,” Aquila Asia, February 24, 2010.
[2] “Sepet,” WorldCinema.com.
[3] “Sepet,” WorldCinema.com.
[4] ibid.

Category: Crafts
Pottery
Country: United Kingdom

About

Shahida Ahmed first discovered her passion for ceramics as student waiting for her sister’s pottery class to finish. In an interview, Shahida shares how a serendipitous afternoon changed her life. After the instructor of her sister’s pottery class invited her to come in, she fell in love with pottery. “I thoroughly enjoyed the manipulation of clay and the enjoyment I achieved from making sculptural pieces,…Clay related to me and my spirituality. Allah says He made man from clay; each piece of art is unique, handmade and represents various expressions of traditional arts.”¹  From that day on, her accidental foray in ceramics turned into a lifelong passion.

Today, Shahida is an acclaimed ceramic artist who incorporates Islamic calligraphy into her work. Azizah magazine described her work as a “feast for the eye and soul, as her ceramics evoke a time of handcrafted quality and its tradition in Islamic art.”²  Shahida also creates Arab script as three dimensional works of art, which is similar to the artistic style of the Mughals. Although it can be challenging for Muslim female artists to break into the mainstream art scene, Shahida has made a name for herself as a talented artist. In 2009, Shahida presented an elegantly crafted hollow ceramic cube decorated in Islamic calligraphy to Prince Charles in London.³  In addition, she has been nominated numerous times for awards and is the CEO of Creative Colours, a program to launch the first handwritten Quran in the United Kingdom.

Of Pakistani heritage, Shahida draws inspiration from the architectural styles of Pakistan, in addition to Sufi poetry and her travels to Turkey and Morocco. She says she hopes to use art as a “tool that can create dialogue and cohesion,” as exemplified in places built by Muslims that are now renowned, like the Taj Mahal and the Alhambra.⁴ 

[1] Kelly Izdihar Crosby, “Capturing the Beauty,” Azizah, June 21, 2011.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: United States

About

With her sister Tasneem Sabri, Marwa Atik designs handmade headscarves inspired by high fashion trends.¹  Together they started Vela Scarves, an up-and-coming label that specializes in stylish headscarves. Based on Southern California, Marwa sees headscarves as a piece of clothing that demands style, rather than as a mere accessory to outfits. She hopes her designs will show that modest fashion choices do not require women to abandon their sense of style.² 

Vela Scarves are playful yet sophisticated. The scarf, “Victorian Pleat,” features four layers of elegant, handmade pleating, and the “Cat’s Meow” is a fun leopard print wrap scarf.³  Marwa designed another coral pink scarf with a cream bow overlaid by a black velvet paisley print, and it is called the “Blaire” after the Gossip Girl character.⁴  The success of Vela Scarves has encouraged Marwa to launch a new clothing line as well as a bridal hijab line in the coming future.⁵ 

[1] Raja Abdulrahim, “Islamic Head Scarves Take Fashion Cues,” The Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2010.
[2] ibid.
[3] Velascarves.com
[4] Raja Abdulrahim, “Islamic Head Scarves Take Fashion Cues,” The Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2010.
[5] ibid.

Photo courtesy of Iman Zawahry.

Category: Visuals
Film-making
Country: United States

About

Iman Zawahry was born in Panama City, Florida in 1980. From a young age, Iman felt a pull towards filmmaking.  As a teenager, she created spoof productions of the Arsenio Hall Show and 90210, complete with commercial breaks starring friends. Although she originally planned on pursuing Islamic studies, Iman gravitated towards filmmaking as a way to allow her to pursue activism. She focuses on creating comedic films about the American Muslim experience since she believes that humor is the best approach for tackling serious issues. She says:

“Once an audience member is able to laugh at something that would normally make them uncomfortable, they are able to let go of their previous prejudice and begin on the path of understanding. When you see a Muslim police detective, who wears a scarf, chasing a pig and covered in pig pen mud, you are able to forget the negative connotation [that a] Muslim equals [a] terrorist. Instead you see a Muslim as a person who deals and tackles the same issues as everyone else.”

Iman has worked as a freelance journalist with Bridges TV, the first American Muslim television network, and today Iman has directed and written several films including Under Cover, Tough Crowd, The Cape, and Neighbors of Mass Destruction.  Her third film Tough Crowd, which chronicled the journey of an aspiring female Muslim stand-up comic, won an Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Emmy Award and the Award of Merit at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Tough Crowd also qualified as a finalist in the NBC Comedy Short Cuts where Iman was a finalist to pitch a sitcom with NBC executives. Consequently, the Directors-In-Training program at NBC nominated Iman for its exclusive program.

Iman was also a recipient of the exclusive Princess Grace Award and completed shooting her fourth film Under Cover that she produced, directed, and co-wrote. Under Cover has been awarded Best Short in six festivals, along with Best Director and many nominations.  Iman is currently writing a feature film with the stand-up comedians from Allah Made Me Funny.

Category: Visuals
Calligraphy
Country: United States

About

Elinor Aisha Holland is an Islamic calligrapher from Pennsylvania. Growing up in a suburban neighborhood, Elinor longed to escape the doldrums of her town.¹  Fortunately, a Turkish family invited her to stay with them in Turkey for a summer and she fell in love with the people and culture there. After seeing Islamic calligraphy, she immediately began learning the ancient art. In an interview with Azizah magazine, she recalled, “Instantly, I wanted to do it….I started learning the Arabic alphabet. My hosts were artists and they produced paper, ink and pens for me. I began copying things out of a book.”² 

Over the years, Elinor took countless calligraphy classes and became a student of the famed calligrapher, Mohamed Zakariya. She also frequently travelled to Turkey, where she eventually adopted Islam as her faith.³  As an Islamic calligrapher, Elinor said that it is important to expose people to different kinds of art from around the world, especially from the Middle East. “There are so many people who have no idea that there is this beautiful art from that side of the world,” she said, adding sharing Islamic calligraphy has enabled her to become an ambassador of art to others.⁴  Elinor has taught numerous workshops in schools, museums, and university programs, and her work has also been highlighted in The Book of Sufi Healing and Believing Women in Islam.⁵ 

[1] Dujanah Descartes, “The Soothing Art,” Azizah, Volume 6, Issue 2.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] ibid.
[5] “About the Panelists: Elinor Aisha Holland,” HVCAA, 2007.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: United States

About

Shifting from a career as a therapist, Bayan Jondy decided to pursue fashion after feeling frustrated with mainstream clothing designs. At first, Bayan began by sketching and designing her own clothing, but after encouragement from family and friends, she started her own clothing company, Zeena, which means “beautiful ornament” in Arabic.¹ 

Bayan’s designs aim to be modest and unique, striving to create “boutique-like” pieces.²  Zeena’s line offers scarves, skirts, tops, and jewelry. Using colorful prints, her clothing is fun yet sophisticated. In one outfit, Bayan designed a loose, ruffled tunic perfect for spring, which comes in forest green, violet, or ocean blue.³  In another, Bayan designed a more casual, comfortable knee-length hoodie that is meant for unwinding at home.⁴ 

In an interview, Bayan recalls the frustration of having to wear numerous layers of clothing, especially in the summer. “I truly wanted Muslim women to feel confident and beautiful wearing modest clothing. Up until we launched, I felt that our options for fashionable clothing in line with my beliefs were very limited. I was frustrated with not being able to find the kind of clothing that reflected my personality and uniqueness …I always knew I wanted to make my own designs, but I never imagined it on this scale.”⁵ 

[1] “Simply Zeena,” Hijabtrendz.com , January 24, 2011.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Ruffle top,” Simplyzeena.com.
[4] “Ribbed Hoodie,” Simplyzeena.com.
[5] Sarah Jawaid, “An Interview with Bayan Jondy,” Altmuslimah.com.

Category: Performing
Music
Country: Sudan

About

Alsarah is a Sudanese singer-songwriter who blends traditional Nubian music from the 1970s with contemporary Soul.  When young, Alsarah moved from Sudan to Yemen where she was exposed to an array of musical styles from traditional Yemeni music to Algerian records to classical Arabic music.¹  Later when she moved to the United States, Alsarah listened to everything from Balkan women’s choral singing, Appalachian folk songs, Jazz to Indian music. By the time Alsarah was graduating from university, her musical hobby had become a central part of her life, leading her to travel to Sudan to study the role of Sudanese music in rituals.² 

Today, Alsarah is carving out her own musical niche with her band, Alsarah and the Nubatones. Blending traditional sounds with their original material, Alsarah aims to use music to transcend linguistic or cultural barriers across diasporic communities.³  With a heavy use of drums and chanting, her songs range from fluid and soulful, to rich and joyful.  In an interview, Alsarah said she uses music to express a truth and creativity that has largely been absent from a male-dominated Sudanese music scene.  She hopes that her music will offer a means of fostering interaction between diverse communities internationally and in Sudan for herself and others. “I want a chance to get to know my own people. I know that Sudan can never be all that it can be if we are divided. I want to build a new Sudan for all of the Sudanese people not section it off so we become homogenous fenced off creatures afraid of change and afraid of diversity.”

[1] “SOUNDSCAPES | Possessed by the Jinn: Women and Music in Sudan,” Helo Magazine, December 8, 2010.
[2] ibid.
[3] Alsarah.com

Category: Performing
Music
Country: Pakistan

About

Nazia Hassan was born into a wealthy family in Karachi in 1965.  She began her singing career in the late 1970s when she appeared on Pakistani television programs as a child star.  At the age of 15, Nazia began her professional career by recording lead vocals on Aap Jaisa Koi, a song featured in the 1980 film Qurbani.  In 1981, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback for this song.¹ 

Aap Jaisa Koi was one of the biggest hits in Bollywood film music. It also made Nazia Hassan a star with young Asians in the Indian subcontinent who enjoyed the tune on the dance floor. The song’s London-based producer Biddu also brought Nazia into the limelight on the British pop scene.  Together, they went on to produce Disco Deewane (1981), a wildly popular album known for it’s “racy songs” and “harmonious blend of eastern rhythms and western beats.”  The album was number one for a year and it made Nazia the queen of Asian pop.

After the success of Disco Deewane, Nazia and her brother Zohaib sang together in the Bollywood film Star and returned to Pakistan in the early 1980s to record Young Tarang that was followed by Hotline in 1987. Nazia’s last solo album, Camera Camera was released in London in 1992. Her later works were criticized for lacking the expressiveness of early work.²

To her fans, it was her commitment to promoting social causes that really made her unique.  Nazia worked to help women and youth living in underprivileged areas in Karachi.  She began a non-profit organization called Battle Against Narcotics (BAN) and was an active member of organizations such as Voice of Women and the National Youth Council of Pakistan.  In the early 1990s she spent two years working for the Security Council at the United Nations and one year with UNICEF.³

Nazia passed away due to lung cancer on August 13, 2000. She was only 35 years old.⁴

[1] Nazia Hassan: A disco queen remembered.
[2] Nazia Hassan.
[3] ibid.
[4] Nazia Hassan: A disco queen remembered.

Category: Performing
Music
Country: Pakistan

About

Noor Jehan is known as Mallika-e-Tarannum, the Queen of Melody. Her career spanned six decades in the 20th century, included songs in Urdu and Punjabi and reached an audience of millions of people across the Indian Subcontinent.¹ 

Born in the Kasur region of the Punjab in 1926, Noor Jehan’s fascination with music began at the age of six.  One of her childhood idols Akhtari Begum advised her to learn classical music. Obliging her advice, she studied classical music under Ghulum Mohammed Khan and began playing small roles in films such as Sheila: Pind di Kudi (1935) and Gul-e-Bakavali (1939).  Noor Jehan received her big break when she played the female lead in Khandaan in 1942. Not only did one of her songs, Tu Kaunsi Badli Mein Mere Chand Hai Aaja become a big hit, she also ended up marrying the film’s director, Syed Shauqat Hussain Rizvi.

Following the success of Khandaan, the newly-married couple moved to Bombay, India’s movie capital. Recognized for her incredible voice and strong stage presence, she became the number one actress in India. Her films included Dhuai (1943), Nadan (1943), Dost (1944) and Village Girl (1945).  Noor Jehan also popularized qawwali, a form of poetry in her film Zeenat with her song Aahen Na Bhari Shikwen Na Kiye, a duet with Zohra Ambala. 

After completing Mirza Sahiban (1947) and Jugnu (1947), Noor Jehan moved to the newly formed nation of Pakistan.  Chan Wey, a film that she acted and directed was released in 1951. She continued acting in Pakistan until she switched over to playback singing. Her last film as an actress was Ghalib (1961).  Noor Jehan’s film Heer Ranjha (1970), is considered one of the best films to be produced by Lollywood, Pakistan’s movie industry. 

It was in 1996, that Noor Jehan recorded her last song, Ki Dam Da Bharosa for the film Sakhi Badshah.  She ended her singing career due to deteriorating health and changing trends in music.  Noor Jehan passed away on December 23, 2000 in Pakistan due to heart failure.²

[1] Madam Noor Jehan.
[2] Noor Jehan.

Category: Fashion
Country: United Kingdom

About

Takiyah Collins is one of the founders of Islamik Infusions, an organization in the United Kingdom that arranges inspirational events to promote unity among Muslim women. Its main goals are to provide Islamic services and products that help educate Muslims, highlight Muslim women who have created new enterprises, and to create an awareness of Islamic charities and services that are available.  This is done through articles published on Islamik Infusion’s website, informal gatherings such as luncheons, lectures and other events. The website also features poetry, recipes and advice for natural remedies.

Islamik Infusions also aims to brake down the barriers between Muslim women of all races and ages by putting on Muslim women-only events to encourage sisterhood and unity.¹ An example of such an event was a Muslim women-only luncheon to raise funds for revert2reality, an organization that provides support to new Muslims, both men and women as they learn about Islam.² The event consisted of games, an auction, stalls, and poetry by Sarah Ibrahim of NoFrills Poetry.³

An important part of Islamik Infusion’s work is to produce an Islamically oriented magazine for Muslim businesses in and around the London area. The aim is to provide a way for Muslim businesses to have a way to promote and market themselves in a cost effective way to the local community.⁴

[1] Islamik Infusions: Home.
[2] revert2reality: about us.
[3] Islamiki Infusions on Facebook.
[4] Islamik Infusions: Our Magazine.

Category: Performing
Film
Country: India

About

Mumtaz Jahan Begum Dehlavi or as she is best known to her many fans, Madhubala, was born on Februray 14, 1933.  She began acting when she was only nine years old and become known in the Hindi film industry as Baby Mumtaz.  Her early films included Basant (1942), Dil ki Rani (1947), Chittor Vijay (1947), Khubsurat Duniya (1947), Amar Prem (1948), Lal Dupatta (1948) and Parai Aag (1948). However, it was the movie Mahal (1949), a suspense thriller that made her a star. She played opposite Ashok Kumar. “Aaega Aanewala,” remains one of her signature songs today.¹

After Mahal’s success she starred in a number of films with the leading men of the day including Dilip Kumar. They included Pades (1950), Tarana (1951), Sangdil (1952), Aaram (1951), Arman (1953) and Badal (1951).  By the mid-1950s, many of her major films began to flop. In addition, she became involved with Dilip Kumar and her father’s opposition to him eventually took its toll on her. Eventually, Madhubala came back with a string of successful movies in the late 1950s including Phagun (1958), Howrah Bridge (1958), Kala Pani (1958) and Chalti ka Naam Gaadi (1958).²

In 1960, Madhubala starred in the most famous Hindi movie of all time, Mughal-e-Azam. Her performance in this movie as Anarkali was the highest achievement of her career. She received much acclaim from critics and gained a great deal of popularity.³ Over the years, Mughal-e-Azam has been described as a work of art, a classic and an unforgettable part of Hindi film lore and Madhubala through this film is immortalized as a talented actress and a timeless beauty.⁴

Shortly, after the release of the enormous success of Mughal-e-Azam she was diagnosed as having a hole in her heart and was forced to cut her career short.  Madhubala also found herself in a loveless marriage with Kishore Kumar that lasted until her death on February 23, 1969.⁵

Madhubala remains a true icon Bollywood even today.

[1] Madhubala.
[2] ibid.
[3] Acting Career and Films of Madhubala.
[4] Mugal-e-Azam: A Work of Art.
[5] Madhubala.

Category: Visuals
Country: Jordan

About

Born in Amman, Jordan, Shereen Audi began her career as a painter in 1992.¹ Under the supervision of various artists in Jordan and abroad, Shereen developed her style as an abstract expressionist artist. She cites Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miró, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell and Andy Warhol, in addition to other Arab artists, as sources of inspiration and admiration.² Shereen considers herself “a woman with a golden brush” who is motivated solely by her inner spirit. Utilizing dramatic colors and lines, Shereen believes that “art is a world of its own.”^3,4

Shereen has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. In an interview with Elan Magazine, she said that her emotions drive her work. “[Painting] is an escape from the burdens of daily life that tend to lead to monotony.  Painting gives me the feeling of contentment, both from my heart and soul. It frees my mind and spirit.”⁵ Before painting, Shereen often meditates in order to clear her mind. “Abstract art is about the expression of freedom of mind and ideas, she has said, “I want people to look at my paintings and see through them, let their minds wonder and uncover the truth of my expressions.”⁶

[1] ShereenAudi.com
[2] “Shereen Audi – A Woman With a Golden Brush,” Elan Magazine.
[3] ibid.
[4] “Shereen Audi,” Saatchi Online.
[5] “Shereen Audi – A Woman With a Golden Brush,” Elan Magazine.
[6] “Shereen Audi,” Zara Gallery.

Category: Visuals
Country: Hong Kong

About

Originally from Hong Kong, Pik converted to Islam in college and married her husband soon afterwards.¹ Along with her husband, she opened an Islamic art company, Sakina Design, which strives to use and promote only environmentally friendly products. With her husband, Jontie, handling the business end of the company, Pik designs contemporary wall art and greeting cards.² Drawing upon Islamic calligraphy and traditional designs, she creates clean, minimalistic pieces.  For instance, in one greeting card, Pik designed a pattern “inspired by architecture from Isfahan, Iran” which came from “the famed Chehel Sutun (Forty Columns) Pavilion, built during the Safavid era.” Overlaying the pattern against a mossy green background, Pik creates a simple yet elegant card inspired by Muslim architecture.³

All products are made with sustainable or recycled materials.⁴ Not only are the materials Pik uses eco-friendly, but Pik and her husband also attempt to only source from companies which employ green manufacturing processes. For instance, the company which produces wooden frames for Sakina Design uses a furnace that burns leftover sawdust, which is used in the manufacturing process and heating the plant. Pik and her husband also user local suppliers for their work.⁵

[1] Sara Elghobashy, “Sakina Design Brings an Environmental Conscience to Islamic Art,” Elan, April 8, 2010.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Greeting Card,” Sakina Design
[4] “Sakina GREEN,” Sakina Design.
[5] ibid.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: United States

About

Nzinga Knight is a Muslim American evening wear designer. In 2008, Nzinga launched her own line.¹ Her debut collection draws upon elegant draping and fluid lines to create bold yet sophisticated clothing, and her use of bright, solid colors and silk fabrics reflect a cosmopolitan, modest flair.

As a native of New York, Nzinga aims to create stylish clothing for women like herself – “Women with attitude, style and confidence.”² In one look called “Twareg,” Nzinga asymmetrically draped the front of a dress and created a long shawl in the back that could be also be used as a veil.³ Made out of a silk jersey fabric, the dress is a vivid midnight blue with long, flowing sleeves. In her “Cyndi” dress, Nzinga used a silk jersey in a dark lavender shade to create long, sleek 1930s-inspired look.⁴ With a snakelike gemstone beading at the neckline, the dress is an elegant yet sophisticated vision of the modern Muslim woman.

In an interview with Hijabtrendz, Nzinga said that aims to create eveningwear that does not rely on sex appeal. “With most of eveningwear being about sex appeal as opposed to elegance,” she said. “Women should be beautified, not exposed. So, I am about dignifying and beautifying women and giving them a beautiful option of modest high-end American eveningwear. I’m very pro-women, and pro-femininity.”⁵

Nzinga is a graduate of the Pratt Institute School of Design and is the recipient of Council of Fashion Designers of America Award. She has also been awarded a DCA Grant and was the winner of the 2008 Power UP Business Plan competition sponsored by Citigroup. Before launching her own line, Nzinga worked at Marc Jacobs, ThreeAsFour, Reva Mivasager and Jones NY.⁶ She has also been featured in the film, “Fashioning Faith.”

[1] “About Nzinga Knight,” NzingaKnight.com.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Twareg,” NzingaKnight.com.
[4] “Cyndi,” NzingaKnight.com.
[5] “Nzinga Knight,” Hijabtrendz.com.
[6] “About Nzinga Knight,” NzingaKnight.com.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Although better known for her role as the host of Kalam Nawaem, a talk show in Saudi Arabia, Muna Abu-Sulayman also designs women’s fashion. Her 2010 collection featured bright blues complemented by more subdued earth tones, and the line also includes stylish embroidered hijabs.¹ Modest yet contemporary, Muna’s clothing line shows how hijabs should never be a barrier for women. The Arab News commented that Muna’s career and fashion choices allows Muslim women to be seen in a new, more fashionable light. “With modest clothes and colorful head scarves, Muna has probably created a new image for Saudi women without even intending to do so. It is an image that has replaced the mistaken idea that all Saudi women live exclusively behind the veil.”²

In discussing the hijab, Muna says that the issues surrounding the hijab has made her both “sad and glad.” She says, “I was sad because the majority of women were hesitant to wear the hijab, thinking that it would make them less attractive. At the same time I was glad to find out that many now wear the hijab because they have realized that a woman can be simultaneously modest and elegant. My clothes, which I carefully choose myself, have helped other women to be creative.”³

[1] MunaAbu-Sulayman.com
[2] Safinaz Murshed, “Dealing with Fame,” The Arab News, December 4, 2003.
[3] ibid.

Category: Performing
Music
Country: United States

About

A Los Angeles native, Ms. Latifah is a spoken word artist who started her career at the Jazzman’s Café in Atlanta in 2006.¹ Since then, she has developed a loyal fan base for her witty, sophisticated poetry and engaging performances. After recording some of her poetry, Ms. Latifah talked with several radio stations about playing her work, but was told by one DJ that despite her obvious talent,  radio stations would never play her poetry. The experience, however, motivated her to prove that she could in fact succeed on her own terms, writing a piece entitled, “Radio,” which went on to be played at radio stations across the country.²  Although Ms. Latifah considers herself primarily a spoken word artist, she also raps and sings, fusing hip hop, rap and neo-soul elements into her work.

As a black Muslim, Ms. Latifah strives to remain an example that individuals do not need to sell out in order to fit in.³ She says, “I perform because there are few young, African-American women that are not conforming to society’s expectations. I want to be the one to prove that you can be yourself and still get support.”⁴ Ms. Latifah has written a number of tracks including, “Bites the Dust,” “Plan B,” and “They Call Me Crazy.” Ms. Latifah has won several poetry slams and also performed on stage with artists like Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, The Last Poets, Malcolm Jamal Warner and Ken Ford.⁵

[1] MySpace: Ms. Latifah.
[2] ibid.
[3] “Hip Hop: Ms. Latifah” Muslim Hip Hop.
[4] ibid.
[5] MySpace: Ms. Latifah.

Category: Visuals
Film-making
Country: United States

About

Lena Khan is an independent filmmaker from Alta Loma, California. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Lena initially studied political science but switched because of her increasing interest in continuing social activism.¹ In 2008, she won the grand prize for the One Nation, Many Voices film contest for her short film, A Land Called Paradise.

For A Land Called Paradise, Lena solicited the responses of over 2000 Muslim Americans about what they wished the broader American public knew about the Muslim community.² Set to the song, “A Land Called Paradise” by the country singer Kareem Salami, the video captures the diversity and ordinariness of the American Muslim experience as individuals hold up handmade signs such as, “I am black and I am not a convert,” “I visit my parents every weekend, even though they drive me insane,” and “I, too, shop at Victoria’s Secret.”³

Lena has also directed several other films, such as Baseem Is Trying, a humorous social commentary on the sense of the intensified scrutiny associated with being Muslim.⁴ In the short video, a Muslim man named Baseem struggles to appear as a normal American, fully aware of the how he may be perceived negatively by his coworkers or others in the community. For instance, in one scene, Baseem prays in his office, but the moment his coworker unexpectedly comes in, he immediately pretends to have been doing push ups.

The absurdity and humor of the video originated from Lena’s own life, in which she often felt extremely aware that she could be the “only Muslim” her coworkers or classmates had ever met. In an interview about the film, she said, “You always feel like they’re going to base everything they know about Muslims off of how they see you. So you find that you’re always trying really, really hard to make a good impression even if it’s for things you normally do.”⁵

[1] “Lena Khan: Best Under 60,” LinkTV.
[2] ibid.
[3] “A Land Called Paradise” Video
[4] “Baseem Is Trying” Video
[5] “Lena Khan: Best Under 60,” LinkTV.

Category: Fashion
Designers
Country: United States

About

Based in New Jersey, Brook Samad is a fashion designer who aims to create modest, yet stylish clothing. Using $8,000 she had in savings, Brook launched her fashion line Marabo in 2006.¹ Initially, Brook designed long skirts and sold them at a community bazaar.² Her designs were so successful that she began designing long sleeved shirts, tunics,jackets, and pants. Brook’s clothing balances fun prints with bold colors while always ensuring a modest touch.

After converting to Islam, Brook felt that fashionable Muslimahs were overlooked in the fashion world. As a teenager, Brook had designed her own clothes and wore them to school, so designing outfits came naturally to her. “I remember feeling like I had no idea how to dress once I became Muslim.  I wanted to maintain my identity as a stylish woman while not compromising my religious values.” She said in an interview with Hijabtrendz.  “I thought it would be nice to provide a one-stop shopping outlet for Muslimahs where you know the clothes will be stylish yet you never have to check for slits in the skirts or worry that the shirts in the summer will be sleeveless.”³

[1] “Marabo: New Fashions for Muslim Women,” Seyfettin.
[2] “VIDEO with Muslim Fashion Designer Brook Samad,” ModestFlair.com.
[3] “Maraboo Fashion” Hijabtrendz.com

Category: Literary
Poets
Country: Pakistan

About

Born in 1948 in Karachi, Pakistan, Azra Abbas is a prominent feminist poet in Urdu literature.¹  After earning her master’s degree in Urdu at Karachi University, she taught Urdu literature at a government college. In 1981, she published an extended prose poem in stream-of-consciousness style, “Neend Ki Musafatain,” and since then, she has written three collections of poetry, a compilation of short stories, and a novel.²

Azra has most notably written about the challenges that comes with women’s roles in society. Domestic chores, sexual desire, and gender inequality are some of the issues she explores in her work. Azra blends the private and political life of women in meditating on the “hidden wonders and abysses in everyday life, and one scholar has described her work as capturing the “poetry of life’s prose.”³  For instance,  critics have described her poem, “A Dot Might Appear,” as a contemplative, evocative piece which “makes us wonder about, and even question, accepted perceptions and established priorities.”⁴

A dot might appear from somewhere
that could not be put
on any word
and the dot
alone
off by itself
would stand there
sustained by some illusion
waiting
for a word to come
on which it could be put⁵

Azra has also written a memoir entitled, Mera Bachpan, and her collections have been translated into English.⁶ 

[1] Ed. Reza Aslan, “Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East,” W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2010.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Christina Oesterheld, “’An Evening of Caged Beasts:’ A Review Article,” The Annual of Urdu Studies.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Azra Abbas, “A Dot Might Appear”
[6] “In Their Own Voice: Azra Abbas and Anwer Sen Roy,” T2F.

Category: Literary
Poets
Country: United States

About

Tahani Salah is a performer, poet, and activist based in Brooklyn, New York.  She currently serves as a youth outreach coordinator and member of the Word Wide Youth Leadership Board with Urban Word NYC.  She is also a member of the Nuyorican Slam Team and author of the forthcoming book Respect The Mic.¹ Tahani has been featured on HBO’s Def Poetry Jams and participated in Mike Geffner’s Inspired Word NYC Poetry Spoken Word Event.²³
 
Passionate about the peace, Tahani paired up with Vanessa Hidary, “The Hebrew Mamita” and a number of progressive artists in the 2010 Tug of War tour to bring about a dialogue between herself, a Palestinian American Muslim and Vanessa, a Sephardic Jew. Together, they brought awareness to the poisonous effects of prejudice and racism.⁴ Moreover, their performance onstage at the Nuyorican Poets Café communicated friendship and an overwhelming sense of similarities despite the war going on each other’s ancestral homelands.⁵

Tahani has also lent her talents to the cause of MDGfive.com, a website that uses the power of art and social media to increase community engagement in the fight to improve maternal health and reach Millennium Development Goal number five by 2015. Her contributions include a poem entitled “Mother, your strength is beyond compare”. She rhymes, “Your eyes are random and brown, blue and green. Your eyes are only one element of a canvas of beauty and this is what we are born from.“⁶ 

As an artist dedicated to bringing light and solutions to communities where people’s voices have been silenced, Tahani has performed at a number of the world’s famous stages including the Apollo Theatre in New York City to universities in South Africa and Germany.  She is a graduate of Columbia University.⁷

[1] Urban Word NYC: about us.
[2] http://www.alwanforthearts.org/event/193
[3] Mike Geffners Inspired Word Event.
[4] NJJN: Tug of War Tour Brings Musical Message of Hope.
[5] Tahani Salah and Vanessa Hidary at Nuyorican Poets Café.
[6] Mother, your strength is beyond compare.
[7] ibid.

Category: Visuals
Country: United States

About

Sarah Jawaid is an urban planner and environmentalist currently residing in Washington DC.  When she is not busy advocating for environmental issues from a faith-based perspective or doing art programming for youth in under-served areas, she is busy writing. Her writing has appeared in Khaleej Times, Marrakech, Avocado Journal and has been translated into Arabic, French, Indonesian and Urdu. She is also an associate editor of Altmuslimah, an online publication that aims to explore issues on all sides of the gender divide. Her featured articles include an interview with aspiring Hollywood screenwriter, Sameer Asad Gardezi and a review of the Inner City Muslim Action Network‘s special edition of the Community Café at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem in January 2010.¹

Sarah has been involved in a number of initiatives regarding the environment. One of these initiatives is working with the DC Green Muslims. At one of the group’s dinners in 2008 she offered a soliloquy called “Niyyah of Space,” which applied the Islamic concept of doing something well intentioned for the sake of Allah to questions of the built environment. She urged participants to be present in the moment in a way that it is possible to see God’s work in one’s life and to look within to find ways to be better protectors of the earth.² 

In 2010, Sarah commented on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the Huffington Post.  She spoke to the need of individuals to shed their apathy and make changes at the individual and community levels in order to bring about global ecological awareness.³

Originally from Southern California, Sarah is also an artist or an explorer, as she prefers to be called.  She works with a wide range of mediums that include painting, sewing, and pottery.  Sarah finds art to be a tool through which she can reveal herself in layers both in the mirror and to the world.

Sarah received her MA in Urban Planning from the University of California, Irvine and is part of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), a network of Muslim women artists.⁴

[1] Altmuslimah, Exploring both sides of the gender divide.
[2] DC Muslims Embrace the Environment.
[3] Islam and the Spiritual Malaise of the Oil Spill.
[4] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.

Category: Visuals
Architecture
Country: Iraq

About

Born in Baghdad in 1950, Zaha Hadid found inspiration early on in life, among the Sumerian ruins in the south of Iraq. “The beauty of the landscape - where sand, water, reeds, birds, buildings and people all somehow flowed together”¹ has inspired the innovative architecture that has made her the world’s most famous female architect.² 

Critic and architect Joseph Giovannini describes Hadid’s style as “off the drawing board.”  She “abandoned the regularity of the T-square and parallel rule” in creating buildings that are asymmetrical and seemingly gravity-defying.³ 

In 2004 she became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize that honors living architects “whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.”⁴  The impact of her contributions also won her a spot on the 2008 Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.

Some of her notable works include a fire station she designed for the premises of designer furniture manufacturer Vitra in Germany, a ski jump at Bergisel in Innsbruck, Austria, the MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, and the Guangzhou Opera House in China. 

Though her built work consists primarily of cultural projects—museums, galleries, and venues—she reveals in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian a passion for designing schools, hospitals, and housing.  “Of course,” she says, “I believe imaginative architecture can make a difference to people’s lives, but I wish it was possible to divert some of the effort we put into ambitious museums and galleries into the basic architectural building blocks of society.”

[1] “‘I don’t do nice,’”  The Guardian.
[2] “Hadid finally wins Stirling Prize,” Financial Times.
[3] “The Architecture of Zaha Hadid,” Hyatt Foundation.http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/962728c2-cec0-11df-9be2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1JtsCC8dl
[4] “Zaha Hadid 2004 Laureate: Biography,”  Hyatt Foundation.

Category: Literary
Country: United Kingdom

About

Monica Ali was born in 1967 to an English mother and a Bangladeshi father in Dhaka in what was then East Pakistan.  During the civil war that would lead to the independence of Bangladesh, she and her family moved to the United Kingdom.  A copywriter and mother, she began her writing career in her early thirties after the birth of her first child. 

Monica met with both critical and popular acclaim for her debut novel, Brick Lane.  Even before publication, her book earned Monica a spot on Granta literary magazine’s list of Britain’s 20 best young writers of 2003. The story follows Nazneen, a Bangladeshi immigrant to the London borough of Tower Hamlets.  The struggles of her arranged marriage to Chanu and the family they create reflect the challenges faced by immigrants in negotiating their religious and cultural identities as well as issues like infidelity, self-discovery, and complex family relationships.  Nazneen’s own struggles are juxtaposed with those of her sister Hasina who remained in Bangladesh, illuminated by correspondence between the two.  In his review of the book, Michael Gorra of the New York Times declares that “Monica Ali already has a sense of technical assurance and an inborn generosity that cannot be learned.  ‘Brick Lane’ inspires confidence about the career that is to come.”

Subsequent works have departed entirely from a focus on Muslim immigrant life showing Monica’s diversity of interests.  Alentejo Blue, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, is the story of the Portuguese village of Mamarrosa “told through the lives of men and women whose families have lived there for generations and some who are passing through.”¹ Monica’s third novel, In the Kitchen, shifts gears again, but reprises themes of the immigrant experience and infidelity.  Thrity Umrigar of the Boston Globe provides the following summary: “All the ingredients for a sizzling tale are present: A sudden death that may or may not be accidental. A middle-age chef on the verge of a breakdown. Sexual obsession. An illicit affair. A nefarious plot involving human smuggling … ” Finally, Monica’s fourth novel, Untold Story, asks the question “What if Princess Diana hadn’t died?”  In Monica’s story, the princess fakes her death and relocates to a small town in the United States, living in security until a chance encounter with a paparazzo threatens to unravel her secret.

[1] “Alentejo Blue,” MonicaAli.com.

from “Writing & Language,” ASMA Society

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

Mohja Kahf, born in Damascus in 1967, is a Syrian-American poet and novelist.  Her own conception of Islamic feminism influences the themes of her poetry and writing as do other issues facing American Muslims.  She explores both important historical female figures in Islam as well as contemporary Muslim women.  Historical figures prominent in Mohja’s poetry include Hagar, the wife of the prophet Abraham, Khadija and Aisha, wives of the prophet Muhammad, and Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad.  According to The New York Times, her writing on contemporary subjects “draws sharp, funny, earthy portraits of the fault line separating Muslim women from their Western counterparts.”¹

Mohja’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf is a departure from her poems in form, but not in content.  The novel’s protagonist Khadra Shamy is a Syrian girl growing up in the American Midwest in the 1970s.  The story looks at the “cultural clashes of Muslim life in America, including racism between Muslims and bigotry by non-Muslim Americans” through the lens of Khadra’s life.² Mohja borrows from herown life experiences growing up in Indiana to color the story.³

Of the intersection of Islam and art, Mohja says: “One of the primary messages of the Qur’an is that people should recognize the beautiful and do what is beautiful. This is not simply a moral beauty but a visual and auditory beauty as well. Conduct should be beautiful, writing should be beautiful and speaking should be beautiful.”⁴ The beauty in Mohja’s writing ranges from the classically reverent in her poems about historical figures to a beautiful humor that simultaneously enlightens.  Egyptian-American professor Dina Ibrahim commented on Mohja’s work after attending one of her readings. “It is just so refreshing for someone to put a lighter spin on being a Muslim in America,” she said. “Are we only going to talk about the war, are we only going to talk about how our faith is so misunderstood? It gets really old.”⁵

[1] “She Carries Weapons; They Are Called Words,” The New York Times.
[2] “‘Tangerine Scarf’: A Story of Muslims in America,” NPR.
[3] “Mohja Kahf to Speak,” IU South Bend News.
[4] “Writing & Language,” ASMA Society.
[5] “She Carries Weapons; They Are Called Words,” The New York Times.

Category: Literary
Country: Algeria

About

Assia Djebar, born in 1936 in Algeria, is a novelist and filmmaker.  In light of her literary contributions, she was elected to the Académie française, the institution responsible for determining correct usage of the French language.  She has the distinction of being the first Muslim and the fourth female member of the Académie as well as the first from North Africa.

Assia’s debut novel, La Soif, was a critical success, earning comparisons with French author Françoise Sagan’s provocative first work, Bonjour Tristesse.  Both tell stories that address the changing experiences of women in the 1950s, but in two different societies.  La soif (meaning “the thirst” in English) maps “the processes by which a young woman achieves self-awareness and a sense of her position in relation to others,” weaving in issues like marital strife, abortion, and infidelity.¹  A couple of years later, Assia’s second book, Les impatients, was published.  Exploring women’s experiences and relationships as La Soif did, the main character in Les impatients is a young Algerian woman who rebels against her cloistered life, seeking to escape though an extramarital affair with a man who turns out to be her stepmother’s ex-lover.²  These two early works, despite their acclaim in France, were decried by some in the Algerian independence movement as “self-absorbed and bourgeois,” arguing that neither “made a contribution to the struggle for national liberation.”³  Assia eventually distanced herself from the works and would later explain La Soif as a sort of dream born of her “intimate and personal preoccupations at the time.”⁴

She undertook in her subsequent two novels, Les enfants d’un nouveau monde and Les alouettes naïves, to address the struggle for Algerian independence retrospectively, focusing on the effects of the war on women and their position in patiarchal society.⁵

For the next decade after publishing a play, Rouge l’aube, in 1967, Assia withdrew from writing and began sharing the experiences of North African women through the medium of film.  Her first film, La Nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua, won the FIPRESCI award at the 1978 Venice Film Festival for its portrayal of “patriarchal oppression and the historically invisible experiences of Algerian women.”⁶ A year after her second film, La Zerda ou les chants de l’oubli, Assia returned to writing with a collection of short stories.

L’Amour, la fantasia, written in 1985, marked Assia’s reengagement with writing novels.  Called a “tour de force” by the New York Times, the novel intertwined the stories of Algerian women with the history of the French conquest from a French perspective.  It was the first in a quartet whose final volume remains to be completed.  Winning praise from feminist theorists and literary critics, the value of her works as a whole lies in her “important contribution to a new self-confidence among women in the Arab world” according to the citation for the Peace Prize that Assia received in 2000.⁷

[1] Jane Hiddleston, Assia Djebar: Out of Algeria, (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006), 23.
[2] Janet Witalec, ed. “Djebar, Assia – Introduction,” Contemporary Literary Criticism 182 (2004), eNotes.com, accessed April 19, 2011, http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/djebar-assia.
[3] ibid.
[4] Hiddleston, 23.
[5] Ibid, 6.
[6] Witalec.
[7] Algerian finds French a path to her true self,” New York Times..

Category: Visuals
Film-making
Country: South Africa

About

Akiedah Mohamed is a documentary filmmaker and playwright from Cape Town, South Africa.  She has used documentary filmmaking to explore sensitive issues in both her religious community and in South African society as a whole. 

In 1999 she made her first film, The Malawian Kiss, a documentary about the life of Muslim HIV/AIDS activist, Faghmeda Miller.  It won the Special Jury Merit Award at the Sithengi International Film Market in November of that year.  Her next film was The Second Wife, a documentary following the lives of a Cape Town couple in a polygamous marriage.  Tales of the Tukamanies followed in 2001, documenting the stories of Muslim women tasked with the ritual preparation of the dead.  Her fourth film, appearing in 2003, was called Portraits of Ramadan.  It discusses the holy month of Ramadan and its significance for Muslims in Cape Town.  In 2004 she made Freedom is a Personal Journey, a documentary dealing with South Africa’s prison system.  More recently, she wrote a Gerty’s Brother, a screenplay adaption of a short story by South African writer Ahmed Essop that centers on a taboo romance that crosses color lines. 

In addition to her documentary work, she has directed several episode of Nomzamo, a sitcom that explores how societal issues affect different generations of one South African family.

Category: Literary
Poets
Country: United States

About

Suheir Hammad is Palestinian American poet, author and political activist. Born in Amman, Jordan in October, 1973, she moved to Brooklyn, New York at the age of 5.¹ Through her work, she addresses politics, culture and love with a unique voice.  Her books include Zaatar Diva, Breaking Poems, Drops of this Story and Born Palestinian, Born Black.² Suheir has also written Blood Trinity, a play interwoven with folktales, depicting the lives of a mother and her two daughters in 1989 Brooklyn. This play was produced at the New York Hip Hop Theater Festival in 2002.³

Growing up Palestinian in Brooklyn amongst a diversity of ethnic and economic backgrounds, Suheir learned early that narrative plays a keep role in defining one’s culture. Though this revelation, language became her tool in not only providing context to the Palestinian struggle but a voice to all those who are displaced and without a voice.⁴

She continues to share her voice and her talent onstage and in radio productions all around the world. In 2008, she appeared in the Cannes Film Festival Official selection, Salt of this Sea. The main character Soraya is an American woman from Brooklyn who goes to Israel to see the land her Palestinian ancestors were forced to leave many years ago.⁵ Suheir was also an original writer and performer in Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway.⁶

Her many awards include a Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event for Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam on Broadway (2003), the Emerging Artist Award from the Asian/Pacific/American Studies Institute at NYU (2001), the Morris Center for Healing Poetry Award (1996) and the Audre Lorde Writing Award at Hunter College (1995 and 2000).⁷

[1] Official Website
[2] goodreads: books by suheir hammad.
[3] NYC Presents 3rd Annual Hip Hop Theater Festival.
[4] Interview with Suheir Hammad.
[5] Cannes Review: Salt of this Sea.
[6] Kennedy Center: Explore the Arts.
[7] Official Website

Category: Visuals
Painter
Country: India

About

Salma Arastu is a painter who blends spiritual themes and images into her work. Although Salma was raised as a Hindu in India, she converted to Islam after marrying her husband.¹ Educated in both India and the United States, Salma has traveled widely and has lived in Iran and Kuwait. She has won several awards for her work in India, New York, and Pennsylvania, and has shown her work in various exhibitions across the world, such as at the Museum of Modern Art in India, and the Reading Museum in Pennsylvania.²

Salma has noted that folk art, miniature art, and Arabic calligraphy are the three primary influences in her work.³ She fuses Eastern spirituality with Western painting techniques, creating ethereal layers of color and movement in expressing the human personality.⁴ Over the years, Salma has created a large collection encompassing a variety of forms ranging from abstract art, sculptures, digital art, to Arabic calligraphy. Moving between surrealistic to realistic forms, her paintings reflect a yearning to transcend social, cultural or religious barriers in an attempt to inspire unity and tranquility. “I always thought my works were personal stories,” she said. “They reflect my thinking, my personality, my joys and my sorrows. But when I sit to describe them I know it is not personal, these are the stories of love and fears, dreams and anticipations of us all, the whole humanity.”⁵

[1] “Artist’s Biography,” Imanworld.org
[2] “Salma Arastu,” Art Jaz Gallery
[3] Salma Arastu’s Official Blog
[4] “Salma Arastu,” Art Jaz Gallery
[5] ibid.

Category: Visuals
Photo
Country: United States

About

Sadaf Syed is one of today’s leading feminist photographers. Born in Illinois and raised in Los Angeles, Sadaf focuses on breaking down stereotypes, especially those relating to Muslim women, through her photography.¹ After graduating from California State University at Fullerton, Sadaf worked as a photojournalist.

After 9/11, the change in social attitudes towards American Muslims, however, compelled Sadaf to chronicle the diversity of Muslim women across the country. With her two young children, Sadaf traveled the nation photographing a wide spectrum of Muslim women in their daily lives, ranging from surfers to military women, hair stylists to homecoming queens, and from truck drivers to boxers. She compiled the photos into a book, iCover: A Day in the Life of an American COVERed Girl, and within a few months of publication, the book sold out.²

Her work soon caught the attention of a White House official, and on August 13, 2010, she was invited to the White House along with other interfaith leaders to celebrate the beginning of Ramadan.³ Her work has been reviewed and featured in The Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune, Emel Magazine and Zaman Newspaper.

[1] “Sadaf Syed” SadafSyed.com
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.

Category: Performing
Music
Country: United Kingdom

About

Neelofer Mir is a Muslim rapper from London. As an emerging hip hop artist, Neelofer blends lyrical language with smooth beats, rapping about the hidden strength of women, faith, ideals of beauty, and gender equity. Of Pakistani descent, she has worked with DJ Talvin Singh, an award-winning artist, and was also included in the Sisterhood Project, a collective of up-and-coming female Muslim rappers and vocalists.¹ In her song, “Wildflower,” Neelofer raps about others being too “scared to notice” her and of the unexpected, “roaring beauty” that can be found within with her, and in “Do You Follow,” she explores a spiritual, natural world while implicating the limitations of humanist technology.²

As one of the few Muslim female rappers in the business, Neelofer has faced challenges in being recognized as a performance artist within the Muslim community. Despite her love for music, Neelofer said that female Muslim artists are doubly challenged in being accepted by a male-dominated rapping industry and by the Muslim community. In one interview, Neelofer discussed the difficulties of “Baring your soul on stage. ”³ She said, “…There is a an old-school mentality, very much alive today, that women really don’t belong in the performing arts – they should remain in the domestic arena. And me being a strong-minded, very opinionated female from a Muslim family, it’s difficult for me, because I’m seen as going against the grain.”⁴

However, as a fan of artists like Jill Scott and Alicia Keys, she finds no conflict in pursuing her passion while remaining true to her faith. In another interview, Neelofer said, “My passion for music and my faith are not two separate entities but are one. My talent for creative expression was God given and therefore my passion for music and words only reinforces my faith it does not conflict with it.”⁵

[1] Interview with the Members of the Sisterhood Project, Punjab2000.com.
[2] Neelofer Mir’s MySpace page.
[3] Vic Motune, “Sing Out Sisters,” New Statesmen, July 14, 2008.
[4] ibid.
[5] Interview with the Members of the Sisterhood Project, Punjab2000.com.

Category: Visuals
Photo
Country: United States

About

Afiaa Alwazir is an avid photographer, activist, blogger.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in media and communications from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.¹ Her passion for photography, which began in high school, has evolved into a successful career.  Not only she been able to turn her passion into a profession, she has also used it to contribute to important causes such as the growing youth revolution in her native Yemen.  In March 2011, she captured images in a nationwide day of protests against US military aid to Yemen in Washington DC.² A collection of these images along with stirring images from various sources can be found on YouTube.

As a child, Afiaa watched her father spend endless hours at his typewriter. Now as an adult, she regards photography as her way to tell stories about herself and the world around her. “ A number of these stories along with written accounts can be found on Afiaa’s blog. Notable entries include “Café Heaven” and “It’s Hipster Time.”³

Afiaa is part of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), a network of Muslim women artists.⁴

[1] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.
[2] FREEDOM RALLY: Yemen’s Youth Revolution ‘11.
[3] Afiaa’s Blog.
[3] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.

Category: Visuals
Painter
Country: Afghanistan

About

Saadia Yasmin (Khattak) is a self-described “rebel through the arts.”¹ She is a Pushtun-American artist who seeks to begin a revolution through her work on behalf of the voiceless of the world, most notably the Pushtuns.² Through her paintings and drawings that include experimentation with Japanese ink, watercolor and acrylic paint, she hopes to capture the sorrow of war and poverty around the world.

Saadia has participated in many art shows in the Washington DC area including a featured exhibition in collaboration with Sheila Mahoutchian entitled, Unveiled Courage – identity, plight and courage of womanhood under the duress of wars, cultural strictures and media disenfranchisement. ³

Her work is described as being infused with soulful influences of the music, customs, and culture of her itinerant upbringing in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Ethopia, Greece, Pakistan and the United States.⁴ Nowhere is the variety of her experiences more apparent than in her weekly broadcast, Global Rickshaw Radio.  Her audience can tune in from all over the globe to hear music and commentary on a variety of topics including Pashto folklore, marriage around the world, breaking barriers through travel and comedy in the Muslim world.⁵

Saadia is part of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), a network of Muslim women artists.

[1] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.
[2] ibid.
[3] Unveiled Courage.
[4] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.
[5] Global Rickshaw Radio

Category: Visuals
Country: United States

About

Lamia Yassini was born and raised in Algeria.¹ She has a deep love of culture and language.  She speaks English, Arabic, French, Berber and Spanish.² At the age of seven, Lamia embraced drawing and since then has developed a special interest in expressing herself through charcoal and pencil. She says that her inspiration comes from human behavior and movement.³ Many of her drawings are focused on the experiences of women and girls. Her work includes Mother: Lost and Found and Algerian Woman. ⁴

Lamia earned a professional degree in quality auditing focusing on biology and engineering from Université Djillali Liabes and is part of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), a network of Muslim women artists.

[1] Muslim Women in the Arts.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[3] Lamia Yassini on Facebook.

Category: Performing
Country: United Kingdom

About

Born and raised in London, England, Rohina Malik is a Chicago-based playwright and solo performance artist. Of South Asian descent, Rohina uses her cultural background as a continuing source of inspiration for her work. Her first one woman play, Unveiled, received high acclaim for its emotional portraits of five Muslim women living in the West. The Chicago Tribune called her play a “terrific show…[an] intellectually engrossing work of theatre,”¹ and the Chicago Examiner described it as a “compelling 70-minute piece rich with illuminating surpirsies, drawing the audience into worlds that both unique and truly universal.”²

Unveiled tells the stories of five Muslim women in a post-9/11 world as a series of monologues. Each character reflects the diverse range and depth of Muslim women who wear the headscarf in the West.  One character is a Texan mother living in the American South and another is a teen immersed in hip-hop culture who is raised in West London.³ The play begins with a Pakistani wedding dress designer describing the ritual of brewing tea as an essential element in getting to know her clients, and this motif of tea making extends throughout the entire narrative, becoming a critical metaphor for each woman’s culture. In weaving together the disparate and yet shared problems and joys of living as a Muslim woman, the play tackles hate crimes, hospitality, fear, violence, love, language, and Islam in an effort to reveal the diverse reasons why individual women claim the veil as a source of empowerment.

Rohina describes writing as a “mysterious experience,” one which is often “messy.” She says, “The seed for my plays usually comes from a word, a sentence that someone casually says. I listen carefully to the side remarks, the stuff people say that they think is insignificant, that’s where I start to dig for treasure.”⁴ She believes in the transformative powers of art as a means of personal and social resolution. “I write because it’s my way of solving problems. Art, in its many forms, has the power to solve world problems. That’s why I believe we should do everything we can to nurture and protect it.” ⁵

She has also written two other plays entitled, “The Mecca Tales” and “Yasmina’s Necklace (El Collar de Yasmin).” ⁶

[1] “Rohina Malik,” South Asian Playwrights.org.
[2] ibid.
[3] ibid.
[4] “People: Rohina Malik,” 16th Street Theatre.
[5] ibid.
[6] “Rohina Malik,” AOI International.

Category: Visuals
Country: United States

About

Nadia Janjua is a freelance artist, architect, and entrepreneur in the Washington DC area.¹ 

Her love of art began in childhood and has blossomed into a successful career.² She pays homage to her journey to the holy city of Mecca through a series of paintings entitled Of the Earth. Her other noteworthy series include I Found My Soul in a Parking Lot and Violently Happy.  Nadia’s mastery of Arabic calligraphy is evinced in the 99 Names of Allah, Alhamdulillah and Bismillah and she pays tribute to Kahlil Gibran’s excerpt on love from his book, The Prophet, through her piece, Moving Shores.³

Nadia has a number of photography series as well. These include Fish ‘R Halal, Smoke Like Silk and Visions of Winter.⁴ Her sketches include The Sky is Cracking, Prayer Bead Light and Moti Masjid India.⁵

The style of her architectural designs is as varied as her artistic talents.  Nadia’s portfolio includes designs for homes in the Washington DC area, a schematic design of the Al Fatih Academy in Herndon, VA.⁶

When asked about art and spirituality, Nadia believes that the two are directly connected. “I believe nurturing your creativity is in itself, a form of meditation, which allows an artist to simultaneously confront and part with oneself, and the worlds we create.”⁷

Nadia earned her Masters in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and is part of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), a network of Muslim women artists. Her work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada, and Malaysia.⁸⁹

[1] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Profile.
[2] Muslim Women in the Arts: Artists.
[3] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Paintings.
[4] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Photography.
[5] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Sketches.
[6] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Architecture.
[7] Introversed - Spirit of the Artist: An Interview with Nadia Janjua.
[8] Introversed - Spirit of the Artist: An Interview with Nadia Janjua.
[9] Nadia Janjua, Artist and Architectural Designer: Paintings.

Category: Performing
Music
Country: Malaysia

About

Yunalis Zarai—known by her stage name, Yuna—is an independent singer-songwriter equally at home in her native Malaysia and on stage in the United States where she has performed twice at South by Southwest, the country’s biggest independent music festival, as well as at venues in New York and Chicago.  She was recently signed to New York-based FADERLabel, home to recording artists Matt & Kim and Neon Indian among others. 

Those describing her sound focus on her unique vocal talent.  Sara Elghobashy of Elan, an online guide to global Muslim culture, speaks of Yuna’s “sweet sound” that “captures raw emotion” while an official press release from Yuna’s label highlights her “uniquely exquisite” voice and her “true talent that is beyond compare”.  Singing isn’t all she does, though.  She picked up the guitar at nineteen while in law school and in the half-decade since, has combined voice and strings in ways that have earned her fans the world over. 

In an interview with Elan, Yuna describes her songs as ranging from “very, very happy” to having a “darker element”.  In the former category is her song “Random Awesome”, a celebration of puppy love.  “And I smile, I love, no,/I laugh happier somehow”, she sings, expressing the giddy confusion of a new relationship.  On the flip side, in “Deeper Conversation” she addresses a longing for honesty and connection singing, “I’ve let my guard down for you /And in time you will too”. 

On her own, Yuna released her self-titled first EP in 2008, attracting attention with the Malay language track “Dan Sebenarnya”.  She was first runner-up at the Anugerah Juara Lagu competition in 2009 and won Best Pop Song (for “Dan Sebenarnya”) and Best Local English Song (for “Deeper Conversation”) the following year at the 17th Annual Malaysian Music Industry Awards.  Soon thereafter she released Decorate, which was re-released with five of the original ten tracks by FADERLabel in the United States in March 2011. 

Yuna is also part-owner of IAMJETFUEL, a “successful couture boutique” in Subang Jaya.¹

[1] “Yuna joins The Fader Label!,” Yuna Music.

Category: Performing
Dance
Country: United States

About

Zuleikha is an international dancer, performer and teacher and aspires women, girls and children across the world to bring awareness of their body and health through performance and rhythms. She is the founder and director of The Storydancer Project (TSP).

Growing up with a musical background, Zuleikha attended Ali Akbar College of Music and Dance in San Francisco and went on to study classical dance. Besides performing, Zuleikha took an interest in the deeper connection of music and video and began creating a “sacred technology of art”. Zuleikha has performed throughout various worldwide cities and events including for theater audiences, international conferences, and a PBS Special “Dances From The Wild.”

Zuleikha recently received the 2010 prestigious media award from Images & Voices of Hope for “infusing the art of dance with the gifts of healing, understanding and love of life” through her outstanding work in the world promoting positive personal and social change. 

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Iman Salam is very dedicated towards her work; to educate others about Islam. She and her husband made a documentary DVD called “On a Wing and a Prayer” which chronicles their adventures in Bellingham, WA while he attempts to obtain a pilot’s license after 9/11. She is planning another documentary titled “Faith Walks The Land” which will depict Iman traveling across the U.S. meeting small-town Americans and discussing stereotypes about Islam.

She is also a mother of three young children and successfully juggles motherhood while promoting a better understanding of Islam. She and her husband have also founded a non-profit called “Peaceful Communications”. The name Iman originates from Arabic and means “faith”.

Category: Literary
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Author of “The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook,” Dilara is an author and activist currently living in Saudi Arabia and serving as Editorial Director at Destination Jeddah Magazine. She is an active writer, blogging for the Huffington Post, altmuslim.com, and other news outlets.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, she holds degrees from John Hopkins University and the London School of Economics.

She has drawn upon her years of teaching weekend Islamic school, lecturing about Islam, and raising Muslim teenagers to contribute to The American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook.

Category: Performing
Film
Country: United States

About

“I would also like the stories to be told of what the reality was for Muslim women in the early days of Islam. That is very different from what we see typically in the media today…scenes of oppression, lack of opportunity professionally, lack of opportunity for education, which, as I’ve said before, are cultural mandates rather than religious mandates on these people. Nevertheless, they exist!” -Anisa Mehdi

Anisa Mehdi is an Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker who specializes in religion and the arts.

Growing up in an interfaith household, Mehdi has had a lifelong commitment to peace in the Middle East. An active voice in Arab-American politics, she has reported news from and made documentary films in Algeria, Egypt, France, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States.  Her National Geographic Special Inside Mecca is a recognized classic on the Hajj and her PBS Frontline film Muslims depicts the cultural, economic and sociopolitical diversity of Muslims around the world.  For Nightline, Mehdi produced a series of programs on stereotyping in the media and Muslim views about faith and non-Muslim cultures.

She is the winner of two Emmys, a CINE Golden Eagle, and numerous prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Her current film-in-production “Monks and Muslims: Finding Faith in Algeria,” is funded in part by the United States Institute of Peace and the William & Mary Greve Foundation.

Category: Performing
Film
Country: Canada

About

“The stereotypical Muslim is a wife beater trying to blow up the world and Muslim women are subservient, silent. I consider myself a feminist Muslim. I’ve read the Qur’an. The Prophet Muhammad’s wife was a businesswoman 15 years older than him.” -Zarqa Nawaz

Zarqa Nawaz is the head of Fundamentalist Films which produces the popular Canadian show Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Nawaz worked as a freelance writer/broadcaster with CBC radio, and in various capacities with CBC Newsworld, CTV’s Canada AM, and CBC’s The National. An associate producer with a number of CBC radio programs including Morningside, her radio documentary The Changing Rituals of Death won first prize in the Radio Long Documentary category and the Chairman’s Award in Radio Production at the Ontario Telefest Awards.

Deciding journalism did not entirely suit her, Nawaz took a summer film workshop at the Ontario College for Art and filmed BBQ Muslims, a short film about two Muslim brothers whose grill explodes that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1996. Subsequently, they are investigated for terrorism. Her next short film, Death Threat also premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1998. Other short films include Fred’s Burqa and Random Check. In 2005, Nawaz’s documentary, Me and the Mosque was broadcast on CBC’s Rough Cuts. She has recently finished a feature- length screenplay entitled Real Terrorists Don’t Belly Dance.

Her most well-known work has been on Little Mosque on the Prairie which provides a lighthearted look on the daily lives of Muslims in Canada.

Category: Performing
Film
Country: United States

About

“My film making process is usually quite tactile. Much drawing and doodling and gluing and thinking through form making. Sometimes its (sic) just about getting in touch with the intuitive way of communicating.”
—Shereen Abdul-Baki

Describing herself as a designer, filmmaker, and food enthusiast, Shereen Abdul-Baki is an American experimental filmmaker who lives and works in the Netherlands. Her work centers on integrating media and narrative cinema.

Elegy (2008), her animated short, plays with color, line, motion, and shape. It was nominated for the Best Experimental Animation Award at the California International Animation Festival in 2008 and in 2008 won the Golden Buffalo Award in the ‘Animation Only’ category at the CamboFest Film and Video Festival in Cambodia.

An earlier work of Abdul Baki’s The Kitchen Conqueror (2003) is about Reem who, as she walks through a grocery store daydreams about her family, her history, love and marriage. The Kitchen Conquerer won the Festival Director’s Choice Award at the DC Shorts Film Festival in 2004 and is featured in DV Filmmaking: From Start to Finish by Ian David Aronson.

Category: Visuals
Calligraphy
Country: United States

About

Born in the United States, Reem Hussein holds a BFA in Interior Design and Objects Restoration from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has exhibited her artwork throughout the United States as well as abroad.

Having been invited to show and discuss her work in many US colleges and universities such as Yale, Columbia, NYU, Rutgers, and the University of Pennsylvania, Hussein has devoted much time to introducing Middle Eastern and Islamic art through workshops for students and teachers, as well as adult lectures sponsored by the local non-profit organizations Long Island Traditions and the Huntington Arts Council. Reem’s career and artwork were profiled in two documentaries and have been featured in articles for publications, including Newsday and the Chicago Sun-Times.

More recently, her paintings were selected by the Art in Embassies Program and exhibited in American embassies located in Egypt and Malaysia. She currently lives and works in New York City, where she is a MFA candidate.

Photo courtesy of Lady Khadija.

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Lady Khadija is a self proclaimed ‘Defender of the Truth’ “…even if it is against myself.” She can be described as a poet, vocalist, musician, songwriter and digitial designer. She uses her voice to serve the voiceless and the oppressed and to serve her Creator. She has had the opportunity to work withTalib Kweli, Tony Award winning, seven time HBO Def Poet Georgia Me, Canadian Smash Ember Swift, Watusi Tribe, Harry Belafonte, and HBO Def Poet Abyss.

In 2002 she published her first book of poetry Peace it Together. Lady Khadija is founding member of 144k, a collective of artists/activists and WordSound Alliance a network of artists. 144k serves to evaluate the arts, music, and performance in relation to activism.

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Originally hailing from LA, Rachelle DJ Raichous (pronounced “righteous”) was first exposed to DJing in high school through her older brother. Starting out with scratching, she later fell in love with vinyl collecting and spinning when she moved to San Diego for 5 years while attending school, as a biology major, at SDSU. While there, she started an all female DJ radio station called The Bonita Applebum Show that ran for 2 years on Earthbound Radio. DJ Raichous hails as a Muslim female DJ from the West Coast, in which during the day, one might find her in class or working at a record store, Stacks SD. Raichous was also a resident DJ of Table Manners (estb. 2006) and in 2009, she contributed various guest DJ sets including tributes to Mos Def and De La Soul on the world famous Wake Up Show hosted by King Tech.

She’s been fortunate enough to share the stage with influential artists such as J.Rocc (Beat Junkies), DJ Rafik (2007 DMC World Champ), and more recently she opened up for Mos Def at the renowned Apollo Theater in New York along with DJ Kidragon. DJ Raichous describes her music as hip hop, old school, funk, jazz, “turntabilism”, breaks and freestyle.She is currently doing projects with 2 other female DJs in a trio called the RRS Feed spinning live sets on a 4 turntable-3 mixer set up.

Photo Credit: Gary He/AP Images

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Actress and stand up comedian, Maysoon Zayid, is considered a pioneer as the first Muslim American comedian to successively navigate the competitive channels of Hollywood and American media at large. She is also considered a pioneer for premiering as the first person to perform stand up in Palestine and Jordan. Zayid has been featured on Comedy Central’s The Watch List, PBS’S America at a Crossroads: Muslim Comics Stand Up, and in Adam Sandler’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.

Her other Hollywood sightings include As the World Turns, Law & Order, MTV, NBC Nightly News, CNN & ABC’s 20/20. She is also currently a headliner on the “Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour” Some of her leadership roles include her work as a co-founder and co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival. In 2008, Zayid’s screenplay Little American Whore (LAW) was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab; Zayid has been casted as the lead of production.

As a Muslim Arab American Zayid is active in American media and entertainment, Zayid remains connected to her global community through her organization “Maysoon’s Kids” in Palestine. Maysoon’s Kids is a wellness program for Palestinian refugee children who are injured or are living with disabilities.

Category: Performing
Country: United Kingdom

About

Muneera Rashida and Sukina Abdul Noor were both born in Bristol to Jamaican parents, and have come together to form Poetic Pilgrimage. They have fused African and Caribbean musical trends to bind their progressive message with a creative and unique sound.

Poetic Pilgrimage has grown into a well-known hip hop group and has developed a substantial following. Rashida and Noor have achieved this by holding their own in a very male dominated music genre but also through their work teaching youth how to write poetry and express themselves.

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Tavasha, or Miss Undastood, began rhyming while attending the Al-Iman school in New York. She eventually realized that the music was more than just a hobby. She started rhyming in ciphers in New York and continued to pursue her art form while attending Borough of Manhattan Community College. She became the first female battle champion in 2003. However, she didn’t want to continue with the gangster attitude and profane lyrics. She just completed a new CD titled “Hijabi Hip Hop 2010.”

Photo credit: Lee Eslinger, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

Category: Performing
Country: Norway

About

Deeyah was born and raised in Oslo, Norway to a Pashtun mother of Afghani ancestry and a Pakistani father. Deeyah trained within the North Indian/Pakistani classical vocal tradition for more than fourteen years. Deeyah was the target of much criticism because of her courageous choice to follow her dreams of being a musician. After years of suffering constant intimidation and physical threats, Deeyah left Norway in 1996 for the UK. As she faced the same threats in the UK, Deeyah finally left for safety in the United States.

Deeyah has spearheaded an inspiring musical project called “Sisterhood,” which she describes as the collection of previously unreleased songs written by young up and coming female Muslim rappers, singers and poets. Their songs deal with the various challenges they have faced, from the war in Iraq to the hate and racism post 9/11, but also address women’s rights issues, faith and personal experiences of being young Muslim women in Europe and the United States.

Category: Performing
Country: Iraq

About

Born in Kurdistan, Iraq, Sister Haero and her family moved to the United States when she was only 11 months old. Haero decided early on to use her talent in the art of poetry writing, rapping and free styling to introduce Islam to the San Diego Community that she was a part of. She has been invited to make many public appearances to read her poems and perform her work. Haero’s work has helped spread awareness about the role of women in Islam. Haero graduating from SDSU with a B.A. in Journalism. She was one of the founders of the Imam Jamil Coalition that started in April 2002. Haero is now recording an album and also a kindergarten teacher at a private non-profit school in San Diego.

Category: Literary
Country: Iran

About

Author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi is an Iranian novelist. Nafisi lived in Iran until the age of thirteen, when she went to England for secondary school. After her return to Iran in 1979, and remained there for eighteen years. During Nafisi’s eighteen years in Iran, she taught English Literature at the University of Tehran, Free Islamic Azad University, and Allameh Tabatabaii; Nafisi was criticized for not wearing a veil, which actually prevented her from teaching between 1981 and 1987.

In her return to academia, Nafisi was subsequently chastised for the content of her courses, which prompted her to invite a select number of female students to come to her house so that they could read and discuss literature freely. Eventually, in 1997, Nafisi left Iran and began teaching in the United States where she authored Reading Lolita and Tehran and her two most recent works Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories, and Republic of the Imagination. Azar Nafisi’s book, The Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile will be published in Spring 2011.

Nafisi is currently a Professor and the director of Cultural Conversations at the Foreign Policy Institute of Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC.

Category: Culinary
Country: United States

About

Yvonne Maffei, M.A., is a culinary educator and the founder and editor of “My Halal Kitchen,” a halal food and cooking blog. My Halal Kitchen’s mission “is to provide home cooks with the tools to prepare halal meals, including those with the necessary substitutions to make every dish halal. It aims to make the lives of readers better by expanding the list of available recipes that are healthy, delicious, economical and halal.”

Yvonne Maffei is currently working on a cookbook and continues to write and develop recipes for her blog. She lives in Chicago, IL with her husband.

Category: Performing
Country: Egypt

About

Hanan Turk is an Egyptian Actress, who recently (2006) decided to wear Hijab regardless of the roles she was cast to play. Turk came to the decision with a group of Egyptian actresses including Hala Shiha and Abla Kamel.

Before becoming an actress, Turk was a ballerina at the Cairo Ballet Institute in Egypt. She starred in her first movie, “Raghba Motawahesha” in 1991, and since then has acted in numerous films (Dehk We Le’b We Gad We Hob”, “Al-Mohager”, and “Haramiyyah fi Tayland”) and TV series (“Al-Sabr Fel Malahat”, “Al-Mal We Al-Banoun”, and “Lan A’esh Fe Gelbab Aby”). In 2007, Turk was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Photo courtesy of Aheda Zanetti.

Category: Fashion
Country: Lebanon

About

Aheda Zanetti is a Lebanese-Australian designer, most famous for her creation of the “burqini/burkini”, a special swimsuit designed for Muslim women in 2003. The burquini was recently under scrutiny due to the French attempted ban on the suits, under the cause that they are not secular. In spite of the controversy, Zanetti’s swimsuit line is flourishing, and she continues to provide opportunities for Muslim women to participate in activities, that they might otherwise be excluded from.

Category: Literary
Country: United Kingdom

About

Ilona Yusuf is a British-Pakistani poet, photographer, designer, journalist, and artist. She was born in England, but spent her teenage years in Lahore, Pakistan, where she went to school. Yusuf’s poetry has been published and she is currently the editor for the Amhara Literary Review, a collection featuring pieces written in English by South Asian authors. She also designs furniture, and uses her photography to make prints. She spends her time in both Pakistan and the United States (Arizona) and is married with children.

Photo Credit: AP Images

Category: Literary
Country: Bangladesh

About

Taslima Nasrin is a Bangladeshi writer and poet. Her first book of poetry was published in 1986, and the second published in 1989, was highly successful. In 1992 she received the literary award Ananda in India for her selected columns. Due to the “radical” nature of her works, Nasrin has been subject to many criticisms from Bangladeshi, and Islamic scholars; however many would argue that Nasrin’s works illuminate an Islamic feminist voice. Nasrin has been living in exile since 1994 traveling throughout the West, and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Category: Literary
Country: Iran

About

Tahereh Saffarzadeh is an Iranian poet and author. Saffarzadeh has so far published fourteen volumes of poems. In 2005 she was also named the 2005 Exemplary Personality by the Afro-Asian Writers’ Organisation. Saffarzadeh is also the author of a myriad of books on the principles of translation regarding the Qur’an specifically. She has presented a number of theories, which have contributed to research attempting to account for the shortcomings of translations of the Qur’an.

Category: Performing
Country: Denmark

About

Born to Palestinian parents in Germany in 1979, Abdallah grew up in Denmark, where she continues to live. Abdallah specializes in Arabic percussion, especially darbuka, long considered a “masculine” instrument and overwhelmingly played by men in the Middle East.

One of the few women to play the darbuka professionally, Abdallah was self-taught and has been playing since she was fifteen. Abdallah states that she has faced many challenges in her profession due to her gender and her instrument of choice. In fact, youtube users sometimes post recordings of her playing on YouTube with telling titles like “female on darbuka” and “female playing darbuka.”

Abdallah works as a soloist as well as with the Middle East Peace Orchestra and with Missing Voices, a consortium of Muslim women musicians across Europe. She also support various dance acts with her percussion, including belly dancers and hip-hop dancers.

Abdallah plays traditional Middle Eastern style as well as Western styles such as rock, house and pop on the darbuka and is currently looking to record an album that fuses Middle Eastern beats with Western musical styles. Her music and artistic collaborations reflect this interest in musical fusion and understanding.

Category: Literary
Country: Turkey

About

Elif Shafak (also spelled Elif Şafak) is a Turkish novelist and the best-selling female author in Turkey. Shafak holds a PhD in political science from Middle East Technical University. She writes non-fiction and fiction in Turkish as well as English.

Shafak’s work is characterized by a creative blending of Western and Eastern narrative styles and a thematic defiance of bigotry, xenophobia, and sexism. Her novels, such as the bestsellers The Bastard of Istanbul (2006) and Flea Palace (2004) challenge myths of national purity and present Istanbul as a city that embodies the traditional alongside the new, the Western alongside the Eastern. 

Mysticism is another thread in Shafak’s literary output, weaving in and out of almost all of her works and becoming central to a few. Her first novel, Pinhan (The Sufi) was awarded the “Mevlana Prize” in 1998, which is given to the best work in mystical literature in Turkey. Her second novel, Sehrin Aynalari (Mirrors of the City) explores Jewish and Islamic mysticism against the historical setting of the 17th-century Levant. Her 2010 bestseller, 40 Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi once again takes the subject head-on, interweaving the modern love story of a Jewish-American housewife and a Sufi living in Amsterdam through the story of the spiritual friendship between Rumi and Shams of Tabriz.

A public intellectual cognizant of the sociocultural importance of the novel, Shafak continues to write, teach, and contribute to various daily and monthly publications in Turkey, Europe, and the United States.

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

G. Willow Wilson is an American author and essayist, who divides her time between Egypt and the United States. Her articles about modern religion and the Middle East have appeared in many prestigious publications, including the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine and the Canada National Post. In 2005, Wilson became the first western journalist to be granted a private interview with Sheikh Ali Gomaa following his promotion to the position of Grand Mufti of Egypt.

Wilson’s first graphic novel, Cairo, with art by M.K. Perker, was published by Vertigo in 2007. Labeled a “magical-realism thriller,” Cairo features an eclectic cast of characters: a drug runner, a struggling journalist, an American expatriate, a young activist, and an Israeli soldier, who interact in the magical urban streets of Cairo. In this work, Wilson drew upon real-life events as well as the deep mythology of Egypt, including folk stories of Jinn. Other graphic projects include Air, an ongoing series for DC’s literary imprint, Vertigo, an original graphic novel, as well as Vixen: Return of the Lion, a DC miniseries.

In 2010 Wilson published her critically acclaimed memoir The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam, which chronicles her move from Boston to Cairo and her conversion to Islam. Called “a first-rate memoir and love story that is a delight to read” by The Library Journal, The Butterfly Mosque, is an uplifting, humorous, and insightful coming-of-age narrative depicting the story of a young woman who discovers love and learns to bridge two worlds.

Photo courtesy of Hena Ashraf.

Category: Performing
Country: United States

About

Hena Ashraf is a filmmaker with interests in photography, writing, and new media. Ashraf, whose parents emigrated from India, was born in London and spent her early years in the UK before immigrating to the US. She is a graduate from the University of Michigan with concentrations in Film & Video Studies, and Political Science and she currently lives in NYC. In 2008, she founded the Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival. In May 2010, she was invited by The World Islamic Economic Forum to Kuala Lumpur to show her work, including her latest film “TruthSearch.”

Ashraf is a fierce advocate for the making and use of independent media, and believes that people can empower themselves by creating their own media to amplify their voices. According to Ashraf it is particularly important for Muslims and other marginalized groups to create avenues outside the film industry through the use of independent media: “We can’t expect huge monopolized media companies, of which there are basically five, who own everything, to accurately represent our voices, or any other community, religious or ethnic.”

Ashraf sees filmmaking as a craft and a way of giving voice to the lived experiences of a community. Her first film “Uzair,” explored life in East London for its Muslim/Bangladeshi population and featured provocative subject matter, including drugs and crime. Since then, her work has remained politically and critically engaged. A short film, “Love Makes Me Silly,” questions representations of love and gender relations in Bollywood cinema. “TruthSearch,” a short experimental film, examines and critiques mainstream media coverage of the Iraq War, contrasting it with the voice of an Iraqi journalist working in Baghdad.

Photo courtesy of Sadia Nosheen.

Category: Fashion
Country: United Kingdom

About

Sadia Nosheen is a mother of two and creator of Masoomah. Her interest in jilbabs was born at the university where she studied Law. During that time she started her journey in exploring Islam, and soon began designing Islamic attire. Sadia picked up vital sewing knowledge from her mother during childhood, which was instrumental in cultivating her future in fashion. Growing up, Sadia was challenged, searching for Islamic clothing that was, comfortable and fitting for a young Muslimah in a university and work atmosphere.

Category: Performing
Country: Syria

About

Gaida Hinnawi is a vocalist and composer working at the intersection of the New York Arab and improvised music scenes. Her compositions draw on classical Arabic song, Syrian folk traditions, and improvisations that expand on traditional Arabic maqams (modes) to produce an original and highly personal style marked by great emotional intensity. An acclaimed singer from an early age, Gaida was raised in Damascus and later lived in Kuwait, Paris, and Detroit, where she received classical voice training at Wayne State University.

Now settled in New York, Gaida works with leading Arab and creative-music artists such as Amir ElSaffar, Brahim Fribgane, Tareq Abboushi, Omer Avital, and Rufus Cappadocia. She also is a member of other New York-based groups including Ayyoub, Zikrayat, and Tarab Ensemble. Gaida has composed and recorded for major motion pictures, including Jonathan Demme’s Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, in which she recorded with Gillian Welsh and Alejandro Escovedo. Gaida also maintains a parallel career as a speech pathologist.

Category: Visuals
Country: United States

About

Asiya Khaki is a freelance photographer based in the New York metropolitan area who specializes in portrait, wedding, newborn and event photography. Her passion for photography is rooted in a fascination of people and culture.

Through her photographs, she endeavors to tell stories about people in her effort to portray human life in its natural element. She graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a degree in architecture. Her study of architecture enhanced her skills and visions as a photographer by deepening her understanding of space and light. She has photographed in many places around the world, including the United Kingdom, India, Ghana, Tanzania, Italy, Turkey, Jordan, Syria, & Lebanon.

Category: Fashion
Country: Iran

About

Neda, a fashion designer, model, published poet and PhD student moved to Melbourne in 2005 on a scholarship to do her PhD in chemistry at RMIT, after having completed her master’s of textile engineering in Iran. She has also launched a fledgling modeling career, often wearing her own designs.

Neda’s passions are fashion and science - a stereotype-busting combination at a time when the clothing choices of Muslim women, especially the face and body-covering burqa, are the subject of intense debate.

Her latest research paper was featured as a ‘hot paper’ in the prestigious peer reviewed international journal of Royal Society of Chemistry, London. She said enjoyed both her rigorous scientific work and glamorous modeling life.

Category: Literary
Country: United States

About

J. Samia Mair, JD, MPH is the author of two children’s books and a freelance writer. She has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in magazines, books, and scientific journals. She writes on a variety of topics, including Islam, public health, and law. She publishes under ‘J. Samia Mair’ in her non-scientific publications.

Category: Literary
Country: India

About

Sheema Khan was three years old when she emigrated with her family from India to Montreal. They wanted a country with a good education system and work opportunities. But mostly, they wanted to leave behind the sectarian violence between Hindus and Muslims in their Calcutta home.

Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman is a collection of 50-plus essays by Khan. It is obvious they started as newspaper columns — each is short and tied to new stories about terrorism, sharia law, the balance of rights between people of faith and those who do not want any signs of religion in the public square.

The short essays that form her book cover a range of topics, interweaving personal experiences of interfaith interactions and spiritual journeys as a Canadian Muslim woman with reflections on national and international political issues.

Photo Credit: Owen Hoffmann/PatrickMcMullan/ Sipa Press/AP Images

Category: Visuals
Country: Iran

About

Neshat a contemporary visual artist who lives in New York. She is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her work refers to the social, cultural and religious codes of Muslim societies and the complexity of certain oppositions, such as man and woman. It addresses the social, political and psychological dimensions of women’s experience in contemporary Islamic societies. Although Neshat actively resists stereotypical representations of Islam, her artistic objectives are not explicitly polemical. Rather, her work recognizes the complex intellectual and religious forces shaping the identity of Muslim women throughout the world.

The history of Shirin Neshat’s bodily portrayals of this “Islamic woman” is the unwritten chronicle of a mute and concealed femininity. Her photographs show and tell what has been forbidden to show and tell.

Photo Credit: Stephen Chernin/AP

Category: Literary
Country: Iran

About

Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She grew up in Tehran, where she studied at the Lycee Francais before leaving for Vienna and then going to Strasbourg to study illustration. She currently lives in Paris, where she is at work on the sequel to Persepolis and where her illustrations appear regularly in newspapers and magazines. She is also the author of several children’s books.

Marjane became famous worldwide because of her critically acclaimed autobiographical graphic novels, originally published in French in four parts in 2000-2003 and in English translation in two parts in 2003 and 2004, respectively, as Persepolis and Persepolis 2, which describe her childhood in Iran and her adolescence in Europe. Persepolis won the Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. Her later publication, Embroideries (Broderies) was also nominated for the Angoulême Album of the Year award in 2003, an award which was won by her most recent novel, Chicken with Plums (Poulet aux prunes). She has also contributed to the Op-Ed section of The New York Times.

Category: Visuals
Country: Saudi Arabia

About

Haifaa Al Mansour is the first woman filmmaker in Saudi Arabia. The success of her short films in the Gulf and around the world has inspired a new movement of independent filmmaking in the Kingdom. Al Mansour is well known for penetrating the wall of silence surrounding the sequestered lives of Saudi women and providing a platform for their voices. Her work is dedicated to fostering direct political, social and economic change for Arab women.

Category: Performing
Country: Somalia

About

Yasmina fled Somalia in 1987 to Belgium and the Netherlands, where she came to work as an actress. She performed in various ensembles and performed with a solo program. In 1998 she debuted the successful novel Idil, A Girl. Her second novel, The General with Six Fingers, was a highly praised novel, which served as her foundation for her third novel. The Blue Room tells the poignant story of two young women. In her most recent worked entitled, “Displacement and Yet at Home” she relays her experiences growing in up in a small Somalian community.

In her essays Yasmine Allas portrays the environment of her childhood and compares it to what is happening in Africa today. Yasmina says that she is happy that Muslim men in the Arab world and Africa are now beginning to realize that their power is shifting to women.

Her works also showcase the movements that are happening among Muslim women in the Netherlands and Flanders, but she notes that the movements need to be faster and further wide-spread. Yasmina urges Muslim women to fight for sexual freedom, saying, “demand your sexual rights, women of Islam, it’s your turn to take matters into their own hands.” She calls on Muslim women to “live and enjoy your way.” Yasmine gets to the heart of the problem in her literary works by addressing the need for Muslim women to struggle in opposition to any form of oppression.