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“What do you see when you think of me,
A figure cloaked in mystery
With eyes downcast and hair covered,
An oppressed woman yet to be discovered?
Do you see backward nations and swirling sand,
Humpbacked camels and the domineering man?
Whirling veils and terrorists
Or maybe fanatic fundamentalists?
Do you see scorn and hatred locked
Within my eyes and soul,
Or perhaps a profound ignorance of all the world as a whole?
�۱����.��.��.
You fail to see
The dignified persona
Of a woman wrapped in maturity.
The scarf on my head
Does not cover my brain.
I think, I speak, but still you refrain
From accepting my ideals, my type of dress,
You refuse to believe
That I am not oppressed.
So the question remains:
What do I see when I think of you?
I see another human being
Who doesn’t have a clue.”
― Uzma Jalaluddin , Ayesha at Last

“Awakening to faith is not a one-time event, but a continuously unfolding reality. The journey of faith is not a race, but a marathon of love that each person walks at a different pace.”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“God’s mercy is greater than your sins or circumstances. His compassionate love embraces the cactus parts of you that you swear no one could hug. His grace celebrates the parts of you that nobody claps for. God loved you before you were even created, before you even knew of Him. As the Qur’an says, “It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, that they may add faith to their faith for to Allah belong the forces of the heavens and the Earth and Allah is full of Knowledge and Wisdom�� (48:4).”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“Love. It is the reason there is something instead of nothing. It is from the soil of love that all of existence blossoms into being.”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“Allah is the forger of time, the molder of space, the weaver of souls, the turner of hearts, the One who creates everything in stages yet is beyond the limits of time. Life is created from His breath, the cosmos forms from the vibration of His speech, and love is birthed from the womb of His mercy. He is the One who said, “Be!�� to the vast nothingness, and existence sprouted into being. His words inspire light to break the darkness of nothing into the dawn of life.”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“You are a palace of hidden gems and the greatest treasure you could ever find is already within you. Gold will melt, money will burn, but you carry the everlasting and mysterious breath of God inside of you and that can never be taken away.”
― A. Helwa, Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

“The Dean of my faculty called me down to his office to ask me if I had dealt with any backlash [because of 9/11]. Muslims has just killed thousands of Americans, and his first concern was that no one was making feel uncomfortable. Oh Canada! If you only knew what you were dealing with and how strange your concern seemed to me. No, no one had made me feel uncomfortable. In fact, they were going out of their way to make sure that I was always comfortable. I felt like asking the Dean, "Seriously, are you *kidding* me? We're calling for your death, and you're concerned that our feelings might be hurt?"

It was nauseating and condescending, to be honest. I was not a special little snowflake that needed extra attention because people who shared the same religion as me were murderers. The whole thing was ridiculous. The immediate concern should be dealing with the trauma of all our lives being different now, and that there was no going back. We could no longer feel safe. The heart of our world had just been attacked. Everyone was struggling to make sense of it. Everyone was in a state of shock.

I resented being connected to those monsters in any way. I hated that this fucking cloth on my head made me look like I was complicit in that shit. I was just as terrified of the terrorists as everyone else. My life was as shaken up as everyone else's. My heart broke for all the victims, just like everyone else's.”
― Yasmine Mohammed, بی‌حجا��: چگونه لیبرال‌ها�� غرب بر آتش اسلام‌گرای�� رادیکال می‌دمن��

“Before the Brotherhood came, you could see everyone's arms and legs. We never used to notice. But now that woman are covering so much, all I can think about is those round calves and silky arms and the hair, smelling of coconut. I never used to think about a neck before, but ooh, a neck is so sexy now.”
― Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Infidel

“You are my only prize; the kids are a bonus.' Baba had a way of reassuring Mama of how much she meant to him. Their love story inspired all of us; they exemplified everything that was beautiful about marriage. They worked together as a team, they complemented one another. The sacrifices were many, but they never kept count.”
― Hani Selim, Osama's Jihad

“You cut me
Now I sit, sharpening my blad
One day I will loom, a shadow no
more
Silence your hate, leave it shredded
Strewn around your feet
The only sign I've roared my pain:
You
Cut
Down”
― S.K. Ali

“The fact that the Qur'an "happens against a long background of patriarchal precedent" may also explain why its exegesis, the work entirely of men, has been influenced by their own needs and experiences while either excluding or interpreting, "through the male vision", perspective, desire, or needs". The resulting absence of women's voices from "the basic paradigms through which we examine and discuss the Qur'an and Qur'anic interpretation," argues Wadud, is mistaken "with voicelessness in the text itself"; and it is this silence that both explains and allows the striking consensus on women's issues among muslims in spite of interpretive differences among them.”
― Asma Barlas, "Believing Women" in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an

“When you're young and single, you have fewer responsibilities. You can focus on studying, improving your character, and utilising your talents in the path of Allah.”
― Farhat Amin, Smart Single Muslimah: Transform how you approach love and marriage: A Muslim Marriage guide for single Muslim women

“I will openly admit it: I was Baba's boy, but Mama is the human I aspire to be.”
― Hani Selim, Osama's Jihad

“...there is a long list of unspoken rules in Egyptian households, and the main rule is: The house is the woman's kingdom; it is her realm. It wasn't done in a sexist way. It was understood that women were safer and freer at home, and if a household was full of women, the men excused themselves and found their way to the nearest coffee shop.”
― Hani Selim, Osama's Jihad

“Lasati femeile sa se povesteasca, sa vorbeasca in ritmul lor despre propriile experiente, sa le cunoasteti. Veti fi surprinsi ca intre alb, negru si gri sa vedeti nuantele albastrului de Iznik, portocaliul sofranului, mozaicul uluitor al Bagdadului, verdele cedrului de Liban, movul, verdele si rosul zambetelor adolescentine de pe strazile Teheranului, albul revolutiei renuntarii la voal. Descoperiti-le poemele, romanele, picturile, nuvelele, activitatile academice uluitoare, lupta pentru a fi recunoscute ca fiind sportive, dansatoare sau pur si simplu sa le fie recunoscut dreptul de a fi trecute ca mame in certificatele de nastere ale propriilor prunci. Descoperiti-le povestile de rezistenta, si supravietuire pentru a demonstra atat: ca exista, ca gandesc, ca au propriile optiuni si vise despre vietile lor. Ca sunt.”
― Fatma Yilmaz, Barem identitar. Prejudecăți colective, realități personale

“I wondered if I could become a Muslim woman. It is unlikely. To live only for a man? No, it is not my way. I must live for myself. It is unwise to dedicate one’s life to someone as they won’t even be grateful in the end.”
― Mariia Manko, Through the Magic Sunglasses

“Abaya?!'
Sayid was so surprised, and it seemed to me that I had said too much. Probably, it was the astonishment of a Muslim who could not imagine a Christian woman wearing abaya.
'Sayid, do you believe me?”
― Mariia Manko, Through the Magic Sunglasses

“Sexually empowered women have long existed in Islam but their stories are often untold.”
― Habeeb Akande, Women of Desire: A Guide to Passionate Love and Sexual Compatibility

“Someone will employ us," I say.
"I wouldn't fight so hard if I didn't believe that someone wasn't out there." I pause and then it hits me. "Me either." And I mean it.”
― Randa Abdel-Fattah, Does My Head Look Big In This?

“Vali Nasr, Mawdudi’s biographer and an authority on political Islam (also referred to as Islamic revivalism), describes Maryam Jameelah as broadly responsible for cementing the global cultural divide between Islam and the West.”
― Deborah Baker, The Convert: A Tale of Exile and Extremism

“Muslim sciences should not be viewed by the scholar as a mere forerunners of modern science but as an alternative. The contemporary science of the West and the sciences developed by the Muslims are totally different and conflict with each other in aims and ideals."

~Modern Technology and Dehumanization of Man”
― Maryam Jameelah

“Hijab and Habit are both
symbols of sacred humility,
Yet the latter receives respect,
while the former faces cruelty.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“كانت الفتاة المؤمنة في المرحلة التربوية للحركة الإسلامية لا تكاد ترفع بصرها إلى الشاب حتى يخفضه حياؤها الصادق ويرده إلى الأرض. ثم إنها ترى الرجل على الرصيف فتنحرف عنه إلى الرصيف الآخر تحاشيًا لفتنة قد تقع منها أو عليها، لله درها! كيف كانت تمشي بوقار متعبدة بلباسها الساتر، متنزهة عن الألوان الصارخة والأشكال الفاضحة، لا تغنج في صوتها ولا تتصنع ..، أما اليوم فقد نبت جيل مشوه هذا المسمى بـ «الأخوات»، محجبات تبرجن بحجابهن أشد من تبرج السافرات وإذا خاطبن الشباب سمّرن فيهم أعينهن! وتصنعن في أصواتهن أنغاما زائدة وحروفا باردة ..، تقترب منك إحداهن لحاجة فتكاد تدهسك بصدرها! يا ويلها".”
― د. فريد الأنصاري

“Women leaders, like those of Pinjra Tod—who remain poised and determined in their resistance against the Hindu patriarchy—upset and undermined the wretched masculinity that has otherwise been a mainstay of the Indian newsfeed”
― Skye Arundhati Thomas, Remember the Details

“In the Arabic language, the word for sun is considered feminine, while the word for moon is masculine. The sun provides light to the entire world, while the moon reflects its greatness. Therefore, when Muslim men shine in excellence and perfection on the earth, they are merely reflecting the majestic light of the Muslim woman.”
― Anonymous, honouring women

“We like to speak of Islam and liberation, but we close women behind curtains and walls and call it modesty. What modesty is there in men who cannot control their desires and who project upon women their subjugation fantasies? Every time we tell a woman to not speak or act or appear or breathe, we only affirm our own immodesty. What modesty is there in resisting temptation, not by sanitizing our hearts, but by purging women and turning our sisters and wives into a subjugated colony?”
― Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books

“How could the religion that “liberated�� women transform them into an “awra?�� How could women be liberated, but denied existence?”
― Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books

“I fear that the seclusion of women has taught them that what is secluded is to be possessed and owned. And, all possessions are to be used.”
― Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books

“But is it not a husband who will provide you with a stable and happy life - it is God.”
― Khaled Abou El Fadl, The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books

“If Shaytan is working twice as hard to ruin marriages, we should be working twice as hard to make a marriage.”
― Shireen Patel, Muslim Marriage 101: A pro-active guide to creating a peaceful and loving marriage.