This has been my first Ramadan without hijab since 1997. After wearing hijab for close to twenty years, last year, sometime in August, I finally started leaving the house every day without covering my hair. I say “sometime” because removing it was a gradual process. At some point that summer, when the last distant cousin […]

The first few years I fasted, I used to get a little irritated with friends who lamented the sometimes anti-climactic Canadian Ramadans that paled in comparison to Ramadan “back home” in Pakistan, Egypt, or Indonesia.  I mean, I could understand what they meant, and I knew it wasn’t a comment on my experience.  Fasting as […]

Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar is a powerful time. The Qur’an was revealed during this month. For those who choose and are able to, fasting is a prescribed form of worship and what I consider a spiritually and physically cleansing tool. But the month of Ramadan is also a month in which […]

Last summer, I did not return home at the end of the school year. Having spent the previous Ramadan fasting alone and in secret, I decided that going elsewhere for the following summer would allow me to be freer in my religious expression during the Holy Month. To this day I’m incredibly grateful for having […]

My partner, Adam, and I are expecting our first child at the end of July. Frankly, I’ve never been so terrified or anxious about an impending event. While I’m not fasting, Ramadan gives me the time to dwell on all of the implications and transform them into desperate pleas and prayers. Here are the prayers […]

This year, I started Ramadan at the wedding of one of my childhood best friends. I jumped the hoops of border politics to be there at what will probably be one of the last Mexican weddings I will ever attend. After a decade of living in diaspora, it is just natural that my path is […]

Over six months ago I gave birth to my fourth child. I had believed I was done at three. I had two beautiful girls and an equally beautiful son. They are healthy, smart and a joy to be around, and trying for more would have meant pushing my luck. At least, that is what I […]

Last week, I emailed the members of a small community that I coordinate in Montreal. The group aims to be a gender-equal, queer affirming, and overall open and welcoming Muslim space, and I have a deep love for the people within it. We’re an eclectic mix of backgrounds, levels of religiosity, and various other identities. […]

Sugar stares at me from the window as I light my last cigarette before Ramadan starts. I can tell she is judging me just looking at her angry furry face. All over social media people are wishing each other Ramadan Mubarak and Ramadan Karim. Some have made a pledge to fast from social media. Some […]

All of us at Muslimah Media Watch wish our readers all the best this Ramadan! We’ve been quiet with our posts over the last few months, but we’ll be back for Ramadan with our usual series of personal stories and reflections. Stay tuned, and watch this page for links to the posts in our 2017 […]