“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” -Toni Morrison, Beloved Awhile back, a friend and colleague said something about me I wasn’t sure how to take: “Heba,” she said, “in some ways you shatter everything that I thought I knew about Muslim women; in other ways, you absolutely embody stereotypes I have.” I smiled, […]

Upon learning about the Paris attacks and the #PrayforParis hashtag that emerged, I felt many things – but I was not shocked. Violence does not shock me. As a woman of colour and as an immigrant, it is part of my surroundings. I have become desensitized to violence. If you are like me and grew […]

“Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly” – Ali Ibn Abu Talib (RA) Only from darkness can we see light. Only from struggle do we understand the roots of solidarity. These days in Toronto, these expressions could not be […]