It’s not about the Burqa is a collection of essays consisting of seventeen Muslim women speaking frankly about Islam and Equality, Representation of Muslim Women, Identity and Belonging, Workplace Gender Biases, Mental Health in the Muslim communities, wearing of the Hijab, sex and sexuality, racism, marriage and divorce among others.
First of, I would like to say thank you to Pan Macmillan for gifting me this copy.
This book is stunning. Wow! I loved that Muslim women were allowed to speak their truth - unapologetically. The essays are funny, warm, revealing and thought-provoking. I re-learnt and un-learnt so many things about feminism. This book centers on topics that are often said in whispers – we don’t talk about them loud enough.
Women are supposed to be ‘less than’, not ‘too much’. Women are meant to be quiet, modest, humble, polite, nice, well-behaved, aware of the red lines. They are supposed to tread softly within their limits…When a woman is ‘too much’, she is essentially uncontrollable and unashamed. That makes her dangerous.
This book is a revolution. According to Mona Eltahawy a revolution is ‘too loud’: it defies, disobeys and disrupts patriarchy. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the revolution.
A lot of my key insights came from Mariam Khan’s ‘Feminism Needs to die’ I believe that mainstream feminism is not a one size fits all. Mainstream feminism doesn’t take into consideration cultural & religious differences in women. I totally agree with Mariam Khan that:
Empowerment comes in forms and oppression shouldn’t be defined by what isn’t default to White Feminist’s world view. Feminism as we know needs to die so it can stop building walls, so it develop and move forward to nurture a sisterhood of Intersectional Feminist. Feminism is no good to me if it doesn’t fight for every different type of woman.
Each essay gave me something to ponder on. This is a book that highlighted the most important things. It was personal on so many levels. I could see myself speaking up for each of the women represented. Their experiences were real, raw and brilliant.
My favourite essays are:
The Clothes of my Faith by Afia Ahmed,
There is no such thing as a depressed Muslim by Jamilla Hekmoun,
Feminism needs to Die by Mariam Khan,
A woman of Substance by Saima Mir
Not Just a Black Muslim Woman by Raifa Rafiq
Too loud, Swears too much and goes too far by Mona Eltahawy
The First Feminist by Sufiya Ahmed
Writers include award-winning columnist and international public speaker Mona Elthahawy, journalist for the Guardian Coco Khan, award winning author of YA novel Secrets of Henna Girl Sufiya Ahmed, co-founder of Amaliah.com Nafisa Bakkar, former president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Malia Bouattia, London lawyer who specializes in family law Aina Khan, Award-Winning journalist and recipient of Commonwealth Broadcast Association World View Award Saima Mir among others.
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