Mommying While Muslim

As we kick off our August series, “Muslims in the News,” Zaiba and Uzma review past big headlines that affected their physical and mental safety. Ask yourself how news coverage would have been different, and HAS been different for non-Muslims suspects. When do Muslim Americans hold their collective breaths and why?  This is a series asking the hard questions about what we expect from the news and...

When we discuss entertainment, we think about music, too. Muslimahs have been making music for centuries, but a lot of us haven't been taught that. Amira Daugherty talks about her path from law to music, from activism to making history on American Idol, all without encouragement or accolades because Muslimah voices don't get them. This rapper, singer, and spoken word artist is literally...

Serena Rasoul, founder of Founder of Muslim American Casting, LLC joins us today to talk about Muslims in Entertainment. After House of Cards and other acting opportunities, Serena decided to pursue authentic representation of SW Asian, North African and Arab Muslims. Like other sheroes on the podcast this month, she addresses miscasting, Muslim tropes, and compromises that Muslim talent may have...

Kicking off this month’s Muslim Representation in Entertainment series is scholar Dr. Maytha AlHassen. We explore the historical origins of the most common Muslim tropes, discuss the findings of recent studies done on movies that negatively depict Muslims, and discuss how we can counter them. You may even hear some hints about what’s coming next on a popular TV series that Dr. AlHassen co-produces...

Aseel Elborno joins us today to discuss her longtime research of a particular country where she would like to transplant her family, even if temporarily. Her reasons for doing so should resonate with ALL moms in need of a village and who feel burned out. From community building to family planning, to how to prepare for an international move, we talk about all of it with this amazing expat in the m...

Isra Hashmy joins us today to discuss her epiphany during the rat race of life and following Allah’s guidance to pursue her dream until it manifested into reality. Following the expat life isn’t as easy as we think, so she explains some of those details that could provide hiccups to a family planning on living overseas. Then there’s the hiccups you DON’T plan for, like a pandemic that separates yo...

If you’ve been a fan of Maroc Mama, you’ll be so excited for this one. For those who don’t know her, you will fall in love. Amanda Moutakki  joins us today to discuss her expat achievements and challenges, and running a tourism business in a pandemic. Her POV about living abroad is inspirational AND aspirational. Tune in to also find out about momcations and how she curates those. Links: Find Aman...

Author mom Adeeba Jafri @adeebajafri_official comes on to discuss what precipitated her move abroad, what life is like, and shares info on the IB program for teens. On top of all that, she's a teacher and author with a new book on the way.  Can you believe she stayed up all night nervous about coming on? For NOTHING! She is terrific and you can find out more on your podcast apps! Tune in at 6...

Hurunnessa Fariad joins us today to talk about how masajid can and DO do it right by appointing female leadership. As an employee of a major Muslim American masjid, she’s experienced that representative leadership exists and succeeds.  Huri’s takeaways today include ALL women have talent. Plug in to her strengths and watch her soar because she will always take her kids and community with her! We a...

Hind Makki discusses all-male panels and additional exclusionary practices that marginalize Muslimahs, both in the audience and in expert spaces, at conferences, seminars, and in the masjid space itself! These under-represented panels are hurting our institutions and driving financially independent and Islamically educated women away from the masjid and Islamic organizations . Since many of us had...

Kristy Sabbah joins us today as a former masjid board member and community leader. She reveals issues women on the board face and what they need from the community to support them. Let’s talk under-representation, leadership accountability, cultural relevance, tokenism, and modeling board leadership for our daughters. The Muslim American masjid experience is so diverse, and our masjid (and organiz...

Mommying While Muslim has never been late to drop an episode except Eid al Fitr 2021! We hope our lovely audience understands how excited we were to celebrate with our families and we wanted to edit something worth your listening ears. Today is an opportunity to hear about our experiences in the masjid that hurt our hearts because we know the masjid can do better by us as women, mothers, and for o...

Zaiba and Uzma “call the midwife today” because how can you have new mommy memoirs without one?!?!?! Krystina Friedlander, Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) joins us today to talk about her journey to midwifery and its foundations in social justice work and original motherhood. Some of us know how miraculous these bodies are, but a lot more of us don’t know how much at risk those magnificent ma...

We meet the incredible Saadia Qureshi, The Keto Muslim Mom, today who jogs us down memory lane to discuss common new mommy issues: complicated diagnoses, health problems, pandemic pregnancy, body image, mompreneurship, and her personal journey to live a particular lifestyle that brings her joy. This is one that requires a mental seatbelt as only Zaiba can manage, and some chill which Uzma will nev...

Sadia Jalali is the founder of Muslim Bliss and Uzma’s college roommate, and back on this podcast to talk about why Muslims moms CHOOSE to go back to the nursery. On this episode of our New Mommy Memoirs series, we change it up by discussing life’s changes that sometimes necessitate having another child in the second (or third) phase of life.  She poses her zen approach to parenting and the epipha...

Our good friend Shmila Javed is on today to share her new mommy memoirs in the context of a blended family. We are thankfully losing our hang-ups about Muslim nuclear families in America, thereby getting closer to the prophetic model of a happy, healthy household alhamdulillah. She surprises us and confirms a lot of what we imagine it must be like to start all over with diapers and breastfeeding....

After a tough month in March, we are ready to talk about BABIES! We’re taking a walk down memory lane with a mom who recently had one in the strangest year on record. Sofia Kamal received a “subhanAllah surprise” when her then youngest was 10 years old and she’d been “done.” Her journey to motherhood was fraught with tests including PCOS and a challenging career as a lawyer, but even the tail end...

Mom doc Sarah Syed tells us what it's like on the other side of the bed--when you're not the doctor, but the mom with a critically ill infant. Her story of duaa and dawa is not to be missed. ​She's not just Imani's mom. She's our shero so much so, that she inspired us to collaborate with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We found out this year that not only do they cu...

Madiha Schader joins us today to talk about her experience learning early on that she married someone who wouldn't be safe for her, yet how she continued to hide the details from her family and friends. The cultural reasons she did this are very clear in her story. She’s not unique, but what she focuses on today is that abusive domestic relationships don’t always include physical violence. Me...

Samia Masood joins us today to talk about her harrowing experience through her son's illness and how she survived it. Life pre diagnosis and post-diagnosis is a real thing and very delineated in a mom’s mind and heart for life and we work out some trauma together. Her ordeal didn't end after her son’s initial fight was over, but the hot coals propelled her to do MORE--not just for her fa...

If you haven’t scheduled to listen in on our Firewalker series this month, you’ll want to. These moms aren’t just walking over hot coals--they’re doing it through billowing blazes while taking names and kicking butt. Whether you're ready for it or not, Shazia Imam, host of the Feminine & Fulfilled podcast joins us to drop truths about what it looks like when NOTHING works out. She's...

Shownotes:  This month’s Love & Marriage series closes out with the expertise of Tawakaltu Busari of Hitched!, a Muslim matchmaking service based in Houston. Not an app-based method, Hitched! provides halal opportunities for singles to meet organically and not in the traditional survey method historically used to match people. There aren’t speed dates or elaborate networks to figure out who ca...

We're all about love and marriage this month. Until we're not. Not all marriages work out, and we don't say "succeed" or "fail" because marriage isn't an Olympic event, y'all. Sometimes two people just don't belong together, and when kids are involved, decisions must be made. Rayesa Gheewala, The Muslimah Divorce Coach, talks to us today about the...

Sameera Qureshi of Sexual Health for Muslims joins us today to discuss the effects of colonized gender-based fallacies have on Muslim sexual health and practice. Not only does she have comprehensive sexual education from an Islamic perspective online, she is keen on connecting sex as a means of spiritual fulfillment, “God-consciousness,” tawheed , within an Islamic context.  Learn the difference b...

Sadia Jalali, LMFT from Muslim Bliss joins us today to talk about how to develop ourselves before and during marriage in order to make it work. Gone are the days when marriage was the panacea for all things: mental illness, neurodiversity, land or money disputes, homosexuality.....marriage is a blessing but it's not a cure. In fact, there are so many cultural approaches to marriage that do no...