Mommying While Muslim

Our Series this month is "Organizations That Increase Khair," and we kick it off with Sana Imad of Elevate Adolescence. She's written a curriculum for a character education program designed to help tweens and teens build confidence and reach maturity in a developmentally appropriate way, both spiritually and psychologically. Rooted in Islamic principles and the sage example of Imam Ghazali, the program integrates timeless values like integrity, compassion, and self-discipline into practical life skills.  

Through @girlsrisingstrong and @boys.breakingthru, parents and children can achieve deep understanding and connection. One of my favorite pearls from this episode had to be, "It isn't easy, but it gets easiER."  Practice makes perfect, y'all, but we have to be willing to take the first step.

Learn more about these programs and how you can bring them to your kitchen tables. Tune in at 6pm EST and share this episode with another mom and maybe with a masjid board member who may find it easier to establish a youth group with a curriculum and support systems ready to go.

Links:

1. Elevate Adolescence on the web

2. Find Elevate Adolescence on IG: @girlsrisingstrong & @boys.breakingthru

3. Girls Rising Strong 

4. Imam Ghazali on upbringing of children

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

📢 Pornography is a silent but pervasive issue in American Muslim communities.. We’re breaking that silence with Alaa Shareef of The Family and You Institute. She brings data-driven insights on who’s watching, why consumption happens, who's at risk, and what we can do about it—because ignoring it isn’t an option.

📊 Who is consuming porn in our communities, and what does that mean for our relationships and faith?
 ⚠️ Who’s at risk? It’s not just who you think.
 🛑 How can families, parents, and partners approach this conversation with love, faith, and practical solutions?

We’re here to talk about real, shame-free solutions for prevention, intervention, and healing. If you’ve ever wondered how to protect your children, support a loved one, or unlearn toxic cultural taboos around this issue, this episode is for you. Key pearl from Alaa on this episode is "compassion not condemnation."

🎧 Tune in now and join the conversation—because the first step to solving a problem is talking about it. Then share this episode with a loved one who may be experiencing porn in some capacity that's harming their imaan, someone who may not know how to get help otherwise.

Links:

1. The Family & Youth Institute

2. Our last episode on porn with TheFYI

3. Pornography in the Muslim Community

4. Premarital Sex & Muslim Youth

5. Donate to TheFYI

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Are we talking about sexuality and intimacy the right way? How we navigate these subjects can make or break our relationships; with our partners, and later on, with our kids if we don't learn how to be sex positive. 

Too often, these discussions are academic or purely rule-based, leaving little room for emotional depth, vulnerable connection, and the nuanced challenges couples actually face. In this episode, @coachmeganwyatt helps us explore emotionally intelligent thoughts and conversations about sexuality and intimacy. Her approach certainly sheds more light on how we understand marital duties versus rights, and how we spiritually connect with our partners.

We also unpack some common marital challenges that cross her professional desk, from mismatched expectations to unspoken needs, and discuss where couples—and even community leaders—go wrong in addressing these issues. This is a conversation you don’t want to miss. Tune in now, and let’s start asking the right questions to have uncomfortable conversations. 🎙️💬

Links:

1. Find Megan online One Meaningful Life
2. Listen to Megan's podcast Wives of Jannah
3. Follow Megan on IG: @coachmeganwyatt

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Dr. Sadaf Lodhi OBGYN is back on the podcast this year to discuss the gender health gap and how it creates even more barriers for women, especially in marginalized communities of Muslim American women: from the Black community to asylees, immigrants, and refugees. Sick women don’t have the luxury of having sex positivity in their homes when their basic needs won’t be met, and are in fact sabotaged by the state. We talk about trauma, cell memory, cultural competency, and funding cuts that directly impact how we fare in the American pseudo-healthcare maze that’s hard to navigate when we DO speak English.

No visit with Dr. Sadaf Lodhi is complete without talking about mindset on the path to unlearning guilt and shame, and embracing sex positivity. There’s also lots of good news on the horizon with Dr. Lodhi and we hope you catch it towards the end of this episode. Share it with a friend and let us know how you’re working on building your sex positive home.

Links:

1. Find Dr. Sadaf Lodhi OBGYN on IG

2. Find Dr. Sadaf Lodhi on the web

3. Resources Dr. Lodhi recommends for sex positivity, education & advocacy

    a. HEART 

    b. Gynogirl

    c. Desidoc.md

    d. Dr. Habeeb Akande

    e. Brown Girl Healthcare

    f. The Black OBGYN Project 

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

We sat down with the hilarious and insightful Yasmin Elhady to talk about her new show, Muslim Matchmaker, co-starring Hoda Abrahim, and now streaming on Hulu. Yasmin brings her expertise and humor to the matchmaking world, helping Muslims navigate the often-complicated journey of love and relationships.

We discuss why this show is more than just entertainment—it's a celebration of the Muslim diaspora and of love as the last magic humanity has left. Yasmin shares why everyone, regardless of background, deserves to find love and how intentional matchmaking (with a modern twist) is helping people build meaningful connections.

If you’re curious about modern love, matchmaking, or just want to hear Yasmin’s signature wit and wisdom, this episode is for you. Plus, we explore why shows like this matter in changing mainstream narratives about Muslims and relationships.

Check out our show notes on ways to get Hulu to stream NOW.

Links:

1. Student discounts-if you have T Mobile, there is a student discount for you! Check out your cell phone app.

2. Verizon-certain Verizon plans offer Hulu for free as a perk. Check your app!

3. Get a FREE trial with Hulu-Sign up and choose the basic package for $18.99. You have one month to cancel without being charged. You WILL have to enter your credit card information, but set your calendar and cancel before the charge hits. Free Hulu! BOOM. Welcome to the Brown Side.

4. Watch Muslim Matchmaker on Hulu

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Y'all know what FEBRUARY means on this podcast: love, sex, and all the stuff we would never discuss in public, but feel safe listening to on a podcast. Whether you listen in private or with a partner, I'm so glad you're here for it. This month's series is "Sex Positive Muslim Family," and I'll go blue in the face asking us to create one.

Never been on a halal date? Turns out, most of us have, whether we were old school or modern arranged, met through friends, or online. It's not the oxymoron it first sounded like to an old fogey like me. I challenge listeners to expand our vocabulary and thoughts, but I share all of your "haram reservations."  Let's get uncomfortable together.

Mariam Afzal helps redefine "dating" for Generations X and Alpha, bringing home the message that all of it can look and be halal if we, as parents, create safe spaces for our kids. That means holding honest conversations, setting boundaries, and maybe chilling out and remembering that we are not to raise our children as we were raised. Biding the advice of Ali (RA), our children are for a different world, as we were for ours. So let's see how we can navigate this precarious future and keep it halal.

Dating, rebellion, parenting genders, birth order, too....we avoided deep dives to stay on track, but I'm sure there will be a couple of new series coming just out of this one episode. Share the link with a friend, and post your craziest halal dating story in the comments.

Links:

1. Halal Dating by Salams App
2. Muslim Youth & Premarital Sex
3. Half Our Deen
4. Watch Muslim Matchmaker on Hulu

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

BONUS EPISODE: @wishahworldtravel sent us their very own Briana Lodick, founder and mastermind of a new way to help people travel. With her background in travel and sincere passion for hitting the road, she explains how we can do it well and on the cheap alone, or with kids.

And if you’ve ever gasped at travel agency price tags, this one will be a breath of fresh air, especially if planning makes you want to put off vacation AGAIN. No need to put it off, or be put off! Check them out!

Share this episode with your travelistas and start planning your next trip!

Links:

1. Wishah World Travel
2. Wishah World Travel in Instagram
3. For a free online course on discount travel points (They don't pay us either!)
4. Podcasts for travel points

         a. https://pointmetofirstclass.com/podcast (Neither does she.)

         b. https://10xtravel.com/podcast/

         c. https://frequentmiler.com/frequent-miler-on-the-air/ (Neither do they.)

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

🎧In this episode, we dive into the transformative power of travel for women, featuring a conversation with 2/3 of the Moxie Living team, Dr. Fareen Malik and Bisma Anwar. We discuss how a passion for travel turned into a movement for community building, empowerment, and self-renewal. Whether it’s exploring new cultures, taking a break, or forming lifelong friendships, group travel can be a game-changer for women looking to define their blah, especially for Muslim women who may not have had self care modeled for them in childhood.

✨ What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ How Moxie Living experiences uplevel travel
✔️ How Moxie Living takes the burden of travel planning away
✔️ The benefits of traveling with like-minded women
✔️ Where Moxie Living is headed in 2025

💬 Share this episode with a friend!
Have you traveled with a women’s group before? What was your experience like? Share your thoughts with us below or tag us in your travel stories!

Links:
1. Moxie Living Website
2. Moxie Living on Instagram
3. For a free online course on discount travel points (They don't pay us either!)
4. Podcasts for travel points
     a. https://pointmetofirstclass.com/podcast (Neither does she.)
     b. https://10xtravel.com/podcast/
     c. https://frequentmiler.com/frequent-miler-on-the-air/ (Neither do they.)

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Our guest today, Amena Bakali of @hassansonholiday, is an award-winning travel educator, consultant, and travel blogger. Hear her expert tips on how to plan your next 'Umrah to get spiritually uplifted without going financially bankrupt.

If that isn't a hook, hear a real-life example of 'Umrah for a family of 4 for $500 in flights...TOTAL. That's right! Learn the mindset shift and strategy for 'Umrah on points, and stay for insider tea on how to get the best out of your pilgrimage, with or without kids.

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or head to our website to listen right now. Our links to this episode are on the website under the Podcast tab. Share this episode with family members or friends with 'Umrah dreams and staycation budgets so they can learn how to make pilgrimage more accessible and affordable.

Links:

1. Hassan on Holiday Website
2. Amena on Instagram
3. For a free online course on discount travel points (They don't pay us!)
4. Podcasts for travel points

         a. https://pointmetofirstclass.com/podcast (Neither does she!)

         b. https://10xtravel.com/podcast/

         c. https://frequentmiler.com/frequent-miler-on-the-air/ (Neither do they!)

    5. Report an incident to CAIR
    6. The FYI Bullying Toolkit
    7. Purchase QuadM tickets today! Or head to @quadmshops on IG

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: [email protected]

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w