Mommying While Muslim

Which one of us has met a deaf Muslim? Chances are, very few, but it’s most likely because we aren’t creating spaces where we can, as Andaleeb Elayan, Executive Director of Global Deaf Muslim discusses today. We learn A LOT about accessibility and inclusivity and the most important pearl of the day from Andaleeb herself, “Your deaf child can do EVERYTHING except hear.” Treat them as such.

​For our podcast audience, please be mindful that the voice you hear is that of voice interpreter, Cheryl, because Andaleeb speaks ASL. If you want to see Andaleeb speak, visit our You Tube channel: Mommying While Muslim. Remember that like all our guests, Andaleeb has her own voice and speaks for herself.

We had some connectivity issues and lost Zaiba during the course of this interview, but she’s in here in spirit! Don’t forget to check our notes to sign up for low cost ASL courses hosted by GDM. Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, your smart TV, or ask Alexa.

Links: 

1. For more information about Global Deaf Muslim and Andaleeb Elayan: https://globaldeafmuslim.org/
2. Email Andaleeb: [email protected]
3. Sign up for low cost ASL classes with GDM: tinyurl.com/aslgdm
4. Find out more about Gallaudet University: https://www.gallaudet.edu/ 
5. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
6. Email: [email protected]
7. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
8. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
9. 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

It’s hard to imagine that schools would discriminate against students with disabilities, but Saadia Qureshi leaves us breathless as she discusses her fight to obtain inclusive education for her daughter with Down syndrome. The system is not designed to help our disabled students succeed, and the “separate but equal” model is anything BUT.

Learn not just about the emotional weight of a diagnosis without community or medical support, but how we can do better by insisting on equity in our educational settings. We pay for them, so they may as well serve us and our kids! 

Links:

1. Follow Saadia on IG: @ketomuslimmom
2. Email Saadia: [email protected]
3. Get involved with advocacy work for Down syndrome: https://www.ndss.org/programs/national-advocacy-public-policy/
4. Find a Buddy Walk near you: https://www.ndss.org/play/national-buddy-walk-program/ 
5. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
6. Email: [email protected]
7. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
8. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
9. 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

Sara Minkara continues our Disability Awareness series this month by talking about her blindness, the challenges of blind Muslims, and how to change the disability narrative from one of charity to the “suffering,” to one of value-based inclusion: you are important because you are you in every way you are created. The current “favor” dynamic perpetuates ableism and disempowers the disabled, so we have to undo the pity perspective. Accessibility and integration are RIGHTS that will change the problem, not favors done by the abled to others. 

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google play, Amazon Music, ask Alexa, or hit our website to take a listen.

Links:

1. For more information about Sara Minkara LLC: https://saraminkara.com/ 
2. Email Sara: [email protected]
3. Facebook documents leaked: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/14/facebook-documents-show-how-toxic-instagram-is-for-teens-wsj.html 
4. WSJ report on Facebook’s effects: https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739?mod=hp_lead_pos7 
5. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
6. Email: [email protected]
7. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
8. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
9. 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

​Dilshad Ali shares a day in the life of a mom raising an adult child with autism, inspiring and teaching us today. Tune in to hear all the things we take for granted, and all the beautiful things we miss. Rather than perpetuate cultural behavior and silence around disabilities, we break the sound barrier for Muslim Americans to better support moms in the same position as Dilshad. We don't pity, other, ignore, and pretend disabled Muslims don't exist anymore!

​

​Get inspired by Dilshad's mutiple roles in autism advocacy, including her work at MUHSEN, a nonprofit dedicating to fighting for disabled Muslims who've been marginalized for far too long.

​

​Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon, ask Alexa, or click on the link in bio.

Links:

1. For more information about MUHSEN: https://muhsen.org/who-we-are/ 
2. Email Dilshad: [email protected]
3. Find Dilshad on IG: @DilshadDAli
4. Find Dilshad Twitter: @DilshadDAli
5. Read her blog:  @muslimahnextdoor
6. Read the Haute Hijab blog Dilshad edits: https://blog.hautehijab.com/ 
7. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
8. Email: [email protected]
9. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
10. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
11. 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

Feroza Syed speaks about her experiences as a transgender Muslim, her transition, and what made her go public with her history. Adoption discrimination against LGBTQi+ couples is the anti motherhood story we know will touch us today.

​We learn terms, more about unmosqueing marginalized Muslims, and how we can be better allies to our momsisters and their kids from all walks of life.

​

​It's a double episode drop this week, so plan a podcast binge! Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, Amazon Music, or ask Alexa. Leave a review if it's your first time listening to us.

Links: (Often guests provide their social media handles or websites)

1. Feroza Fights for Fair Housing: https://www.vogue.com/article/across-the-south-a-trans-housing-movement-grows 
2. Contact Feroza on IG: @ferozasyedatl
3. Find out more about Muslims for Progressive Values: https://www.mpvusa.org/ 
4. CAIR-MD letter to PAHC: https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PAHC-Grant.pdf 
5. Why we don’t say “transexual”: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/transgender-vs-transexual#transsexual
6. Understanding terminology: https://www.glaad.org/reference/transgender 
7. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
8. Email: [email protected]
9. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
10. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
11. 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

Fawzia Mirza AKA Ayesha Trump, storyteller, actor, and director, (oh, yeah, AND lawyer) joins us to talk about all the transformations we make as humans in order to learn our personal identity. It's not just queer Muslims who have to come out--we all have to decide at some point who and what we are going to be. The path is unique, just like us. We all get to decide what we do about people who think we aren't "Muslim enough."

​

Dare to unwrap the magic of us.

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play or click the link in bio.

Links:

1. Learn more about Fawzia: https://www.fawziamirza.com/
2. Fawzia on IG: @thefawz
3. Post Pulse shooting article on queer Muslims: https://www.wbez.org/stories/from-tragedy-some-hope-muslim-lgbtq-look-to-dispel-taboos/9a15cf82-3aae-47eb-afeb-467fdec9fd5f 
4. Masjid Al Rabia: https://masjidalrabia.org/ 
5. Texas’ criminalization of abortions and its effects: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1279961 
6. Catch our old episode “Hasan vs. Jafri”: https://www.buzzsprout.com/271577/6098098
7. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
8. Email: [email protected]
9. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
10. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
11. 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

We get a lot of SOS messages from queer Muslim kids and what better way to answer them than by bringing on Erum Rani, founder of Iftikhar Community, who shares her journey of coming out and what that meant mentally and spiritually for her. Hear firsthand what it’s like inside the mind and heart of a queer Muslim child before rejecting them, and how cultural taboos oppress the most important relationship they have: with Allah.

Special note: Talking about something that the general Muslim community fears or ostracizes does not make it an endorsement or convert anyone into being queer. Talking about it WILL  humanize the people we are so quick to love when we “control them” and often too quick to reject when they make adult decisions that ultimately they’re responsible for. It’s not love them “anyway.” It’s, just love them. 

Links: (Often guests provide their social media handles or websites)

1. Contact Erum at [email protected]
2. Learn more @iftikharcommunityoftexas
3. Support for South Asian parents of queer kids: https://www.desirainbow.org/
4. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
5. Email: [email protected]
6. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
7. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
8. 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

Shenaaz Janmohamed of Queer Crescent joins us today to discuss her experiences as an LGBTQi+ person. Find out how that informs her exploration of and work towards social justice and equity. What do I do if my kid comes out? How do masajid make ALL kids feel safe? What is gender and what is sex? These are a few of the questions we discuss today.

​Tune in at 6pm EST on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple podcasts, or click the link in bio after air time.

Links: 

1. Learn more about Queer Crescent: www.queercresecent.org 
2. Affirming Masjid Al Rabia: https://masjidalrabia.org/
3. Too Cute To Be Binary by Pidgeon Pagonis: http://pid.ge/
4. Unico Como Yo: 
5. https://socialjusticebooks.org/one-of-a-kind-like-me/
6. What Makes a Baby: 
7. https://www.corysilverberg.com/what-makes-a-baby
8. Against White Feminism:  
9. https://www.npr.org/2021/08/17/1027660980/against-white-feminism-is-an-urgent-call-to-action-for-solidarity-and-justice
10. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
11. Email: [email protected]
12. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
13. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
14. 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

Noor Tagouri, journalist and storyteller, talks today about representative stories and how THAT's news. Or the NEW news. Find out how she uses stories to unearth truths we want to hide, or ones we just don't know because mainstream voices aren't telling them. WE need to do it. Pick up the mic or the pen.

It's our turn. 

Links:

1. Learn more about Noor: https://www.noortagouri.com/
2. Noor on IG: @noor
3. Noor on Twitter: @NTagouri
4. Email Noor: [email protected]
5. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
6. Email: [email protected]
7. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
8. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast
9. 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

Nargis Rahman joins us today to talk about her dreams, her path to journalism with its U-turns forced by motherhood, and how she practiced her mommying philosophy of “wing it” with her own return to work. Her gems on our God-given potential, and the right of the people upon us to use it, are more than inspirational. They’re aspirational. 

Learn about storytelling as a function of community journalism and how mainstream coverage often misses the treasure box of stories under its nose, when sisterhood elevating its individual members fosters our collective success, and about Nargis’ favorite community piece.  

Links:

1. Learn more about Nargis: https://nargisthewriter.com/about/
2. Nargis on IG: @nargisthewriter
3. Nargis on Twitter: @nargisthewriter
4. Email Nargis: [email protected]
5. Read about Bismillah Kabob: https://civileats.com/2019/05/24/the-halal-restaurant-helping-build-community-in-suburban-detroit/ 
6. Pediatric COVID hospitalizations: https://www.businessinsider.com/record-high-rates-kids-hospitalized-with-covid-as-delta-spreads-2021-8 
7. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com
8. Email: [email protected]
9. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group
10. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

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