fz.mag

15/05/2022

Letters to Sayyida Fatima AS! Have you written one yet?

18/02/2022

Talk about representative art that makes a difference! is a "modern, minimalist" jewelry line inspired by Islamic architecture. It not only represents an integral part of Islamic culture but finds a way to give back to it as well.

Each order translates to a planted tree and supports the education of a Syrian child in Syria. These specific patterns above are inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada. Just an example of their many bespoke pieces!

12/02/2022

In today’s world, we often feel like we are running an endless race. We want to do better, we want to improve, we want change, we want to grow! As women we sometimes feel the pressure to improve more than our male counterparts; we believe our improvement is linked to those we love. Some women even take it a step further and believe that they need to do better to pave the path for other women, that they need to be role models in their personal and professional lives. But that is a big burden to carry…

We have no doubt that women can achieve what they set their minds to, but my dear sister, daughter and mother, before you embark on your next journey, please be kind to yourself. Remember, contentment is an inexhaustible treasure.
القناعة كنز لا يفنى

09/02/2022

Escape into the colourful, pattern-mixing world of Roeqiya Fris.

Fascinated by feminine beauty, nature and Arabic atmospheres, Fris creates magical sceneries filled with colour, botanicals and beautifully juxtaposed patterns. The images depict women dressed in prints in environments that are equally busy.

You can see the lasting visual impact of her dual Arab and Dutch heritage and upbringing.  

The Dutch-Egyptian illustrator is currently based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. See more of her work  

Without a doubt, her art is a feast for the eyes.

05/02/2022

A letter from the editor!

📷: Rod Waddington, Kergunyah, Australia

01/02/2022

01/02/2022

Please join us in writing letters to our beloved Sayyida Fatima AS.

We report on Muslim women today, but we also want to go back in time, to explore Muslim lifestyle, traditions, culture, and values.

With this new section, we remember, revive and restore Sayyedatuna Fatema al Zahra’s AS legacy of love. Finding reflections of the past in our present binds us in a culture that is rich, deep and humble. Reflections in the form of letters to our Mother, Sayyeda Zahra AS, are a symbol of our sweet, sweet love for her. A letter wall that is filled with love and grace. A safe haven. A place to unwind. A place of solace. A place for dreams and magic. Where we belong, in happiness and sorrow.

Some love ends, some happiness fades away, but a mother’s love can move mountains through centuries. It is a timeless love. Eternal. And it cools the fiery turbulence of souls. And thus, daughters remember…

If you would like to write to S Fatema as on our letter wall, send us your letter in a DM!

22/01/2022

You don't always have to do it alone.

14/01/2022

Ghazala Wahab's book, “Born a Muslim” made multiple "best of 2021" lists in India at the end of the year. With the current political climate and increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric in India, this book is very relevant today. The book disqualifies many of the misconceptions circulating in the media.

In a conversation with Sandip Roy at the Mumbai Literature Festival Wahab admits that before writing this book she was often apologetic and defensive about her religion. However, by educating herself about her own religion, Wahab now feels empowered to not only respond to difficult questions but also to serve as an expert in the field.

She says a common misconception that helps fuel hate in India today is that Islam was spread with the power of the sword. In her research, she found that to be not the case. Islam first emerged in India as a byproduct of the country’s international trade, there was no foreign coercion. Furthermore, in cases where Islam spread as a result of conflict, new Muslim rulers did not force conversions as tax from non-Muslims was an important stream of revenue.

If you have already read Wahab’s book, “Born a Muslim”, what did you think?

08/01/2022

Picture: UK women who cook and help the local community

The British organization Muslim Charities Forum is “building a map of the UK’s Muslim-led charities and their work” with their campaign.

They are collecting the stories of every Muslim charitable organization in the country and want to show everyone, including Muslims themselves, the work they do, its impact, and their contribution to British communities.

Please help the effort! If you work in a Muslim-led charity in the UK, add your stories to the narrative at www.muslimcharitiesforum.org.uk/tellthestory/. Or share this link with someone you know who does.

24/12/2021

Do you ever come across something on the internet that has you yelling "YES! This is my life!!"? Well, that's Huda F's whole Instagram profile.

Her cartoons of daily interactions with her mom, her husband, and friends are hilarious, totally relatable and unapologetically NORMAL! A personal favorite is in the slide above. Yes, Mom.

Best part? She's got a whole new book out this month! Go check her out .

11/12/2021

The work of Yemeni-Egyptian-American photographer Yumna Al-Arashi
"Yemen", 2018.

07/12/2021

Ibtihaj Muhammed showed her pride in who she is and her faith through her sports talent.

She is the first US Olympic athlete to compete wearing a hijab, and the first Muslim American woman to win an Olympic medal.

She wore her country’s colors and represented the USA, but that wasn't it. She showed that sports can make space for religion.

She inspired all those around her big and small; that no matter where you come from you can compete at the highest level. For Muslim women, she reminded us that your religion isn't just a part of your life but it is your life. Even when she reached sport’s biggest stage she didn’t leave her religion behind, but rather made that who she was.

And now she will always be known in history as the first US athlete to compete in the Olympics wearing a hijaab.

Picture credit:

03/12/2021

This baking blog is charming, full of lovely English scenery and comforting English bakes. But it also has “this Muslim girl” at its core, and somehow that speaks to me.

I am happy to be taken around British food by a Pakistani British girl. Her home feels comforting. I like that she makes space for tradition and starts her blog in a traditional way rather than saying the usual hello, hi, hey, she addresses her audience with: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

She has carved out a space where she is the boss – her “little space on the internet” as she says, where she can talk about food “for as long as I like.”

And she doesn’t feel the need to hide as she does it. The “Muslim Girl” part of the title is up front and center. The food is halal, homemade and there is room in this house for faith.

It’s the Muslim girl embracing her Westernization, and maybe a new Western secularism too.
 
 Picture:

29/11/2021

Peacefull skincare was developed by Salama Mohammed, a Muslim women entrepreneur who in her own words was "blessed with vitiligo and sensitive skin". Salama tried many products but never found anything that really works so instead, she created her own. She was heavily involved in the development process from choosing the ingredients to testing that the products really work.
The Peacefull skincare regiment is simple: cleanse, tone and moisturize. The ingredients are paraben, sulfate, fragrance and cruelty free.
We're trying Peacefull are you?

26/11/2021

In Performance Art the individual experiences art by being completely immersed in a specific action. The body itself becomes a medium of art.

Can we take that awareness to religious rituals?

Let's try it with the act of drinking a glass of water.

The Prophet Mohammed SAW stated:
1. Say Bismillah when you begin to sip water.
2. Say alhamdulillah after taking the sip.
3. Do this at the beginning and end, or repeat it at every breath.

Now watch performance artist Marina Abramovic do it at https://youtu.be/3MI9b4bC7Mk; the Louisiana Channel, based at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.

Remember, in performance art the reaction of the audience becomes a part of the performance. The audience views everyday actions in a new light. The viewer achieves heightened awareness.
 
Let us know how you felt while drinking water like this.

09/11/2021

Beneath the polite notices that request that footwear be left in the doorway, Muslim homes line up their shoes where perhaps you’ve noticed that despite the sturdiness of the making, the back of the shoe which was meant to enclose the heel of the wearer, lies squished and squashed, as squidgy as a pancake where the owner ground it down as he/she left or entered the home unable to go through the squeeze-the-foot-in, squeeze-the-foot-out routine of Muslim sneaker-users.

Enter the babouche shoe! Doing away with the back of the shoe altogether, the slipper discovers its essence in slipping on and off. That’s why they’re called slippers, stoopid.

Picture:

04/11/2021

In a world where women have been fighting for their rights for centuries, where only today we have started to - let's not forget to say theirs too. From these women of Islam we have learned courage, women's rights, business ethics, compassion, human rights, the sciences of the home, raising a family, leadership, truth, justice, kindness and bravery.

Stay tuned for more on each one of these women of heaven.

04/11/2021

Slide one:
Assiya bint Muzahim SA

Slide two:
Maryam bint Imran SA

Slide three:
Khadijah bint Khuwaylid SA

Slide four:
Fatima-tu-Zahra SA

Caption:
In a world where women have been fighting for their rights for centuries, where only today we have started to - let's not forget to say theirs too. From these women of Islam we have learned courage, women's rights, business ethics, compassion, human rights, the sciences of the home, raising a family, leadership, truth, justice, kindness and bravery.

Stay tuned for more on each one of these women of heaven.

06/09/2021

Labbaik! We go wither they beckon.

01/09/2021

What women really want isn't always what you see in the movies.

broadcast live from Kerbala this Muharram!
Go to her profile to hear her thoughts and also other Muslim women on why they are there, their experiences, their anguish on the way they are often treated, and even standing up for yourself!

17/08/2021

In the wake of the fear, desperation and uncertainty in Afghanistan, and more of the images that make us cringe as Muslims because they have begun to define us  – men with guns, fear, and desperate people –

We would like to present some images of Muslims gathering en masse for someone they love, a refuge, a place where people take their dreams and their prayers and their children courtesy

Send us your own images of pilgrimage and prayer, of love and children and we will be happy to share them. What do you pray for? Who do you love?

16/08/2021

This painting is a calligraphic representation of a cry – Aahin! to lament Husain AS, grandson of the Prophet.

The lamentation of Christ was a popular subject in Christian religious art for several centuries. So it is interesting to look at this Islamic painting next to famous historical Christian religious art and reflect on the differences in the art of these two world religions.  

Artwork where Christ is held and mourned by Mary is called Pieta, and many artists have painted their own Pietas. The most famous Pieta though is not a painting at all, it is Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture in Vatican City. We included a picture of it here too. Muslim artists got in on the act too, see the picture of the Lamentation of Christ by Ali Reza Abbasi from the 17th century in Slide 4.

It is perhaps not fair to the artist Zaenab to put her picture next to these masterpieces, but we still thought it was interesting to examine the two styles of art together.

The Islamic painting is a modern one but it sticks to traditional principles in Islamic art, referencing Husain AS without pictures, and using calligraphy to point to what cannot be seen, typically, the Divine. Calligraphy is extremely important in Islamic art, representative of the importance of God’s word, and here too, she uses the letters in the word Aahin to make her art.  

What else strikes you between the two?  

Art: Aahin, 2020, by Zaenab; Pietà, c 1441, Rogier van der Weyden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Pieta, Michelangelo, 1497, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Lamentation over the dead body of Christ, Freer Gallery of Art.

05/08/2021

We asked Muslim women to reflect on why they come to Fatima AS, and on embroidered robes.

Here is what RM, a Muslim woman from Manchester, UK, who follows the artist Sarah Yaseen told us.

“For me, personally, Fatima means freedom. The freedom to be liberated from the incessant, and insatiable demands of being a woman of career and finding my heart where my home is.

I work around the clock and thinking of Fatima helps me come home. I think we have by history and feminist history too, been denied our positions in our homes as mothers, child-bearers and home-makers. Denied the joy of needles and colours. Not by men alone, but by the contempt of our own gender.

When I think of Fatima, I think of a mother, my own, and my motherhood. Too much of our roles in our homes have focused on our relations with husbands, a western heritage in which a woman’s sexuality is her paramount function. There is much to love in western thought, but also much to love in eastern thought, and fighting to be seen, the role of a Muslim woman, safe in purdah, has eluded us.

Does a western sister have anything to learn from this? First, and foremost, we have to think what we learn from our tragically disowned heritage.

Fatima has been neglected in my own life. Her shrine lies abandoned in my own heart. If I weep, she weeps too because just as I love my own daughter until my heart breaks, I am sure she loves me.”