A review by giordana
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

This is definitely a story that I’ll be thinking about for a long time if not forEVER
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Samra Habib talks about the process of their self discovery — moving from Pakistan to Canada as a child & the discrimination they faced, navigating relationships with their bio family & chosen family, exploring their religion & sexuality, and finding spaces of belonging.
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They developed a pretty frickin amazing worldview along the way and at times I wanted to yell YESSS and high five them lol. For example: I REJECT the idea that romantic love is superior to other forms, so I especially liked their perspective on love and friendship:
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“What if I were to renew my vows to myself, and ask guests to share what our friendship means to them? Did I need the occasion of marriage to feel validated by those I love, or to celebrate love itself?”
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This memoir wasn’t a ~losing my religion and embracing my sexuality~ type of story. It was about reconciling the two and discovering what their religion and sexuality mean to them as core aspects of their identity. I loved this because I feel like often people/society see the two as mutually exclusive.
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Near the end they talk about their project “Just Me and Allah” where they photograph LGBTQIA+ Muslims around the world and ask them to share their experiences:
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“It seemed that because we didn’t fit the popular imagination’s perceptions of Muslims, we simply didn’t exist. I wanted to convey the countless narratives found within Islam and explore unfamiliar territory to create a broader, more multi-layered understanding of Muslims.”
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After I finished reading I looked at some of their portraits online — they’re so gorgeous and it was exciting to put faces to some of the names mentioned in the book!! 
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Reading this made me think lotsa thoughts (too many to write here lol).
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