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A review by svjak
It's Not About the Burqa by Mariam Khan
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Wow! You wanna talk about eye-opening, thought-provoking, boundary-pushing, multi-faceted approaches to 'controversial' issues?
This is it. This is the book.
I place 'controversial' in apostrophe marks because in a perfect world these topics would not be controversial per say, they would just be opinions. But given our current circumstances and the way of the world they are nonetheless viewed that way.
I have to commend this collection for several things. Firstly, for publishing, in one single book, stories that foundationally oppose one another but which are both equally true and valid in their approaches. Each one of these essays in this collection are penned by a different author and each one of them has a unique and refreshing take on different topics. And even if I found myself shaking my head as I started one essay, by the end of it I was usually nodding along, even if my own views differed.
And the reason for that is because of context. When women are given the opportunities to speak about ourselves and our own opinions freely, without fear of someone stopping us from speaking or dismissing our opinions, we have a chance to offer perspective, background, and share our experiences - all of which inform the way we think. All of which improve the Umma as a whole.
And yeah, there were some essays I still find myself disagreeing with, there were some authors that would seem to dispute their own argument in their essay, but as a whole this collection brings about the wider issue of inclusivity and ability of women. We can speak for ourselves. It's time the world sit down and let us.
This is it. This is the book.
I place 'controversial' in apostrophe marks because in a perfect world these topics would not be controversial per say, they would just be opinions. But given our current circumstances and the way of the world they are nonetheless viewed that way.
I have to commend this collection for several things. Firstly, for publishing, in one single book, stories that foundationally oppose one another but which are both equally true and valid in their approaches. Each one of these essays in this collection are penned by a different author and each one of them has a unique and refreshing take on different topics. And even if I found myself shaking my head as I started one essay, by the end of it I was usually nodding along, even if my own views differed.
And the reason for that is because of context. When women are given the opportunities to speak about ourselves and our own opinions freely, without fear of someone stopping us from speaking or dismissing our opinions, we have a chance to offer perspective, background, and share our experiences - all of which inform the way we think. All of which improve the Umma as a whole.
And yeah, there were some essays I still find myself disagreeing with, there were some authors that would seem to dispute their own argument in their essay, but as a whole this collection brings about the wider issue of inclusivity and ability of women. We can speak for ourselves. It's time the world sit down and let us.