Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir

Product Information

This memoir was well-written, engrossing, and introduced me to a community and life path that was, in some ways, new to me. I thought this was important to mention because some folks may not know the extent to which Islam shares history and mythology with the other Abrahamic faiths. I love that you reintroduced sexuality to Mary, who is positioned on one side of the dichotomy a lot of the time. In her free time, she eats lots of desserts baked by her partner, plays board games with whoever she can corral, and works on her goal of traveling to every subway stop in the city. Though I might not feel like Lamya is being particularly honest with themselves, they have a great eye for deconstructing external struggle, and they are smart and funny and gave me a broader lens to see the world.

Hijab Butch Blues: Book review - Lacuna Magazine

The opening pages of this queer Muslim opus find the author as a 14-year-old in Qur’an class considering a lesbian Virgin Mary (Or Maryam, as she is known in Islam), before the book develops into part-autobiography and part-reinterpretation of Islamic and Middle Eastern lore. Lesbians and queer women, unless they’re commodified within a pornographic framework, are desexualised too.With a South-Asian background, upbringing in the Gulf and ultimate relocation to the United States, Lamya (a pseudonym) deeply self-reflects about identity in her memoir, Hijab Butch Blues, while anchoring the coming-of-age tale in stories from the Quran. For instance, suicide is traditionally seen as a major sin in Islam, which is why mere discussion of suicidal thoughts are often blanketed with stigma and shame, stopping preventative action from being taken.

This new memoir explores Muslim identity through a queer lens

These are the stories that make the headlines, though, and given the statistics about LGBTQIA+ people considering or dying by suicide – LGBTQIA+ young people in particular, I wouldn’t be surprised if those statistics are a vast underestimate. S. and abroad, friendship, familial love, and the importance of carving out a path for yourself that works for you even if people can’t fully understand the choices you’re making. A rabbi whom my family adored, in fact we chose him to officiate at my son's bar mitzvah, came up with an interpretation of Abraham and Isaac (which is a very hard story to read and remain a fan of scripture) in which Abraham and Isaac knew all along that God was screwing with Abraham and both were just playing along. Stone Butch Blues was like the book of a gay generation, and the author had a lot to live up to if connecting their story with that book.Maryam is not a prophet; Maryam is the Arabic name referring to the Virgin Mary, and Isa is Arabic for Jesus. Muslims are no strangers to being shunned for being different, so it frustrates me, too, that cultural conservatism still lingers in the Muslim community. It has a predecessor in 1997’s Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhoodby Cherríe Moraga, which also touches on Chicana lesbian motherhood and includes journal entires. At 14, she wanted to disappear—not just because she felt different, but also because she understood the possible ramifications of her burgeoning sexuality. The author does a phenomenal job expressing their self analysis and I was truly impressed with the incorporation of the Quran- I really liked how each chapter focused on a different person.