sister-hood is an award-winning digital magazine spotlighting the diverse voices of women of Muslim heritage.
Aisha al-Manoubia, also known as Lalla Manoubia, was a Berber woman who rose to become the highest authority on Sufism in Tunisia. She was considered one of the four spiritual guardians of the capital city Tunis. Aisha was born in…
‘Perhaps because no woman before me took steps toward breaking the shackles binding women’s hands and feet, and because I am the first to do so, they have made such a controversy out of me.’ – Forough Farrokzhad Forough Farrokzhad…
In conservative societies in the MENA region there are a whole set of tools devoted to keeping a girl a ‘virgin’ – not just sexually, but in all aspects of life. Young girls must not open their eyes to anything…
I look back at the past few months. As COVID-19 with its little crown staged its coup d’état and took over our lives, there was talk of a resurgence of inwardness, of spirituality, of solace through holy scriptures. Social media…
Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even though you have broken your vows a thousand times, Come, and come yet again. – Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi,…
The only space women are allowed Is two-finger wide. The colours are red, must always be red. Hands crawling out of the floors, Penises hanging on the walls, Always erect To penetrate & impregnate. A man’s pride and a woman’s shame. …
When I was nine years old I naively committed to praying namaz five times a day. This commitment quickly transitioned from a choice to a responsibility. My motivation for prayer turned from childish excitement to guilt from missing a prayer….
Horrific details of human rights violations against Uyghur Muslim have been surfacing within a world already struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic. There are horrifying reports from Xinjiang hospitals of late-stage pregnancies aborted and new-born babies killed in order to reduce…
Interview with Nabihah Iqbal You were recently robbed and lost two years of recordings, then you were stranded in Karachi due to the pandemic and then finally got back to the UK only to end up under lockdown. How has…
To tell you, would be a lie— that I’m okay. Holding it together in dovetail, like love and hate. Only I can’t remember the last time someone came by with an unconcealed smile. These days it’s WhatsApp and Zoom, Not…
Having documented hundreds of narratives on divisions, separations, migrations, growth and lifestyles in Pakistan with the global oral history project The 1947 Partition Archive, over the course of several years, I’m now embarking on a series of essays on colonial…
We’ve finished reading together. ‘Can you please brush your teeth and get into your pyjamas? When you’re done I will come and tuck you in,’ I tell her. So begins the night time routine at my family home, in a…
On July 18, Jordanians started circulating a video clip on social media of anguished female screams with a still photo of a woman lying on a street at night. The video soon became very widely shared. Many people claimed that…
with a day comes another day, one misery placed against another misery, a betrayal and then the second betrayal, from one hurt inches out the other hurt thus my commeasuring life: when it hits shame nips and gnaws at me…
I spoke to Nazir Afzal shortly after the release of his much-awaited memoir and after his older brother’s passing from COVID-19, both occurring almost simultaneously in the midst of a global pandemic. Nazir Afzal, former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the…
sister-hood is a digital magazine and a series of live events. We create platforms for women of Muslim heritage to speak for themselves, rather than being spoken for or spoken about. sister-hood challenges stereotypes and promotes the fearless, progressive, creative voices of women of Muslim heritage.