#theunshamingproject
Is for women who believe that they are inferior and don’t deserve love and respect…
… and wonder why they feel so shamed?
Is for women who abandon their own sexuality…
… and wonder what they did to deserve this?
Is for women who continue accepting abuse in the name of honour
… and hope that Allah will reward them in the afterlife
What am I Offering?
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Why do I Care?
I care because I want our suffering to end…
It took me years to become aware of the shame that I felt in the slums of Karachi, Pakistan.
I suffered and I saw so many others suffer too: my aunties being beaten by their husbands; my girlfriends being abused, starved and beaten at the hand of their husbands and in-laws.
And society continued to ask women to accept this abuse.
They said “this is how an honourable woman must behave”
They said “you will get a reward in the afterlife”
I say that this is not what Allah would have wanted for us. I believe that Allah has created as magnificent women and we must embrace ourselves if we were to rise above this abuse.
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These are my Blogs
The Camera my Father Held
This story was aired on PlainsFM radio.
He struggled to enjoy when I took him places and he was stunned when I told him that I loved him, and I understood that he did the best he could in raising us. I don’t think he knew how to respond.
I could have been an Extremist
“If you say the word ‘pig’, Allah will not accept your prayers for 40 days.” Sounds strange, right? In the slums of Karachi Pakistan, I grew up listening to phrases like these, presented to me as commandments of God. The Allah of Islam, portrayed through the Muslim scholars (imams) of my time, had a myriad […]
To say to not to say – The pitfalls of Islamophobia
I experienced love, compassion and forgiveness from Muslims in a way that I had never experienced before. The word ‘Islam’ means peace, and this is what I saw in the wake of what could have created decades of inter-religious animosity.
Will New Zealand ever feel like Home?
I wonder where ‘Home’ is…
A lot of the time I feel like a fish out of water. I haven’t grown up with Western music, I still don’t understand Western humour, I don’t have much background knowledge of Western history or culture.
She can’t say “No” so she freezes and lets you do have sex anyway…
There was no space for saying “NO” in this oppressive world of mine. Saying “No” would mean that I knew what my worth was. But I grew up as a worthless woman. How could I ever say “No”?
When are we going to stop blaming the culture?
Imagine the self-esteem of a woman, who is taught to be invisible. How can this be just about culture when the countries are built on this kind of Sharia Law?
He said “I divorce you” and the Islamic Justice System threw me on the streets
In the wedding papers, there is a section that says: Does the woman have the right to divorce? and the Muslim Imams & Moulvis conveniently cross that section and mark it “Not Applicable”
#divorceisislam #humanrights #violenceagainstwomen #repressionisislam #divorce
Writing to Heal
What would you say if all of us survivors got together and wrote our stories and showed the world our deepest wounds and scars? #powerofwriting #creativewriting #intimatesharing #writingtoheal #eradicateviolence #eradicateabuse
No Safe Country for Women
We talk about freedom of speech; we say that humans are free to say anything but then we abuse children so that they become silent; we shame women so their voices are never heard and then, we expect women to speak up for their rights.
A Turning Point in my Life
In our bedroom, there is a large oil painting of me hanging on one of the walls. Oh, wait… I rephrase! It’s a huge painting of me – about 120cm by 80cm – created from a nude photo shoot that I did in May 2015. I am standing sideways, and the view is such that […]