Article By: Kaya Gravitter and Iman Ibrahim.
As I reflect on Muslim Women’s Day that took place this year on March 27th, I cannot come to realize why they finally decide to post things by Muslim women just on that day. Why is our voice only amplified on one day and not every day? When the very next day headlines are being splattered of how Ilhan Omar is anti-Semitic. So much for amplifying our voices one day a year to just silence them the very next day.
I’m still up for celebrating Muslim women because it is a big step for Muslim Women BUT I’m also for spreading the truth. This is why I decided to be a journalist.
We, as Muslim women, deserve better. Why is our voice only amplified among women on one day and not every day? I share articles like I read yesterday to publications all of the time and they always deny me. I was shocked to see I pitched almost identical articles to the ones I saw posted on Muslim Women’s Day.
Another thing I would like to add to this article is that there were many Black Muslims who felt like their voice was not even fairly amplified on Muslims Women’s Day. is a problem amongst Muslim’s as well. Muslim platforms have the capability to express and speak out against this but they do not either.
In 2017, Bobby Rogers created an art project that portrayed and offered a platform for people to express what it is like to be black and a Muslim in America. The viewpoints on this controversial issue were started by women who agreed that being Black and Muslim meant “ sometimes being erased from conversations on Islam and Blackness, but always belonging to both.” Another viewpoint was raised by a Black Muslim Woman that being Black and Muslim means “constantly being asked to choose between your race and your religion because society has tried to convince you that only one can exist.”
Iman Ibrahim, a Eritrean British American and a Public Health student, adds that the severity of this issue progresses when we have to witness privileged Muslims dismissing the existence of this issue that they cannot identify with and argue that we are all equal in Islam, as Arab’s simultaneously “jokingly” refer to us as abeed or zingy (the N-word). Would Prophet Mohamed use these terrible words?
Iman adds that when we celebrate Muslim women, we need to acknowledge the platforms they are highlighting and trying to bring awareness on, as well. Ilhan Omar finally had the audacity to speak what every Palestinian wished they had the platform to voice about AIPAC, but where is the reciprocated solidarity on Black Muslim Woman issues from the rest of the Muslim community? African Americans comprise one-third of the Muslim population but are still the last ones to be asked to speak on Islam. Bilal (RA), a black Muslim, was the first of the Sahaba (Prophet Mohamed’s companions) to call the Athan but is someone that we only briefly learn about in Islamic schools and rarely reference. It is also said that Prophet Moses was black.
Iman Ibrahim’s Instagram Handle: @imanibrahimn
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