Samina Ali's Blog
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Apr.09.2013
A few weeks ago the Commission on the Status of Women convened to focus on eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stood in solidarity with women globally. Ki-Moon said:
"A new movement involving millions of people is taking...
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Mar.27.2013
I often find myself in the middle of discussions with strangers about how little people know about Islam.
Those making the critique are usually not Muslims themselves and the reason they're telling me this is because they've just met me as part of my work. For over a decade, I've sought to...
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Mar.27.2013
As the curator for the International Museum of Women’s new global exhibition,Muslima: Muslim Women’s Art & Voices, the one question I’m repeatedly asked is, “What common trait do Muslim women artists and leaders around the world share that strikes you?”
My answer: their courage.
The sad...
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Sep.28.2012
Thank you everyone for your interest in and enthusiasm for our forthcoming and revolutionary exhibition on Muslim Women's Arts & Voices! Many of you have expressed your interest in participating but are discouraged that because of your age and/or location, you are not eligible to...
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Sep.28.2012
Thank you everyone for your interest in and enthusiasm for our forthcoming and revolutionary exhibition on Muslim Women's Arts & Voices! Many of you have expressed your interest in participating but are discouraged that because of your age and/or location, you are not eligible to...
Continue Reading »
Sep.27.2012
As Curator at the International Museum of Women, I'm thrilled to be telling you about a revolutionary new global online exhibition that will highlight Muslim Women's Arts & Voices. The International Museum of Women in partnership with The Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization in the...
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May.22.2012
My dad is in the hospital for a blood infection. The doctors don't know yet what has caused it. His fever has spiked for 10 days, even after a dose of antibiotics. He has grown weak and can only manage to mumble on the phone, when I call long distance to make sure he is OK. Although my mother tells...
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May.18.2012
The globalization of Augie March
By Alan Cheuse, a book commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered," a writing teacher at George Mason University and the author, most recently, of the short-story collection "Lost and Old Rivers."
Here's an obscure moment that, when it first happened,...
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Mar.05.2012
A Labor of Love
When I was pregnant with my son, I experienced some of the happiest moments of my life--a calmness I hadn’t known before, a complete peace with my surroundings. I knew it was not me. It was my baby’s energy, emitting from him. I felt possessed of an inner...
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Mar.05.2012
The International Museum of Women will be Celebrating Change on International Women's Day, March 8th, at the City Club of San Francisco. The museum's Innovator Award will be presented to Google Vice President, Marissa Mayer.
I will also be speaking at the event to help spotlight the museum'...
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Jan.09.2012
That Lila would hold her own daughter back (and tell herself it’s out of love) shows how women do each other in by becoming the foot soldiers who enforce the very beliefs that are meant to undermine them.
That “All-American Muslim” boldly addresses women’s (mis)treatment isn’t the...
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Dec.16.2011
I agree with leading Islamophobes that TLC's new reality show "All-American Muslim" isn't entirely harmless. Set in Dearborn, Michigan, the 8-part series follows five American Muslim families as they get married, start businesses and play football.
What's so harmful about that? According to the...
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Jun.24.2011
An excerpt of a speech I recently gave for the Muslim Women's Fund.
Can We See 9/11 as a Blessing?
The topic I was asked to speak about today is What it Means to be an American Muslim in the 21st Century and the legacy we Muslim Americans leave our Children. As an author and activist, I’ve...
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May.31.2011
Where Love Leads Us
I met my husband when I had already given up on love. Our first date was the day after Christmas in 2008 at a small Greek restaurant in San Francisco. It was a blind date. We’d been set up by a mutual friend who thought we would be perfect together: he...
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May.27.2011
One main reason the French government felt justified in banning the niqab-- a face veil that reveals only the eyes -- in public is because itbelieved the law would protect Muslim women who are being coerced by malemembers of their family into covering.
Yet in the weeks since the law went into...
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2 comments
Books with buzz ... Madras on Rainy Days. Born in India and raised in Minneapolis by an overprotective mother, Layla, the feisty young heroine of Samina Ali's accomplished debut is 'like a ghost caught in cultural ruins.' Returning to India for an arranged marriage, she feels alternately trapped and fascinated by her family's Muslim traditions as she struggles with everything from her chador to her handsome new husband to the lost promise of her past.
”
—Vogue Magazine
About Samina
SAMINA ALI is the first Indian Muslim woman fiction writer to be published in America. A trailblazer and visionary, she has built a career as both a successful novelist and a widely popular speaker.
Her debut novel, MADRAS ON RAINY DAYS, was awarded the Prix...
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Causes Samina Ali Supports
Women for Women International
WISE: Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equity...