It's Not About the Burqa is an anthology of frank and insightful essays by Muslim women about
the contemporary Muslim female experience.'Passionate angry self-effacing nuanced and
utterly compelling in every single way' - Nikesh Shukla editor of The Good Immigrant When was
the last time you heard a Muslim woman speak for herself without a filter? In 2016 Mariam Khan
read that David Cameron had linked the radicalization of Muslim men to the 'traditional
submissiveness' of Muslim women. Mariam felt pretty sure she didn't know a single Muslim woman
who would describe herself that way. Why was she hearing about Muslim women from people who
were neither Muslim nor female? Years later the state of the national discourse has
deteriorated even further and Muslim women's voices are still pushed to the fringes - the
figures leading the discussion are white and male. Taking one of the most politicized and
misused words associated with Muslim women and Islamophobia It's Not About the Burqa is poised
to change all that. Here are voices you won't see represented in the national news headlines:
seventeen Muslim women speaking frankly about the hijab and wavering faith about love and
divorce about feminism queer identity sex and the twin threats of a disapproving community
and a racist country. With a mix of British and international women writers from activist Mona
Eltahawy's definition of a revolution to journalist and broadcaster Saima Mir telling the story
of her experience of arranged marriage from author Sufiya Ahmed on her Islamic feminist icon
to playwright Afshan D'souza-Lodhi's moving piece about her relationship with her hijab these
essays are funny warm sometimes sad and often angry and each of them is a passionate
declaration calling time on the oppression the lazy stereotyping the misogyny and the
Islamophobia. What does it mean exactly to be a Muslim woman in the West today? According to
the media it's all about the burqa. Here's what it's really about. Shortlisted for Foyles
Non-Fiction Book of the Year 'Engrossing . . . fascinating . . . courageous' - Observer
