Ayesha Mattu's Blog

Catch up on “Love, InshAllah” & “Salaam, Love” writers & editors Ayesha & Nura’s latest: Patheos/AltMuslim On Ramadan, Forgiveness, & the Shape of the Woman Beneath: Ayesha wrote a piece on this site about being disowned by her mother after the publication of her first book, here. In this follow up piece, she explores her six-year […]

UPDATE: Please do not republish our content on another site without our express permission. Thank you. Original text: Never met a Muslim? Now you can meet 47 in our two groundbreaking anthologies acclaimed by media worldwide: Love, InshAllah: the Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women; and Salaam, Love: American Muslim Men on Love, Sex, & Intimacy. Meet […]

Eds. Note: Big love to our Love InshAllah community for four wonderful years! Our site is going on hiatus but we hope to be back with more stories soon. In the meantime, keep telling yours. I’ve always been a sucker for a good story – and a happy ending. Ever enamored by the RomCom, I […]

For the first time since 9/11, I am afraid to leave the house. Even when the bombs started dropping on Afghanistan and Iraq, my naive 20-something self at the time was certain I’d be safe here in the U.S. Especially here, in Southern California. People always tell me how laid back and “West Coast” my […]

Before I wrote this post I had to convince myself that addressing my experience would be useful not only to me but to someone else. It took me more than a year to get over the shame. I did not talk about the things that went on in my relationship for many years even though […]