Rewriting the Muslim Narrative

minaraelrahmancurvy hijabi, hijabi blog, hijabi blogger, Islamic extremism, Peshawar attack, Sydney Under Siege 4 Comments

I have an admission to make. Ever since the atrocities of Gaza, I have not been able to blog about Hijabi Life (food, faith, parenting and fashion). Why is that? It seems frivolous. Children are suffering all over the world and I am writing about the best eyeliner or hijabi fashion trend? How out of touch does that make me sound as a Muslim American who is privileged enough to live in peace and prosperity? Let’s take a lesson from Marie Antoinette and not be complacent with our comforts.

However, the news has taken to breaking my heart and I can’t stay silent any more. With attacks like the Sydney Siege and Peshawar, it seems like the Muslim narrative is being written by a few extremists and I refuse to let them speak for me. It is my responsibility to use my privileged position to not only speak out against these sick individuals, but try to help make the world a better place with my own actions. Muslims need to get out of the reactionary mindset and start doing things. Far too often we see Muslims reacting to what extremists do.

How about if Muslims band together and actually do something versus reacting? Instead of criticizing those who are doing something, get out and do something good.

Instead of the typical knee jerk reaction to the news, I ask you all for a favor. Let’s do something to make the world a better place. Let’s volunteer in our communities. Let’s take a moment out of the bubble of our own lives to empathize with those who are less fortunate. It can be as simple as donating to your local food bank or reading to kids in the library. When we look at the Sunnah of the Prophet (saws), we will see he was never ever harsh. Why is it that we are so harsh and hard hearted? Extremists are the polar opposite of the teachings of Muhammed (saws) and actually reflect the way people were in the time of Jahiliyya (time before Islam). Let’s pray to God that we are not like them. I am grateful for my family, health and other blessings, but it is time to start giving back. What will you do to give back for your own blessings?

June 4, 2014Style

Modest Swimsuits for Summer

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The Hijablog rocking a Madamme BK modest swimsuit.

Salaams my lovelies! I hope you are all doing well inshallah. I know that since summer has arrived, I have seen my spare time shift to spending more times outdoors, in the sun, and even by the pool. Yes, I wrote the pool. Contrary to what some hijabis think, you can spend time at the pool or beach and still be modest. Long ago, I remember that I had to resort to wearing long sleeved shirts and quick drying workout pants in order to “swim.” One of the saddest things I can confess is that since I wore hijab at such an early age, I never really learned how to swim! I could never find a modest outfit that allowed me to swim or learn to swim properly. Inshallah, I plan to learn to swim soon since swimming is one of the activities the Prophet (saws) recommended all believers should know (along with riding a horse and archery). When the burquini came on to the scene, I viewed it as an opportunity to learn the skill I so badly wanted to learn.

Alhamdulillah, we have come a long way from one hijabi friendly swimsuit line to a medley of modest swimwear options. Here are some great hijabi swimwear options if you are looking for the perfect modest swimsuit:

Madamme BK: Seen on the likes of Yaz the Spaz, the Hijablog, Indahnadapuspita, and other hijabi fashion icons, this modest bathing suit is perfect for the fashionista type who doesn’t want to compromise her sense of style or modesty while she is out at the pool or beach.
Simply Zeena: This line of swimwear are for the practical hijabis who need a suit that is functional and not too frilly. This line is perfect for young hijabi moms who don’t want their kids tugging on their suit.
Modest Sea: A line of swimwear for the athletically inclined. The aerodynamic suits with racing stripes and sporty details are ideal for a hijabi who loves to work out and play hard.
Burqini: I couldn’t ignore the original modest bathing suit for hijabis could I? An old standby and the brand trusted by Australian lifeguards.

Do you have a modest bathing suit that you love? Share the love and let us know in the comments below!

April 18, 2014Beauty, Style

Follow Friday: Ascia AKF

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Ascia AKF is a Kuwaiti blogger who shows us you can have great style all the time…even pregnant!

Salaams my lovelies! I hope you are having a good day today inshallah. Well even if you aren’t, the bright spot is that today is Follow Friday on Hijabi Life! The hijabi blogger for today’s Follow Friday lives in Kuwait and is a masterful mix of bold, bright and beautiful ensembles. Ascia AKF, aka Ascia Al-Faraj exploded onto the blogger scene and is credited with bringing the turban style into a mainstream staple. Ascia AKF’s blog, The Hybrids follow the fashion diary of not only herself, but her husband Ahmad too. The couple calls themselves “hybrids” since they are both of mixed heritage. The results are just stunning mashallah.

An expert at deftly layering clothes, Ascia AKF’s look is more of a citizen of the world. She combines high low fashion in a way that is not only accessible, but transcends age, ethnicity and even gender. Even during her recent pregnancy with her newborn son Adam, we never saw the lovely hijabi blogger ever resort to scrubby looking sweatpants (which makes me love, yet hate her haha!) even during her last trimester. A big believer in the idea that your mood affects your style, Ascia AKF has said, “When I don’t want to talk to anyone I wear black clothes and black dark eyeliner so no one would enter my world of thoughts. On the other hand, “sometimes I would wear colors with the best accessory and bright colors to express my mood.”

Ascia AKF doesn’t purport to live a charmed life even with all of her successes as a fashion designer and blogger. Ascia is very open about sharing her own struggles as well as her style. She shared her troubles of fertility with her fans last year as well as the sadness she felt with losses in her life. However, she still continued and continues to inspire us all. If there was ever a blogger who was proof of how there is ease after hardship, it is Ascia. She lives up to her namesake’s name.

While I am not a devotee of the turban style for my own personal hijab style, I think @ascia_akf (her account on Instagram) is just a wonderful account to follow for modest fashion ideas. What are your thoughts? Do you have a hijabi blogger you would like me to cover in the next Follow Friday post? Let me know.

March 25, 2014Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Flower Cosmetics Review

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FLOWER BEAUTY is an accessible luxury beauty line that you can buy at Walmart!

Salaams my lovelies! If you follow me on Instagram @hijabilife, you may have noticed that I went on a major organization spree a few weeks back. One of the major overhauls I did was my makeup bag. I had to cull through all my old lipsticks, eyeliners, and other makeup. While I was doing this, I noticed a major trend: I tend to buy the same colors over and over again! I promise you, there is a good reason for this. Since I tend to invest in a few good quality products, I always get colors that I know will look flattering. However, this means that my makeup look is the same day in and day out. It also means that I am literally wasting money because I am buying products I already have. However, I just can’t bring myself to fork over $20+ on one tube of an outrageous lipstick color I may wear once in a while!

So what is a makeup junkie like me to do? Head over to her local Walmart with coupons in hand (yes I still clip coupons).

Walmart launched Flower Beauty with Drew Barrymore about a year ago. Since it was on sale that week (with coupons too!), I decided to give it a go. I bought two lip butters and a lipgloss. Here are my thoughts:

Cost: For what you get, I am duly impressed. Without my coupon, it was under $10 for each item. However, after coupons and the weekly promo price, it was a little over $5 each!
Packaging: The packaging is very elegant with a lot of cream/gold finishes. However, the lip butters were an odd tube shape where the cap never fully closed! So beware that you can ruin your purse with those. I solved that issue by actually keeping my lip butters upright in a side pocket in my diaper bag.
Quality:The lip butters were so great! It was glossy yet not greasy, and the color pay off was just right too. If you love the L’Oreal Colour Riche Lip Balms, you will fall in love with Flower Beauty lip butters. I bought the Wispy Wisteria (a vibrant fuschia) and Princess and the Peony (a classic rose). They applied well with no patches or streaks. I personally did not like the lipgloss as much because I felt like it was too oily and the color came on a bit streaky. However, it was definitely more on par with department store brands versus a drugstore brand!

Final Verdict: This is definitely a brand that is a keeper. I am just itching to head back to Walmart and try the eye makeup but I need to use up my old eye makeup first! Have any of you tried and loved this brand?

March 21, 2014Islam, Life, Style

Key Learnings From The International Muslimah Fashion Week Scandal

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International Muslimah Fashion Week quickly turned into a scandal where rumors of a scam erupted.

Salaams my lovelies! Happy Friday to everyone. I typically do a Follow Friday post, but I wanted to address the rumors of scandal regarding a modest fashion event called International Muslimah Fashion Week. Unfortunately, what was promised to be a few days of bonded sisterhood fun, has quickly turned into a scary situation because of what seems to be either poor planning or bad intentions. Allah (swt) knows best as to what truly did happen, but I will say I was very sad about the sisters who invested so much money and time to be part of what could have been a great event. So many vendors, bloggers, and Muslims were planning to attend and to be told it was cancelled is one thing. However, it is whole other thing to wait till the last minute to cancel. Countless bloggers traveled from all over the world to attend this event and were ultimately stranded in a foreign country! My heart truly does go out to these hard working ladies. However, I am sure they will find the kindness of Muslim Americans can be felt wherever they go. I feel even WORSE for the sisters who scraped and saved to spend over a hundred dollars just to attend this event and meet inspirational hijabis. They may have even flown cross country or internationally to attend. What is their recourse?

When it comes to events, we should demand that they be put on with some professionalism and organization. Last year, I attended a Halal Fest here in the Bay Area and it was chaos! I truly wanted to support a Muslim event, but we need to start expecting that they are organized like all events should be. Melanie from Haute Hijab wrote a great piece on the fallout from the IMFW scandal here that highlights just that. It is time for the Type A Muslims to come forward and start organizing Muslim events that are timely, affordable, and accessible to all with good intentions.

I will make a confession: I was tempted to attend just so I could meet some hijabi bloggers I truly admired and to get the word out about Hijabi Life. I may not be a glamorous hijabi blogger, but I wanted to ensure that my readership got the scoop on all things modest fashion. However, I am really selective about which events I attend and my OWN intentions. If I find it digresses and I am just feeding my nafs for “fame” in the modest fashion scene, I actually pull away. For example, I did MC for Fashion Fighting Famine SF because it was a good cause, but I didn’t want to use it as a means to promote myself. It was more to ensure we helped a local charity in the community. Since I had no such basis for IMFW, I personally did not want to attend it because it felt like I was digressing from my true intent of this blog which is to support my fellow Muslims sisters.

I really do hope for the best for all the ladies involved. Let’s all make dua and think of a better event that inshallah will take away the confusion, hurt, and hate this one may have caused. Perhaps we can have a redo of this event, but at a lower cost per ticket and also with a charity or cause we can all be proud of. OR we can just use this as more reason to BACK organizations like Fashion Fighting Famine who do modest fashion shows but are legitimate and help others. Let’s learn from this and truly come together as a community.

March 4, 2014Style

Hijabi Obsession: Haute Hijab’s Elizabeth Gown

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Haute Hijab CEO Melanie shines in the new Elizabeth gown.

Salaams my lovelies! I feel like it has been ages since I blogged about hijab fashion or hijab style trends. I recently wrote a post about my hijabi obsession with tulle skirts, and when I did, I emailed Melanie from Haute Hijab because I was curious when Haute Hijab would be offering up their own version of a tulle skirt. Melanie does have a tulle skirt in the works, but she made sure to excite us along the way with a new gown launch TODAY!

Melanie from Haute Hijab outdid herself and designed a killer gown made of tulle. Based on the color you select, the gown is lined with either lace and tulle, or polka dot tulle. With long sleeves, a gathered waistline, and a back button placket, the Elizabeth gown exudes an old world elegance and opulence that recalls a more a glamorous era. The gown comes in a cream/gold lace option, a plum lace, and a stunningly chic navy polka dot tulle version. I am personally in LOVE with the cream/gold lace gown and think it would make the perfect dress for a hijabi who wants to wear something for her engagement, nikkah, or even her wedding dress.

The design is also versatile because it allows you to wear your hijab with the dress in two ways thanks to the banded collar. The banded collar allows you to tuck your hijab in if you wish. Again perfect for any hijabi who wants to incorporate a romantic veil for a wedding!

Curvier hijabis will love this new gown from Haute Hijab because it is forgiving on the waistline. Thanks to the gathered skirt, it allows you to have more of a forgiving hourglass shape versus looking like you are wearing something too tight or something that looks more like a potato sack. That is always a plus for me! And since its Haute Hijab, you know that every dart, seam, and stitch is not going to budge. Haute Hijab pieces always last the longest in my closet.

My favorite part about the Elizabeth gown is the movement you get when you walk in it. Personally, when I walk with longer dresses, I end up dragging it underfoot and that is really not too elegant. However, with the Elizabeth gown, it sways and allows you to move with the grace befitting royalty. (I actually kept conjuring up images of Kate Middleton wearing the dress since we know she loves her dresses and she also loves polka dots!). Check the video below to see just how regal the dress is when you walk in it:

What do you think? Are you as obsessed as I am?

February 28, 2014Hijabi DIY

DIY Hijabi: Painting Laminate Furniture

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Painting laminate furniture like this bookcase can quickly update and refresh your furniture this spring!

How many mommies have a “junk” corner in their house? I can admit that I am guilty of being one of those mommies. As a native New Yorker who lived in apartments her whole life, I never had to wield a hammer, drill (or any other tool for any DIY projects) so that junk corner just kept getting bigger and bigger. My particular corner of shame was a laminate bookshelf that held shoes for 4 adults and a baby. As Muslims, we prefer not to walk around our homes wearing our shoes since we pray on our floors. However, this meant I had a HUGE eyesore of a bookshelf with all of these shoes in it! After harassing the Hubster to head to Ikea to buy a concealed shoe rack, we finally tidied up our “junk corner.” However, now I was left with this laminate bookshelf! I didn’t want to throw it out, but it did not look good with our bedroom decor (which is where we had to move it for space reasons).

Luckily, I have been making plans to expand Hijabi Life to include simple Do It Yourself (DIY) projects around the home to help make your life more beautiful. So I thought to myself, “Why not start with this laminated bookshelf DIY?” It literally only took me 2 days to complete (and only because I need the paint to dry). You can do it indoors in a smaller space like a condo as well. As you can tell from my “after” picture, the results are well worth the effort. I got more space to put up my book collection, the shoe storage issue was solved, and I was one happy mama.

Here is how to get started on doing your own DIY laminate bookshelf makeover:

You will need:

1) A primer for painting laminate furniture. I preferred Zinsser primer because it dries fast and gives a good finish.

2) A small foam roller

3) A tarp

4) A paintbrush for smaller nooks and crannies

5) Wallpaper or stencil for back of bookshelf

6) A small can of paint (Just note, you can use 3 small trial cans of paint to paint a shelf and it costs like $6 if you are a bargain type of hijabi like me). I would recommend using a light flat paint color so the shelf looks more shabby chic, but you can do darker glossy colors if you wish.

Instructions:

1) Lay tarp on the floor.

2) Move shelf on tarp. Remove the shelves for easier access. You will be painting the shelves later any way.

3) Prime entire case and shelves.

4) Let the bookcase dry overnight.

5) Start painting! I even had my babykins help me paint when I got my first coat of paint on the shelf. She had SO MUCH fun. If you would prefer NOT to have the kids help, do this when they are asleep.

6) Make sure to paint the shelves too!

7) When its completely dry, add wallpaper to back of the bookcase.

8) Add shelves back on and add your books, toys, decorative items, or anything else you would like to store!

Did you like the DIY Hijabi post? Let me know and I will add more easy ways to make your home beautiful inshallah!

February 5, 2014Islam, Style

Online Shopping Review: B. Hijaby

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B. Hijaby Hijabs are eclectic and beautiful. Perfect for the hijabi who wants to stand out!

Shopping online for hijabs and modest clothing is always nerve wracking. I always wonder if I will still like the items I order when I actually get them, or if shopping for hijabs online is worth it when there are so many hijab options at easily accessible stores such as Target, H&M, and Forever 21. Then I actually get the package and I think to myself, “Why do I doubt the power of shopping at Muslim owned businesses?”
One thing that I noticed with shopping online for my hijabs or modest clothing is that there is always a personal touch when it comes to what you order. These businesses take time to pack your items nicely and send you a personal note, or slip in just a few extras like hijab pins.

One such online hijab destination is B. Hijaby. The owner of the company, Asima Bhatty strives to provide hijabis an eclectic mix of hijabs that you can’t find anywhere else. In fact, she just launched a new collection of hijabs that you need to check out! Her hijabs go beyond the average hijab. B. Hijaby hijabs are wider than most hijabs; which allows you to create intricate folds, create cool turbans, or just give you more coverage in the front. Let’s be real, we can appreciate coverage in the front when possible!

A distinguishing factor of the hijabs from B. Hijaby is that the patterns on the hijabs are unique and regularly replenish their stock. You can be rest assured that when you wear a hijab from B. Hijaby, that your hijab will not be gracing another hijabi at your local masjid (that is until you share your shopping secret with them!). I actually had an instance where I wore a hijab from Target and my husband could not find me because there were 4 other women wearing the same hijab!

B. Hijaby prints range from elegant ombre prints all the way to eye catching animal print hijabs in fun summer colors. B. Hijaby has the prettiest floral hijabs I have seen. Here is a rundown of the shopping experience:

Online Browsing: B. Hijaby is sold through a Facebook page, so browsing is a bit more challenging than a traditional website. That being said, it is easy to look through all the albums to see all of the hijabs and prints since all of the prints are true to the image. Since they are planning to launch a website, I expect shopping and browsing for hijabs online for this brand will be easier in the near future iA. Also, did I mention the scarves are so affordable? I can see myself buying a ton of hijabs.

Buying Experience: Since this time, the scarves were gifted, I am not able to share how the buying experience was. I will definitely be shopping here though and when I do, I will comment on how the ordering experience was!

Shipping: Shipping is fast and easy. Since B. Hijaby is located in the U.S. you are sure to get your package shipped fast. Expect 3-5 days for delivery. All in all, I highly recommend this hijab shopping destination.

February 4, 2014Islam, Life

America Is Beautiful Coca Cola Ad

minaraelrahmanAmerica Is Beautiful, American hijabis, Coca Cola, hijabi blogger, hijabi in coke commercial, hijabi life 3 Comments

New Coca Cola Ad Features a Hijabi

Unless you have been living underneath a rock, I am sure that you have seen the latest Coca Cola commercial that aired during SuperBowl Sunday that featured a diverse group of Americans including a woman who wore a headscarf while singing the classic American song “America The Beautiful.” As an American who does indeed wear a headscarf (also known as a hijab), I almost had tears in my eyes. Why is that? I think it is the first time ever that I have seen a hijabi (woman who wears a headscarf) in a way that does not illustrate her as something “other” or “oppressed.” In fact, I teared up because for the first time, I felt like a commercial was able to capture me as I am: an American. I am not an oppressed foreign woman with no voice of my own. I am a woman who was born and raised in the United States. I am educated and I have the same sentiment for my country as everyone else does.

In fact, I am surprised it has not come sooner. It is sad that it takes market segmentation for companies to realize that there should be more inclusion. Why can’t popular culture be the first to embrace hijabis? Why did it have to be corporate need for profits among immigrants to make the shift? However I am not going to complain because in the end while Coca Cola was inclusive in order to resonate with my demographic to sell soda, it has also blazed the trail for other hijabis to enter the public popular culture sphere. We are women who want to dress modestly, but we also want to be heard and included in the public dialogue. Especially about ourselves. For so long, Americans have had a dialogue about Muslim women without asking Muslim women to participate. That was not only paternalistic, but it was also misleading to the American public. Muslim women in America are here, and we do want a say in what is portrayed about who we are in the media. So thank you Coca Cola for opening that Pandora’s Box. For while it may have brought out the ugly racists and bigots, it has also brought out one last thing: Hope.