THOUGHTS OF A SOMALI GIRL

I follow Humans of New York and the other day one of his photos really got me thinking...most of his posts do but this one, really had me thinking about how some parts of the Somali culture (and other cultures) can be really effed up: it isn't okay to express feelings of love and affection between spouses and even between parents and children. Growing up, and even to this very day, I never saw my parents express their love to each other - at least not in front of me. Forget kissing, I never saw them hold hands nor hug nor call each other names of affection such as macaanto or anything like that. Other Somali parents are the same with each other. Even with my siblings and I, my parents never hugged us...at least I don't recall it. I also don't recall my parents ever saying "I love you". I never noticed it as a kid, but now that I'm older, I'm really bothered by it...and I think it's because I've realized it has affected me. It bothers me becau

T he fact that Muslims are asking about rulings on whether they can support BLM or not...is ju st one of the many examples of racism against blacks within the Muslim community. Seriously, wtf. I've had enough of this crap.  Yes we should also protest against the loss of Muslim lives in Iraq, Somalia and all those other places but they're not getting killed for being Muslims. Muslims are killing Muslims. The same people killing the same people. Over here, Black people are getting killed by White police officers for being Black because of the colour of their skin. A different race killing those of a different race. That's the difference and hence the name "Black lives matter" because clearly they don't to many racist White police officers. The sheikh also says it's hypocritical for Muslims to support Black lives and not Muslim lives. He said this movement is something for "them" and not for "us". He is completely  ignoran

The other day I had an epiphany.  I was downtown with my friend and we walked past this Asian bakery that had a really long line of customers waiting to get in. The smell coming out of the store was amazing! We decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was all about. We got in line and in just 5 minutes, there were 10 more people waiting in line behind us. The guy standing right behind us was actually Somali. Anyway, my friend and I were guessing what kind of Asian baked goods the store was selling and were wondering if it'd taste good. The Somali guy behind us smoothly joined our conversation. He asked "You guys haven't been in this store before have you? I haven't". And then the three of us started talking about how the long line drew our curiosity, leading to a willingness to try something new.  Anyhow! To my surprise, we had a completely normal conversation! And what made it better was that he didn't look like he had ulterior moti

Hi everyone! Thought I'd share something short today. I help out in a middle school classroom and a few days ago, one of the students in my classroom unknowingly and unintentionally made a racist remark in the skit he was performing with his partner. He was pretending to find some money he lost and said "I'm going to go to a Black person's house, Black people steal".  I was so caught off-guard, I just stared at him and covered my mouth while the 15 Black students (same race but different ethnic backgrounds - duh!) in the class yelled out "Racist! Racist!" and "Yo what hell" and "I'm so shocked". The poor kid just stood there awkwardly smiling. He didn't seem to understand what he'd just said. The substitute teacher, who was Black, immediately took charge of the situation and began a lesson on stereotypes and racism for the whole class and explained to the student (who was not Black) that race has nothing to

Hi everyone! I haven't written anything in a while...school has been keeping me busy! It's my last year of undergraduate studies. Pray for me y'all! :) Anyway, this post is not advice for what brides should do on their wedding night. I want to talk about a serious problem in the Muslim community that disturbs me. A lot of Muslim girls believe that even if they were scared or nervous, they cannot refuse to have sex with their husbands on their wedding night because of the hadeeth that says a woman will be cursed by the angels until morning if she refuses. Instead of telling their new husbands they want to take things slowly, girls are resorting to some sort of patch that they stick on their arm that prevents their menstruation cycle from coming. Then, they take it off before their nikaah so that their period comes on their wedding day and then ta-da!! They have a “legitimate” reason to avoid having sex on their wedding night.   Others, force themselves to have sex

So I came across this scene from Jesus of Nazareth : Look at the women...and how they're dressed. OH MY GOD! THEY LOOK LIKE MUSLIM WOMEN!!!! WHAT IS GOING ON?! Please, have a seat. Have a cup of tea and allow me to enlighten you. Be honest with yourself. Do those women from the film look any different from  these   women?:  Admit it. You know they don't. Yet...the hijaab is such a strange concept for many non-Muslims when it shouldn't be - especially for Christians and Jews.  Sometimes when I walk down the street people stare at me. Sometimes people will ask me why I wear it and it's just so foreign and alien to them.  When I was 10 years old, my family moved to a small city that wasn't very multicultural. Forget the fact that there were very few Black students in the school. My sisters and I were the ONLY students in the ENTIRE school who wore the hijaab. I remember my first day of school like it was yesterday. My classmates kept