Rating: ★★★★
* I received an uncorrected proof of this book from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion of the book.
“I hope she knows my pain is genuine, I thought. I hope she doesn’t doubt that a Muslim American can be impacted by 9/11, too. The truth is that 9/11 never ended for us.”
Muslim Girl is Amani’s memoir about growing up in a post-9/11 world and how her experiences in life, including moving back to her father’s homeland of Jordan, helped shape her voice as a Muslim woman which later aided her in the creation of MuslimGirl.com. Muslim Girl is a personal account of one of many voices. Amani’s voice is so necessary, so honest and so damn important
Simply put, I loved this. Amani’s journey and story is an important one, one that many Muslims in Western countries could relate to. I know I did. One moment I really enjoyed was how she was introduced to self-realised interpretations of Islam. While I’m across the ocean, my experience mirrored hers so perfectly, just a couple of years down the line and on a new form of social media. I loved that Muslim Girl is about no longer depending on the attention of mainstream media. A Coming of Age shows Amani turning inwards and throwing herself into the centre. She created an identity by seeing the sparse area in our mainstream news which rarely focuses on us positively. We follow her story of how she creates her own platform so Muslim women can talk back.
MuslimGirl.com is changing the way Islam is portrayed all over the world. Amani and this book is part of a new generation of Muslim women who are committed to combating stereotypical views. This book is merely a dip into the power and strength Amani has as she and the others alongside her are creating their own path as Muslim women living in today’s modern society. It’s been a year since I found MG.com and I love everything that Amani and the others alongside her have done to achieve to get where they all are now. Watch out for this October 18th
as told by zaheerah 