Book Launch:The Muslimah who Fell to Earth

Hosted by Shahla Khan Salter

In Person Big Ideas History

Admission

Free

Sunday

Apr , 2017

4:00pm

Eastern

Christ Church Cathedral

414 Sparks St. • Ottawa

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Book Launch:The Muslimah who Fell to Earth

The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth presents a kaleidoscopic view of Koranic interpretation, marriage and family, the role of women, and experiences of Islamophobia and tolerance.

The Globe and Mail

Join editor Saima S. Hussain and contributors Ferrukh Faruqui, Janetta Munirah Maclean, and Hanan Abdulmalik for for the launch of The Muslimah who Fell to Earth.

A collection of twenty-one personal stories told by women from practically all backgrounds and persuasions—devout and not-so devout, professionals and housewives, westernized and traditional, wearing jeans, hijab, or niqab, straight and gay, and originally from Africa, North America, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Asia—revealing in their own ways what it means to them to be a Muslim woman (a “Muslimah”).

What we get is a complex of stories, all challenging conventions and stereotypes, and united by two ideas—Islam (or the Quran) and nationality (Canadian).

Books available for purchase at every event: Proceeds support our free children’s literacy programs.

The Authors

Ferrukh Faruqui

Ferrukh Faruqui grew up in Winnipeg at a time when Canadian Muslims were for the most part invisible and voiceless. Over the ensuing decades, she’s been struck by the changing and not always welcoming spiritual landscape of this burgeoning community. At the same time, she’s observed the once unassailable standards of Canadian institutions sometimes falter in the face of an unrelentingly challenging global geopolitical reality that often questions the very humanity of Islam and its adherents. In her story, she writes of the divine spirit that permeates this vast land and nurtures her own faith.

Hanan Abdulmalik

Hanan Abdulmalik’s professional portfolio began in Ethiopia and has been enriched by people and organizations around the globe. As a coordinator, organizer, project manager, and researcher, she has led global training projects with the United Nations, the Canadian government, and organizations aiming to use learning and education to improve the conditions of people and places everywhere. Hanan currently works from Mississauga, Ontario, where she contributes to a community collective homeschool.

Munirah Maclean

Munirah Maclean is from London, England, where she studied comparative religion, philosophy, and education. After university she travelled to Sri Lanka to become a Buddhist nun. She met her soul mate, Dr Ibrahim Kreps, on a mountain in the Swiss Alps, took Shahadah with Sheikh Nazim al-Qubrusi in 1984, and arrived in Canada in 1985. She is the mother of three daughters. She has continued her spiritual travels and studies, and now runs a daycare and conducts mindfulness workshops.

Saima S Hussain

Saima S Hussain earned an honours BA in English and history and an MA in South Asian Studies from the University of Toronto. She worked as an admissions counsellor at the University of Toronto, then moved to Pakistan where she became books editor at Dawn newspaper. Upon returning to Canada she produced a history book for young readers, The Arab World Thought of It: Inventions, Innovations and Amazing Facts (Annick Press, 2013), which received an award from the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations. Saima is actively involved in arts and community projects and volunteers as a board member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women.