Young Muslim women forge community online in time of COVID
Calling all young Muslim women: There’s a new group in Houston designed specifically for you.
Muslimah Nights is held every other Sunday — divided by age into two sessions, one for ages 13-17 and one for 18-30.
The online gatherings are designed to be part social, part book club and all about Islam and sisterhood.
“Muslim women are invited to join in the conversation and feel like their voices, opinions and thoughts are being heard,” founder Fatimah Ali said. “They have the opportunity to grow in their spiritual identity and religious knowledge.”
The virtual community is the brainchild of Ali, 24, a Richmond resident.
After graduating from Colby College in Maine in 2019, she decided to return to Houston to live with her family for a while.
“I figured I would take about a half a year off,” Ali said. “But then the pandemic happened.”
Even before the forced social isolation, however, she recognized a challenge in her post-university life.
“I thought it would be so much easier to find Muslim friends in Houston,” she said. “Then I realized, I had no idea how to find Muslim friends my age.”
Growing up, Ali had Sunday school to connect with other Muslim girls. Then, in high school and college, there were built-in friendships.
“But after college, it’s more difficult across the board to find friends your age,” she said. “And it was definitely difficult to find Muslim friends.”
Ali talked to cousins and friends in town.
“They also found it challenging to meet Muslim women and cultivate meaningful relationships,” she explained. “I realized we were all saying the same thing.”
She realized a greater need to foster Muslim sisterhood.
Initially, Ali considered waiting out COVID-19 to launch her group. But by October 2020, she decided to go virtual instead.
“I realized it wasn’t going away anytime soon,” Ali said. “I thought it would be a good idea to start cultivating digital community while we were all waiting for physical community again.”
She enlisted her cousin Aiesha Rasheed, 28, to help brainstorm.
“We worked a ton together,” Ali recalled. “We talked about the types of conversations we wanted to have, the topics we wanted to discuss.”
Rasheed, a resident of Spring, had tried to start a young Muslim group before.
“It was something I wanted for a while,” she said.
Consistency would be key, Rasheed said, as would ensuring the meetings were relevant and beneficial to members.
“And just because we want to talk about something, doesn’t mean other people do,” she said.
The two cousins created a list that included navigating college or the workplace as a Muslim woman, challenges they would share and techniques that could help. They envisioned how they could facilitate conversations about spirituality and support each other. Reading the Quran and commentaries on the sacred text written by women would take center stage.
“We wanted to hear that feminine perspective and female voice on religious topics,” Ali said.
She also selected books that members could read together, such as “Secrets of Divine Love” by A. Helwa and “Reclaim Your Heart” by Yasmin Mogahed.
By April, Ali and Rasheed were ready to launch their first Zoom meetings. They invited their friends, spread the word at the masjid and opened the group to others.
Still, Rasheed said, they were the only two to attend the first meeting. Then, a couple more came and went. Finally a core group emerged.
“It was exciting to have members who look forward to the meetings and say it’s beneficial for them,” Rasheed said.
“We definitely have a solid group of sisters who now come every meeting,” Ali added. “It’s a small but mighty group. They’re incredibly smart and perceptive. We have awesome conversations.”
Having the casual online setting also helps facilitate the gatherings, Rasheed explained.
“Everyone feels comfortable sharing,” she said. “It’s good for anyone looking to talk or if they need advice — or if they just want to have a fun time.”
Though Ali did not set out to discover ways to have community in a pandemic, she has accomplished just that.
“So much of trying to build community over this pandemic period is pioneering a new model for digital connection,” she said. “And it’s really awesome to be able to provide another mode of connecting right now.”
Being interactive and engaging is her goal with Muslimah Nights.
“It’s really about individual connections,” she said. “COVID really amplified a need for everyone to feel more connected. That’s definitely true for Muslim women as well. In forcing us to stay home, it highlighted for everyone what they wanted in their own, personal community.”
Being online also allows women to join from other cities.
“We have some members in Chicago, Atlanta and New York,” Ali said. “If you live in Houston and go to college in California, you can still log in. And you can invite your friends to join.”
Member Aliyah AbdurRazzaaq lives in Dallas and was one of the first to join the group. At the time, she was working six days a week and did not have the opportunity to engage with her masjid as often as she wanted.
Her mother said, “I know you want to be more active doing Muslim things. I heard about this group.”
At first, Abdur-Razzaaq admitted to being hesitant to join. At 26, she worried a Zoom group would be composed of teenagers.
“Then I saw there were two tiers,” she said. “I thought, ‘I’ll dip my toes in.’
But then I realized it’s awesome, and I knew that I’d definitely be coming back.”
The conversations have been insightful, AbdurRazzaaq said.
“It’s about what we’re currently experiencing — and also what we’d like advice about,” she said.
Ali has asked for feedback and expanded the topics to meet members’ particular interests.
“It’s definitely a unique group,” Abdur-Razzaaq said.
She said the group of all Muslim women makes it comforting and welcoming.
“They know what it’s like, and they all get it,” she said. “It’s nice just to talk to other sisters and get their input.”
After COVID, Ali hopes opportunities will emerge to gather in person. She also envisions the group taking trips together or meeting for functions and seminars. All young Muslim women are invited to join. There are even new converts to the religion who have become members.
Ali explained that there’s a Muslim concept that all believers need reminders. She tries to highlight quotes from the Quran or spiritual practices to show small, everyday ways to strengthen faith.
Her goal is for members to walk away from the meetings with experiences, advice and support to guide their spirituality forward.
“If you’re looking for a community dedicated to sisterhood, religion and spiritual enrichment, Muslimah Nights is for you,” she said.
In the meantime, the online group has helped Ali with her initial goals.
“I’ve definitely made some new friends,” she said.
“It’s so nice to know that finding Muslim women is something that can still be done, even in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “And there are still opportunities for connection, even though we’re all socially distanced.”