Today is my stop on the blog tour for a Match Made in Heaven, which is a collection of British Muslim Women’s thoughts on love and desire. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising it and inviting me to take part!
I’m coming at you with an extract today, which actually happens to be the introduction to the book, what more of a perfect way to see if it interests you? 😍
I’m going to make you wait though, whilst I tell you what the book is about.
Synopsis: Star-studded and beautifully written, this collection of twelve diverse stories tackles love and desire by South Asian-heritage British Muslim women authors, including Ayisha Malik and Shelina Janmohamed. Although outsiders often expect Muslim women to be timid, conservative, or submissive, the reality is different. While some of these authors express a quiet piety and explore poignant situations, others use black humour and biting satire, or play with possibilities. These authors write on social issues such as womens and LGBTQI+ rights within diverse and multicultural societies and, more specifically, speaking to issues such as marriage, spousal migration and sex education.
Extract:
Introduction
This entertaining collection of sixteen short stories about love, desire and relationships may wrongfoot some outsiders, who too often expect Muslim women to be both conservative and submissive. The reality, of course, is more complex. While some of the writers in this anthology do express a quiet piety and focus on poignant situations, others employ black humour and biting satire. Still others move fearlessly into the territory of a Muslim Fifty Shades of Grey.
The heroines in A Match Made in Heaven have the same day-to- day concerns as anyone else. For instance, one is scandalized by her would-be suitor’s sloppy personal grooming, while another agonizes over the right lipstick to put on for a date. Yet another dresses up in order to make her cheating husband see how well she is doing without him – and what he is missing! Some of these women choose to wear hijabs and others do not – but the veiling issue is rarely at the forefront of their minds.
In one story, a dissatisfied wife pines for an old flame; in another, young love is tragically interrupted by the Syrian War.
A wife struggles with her husband’s move towards polygamy, while online fetishes, Islamophobia and erotica form part of the home life of a happily married couple. Themes of disability, teenage pregnancy, lesbian desire and liberated sexual behaviour at university are tackled without judgement.
A Match Made in Heaven includes work by both established and emerging authors. The latter wrote their contributions while attending workshops set up in Leeds, Bradford and Glasgow for young British Muslim women aged between sixteen and thirty. The workshops originated from a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, entitled ‘Storying Relationships’. As editors, the three of us are from diverse backgrounds, which proved an advantage as the workshops unfolded. Some participants found it easier to open up to someone from within their community, or of the same gender or sexuality, whereas others found greater freedom in speaking to individuals from ‘outside’.
Given that the Qur’an makes clear that pairs (of souls) destined for each other are created in heaven, we thought our title hit the spot. It has meaning on several levels. A match, for example, may refer to a love match and a matchmaking process. It may also suggest something incendiary – a battle of wills in which harmony does not always prevail. So although our title may be read in a religious light, this is not the only possible interpretation.
Our writers are sure to challenge some received ideas about the Muslim experience. In particular, we want to unsettle the notion that young Muslims are repressed individuals who neither know what their sexual desires are, nor how to express them.
When young Muslims write about sexual relationships, real or imagined, they may do one of two things. They may choose their words carefully, conscious of what may or may not be acceptable within their families and social circles. For that reason, in order to express themselves freely, some of our authors decided to use pseudonyms. Others have deliberately aimed their words at a society in which Muslims all too frequently find themselves misunderstood and misrepresented.
Their characters vary too: some work to ‘keep it halal’ while others unrepentantly explore the opposite – the ‘haram’. Others still are exploring and negotiating where, if at all, the boundary between permissible and impermissible lies. Certain stories are universal in their depictions of encounters and romance, the use of digital media, infidelity, bickering and break-ups. Some stories contain more distinctively Muslim religious and cultural references, such as the semi-autobiographical narrative in which a mother gives advice to her daughter about love relationships from within a Muslim ethical framework.
A Match Made in Heaven is not alone in showcasing new writing by Muslim women about sex and relationships. Our book shares good company with a few other anthologies and a broader groundswell of assertive creativity among younger Muslim women. Yet we think our collection is a lively, unique and memorable contribution to the genre.
Most importantly, we hope you will enjoy this anthology, whoever and wherever you are. We shall now leave the stories to speak for themselves.
Claire Chambers, Nafhesa Ali and Richard Phillips
🐧❤️
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