So when Muslim women are left out of Black representation, and Black women are left out of Muslim representation, where are Black Muslim women showcased?
We’re amplifying the voices of Black Muslim women in mainstream media, who are making serious waves right now. Click through to check them out.
Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, author, 22
One woman working hard to carve out space for young people who identify like her is Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, author of YA novel Ace of Spades. The 22-year-old novelist “dreamed of writing books about Black kids saving (or destroying) the world all her life.” And it looks like her dream came true. Her debut novel has landed her a million dollar book deal in the US where Macmillan Children’s Books publishing group acquired rights to both her first and second novels. The contemporary novel has been described by reviewers as “Gossip Girl meets Get Out” and tells the story of the only two Black students in a predominantly white institution facing up to an anonymous bully.
Driven by her desire to counteract the imbalance of representation in a publishing industry desperate for diverse stories, Àbíké-Íyímídé says she’s writing for “Black kids who love mysteries and thrillers, Black kids who need hope.” She began writing her debut when she was just 19. “I’d usually do uni during the day, then come home and write until 4am”, she told The Guardian. Àbíké-Íyímídé’s writing is largely inspired by her own experiences studying at predominantly white institutions. The Nigerian-born novelist moved from south London to Scotland where she is currently studying at Aberdeen University.
She cites her Black and Muslim identity as factors for how she was able to conjure up such a story at this early stage in her life. “I was in my first year at university and I didn’t have many friends because I don’t drink as I’m Muslim, so I’d be in my room trying to figure out what to do. I was watching a lot of TV shows and I binged Gossip Girl in a few days,” said Àbíké-Íyímídé. “I thought it’d be so cool if the shows I grew up with, like Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl, had more Black people in them, so I started planning a story,” she told The Guardian.
Warsan Shire, poet, 32
Writer, poet, editor and educator Warsan Shire is another Black Muslim woman committed to telling underrepresented stories through her work. “Character-driven poetry is important for me — it’s being able to tell the stories of those people, especially refugees and immigrants, that otherwise wouldn’t be told, or they’ll be told really inaccurately,” Shire told the Poetry Foundation.
One of her most popular poems, “Home”, evolved from a 2009 piece she wrote after coming across some Somali refugees who had converted the Somali Embassy in Rome into a makeshift home. Shire has since been praised for providing an authentic understanding of the experiences of refugees.
In 2014, Shire became the first appointed Young Poet Laureate of London. Prior to this, Shire’s work was mostly self-published on her own Twitter and Tumblr accounts. Fast-forward to 2016 and the Kenyan-born Somali writer was responsible for the film adaptation and poetry in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade. Shire’s reach is international, having completed poetry readings across Europe, Africa and North America. Her work has been translated into numerous languages including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish and Estonian.
Shire has several published collections including Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth (flipped eye, 2011), Her Blue Body (flipped eye, 2015) and Our Men Do Not Belong to Us (Slapering Hol Press and Poetry Foundation, 2015). Her newest collection, Bless The Daughter Raised By A Voice In Her Head (Random House, 2021) is due to be released later this year.
Dr Hani Hassan, doctor, 25
Dr Hani Hassan is a medical doctor, YouTuber, influencer and, finally, founder of a revolutionary skincare brand. The news that Dr Hassan is designing her own products was highly anticipated by the 74,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, which she launched during lockdown. On it, the doctor shares her scientific knowledge of skincare and teaches viewers how to care for their skin. Her content ranges from a discussion on medical racism and a reaction to Doja Cat’s skincare routine to a deeper conversation on her decision to become a doctor. Her channel has garnered over one million views in the past nine months.
Her second video, “How I Graduated From Medical School With NO DEBT (and 81%!)” breaks down how to do just that. The doctor shared advice on how to balance your time and maintain good grades, as well as details of the personal situation that led to her decision to forgo student loans for medical school and ultimately her lifestyle as a medical student with a full-time job.
In her latest endeavour, Dr Hassan is launching a skincare brand, Hue by Dr Hani which she describes as “innovative skincare intelligently designed for people of colour.” This new project is completely on brand for Dr Hassan, whose first video “How To Get Rid Of Hyperpigmentation” racked up 833,000 views (and counting). In her video announcing the launch, the doctor describes the brand as scientifically driven and formulated especially for skin of colour, informing her thousands of subscribers that “darker skin responds differently to triggers like UV and inflammation.”
Not only is Dr Hassan a source of inspiration for aspiring doctors, working students and skincare enthusiasts alike but her innovative new brand manufactured with melanin skin in mind is revolutionary in a white-normative skincare industry.
Sheila Nortley, filmmaker, 35
Sheila Nortley is a film producer and screenwriter of Ghanaian descent. Creating films that centre Black British characters, Nortley says Africa is “very much part of her identity.” Her work is a result of a deep-seated commitment to express herself and the many communities she identifies with. She told the BBC: “I don’t know what to say sometimes, how to comment, what status to post when I see certain atrocities that affect my community; the Black community, the diaspora, the Muslim community, the human community. So, I write, I write what’s in my heart.”
Nortley is highly influential and widely recognised for her work, with endless achievements including multiple international awards. Among them are Best Film at the American Black Film Festival, awards for her work as a producer on 2013 independent feature Sable Fable, the Woman of the Future Award in Arts & Culture in 2016 and her film LIMBO was shown at Cannes Pan-African Film Festival.
You can expect to see much more of Nortley in the near future, as she landed her first solo development deal in 2020: a three-show deal with broadcaster Sky. Since then, she’s also joined the production team for a new Netflix series adapted from Harlan Coben’s psychological thriller novel Stay Close. “I’m so pleased to be working with Netflix and the team at RED,” Nortley said in a Netflix press release. No doubt this is the first of many such opportunities for the award-winning filmmaker.
Kosar Ali, actress, 17
Scouted at secondary school, 17-year-old Kosar Ali had no professional acting experience prior to landing the role of Sumaya in coming-of-age drama Rocks. Ali, who picked up both Best Supporting Actress and Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards last month, admitted she had no intention of pursuing acting as she didn’t imagine such a career could be possible for people like her. “Usually, when I see Muslim representation on screen, it’s always like we have to be the victims or the attackers,” Ali told The Independent. “We can’t just be normal people. When I read scripts and there’s a Muslim character in there, it’s like, ‘Wow, look, there’s a Muslim character in here! Oh my God! She wears a hijab!’” She may be new to the industry but this teenager seems to have a better grasp of balanced representation than some of her seniors.
One thing’s for sure, Ali will always provide an authentic performance. Her latest role in BBC3 comedy PRU sees her play a badly behaved teenager, Hanna, who’s been sent to a Pupil Referral Unit. One line in particular has garnered a great deal of attention online, in part for its shocking accuracy and partly for its (unintentional) comedic value. “How can I be a lesbian, I’m Somali?” asks Hanna. “You’re not meant to laugh. I think it’s meant to contradict the whole cultural view we have of, if you’re Somali, you can’t like be part of the LGBTQ community,” Ali explained.
Fans of Ali cherish her not just for her talent but for the rare element of realism she brings to her role. Seeing a Somali actress play a Somali role on screen shouldn’t be as rare as it is. Ali picked up on this: “When I watch ‘British’ films sometimes I think, ‘I guess we’re on different sides of London,” she told NME. With her sights set on writing and directing, the future is bright for this rising star.
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