Original post- NbA Muslims

NbA Muslims Staff

 The Black Muslim Atlantic is a concept coined by the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative co-founder and managing director, Margari Aziza.

The Black Muslim Atlantic draws from Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic. Aziza describes the Black Muslim Atlantic as an endeavor of transnationalism through literature, intellectual exchange, visual & performance arts, and travel.

The Black Muslim Atlantic is looking at past connections when Muslims from Africa, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas shared ideas and produced a unique and transcendent culture. We can look at that richness and heritage and glean it happening now on social media, where we are networking, sharing and debating each other. – Margari Aziza

Continue reading “The Black Muslim Atlantic, African American Muslims and The Single Story” →

Original Post – About Islam, by Layla Abdullah-Poulos

Conversations about sex and sensuality can be particularly uncomfortable in Muslim cultures.

Although there are immediate connections between the Islamic faith and the sexual gratification of its adherents, many Muslims across the globe find themselves challenged by the idea that their sensual pleasure may be considered Islamic. Consequently, there are few and limited social discussions, written works and modern scholarship on the topic of sex for Muslims.

Islamic historian and erotologist Habeeb Akande writes books to encourage Muslims to reacquaint themselves with the rich tradition of Islamic links between faith and sex. Akande has authored several books on faith and sensuality, including Kunyaza: The Secret to Female Pleasure, A Taste of Honey: Sexuality and Erotology in Islam, Illuminating the Performance: African and Arab Erotology and Illuminating the Difference: Black, White, and Brown Women.

Erotology in Islam

There is a rich tradition of Islamic erotology (the study of sexual behavior) lost to most Muslims in modern society.  During his studies at al-Azhar University, Akande attained access to Islamic scholarship studying sex in the context of faith.

“The origins of Islamic scholarship about eroticism date back to ninth-century Abbasid Baghdad,” explained Akande. “A number of Muslim scholars spent a considerable amount of time studying the nature of sexual desire, eroticism, and the art of lovemaking, both for men and women, within an Islamic context.”

Continue reading “Muslim Author’s Books Link Faith and Sex” →

Join me 10/13 on Katara’s Cafe, where I get to talk about my newest novel in the Brothers in Law series, Sweet Love-Bitter Fruit!

Tell me a story in three-hundred pages or fewer. Authors I know used to laugh at me when I said that back in the day. They would roll their eyes if I asserted that even three-hundred pages pushed the limit. Then I wrote my first novel. The interracial romance between African American Regina Kent and Korean American Simon Young topped off at three-hundred one.

Yeah, let’s not talk about that. The focus here is that I am still a fan of quick reads in all their forms—flash fiction, short stories, novelette, and novellas. Bring ‘em.  Lucky for me, my fave genre romance includes a tradition of writers penning shorter works besides full-length novels.

Three books (not all of them are romances) captured my attention over the last couple of weeks when I was running around, yearning for a nice escape through my e-reader.  Bickering doctors and lawyers, cyborgs, and widows all gave a little break as well as a chance to laugh, cry and sigh. Continue reading “Three Quick Reads for Busy Readers” →