Autism Awareness IS everyday for me!

April is a packed month for me. Poetry, Shakespeare lesson plans, it's my birth month, conferences, vending, and several speaking engagements and workshops always happen in April. April is also Autism Awareness month in many countries, too. If you've read this blog, you know that I wrote a children's book about Autism with my oldest daughter, Juwayriyah, about her sister and my middle child, Hind. Hind's Hand's - A Story About Autism was a way for us to explain to our community and other communities around the world that Hind and other people like her on spectrum have different abilities, needs, and joys, too! 

Hind's Hands - A Story About Autism continues to makes rounds around the world, libraries, and homes of children who need their stories to be heard. My goal, for the Muslim community especially, was for Hind's Hands - A Story About Autism, to be a conversation starter that takes on a life of its own about the needs of Autists. I also wanted Muslims to start talking openly about the needs of families caring for children and adults on the spectrum year round.

Right around the end of March many friends and family will email me about Hind's Hands. They will want to know where to purchase the book or if I am available for read-alouds and a very select few will ask about Hind's health. I am always humbled and grateful when my readers can connect with any of my literature. Without a doubt, Hind's Hands - A Story About Autism was one of the most important and influential books, I have worked on to date. The story line was developed by my daughter, Juwayriyah, and the illustrations were crafted by the super-talented sister Emma Apple - who is also a Mama of Autists. It was a project that was dear to us and necessary for all three of us to work on at the exact time that Allah willed all of us together.

However, Hind's Hands - A Story About Autism was never meant to be a show pony that creeps out of the stables each spring to trot. Autism Awareness IS everyday for us. We are never waiting for fundraisers in the parks,cookie sales, designated months, or colored ribbons to be attached to street lights and school bulletin boards to deal with Autism! We don't have that luxury. Every day is Autism Awareness for mothers like me and Emma and sisters like my daughter Juwayriyah and millions of other families affected by Autism around the world. I have to advocate for my daughter every single day - in the schools, in the masajid, in the hospitals. There is never a day I get to be off!

Still, I know that some times friends and family members may not know how to be supportive. It isn't always easy to find the right words to say to parents dealing with Autism. But there are many ways to be supportive of your friends and family members besides wearing a blue ribbon or pin or wishing them a Happy Autism Awareness Month (read: don't every say that)!

Instead you could:

1. Go see them! Go sit with you friend for a half an hour (bring coffee, if you can) and just listen to them.

2. Offer to watch their child for an afternoon once in the blue moon so they can go to jumu'ah, grocery shopping, go for a walk or to the barber/beauty shop alone (it is extremely difficult to find a babysitter for an Autist that the Autist likes and the parent(s) feels safe enough to leave alone with)

3. Call your friends who are parenting Autists once in a while just give the salams or say Hi (you wouldn't believe how many "friends" and family members will forget about you or distance themselves from you because you have non-neurotypical child/adult to care for)

4. Drop off a meal! (Parenting autisitc children or adults is challenging, some times it is extremely difficult especially if the child is globally delayed and/or non-verbal! It is tiring caring for someone else 100% of your time and still having to care for yourself, work, a household, etc.)

5. Write them a letter/email or send a Thinking About You card. (I get that everyone may not feel comfortable around autistic children/adults - especially, if you don't make time to do it regularly. It doesn't mean that you don't still have a love and concern for your friends and family members. I love to read and I am always grateful to get a short email or note from a friend. Thinking about you cards are great to add onto --- just don't write Happy Autism Awareness Month on it!

Tried & Tested Is Published!

Introducing my newest Urban Muslim fiction title, Tried & Tested!

A teenage Iman Johnson left home over a decade ago to follow behind a street loving hustler who promised her the world. When that world became too much for her to endure, mentally and physically, she found herself back in Pittsburgh, PA at her Muslim mother’s doorstep seeking refuge. But will the Muslim family and community that she’d turned her back on years ago be ready to finally accept her or has too much time, emotions, hurt, and secrets built up between them to overcome? Iman will have to find the strength to face her past and relearn the basics if she ever hopes to find the sweetness of faith Allah promises …

Tried & Tested is adult Urban Muslim Fiction. The book is suitable Muslims in puberty and older due to it mature subject matters: domestic abuse, mental health issues, incarceration, family discord, addiction, and family discord. These issues are prevalent in the Muslim community - around the world, but especially within Western Muslim communities. Islam is not for perfect people and I felt a necessity to pen a story about what happens when imperfect Muslims, like all of us, slip, fall, and crash and how they search, stumble, and find their way back to the mercy of The Most Merciful. I hope that this story will make you laugh, cry, smile, become angry, and then renew your hope in the amazing mercy of the Most High - not matter what your race or faith (or lack thereof) is. Iman's story transcends categories and has themes that are universal.....I just want you to get the messages, see the possibilities and hope!

That said, the BIG GIVEAWAY is still going on! Every other week in March AND April, I am giving away some cool books from my author friends (including Her Justice by Nasheed Jaxson, How I Found Myself In Egypt by Subhanah Wahhaj, The Big Reconnecting Selflove Journal by SISTERS magazine editor Brooke Benoit, Adam to ZamZam Islamic Reader by Karemah Alhark and Jamila Alqarnain) and other cool prizes like prayer rugs and hijabs as well. Grand prize winner gets the $25 Amazon gift card, a signed copy of Tried & Tested, and the #MuslimGirlsRead Tshirt! All you have to do is share a copy of the Tried & Tested book cover and the book trailer. The more likes you get, the more chances you have to win! Congratulations out to our first winners Nicole Young of Massachusetts and Zakiyyah Sabir of New Jersey! 

Finally, I am giving everyone a little over a month to get Tried & Tested and read it! April 24th is the BIG LIVE BOOK CHAT

Umm Juwayriyah's BIG GIVEAWAY!

In celebration of my new novel coming out this April, enshallah, I am giving away some cool gifts this month! All you have to do is SHARE my new novel's book cover and trailer and follow me on ALL my social media accounts (subscribe to my Youtube page, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and LIKE my fan page: Author Umm Juwayriyah). The more shares - the better prizes -- and the more chances to win BIG! 

But here's the best deal - 1 winner is gonna get a BIG prize at the end of April:

1 signed copy of my new novel

1 $25 Amazaon gift card

1 #MuslimGirlsRead T-shirt or hat

Don't miss out! This is the BIG GIVEAWAY -- and thank you all for rocking with me since 2007 and supporting my work.

Without further ado - check out the new book trailer featuring an original track my by the dynamic sisters: Aginah Monique and Khadijah Tha Poet - check them out on Facebook!

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Black Muslims & Racism in the Muslim Community

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Be Inspired: Black Muslim Women Shine!

In the world we live in today, making connections are easier online than in real life. Most of us don't know our neighborhoods' names. And admittedly, many of us don't care to know them either. One glance, one size up, or one head nod and we can tell that them folks across the way aren't our type of "people" nor our cup of tea! Sad, yes! But it's real. As a minority within a minority - with a hijab on, it's an everyday occurrence for Muslim women, especially Black Muslim women to be overlooked. But, you know what the elder down State Street and Main say: "You gon' learn today!" No, Black Muslim women didn't just make a come up, #Webeenhere (like, really, Black Muslim women were on  the slave ships sent to the colonies in the 1600's). Furthermore, with African American Muslims still the largest ethnic group of Muslims in the United States, you might want to at least wave at one, if they are your neighbors, - they might just be creating, filming, hooping, or solving cases you are interested in. Check these sisters out - and if you have a dope Muslim sister in your neighborhood, nominate her for our next go 'round! 

1. Mubarakah Ibrahim - (FitMuslimah) &  (ILoveBeanPie) owns multiple businesses, is a licensed fitness instructor and fitness educator/advocate in Connecticut that has been working for over 20 years to help women get healthy and stay healthy, especially in the Muslim community. I've known Mubarakah just about my whole life.  Mubarakah has been married over 20 years and is also a mother of four.



2. Iaesha Prime - ( Iesha Prime) Ieasha Prime is a traditonal Islamically trained educator, activist and public speaker.  She studied Arabic and Quran at the Fajr Institute followed by general Islamic studies in Cairo, Egypt.  After two years in Egypt, she moved to Hadramaut, Yemen and enrolled in Dar al Zahra, an Islamic University for Women. There she studied Aqeedah, Quran, Hadith, Arabic, Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Islamic law, Purification of the Heart and other religious related learning.

3. Zakiyyah Muhammad - Zakiyyah Muhammad is the founding director of the Institute of Muslim American Studies - IMAS, a non-profit organization established to research, analyze and disseminate scholarship on the Muslim American experience. Muhammad previously worked as director of education for Clara Muhammad Schools and has lectured and presented across the United States. A weekly contributor to Muslim Journal, she has published in Muslim Education Quarterly, Journal of Negro Education, Journal on Religion and Education, and the Encyclopedia of African American Education.

4. Asma Hanif - (Muslimat Al Nisaa).  In 2005, co-founder Asma Hanif recognized the need to  start a shelter program in Baltimore, Maryland geared towards battered Muslim women in that would be sensitive to their religious needs, dietary restrictions, and culture as well. Muslimat Al Nisaa was founded. Asma Hanif is also a nurse.

5. Zara J - Zara J. is a multi-talented business woman. She has published six Amazon Bestselling novels along with four short story fiction titles. She is the owner/publisher of University Publications, a niche publisher company for modern American Muslim Fiction. While Zara J. Services provides professional matchmaking for serious, successful marriage minded adults looking for monogamy or polygyny. This service provides a private and personal outlet for introductions with adults who share compatible values. Zaraj.net also hosts bi-weekly webinars with various business and relationship experts, catering to her professional clientele.

6. Kameelah Mumin Rashad - ( Muslim Wellness) Kameelah is the Founder and President of Muslim Wellness Foundation (MWF), she also serves as the Fellow for Spirituality, Wellness and Social Justice at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).Kameelah served three years as the Muslim Chaplain at UPenn and continues to facilitate discussions on religious identity development and challenges faced by American Muslim youth.  In addition to Kameelah’s involvement in mental health advocacy and religious life, she is a proud social justice activist. Kameelah is an advisory board member of Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC) and the Husayn Center for Social Justice,  a Muslim-run social services and advocacy center that promotes health and wellness for the residents of Trenton, NJ. 

7. Jenny Triplet  - (RufusandJennyTriplett) One half the Muslim media power couple, Rufus-Jenny Triplet, sister Jenny (and her husband Rufus) is an author, business owner, and TV/radio hosts. Sister Jenny has appeared on CNN, TLC, HuffPost Live, and in print magazines such as Ebony and Redbook (along with her husband).

8. Tahirah Amatul-Wadud - (Attorney Tahirah) is a litigator licensed to practice in Massachusetts state and federal courts, as well as the federal court in the Northern District of New York. Her practice areas are civil rights and domestic relations law. She is general counsel for a New York Muslim congregation, regularly develops and chairs continuing education courses for legal professionals and members of the non-legal community, sits on a panel for her local bar association, and has served on boards for Western Massachusetts non-profit organizations. Ms. Amatul-Wadud is also an appointed volunteer commissioner for the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

9. Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir - (Muslim Girls Hoop Too) Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir is a young Muslim woman who lives in Springfield, Massachusetts. Bilqis has loved playing on the court ever since she was a little girl. She is a graduate of New Leadership Charter School. Following her high school career, Bilqis attended Memphis and Indiana State University, graduating from the University of Memphis with a Master's Degree in coaching. 

10. Latifa Ali - Roxbury Community College alum, community activist and Boston, Mass native Latifa Ali works hard to bring the community together for healing, understanding, and knowledge with an original plays about the history of Black legends and Muslims.





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Novel Soon Come!

The behind the scenes for this book have been absolutely bananas but I feel blessed as always to have written a book that is representative of Urban Islamic Fiction! I finally have dates, Alhamduleelah! And that means it is time to drop the book cover, the book trailer --- and give away some goodies! March 3rd 2017 I am going live on Facebook to chat about everything and tell you how you can get some cool books and other items in this giveaway. Stick and Stay -- Share this with your sisters and brothers. They'll want in too. Amazon.com - Read eBooks using the FREE Kindle Reading App on Most Devices

Is Mainstream Publishing Best for Native Born Muslim Fiction Authors? Upcoming Twitter Chat

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