The End of M Magazine and My Life articles

Sniff, I can't believe it. It's over, just like that. Two weeks ago, I got an email from my beloved editor that M Magazine was being canceled effective immediately. The line was that "They did survey and the audiences wanted something different."

I don't know what the real story is, but it just was done in such a way that made me wonder.

Anyway, it will mean that I will be working on my anthology, currently entitled From Alaska to Mongolia, but I'm thinking about changing this. The idea was to write about the experiences of Muslims around the globe.

But let me ask you guys, What do you want to know about the Muslim world?

Please spare me the silly questions such as those about 4 wives, 70k virgins, and stoning and loss of limbs. Google it if you are dying to know.

Just think of this entry as the question box.

Ask away. 

Best friends forever

The National staff

Apr 28, 2012 

http://www.thenational.ae/featured-content/channel-page/lifestyle/middle-article-list/best-friends-forever

Comforting, thoughtful, kind and generous, our best friends are always there for us and often know us even better than we know ourselves. We meet three sets of true BFFs and learn what feelings and shared interests bind them together. Photographs by Tina Chang

Maryam Ismail, 48, and Aayisha Nur Ismail, 8, and Khadijah Nur Ismail, 10

From Newark, New Jersey, US and Sharjah

How and when they met?

Maryam met both her girls on their birthdays but in two different countries. Aayisha was born in Dubai and Khadijah was born in Newark, New Jersey. "As an expat in the UAE I didn't know many people," she says, "and so, my children became my constant friends and companions. We became friends when we discovered our mutual love for foreign languages and history."

Why are you best friends?

"Love is the reason," says Maryam. "We just love to be together. When people ask me if I like having kids, I always answer: 'Of course.' Every time I look at Khadijah's lovely face, I remember how I felt the day she was born. After two boys she was my first girl, my dream baby. 'Did you see that pretty baby?' people would say whenever we went out shopping. She was my trophy. Now, she's my smart cookie."

Best thing about them?

Maryam: "With Aayisha, I've learnt that there is no excuse for holding onto pain. She's the bravest person that I know. She suffers from eczema terribly sometimes, and yet, she always has a ready smile and tons of sweetness to go with it. As for Khadijah, I call her my personal secretary, Ever since she was four she's had this ability to observe things and learn them really fast. This comes in handy when your day is as hectic as mine."

Khadijah: "The best thing about our mother is that she is cuddly and sweet and we look alike. She always encourages me to do the things I like. Right now, my favourite is cooking. She's always letting me pick stuff out of the cookbooks to make."

Aayisha: Leaning back on her mother's arm, she says: "She's kind like a heart," and smiles. "She picks the best toys! Also, I'm her teddy bear and she's mine."

Defining moment

Maryam: "For me the defining moment was when I began home-schooling them. Most parents feel that they need a break from kids; however, I don't. They're my little buddies. I then realised that I actually enjoyed their company. We chat, play together and have a lot of fun."

Maryam Ismail

Maryam Ismail on Muslim literary characters

Maryam Ismail

Mar 14, 2012 

http://www.thenational.ae/featured-content/channel-page/lifestyle/middle-article-list/maryam-ismail-on-muslim-literary-characters 

March in the UAE means books. Both Dubai and Abu Dhabi are flush with writers, authors, publishers and agents; everything to make literary dreams come true. However, there aren't enough great books for Muslim kids aged 9-16, who need books that reflect their lives and their culture. How many jinns, vampires, ghosts and goblins must be consumed before enough is enough? 

Obviously, there's a genre crisis. Something funny happened in my stomach when I saw the trailer for the film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Is nothing sacred? Perhaps it's just a girl thing or that one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that was mind-numbing trash that made me dislike all things from the world of the undead.

I've tried mysteries, too. I went to my local children's bookseller and my daughter picked up Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald J Sobol. Little did I know that I'd be exposing my then-8 year-old to alcohol and drug users, liars and murderers. When I consulted a librarian in Philadelphia, she told me the book was meant for sixth-graders. I can't say I felt better.

The crisis is really with the Muslim literary canon. I know there will be some who will say: "We don't do literature, it's lying". Of course, lying should not be a priority, but I won't blame Jacqueline Wilson, JK Rowling or Stephenie Meyer for misguiding Muslim youth. It's not their fault. It's mine. I don't mind the responsibility.

I – and you, fellow writers or would-be writers – should be turning out books instead of fewer-than-a-thousand-word quips. I should be writing 10,000 words a day, a novel a year. I'm trying, believe me. Inshallah, I will be successful. And my book will not have any supernatural characters; maybe some blood, maybe some fighting, but it will be something worth reading.

My goal is to add to the genre of halal fiction, to join the ranks of Leila Aboulela, whose work juggles the art of fiction without losing its soul to madness. We can write stories for kids without exceeding the limits of Islam and without being dull or saccharine.

The stories don't have to be overtly religious; more importantly, it's an issue of self-image. How many times has someone read a book and said: "For the first time, I saw someone like me in the story?" Every day, during school, kids read stories with images, names and situations that are strange to them, especially for children who live in the UAE.

Why waste time explaining the behaviour of Willow Smith or Justin Bieber as a cautionary tale? It won't work in this fame-driven global culture. Kids need alternatives. Let's feed their imaginations with adventures in the Muslim world. Why not write of life in the UAE before oil? What was it like? How hard was it to do daily tasks? How much fun was it?

I'd love to read a novel about an 11-year-old girl living in Andalusia or a student of Mimar Sinan in Constantinople during the 1500s or a young Sipahi in the Ottoman Empire.

This doesn't mean you write some cynical story about a wimpy teenager or a hot, steamy Twilight-esque novel; that's not what's needed. Nor is sticking a Muslim name on it enough. Do something totally different. Blow the competition out of the water, inshallah.

OK, there's the homework. Let's get cracking. If any of you seem scared or don't know what to do, send me a message and let's do this.

Maryam Ismail is a sociologist and teacher who divides her time between the US and the UAE. Reach her on Twitter @alaskamongolia, which is the title of her forthcoming anthology. 

My Life: the modern Muslim woman is who she chooses to be

Maryam Ismail
January 11, 2012
http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/my-life-the-modern-muslim-woman-is-who-she-chooses-to-be

Where did this image of the oppressed Muslim woman come from and when will this battle against it stop? Growing up on a diet of Saturday TV matinees, every "Muslim woman" I saw in the movies was a belly dancer with a lot of chiffon wrapped around her. Mata Hari, who was actually a Dutch divorcée who recreated herself as a Javanese Hindu princess, changed the world of exotic women forever. In the films of old it was the dance of the seven veils that would woo a man into revealing secrets of war. Today, it seems there is the idea that under one's hijab lies some mystical inner working, one that needs to be covered up by another layer of normality.

This seemed to be the idea at a recent panel discussion called "The Role of Muslim Women in Society". This discussion was part of the ICover photograph exhibit by Sadaf Syed at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization. This exhibit is a sort of official debut of the new American Muslim. This newly christened, hybrid identity is one that hopes to erase all ties with Muslim cultural, ethnic and linguistic history.

The exhibit tries to show Muslim women breaking the boundaries of so-called tradition. Muslimah rockers, surfers and boxers are some of the examples of the "modern Muslim woman". OK, that may be well and good, but I am so tired of this conversation. Muslims are people and by virtue of this essential fact, they are going to do what they want. Perhaps some might wag a finger and proclaim this is un-Islamic. Others will argue that traditional (Islamic) ideology is a thing past and shout: "Come on now, get over it."

I am so over hijab hysteria.

Standing on the sidelines of this discourse is like watching a dog chase its tail with the sincere hope of catching it. And if he does, what will happen? More than likely, he'll yelp and bite himself again for being so stupid. Why should it be a special event if a woman who wears a hijab decides to be a fencer or a ballerina? Is it out of the realm of faith? Some may not think so and others may not care. Then, there may be another premise: that wearing the hijab will show the world that Muslim women have arrived. However, I think that if this is the case, they may end up being the oldest debutantes at the ball.

This was the case during the panel discussion sponsored by the US Consulate in Dubai. On the panel were the fashion designer Rabia K, the media consultant Wafa KBR, the artist Najat Mekky and the US foreign service officer Marwa Zeini. The first three are Emirati women who have been successful in their fields despite their covering Islamically and came to discuss their experiences. I don't want to steal my sisters' thunder - they deserve their applause, because their journeys have not been easy - but they were managing their lives as they see fit, within the context of their circumstances.

"Muslim women should wear clothes that they can run and play in," Zeini said. Was she trying to tap into my unconscious and force me to do battle with my former self? Just then, I got an uneasy feeling that someone was going to kidnap me the moment I stepped into the streets, and then announce the next day that I was miraculously freed by Brad Pitt and American values.

If anything, I wish someone would rescue me from this endless notion that a woman is nothing unless she aspires to run with the big boys or tosses her Muslim soul into the sea and declares she's free at last. Can we please talk about something else?

My Life: Maryam Ismail on luxury

http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/my-life-maryam-ismail-on-luxury

Maryam Ismail

Oct 26, 2011 

For nearly a month and a half, I had been suffering from excruciating back pain that had me apologising to my creator for all of my past and future sins. But like every test it wasn't without its lesson. Lying flat on my back, at home alone, I used the time to read, do sit-ups and watch endless episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations . I think that Bourdain's way with words worked better than any painkillers, of which I had plenty.

And yet, in the midst of this flurry of horizontal activity, I realised how lucky I was. Without any pending appointments, no boss breathing down my neck asking when I'll be back and no deadlines, I had all the time in the world to just lie around and get better. What a luxury.

Then when I didn't think it could get any better, my doctor recommended that I get a massage to help heal my back. I went for it. I felt like a pampered odalisque, surrounded by so much luxury that I had to say: "OK, enough." The bubbly mineral pool, the heated stones and the divine oils had me walking taller and in less pain. Of course, I needed to see a specialist afterwards who gave me some pills, but after weeks of pain I am better now. For a moment I wondered if I'd ever get back to normal. Alhamdulillah, I did.

What is luxury? Is it the material wealth or just having the freedom to enjoy the moment? Maybe it's both.

Sometimes, I feel as if I'm the nameless shepherd-hero in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist - a dreamer trying to catch my destiny by the hand finding it eludes me every time. Nevertheless, I'm making the best of my time, enjoying the sights and scenes and learning everything that I can. Since leaving my home in New Jersey, I found myself sitting right in the middle of my dream without even realising it at first. And just like the hero in TheAlchemist, I've learnt that when something goes terribly wrong, it's not all bad news.

Most people would consider luxury something material - a fancy car, a multi-roomed mansion, servants, racks and racks of clothes - but I prefer having hours to while away, chatting with my kids, taking walks in the park, studying the habits of birds, having coffee with my girlfriends, or just getting lost in a good book.

However, it wasn't always this nice. Whenever I think about how many years I worked and how I raced from here to there, I pray that I shall never live like that again. Even now, I cringe when I remember my crazed working days. Standing at the corner of Bleeker and Washington streets in Newark, New Jersey, I would watch the rush of briefcases, wet hair and the scent of Irish Spring soap pass by. In the back of my mind I'd hear the lyrics of that anthem from the ska band The Specials: "Working for the rat race, you know you're wasting your time".

How I longed to find an escape route or a hidden door in that labyrinth of labour.

Finally, my prayers were answered. I found a cute guy, got married, moved to the UAE, and now those days are over. He works; I play house and write.

Now, I love sitting at my favourite cafe revelling in the beauty of the blue sky painted with the palm fronds gently tossing in the wind standing in solemn salutes. It often amuses me how this beautiful, serene place is so different from the popular images of the Middle East. Images of terminal conflict and the lack of freedom and despair fill the news. Yet, to me this is my paradise.

Luxury can mean many things; time, material wealth and even health. In my case, I guess I have them all.

What a blessing indeed.

Maryam Ismail is a sociologist and teacher who is working on her forthcoming book, From Alaska to Mongolia: The Musings of the Muslim World and Beyond