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What is better than a room full of your favourite women you don’t get to see as often as you’d like, who have come together to dress up and eat good good food? I’ll wait. There isn’t much else that comes close.
Last Sunday evening, Muslim Sisterhood partnered up with The Hoxton to celebrate Eid over a belated dinner. As part of the Good Table series, conversational prompts are placed on the curated menu for the evening. Questions such as “How do you personally connect with the spiritual essence of Ramadan — and what practises or rituals do you find most meaningful?”.
The melody of the evening was the overlapping of chatter, trying to catch up with old and new friends on how everyone’s Ramadan went (“Didn’t it go so quickly this year?”) and how Eid has evolved as we have gotten older. All while soft jazz played in the background and bangles and rings clinked together when hands were embraced on sight.
Therefore, it was only natural, to go around the room with my dictaphone and document the moments we will one day look back on, only to cherish. Below you’ll find a few questions from the inspiring women who attended on what it means to be a part of a broader sisterhood. Thank you to Muslim Sisterhood x The Hoxton for a beautifully put-together evening.
What does ‘sisterhood’ mean to you?
“You know what makes me think of sisterhood? When someone says ‘mashallah!’ when they see me. I’m like you really love me. You don’t want anyone to evil-eye me! So as soon as me and my friends see each other [especially at a dressed up dinner like this] we’re like mashallah, mashallah!” — Alya Mooro, storyteller and author of The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes.
“Sisterhood to me is being your most comfortable self, feeling seen and feeling a sense of belonging and feeling. They might not be the same as you but can help you feel comfortable and make you feel like your truest self. There's a bond and a unity.” — Yasmin Moeladi, photographer.
“Core. Strength. Loyalty. Love. Growth. Freedom. Just women that really make you feel like you're allowed to grow and make mistakes and come into the core of yourself.”— Bardha Krasniqi, photographer and casting director.
What’s your favourite thing to eat during Eid?
“My favourite thing to eat during Eid is Gujrati ‘Eid biscuits’. The biscuits themselves are plain but you have them in the morning when they’re warm. They go so well with milk that have nuts in it and vermicelli that’s hot.” — Maryam Adam, illustrator, mehndi artist and artist.
“Akara. I’m from Sierra Leone so we do lot of things that are fried. It’s similar to puff puff but it’s a banana rice flour fritter. You can have them as a sweet treat or even with a spicy dip!” — Memunatu Barrie, textile designer and artist.
“On Eid morning, we make Somali suqaar. It’s beef in tiny little cubes in bread that’s similar to a dosa or injera. Having that fat breakfast after Ramadan, everyone just goes at it.” — Ruqiya Deria, quantity surveyor.
Do you have a favourite Eid memory?
“We used to have a pinata but it wasn’t really a pinata. It was a fabric that we’d put lots of candy in the middle with small bills of money. We would tie it and then all the kids would sit underneath and then you'd open it. So all of the candy and the money would fall down and as a child, you’d have to scramble and pick up what you can grab.
You’d put it in your little bag to take home and then count how much you have”. — Leen Ajlan, architect.
“My favourite Eid memory has been a fairly new one over the past few years. In the morning, we’d wake up and go to the local park where we will pray with the wider community.
We’d come home and eat Bangladeshi fried snacks like fitta, handesh as well as shemai and then as sisters, we would take too long to get ready to the point where our mums shouting at us. Those are my favourite memories”. — Farzana Ahmed, graphic designer and creative.
What have you learnt most from being around Muslim Sisterhood?
“I think it's shown me that other spaces and events can be quite isolating. Sometimes when you're in the creative industry as a Muslim woman, you don't always feel comfortable and as if you are supposed to be there. Muslim Sisterhood has made me feel inspired to be around so many incredibly creative Muslim women and that actually, I do belong here.” — Hafsa Adan, events manager at Muslim Sisterhood.
“When I think of sisterhood, I naturally think of Muslim Sisterhood. Growing up with sisters, this feels like an extended family.” — Farzana Ahmed, graphic designer and creative.
“When we gather like this, it reminds me of how our mothers, grandmothers, aunties and all the women in our lives have always gathered. This is just a refined version of those gatherings but the heart of it is just the same. When I’m around Muslim Sisterhood, I’m reminded that we can be our own resources as well as safe spaces to be all that we need to be.” — Tahmina Begum, writer and creator of The Aram newsletter
What’s your favourite thing about being Muslim?
“The feeling that you're not alone. Nothing I feel, whether I’m sad, happy, anxious, whatever it may, there’s a sense of connectedness to our loved ones because we all believe in Allah.” — Hafsa Adan, events manager at Muslim Sisterhood.
“It’s having a set of rules to follow because it's very easy to live life without any purpose or anything to not believe in. So I guess having these set of rules and a broader purpose. Also for women, there’s so much privilege in being a Muslim woman that many people don't realise.” — Farzana Ahmed, graphic designer and creative.
“Everything”. Purrr. — Leen Ajlan, architect.
On that note…
Because we don’t believe our beauty routines have to be in connection to genocide, everyone who received a Muslim Sisterhood goodie bag was gifted products from brands that are not on the BDS list.
Lifestyle and beauty brands such as: LUSH, Refy Beauty, Indē Wild, Whïnd, Tasneem Cosmetics and S’able Labs.