Stories How One Muslim Woman is Normalizing the

How One Muslim Woman is Normalizing the Hijab Through Comics

By Tasmiha Khan

IN A TIME WHERE the hijab is politicized, Huda Fahmy, a Muslim American author and illustrator, found an innovative way to satirize the reactions to the traditional Islamic head covering while also attempting to normalize it: cartoons.

The author of two books — That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story, and her most popular work to date, Yes, I’m Hot In This — Fahmy uses comics as a way to dismantle stigmas towards women who observe hijab. While she does not think her book will cure Islamophobia, Fahmy believes telling her story is important, especially during the Trump era, when the climate of fear and ignorance seems like it's at an all-time high.

“The more people are exposed to authentic marginalized voices, the less they fear them,” Fahmy tells Shondaland.

A former middle and high school teacher, Fahmy was inspired to begin writing about her experiences after Donald Trump was elected and enacted the Muslim Ban shortly after taking offi ce in 2017. After taking a break from work to stay home with her infant son, Fahmy’s sister encouraged her to share her work online.

“He was taking so many naps, that I felt that there was nothing for me to do,” Fahmy recalls, noting she originally scanned and uploaded drawings to her blog before sharing them on Facebook, and eventually Instagram where she now has over 300,000 followers.

“Islamophobia has been increasing much more due to social media,” she continues. “There were more open calls for Muslim voices and authors. I started noticing more hijabis in other non-Muslims’ comics. As a Muslim hijabi, being represented felt great. I collected essays of my personal experiences as a hijabi, and my sister asked me to turn one of my stories into a comic. All of that combined inspired me to write comics about my hijabi experiences.”

Being raised as Muslim American woman in the United States is riddled with nuance — especially if you are the daughter of immigrants. But what Fahmy’s drawings provide is diff erent from the mainstream portrayals we usually see. Through her work, Fahmy also gives readers diff erent windows into her life — from marriage and parenting, to fasting during Ramadan and the racism and xenophobia she experiences — that many Muslim Americans can relate to, and non-Muslims may be learning about for the fi rst time.

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“I was born in America. My mother is Syrian and my father is Egyptian. They moved to America when they were young. They’ve been here longer than they’ve been in their home countries,” Fahmy says of her background.

“They tried so hard to assimilate us in the beginning. They were scared that we would be targeted because they were targeted,” she says. “A war was going on when they fi rst moved [to America] and my mom used to wear the niqab. She used to be followed home by people. She had newborn babies and my dad told her that she needed to take her niqab off and that they needed to move to a city where there are more Muslims to protect themselves. They wanted us to have the best education and they stopped talking to us in Arabic.”

After witnessing her parents’ struggles, Fahmy is proud to embrace her roots, but is also very open about her experience as a Muslim American woman.

What I hope people take from my comics is that we aren’t perfect. Allow us to be who we are without caging us in boxes.

“I put my work out, hoping people think it’s funny. I have a lot of anxiety and stress and I incorporate that into my work,” she says. “I taught English, I’m a mom, I went to law school for a year before I left. I had a tumultuous relationship with my parents growing up.”

Her vulnerability is why Fahmy’s work resonates with hijabi women of all walks of life.

“Ignorance and anti-Islam propaganda has put pressure on Muslim communities to try to prove themselves by breaking stereotypes, being hip and cool, being the ‘fi rst hijabi’ this and that,” says Sara Alattar, a medical student who is also an artist and a fan of Fahmy’s comics.

“We supposedly need to break through with stacks of accomplishments in order to be accepted and truly appreciated as Americans. However, this subtly pushes the notion that people need to be productive for their society in order to be respected and owed human rights.” Alattar continues. “What I’ve loved about seeing Muslim women creating comics lately — especially Huda Fahmy — is their capture of the everyday and the mundane. A humorous look into a Muslim American’s life through these panels reveals that it’s not a wildly diff erent life, and it defi es the expectations of an audience eager for something exotic and alien.”

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Fahmy uses her comics to not only to dispel myths about Muslim Americans, especially women who wear the hijab, but also share how similar their experiences are to non-Muslims, too.

“Muslims are diff erent. I’m not allowed to be mediocre. As minorities, we have to excel at everything. It’s so hard because if you mess up once, you’re done,” Fahmy says. “What I hope people take from my comics is that we aren’t perfect. Allow us to be who we are without caging us in boxes. I want to showcase myself as a Muslim in diff erent scenarios so people can realize that Muslims go through similar life scenarios as nonMuslims. Not all of this is related to Islam.”

Comics, like all visual art forms, tell a story about the people who make them.

I want to showcase myself as a Muslim in diff erent scenarios so people can realize that Muslims go through similar life scenarios as non-Muslims.

“I love the medium and have read comics since I was a kid, so seeing Muslim women making a name in comics is wonderful and inspiring,” says Katie Haseeb, an educator and artist. “Comics by Muslim artists are a truer form of representation than what we see in other forms of media. Independent comic artists are not beholden to brands or companies, and can therefore off er a truthful and personal form of expression that doesn't compromise one's faith or values. Comics about hijab written by Muslim women, like Huda Fahmy, are so refreshing because it's our stories being told by US, rather than a creative team trying to awkwardly shoe-horn a hijab wearing woman into an ad campaign for the sake of diversity. The art form is also super accessible and has an incredibly wide reach because of social media.”

With so much misinformation about the hijab and discrimination against women who choose to wear it, Fahmy is changing the way Muslims are perceived through her work. And while there is no singular Muslim experience, Fahmy is sparking conversations and opening eyes through her comics. www.shondaland.com/inspire/books/a34908947/ how-one-muslim-woman-is-normalizing-the-hijabthrough-comics