Episodes

⛪🕌✝🌙☪In this special TWO PART episode, @3blackmenpod and @halfwaytherepodcast help us dive into an essential conversation: fathering and parenting in a faith-centered world to create safe spaces for all children to embrace a gospel of inclusion. Our Christian brothers join us in candid and colorful conversation in a moment when it's hard to remember who or what to believe in anymore To all the Muslim men who've wanted to come on as guests, don't have FOMO! These are our brothers in faith, too, ...

"💡 New Episode Alert! 💡 This week on *Mommying While Muslim*, we’re diving deep into the challenges of *Modern Muslim Parenting & Mental Health* with the incredible Dr. Saira Pasha, AKA @drmindyourwellness. 🌱✨ As Muslim American kids face rising pressures, mental health and substance abuse are real issues our community must confront. Join us as Dr. Pasha shares her insights on nurturing resilient, healthy minds in our kids while breaking stigmas around mental wellness. ❤️🧠 Tune in for this emp...

What do you get when you cross a parenting and spiritual coach with a very spiritual Masters psychology student mom? Join us as we dive into the heart of Islamic parenting styles, exploring what it means to raise resilient Muslim children in America. Guest cohost today is a dear friend of ours, grand supporter of the podcast, and former guest, Saira Sufi of @teamwatience. From nurturing faith to navigating modern challenges, this episode is packed with wisdom on balancing tradition, love, and s...

Our guest today is Shahnila Ahmad, a fellow podcaster and ICF certified and Gottman certified emotional coach @bravemuslimparents. We talk to her about the struggles of parenting vs. kidding, emotional regulation, and navigating some challenging situations that inevitably arise. Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or head to our website to take a listen, and share this episode with a Muslim mum (or dad) navigating through the ins-and-outs of their parenting journey. Links:...

Noha Alshugairi, MS, LMFT and co-author of Positive Parenting in the Muslim Home, joins us today to be thanked for writing THE manual on Muslim American parenting we needed. Just kidding! Even she says that's not what it is, but it IS the text that gave us hope that there were other moms out there who knew our struggles and would help lighten them. On this episode, Khala Noha covers the role positive discipline plays in shaping emotionally resilient kids. What are the most common concerns that ...

As mothers, we spend years nurturing, guiding, and preparing our children to take flight. And then one day, they do. The once chaotic household grows quiet, and we're left standing in the wake of their departure. It’s a moment we always knew would come, but it doesn't make the transition any less complex. This week's episode dives deep into the feelings of an "empty nest" and challenges the idea of loss by reframing it as an opportunity for growth and reinvention—for both us and our children. A...

This week's episode is all about Zaiba and Uzma's experiences parenting teenagers with the challenges and joys that come with it. If you don't know why they're calling it "The Wonder Years," it's because they are OLD. How they navigate this phase of motherhood in the bread and circus of American culture is a must listen. 🔏 Limitations of parental control 📌 Teens asserting independence 🚸 Halal gender relations, including dating ☎ Open lines of communication If you're afraid of this phase of...

Parenthood can be a beautiful journey, but it also comes with its share of challenges, right out of the gate. In this week's episode, we’re discussing the early years of parenting when loneliness, loss of identity, and postpartum mental health often overwhelm, sabotage, and debilitate some of us. We also explore what it means to raise spirited little ones while holding on to faith and hope. 🤍 Join us as we share stories, insights, and encouragement for every mom navigating this season. You’re ...

There’s a lot to say about “mothers’ status” in Islam, but sadly, not enough about how to support her to maintain and thrive there. It’s hella lonely and confusing on these pedestals. We aren’t looking for trophies, just Jannah (heaven), but some of us get lost along the way. Good news! There’s a whole field of study about it! Matrescence, the developmental transition into motherhood, is both spiritual AND practical for Muslims. There’s no other way we know how to do things, but we weren’t alwa...

☪☪On this popular replay from 2020 (can you believe it's been that long?!?!?!), podcaster mom, Farheen Raza @freeniraza, shared Shia history, practice, and whether or not sects make a difference in America. During this time of division and change in our nation, it DOES matter when we have schisms within Muslim America. Let's close those gaps together. A lot has changed for Farheen since we recorded this, so follow her and find out what that is. ☪☪Part 2 of this conversation was aired in June 20...

TRIGGER WARNING: This is one of our favorite episodes because it's no one is above spiritual abuse, and everyone is vulnerable to falling victim to it. We need to have a means to bring leaders to account in this life so we can protect each other in the next one. FACE (Facing Abuse in Community Environments) addresses those leaders who have taken major missteps, endangering not just our community members, but our faith itself. The time to identify and repair is yesterday. The good news is, we c...

Trigger warning! This episode is NOT meant to be heard by children unless our mom audience feels they're ready for it. If you're a survivor of any sexual trauma, as a child or as an adult, you may not be ready for it either, so gauge your ability to revisit the past. We are here for you either way. If you need resources to deal with PTSD due to a history of abuse, we have links for you in the shownotes, and we are always just a DM/PM or email away. This episode IS meant to prepare us to hear t...

Anyone ever feel self pity as you pick up in the kitchen at the end of the night, get laundry started or finished in the dark, put toys back where they belong, or end up refilling the tank at the most inopportune time because no one else did it? Are you the only one praying at salah time because your reminders fall on deaf ears or outright refusal? Review the status of mothers in Islam and be confident in our role as seen by our Creator. We believe in the angels recording even when people are n...

Tina Khan joins us today to discuss her experience watching her son’s spiral into drugs and mental health crises and what it did to their family. This is definitely an episode you want to hear before you choose to let your kids listen in, but it really does merit a listen by young people to hear what drug addiction does, not just to an individual, but a family and community. Where are we as a Muslim community in terms of supporting our young Muslims struggling with drug addiction, and just as i...

In this episode, Zaiba discusses the concept of embracing challenges to develop many strengths, including the elusive growth mindset. It’s not just for kids, folks! Takeaways include Leaning into toughness to build resilience. Setting clear achievable goals Breaking down challenges into manageable steps can help in leaning into toughness. And many more! Tune in at 6pm EST and share this with an accountability partner. Don’t what that is? LISTEN! Did you know you can send us a text? Feedba...

Remember COVID cabin fever? And now it’s the middle of summer with all the kids home and some of us with hot flashes to boot. It’s a recipe for an explosion of tempers, so how do we manage ours? This is a great episode for those of us struggling to model prophetic behavior to our children, especially when it comes to the critical sunnah of controlling our anger. Luckily, we still get to feel it. But it’s HOW we react that matters. Zaiba pulls out the stops on this one to offer some of her paren...

Summers are long and hot, and thanks to global warming, even longer and hotter. But while we’re cooped up indoors waiting for the world to come to its flaming end, we don’t have to be bored. Remember that as our kids grow up, so do we, and we can rediscover old beloved hobbies or learn new ones. What are Zaiba and Uzma up to this summer and what are some of their inspirations, motivations, and tricks to these new hobbies? More importantly, what hobbies are getting you through this summer? Comme...

Shownotes: This month’s Chit Chat Series addresses relevant mommying issues starting with the transitions we experience as adult children move out for college. Or go away for summer camp. Grief is real. So is the mental work WE have to do as moms to accept new roles and identities for ourselves as our kids enter the stage where they will spend the majority of their lives: adulthood. Join the spectators on the bench this episode to discuss important practical and emotional steps we can take wit...

Tune in for this recap of our June series "Children of Immigrants!" We review episodes recorded this months, as well as lessons learned from them, but the meat of the talk is the good and bad things we inherit and how we use them to do better with our own kids. First generation Muslim Americans, we need you to listen in especially! This whole podcast, not just the episode, was Uzma's dream for you! Share this podcast with a friend who has an immigration story or two under their belt, too. Lin...

Our guest this week is, Marena Riyad, comedienne, creative, crafter, community builder, and crash courser in life. We got some learning today! From kidnapping to "it takes a village" to "be A LOT uncomfortable" to get where we want to go in life, we found a lot of Marena's talking points really hit home. Young wisdom is so very humbling, especially when it clearly demonstrates how to reconcile immigrant histories and write our own chapters in them. What does that look like when we grow up with ...

We are celebrating Shellie McKinney of @momnetworkusa today, a first generation Muslim American and dedicated community organizer, who channels the resilience and spirit of her immigrant mother from Barbados. Growing up, Shellie learned from her mother's lead and "make lemonade" squeeze, founding an organization that is making the lives of our Muslim moms and children better. But what ARE the experiences of a first generation immigrant who code switches Bajan so adeptly, you wouldn't guess she'...

There's so much Zeena on the podcast, and you'll find out why next week! @zeena_altalib joins us for the first of our Children of Immigrants series this month, recounting her family's move to the US from Iraq, her experience of it as a teen and now, as a mom. At the end of the day, we determine that mothering is the same whether you are an immigrant mom or native born, but the paths to and from there may be different. Certainly, the challenges are! As a mom of boys and a business coach, Zeena'...

We recap this month's moving episodes that acknowledge the incredible burden of motherhood during genocide. Insha'Allah, that weight will be relieved from the shoulders and hearts of the Palestinian people, ameen. 🍉🍉 If you've missed these episodes because you've been heartbroken and gaping at your phones over the ongoing horrors that have surpassed our wildest imaginations, we get it. But remember that our humanity relies on our steadfastness to it. We will NEVER normalize what's happening rig...

Today’s guest, Morgan Cooper @mashjar_juthour, has lived and breathed Palestine for over two decades and is online telling Americans what her experiences have been as a Christian human in the land. She’s witnessed the DAILY government apartheid and violence against indigenous people and hasn’t been shy to speak up, a warrior mom to Palestinian children being raised on their historical land. Your heart will swell with pride, and break when she shares what she has to teach her kids to be safe ther...