Episodes

Abdiya Iman joins us to discuss the Modest Fitness movement and how that has morphed from a response to the pandemic and lockdown to now elevating Muslimah wellness. From creating safe spaces online to elevating moms’ experiences in person, Abidya and her team are pioneers in the Muslim wellness industry. Learn how Modest Fitness is now offering more programs as a woman-led business, including the Ramadan Program, which is coming BACK for the second year in a row to power our fasting this year! ...

Zaiba & Uzma were so excited to talk about Ramadan prep and the physical, spiritual, and mental work that has to start now, that they recorded an episode together documenting what’s worked so far for them. While Zaiba has been on her journey longer than Uzma now, it’s useful to find out what we aren’t saying correctly to ourselves, and within earshot of our kids, that can sabotage our success before we even begin. Sorry, but the conversation that one CAN’T do something like make up their fasts,...

Megan Wyatt of Wives of Jannah joins us today to discuss sex positive sunnah practices, and the real history of Islamic sexual tradition subdued by colonization and toxic cultural beliefs. From observations of sexual belief systems she’s made from coaching couples for years, learn about about: ● sex positivity in Islam the RELIGION ● the spiritual nature of sex in Islam ● the role of pleasure in Islam for either gender, and especially for women ● giving vs. getting and their significance, se...

Half Our Deen’s team member and mom of 4 Maryam Adham joins us today to talk about how the company’s matchmaking algorithm works, what to expect when one signs up, and what certain results may mean. As a special treat, HOD reviewed Uzma and her husband’s online profiles to see if they were compatible and essentially, the right match for each other. Tune in to find out what they learned. Explore how we determine compatibility and find our partners for life insha’Allah. There are some terrific ti...

Dr. Shaakira Abdullah aka The Halal Sexpert joins us today to talk all things clitoris because let’s be real, how many of us know exactly what it is….or WHERE it is? And it’s a part of our bodies!!! As Zaiba says in this episode, “We don’t know what we don’t talk about.” Find out about our God-given organ (and He does NOT make mistakes!), its power, and the ways in which men have tried to oppress us through it. Good news: female circumcision is another failure of men and internalized female mis...

We kick off our series this month breaking down some of the toxic practices and mindsets associated with sex and sexuality in the Muslim community. Who better to address some of those taboos than Zaiba and Uzma themselves? No guests for this episode, folks! Your favorite cohosts are talking about some of their sexual hangups and breakthroughs, how they got over them, and how they’re raising sex-positive kids who aren’t afraid to talk or learn about sex or to be ashamed of the sexual beings they...

Aisha Jalali joins us today to discuss her survival guide to raising a 6-pack (of kids, not soda or beer) and being the hot, hot, hot mother in law she is now masha'Allah. The good news is, she is winging it while making it look easy. Like Aisha, WE want to "wing it" via many road trips, sujood ash shukr (prostrations of gratitude), family halaqa traditions, mama self care, and keeping all our ears and doors open, even when there's cucumbers and watermelon sugar involved. Yes, we said it. You'll...

Chaplain Kirsten Jawad joins us today to engage in thoughtful conversation about parenting mindfully in an era when our young people are so much more dynamic than in the past–from flying the nest to staying in it and what work is required to keep our relationships healthy, faithful, and rewarding. While it’s great that our kids don’t want to leave yet, we still serve in our maternal roles to support their continued independence, resilience, and to help our mom-adult child relationship reach anot...

When we asked Joy Turner, mom of 3 adults ● How do we conduct ourselves when adult kids don’t practice or act according to what we expect? ● How do we retire the red panic button? ● What keeps a mom from going nuclear? we didn’t expect to end up in tears. Joy threw us a curveball on this one because y’all know we like to end on a laugh, but instead we shared happy snot. “Just love them.” Thank you for bringing back joy, Joy. We pray that mommying these adult kids will build far better than ...

Nora Abbasi, mom of 4 adult children, joins us today to share motherisms that helped her reach this glorious point as grandmother to 12 little Muslims, mashaAllah. Her advice and reflections are so helpful to those of us on the cusp of being empty nesters or those of who fear reaching that point. All things our kids face with us at their sides can be good. Caring about “what will people say,” sabotages us, though and her tips on how to avoid doing that are GOLDEN. We learned SO MUCH about how t...

Our 9/11 special was featured by Fireside this month as one of the most compelling episodes of the year. For those who don’t know yet, Zaiba & Uzma host Breakfast Byelines weekly and WOC Book Club once a month on this innovative app that can best be described as “Clubhouse married Facebook Live.” Don't miss out on Fireside, but if you don't want to check out another app, get the recordings by joining our Patreon! This recording was our inaugural episode on Fireside, when amazing panelists and au...

Aisha Mshood joins us today as a mom who fostered to adopt and continues to foster children in America in hopes of building the family of her dreams. Her commitment to her children is awe-inspiring, as is her COMPLETE reliance on and in Allah SWT during a process that is not easy. From catfishing to fostering, to all the blocks falling into place just when they needed to be to be called “mom,” Aisha is a resource for anyone who has considered all the reasons not to foster or adopt…..we only need...

Cultivating Families out of Texas has this core belief: when all faith communities care for foster and adopted children, NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT TO NAVIGATE LIFE ALONE. This really resonated with us and Executive Director and Rev. Amy Becezny and Board member Sarah Haider Alam of CF are on today to share their journeys of adoption, but more importantly, a lot of the challenges that come with building a family through adoption. These challenges can break a mom in the making before she even lifts of...

As co-founder of @muslimfostercare, Ranya Shbeib knows how to address deficiencies in the community. Namely, Muslim families licensed for foster care to take care of the 405K American children in need of fostering. There are only just over 13K licensed foster homes in America as of 2020. Do the math! ​ ​With the current discussion about Afghanistan and states gearing up to receive hundreds of unaccompanied refugee minors, Americans of all faiths are stepping forward to help and "adopt." Slow y...

Dr. Alia Irshad, pediatrician and adoptive mom, joins us today to talk about some of the hindrances to domestic adoption for Muslim parents, and the process of going international as she did. The process is demystified for us today, and her personal experience is the happy ending we want for every child of every faith and background. Let’s address some of the problematic beliefs the Muslim community has about adoption, and reveal the religious stipulations of adoption for our non Muslim audience...

Hazel Gomez of Muslim Power Building Project joins us today to talk about Latinos at the forefront of social justice in America. As leaders in the movement for change, Latina Muslims especially are culturally endowed with assets and experiences that lend them towards success. She’s a great reminder of history and how Muslims have always been a part of social and political change in America, such that no movement is for any one people; we are all touched by the othering of any community. Her anec...

Monica Traverzo talks to us about being a Puerto Rican Muslimah, and how her intersectional kids are being raised in their PaliRico (@mon.del.tra is trademarking it) Arab Latino household. Her points on ethnic, cultural and religious pride should be listened to on repeat because they’re so simple, yet so many Muslim Americans miss the mark on these. What is the point of parenting Muslim children in America anyway? Let’s revisit that, too. Common interactions with Muslims, though, is what breaks ...

Sakinah Gutierrez, co-founder of IslaminSpanish @islaminspanish discusses her journey to provide Islamic resources in Spanish besides just a translation of the Quran. Her media vision for the community is leaps and bounds ahead of what masjid boards consider mashaAllah, and we want her knowledge shared with the WORLD. Learn about her conversion story, her calling, raising her intersectional kids, support systems, and the work of el Centro. ​ ​There are all kinds of herstory lessons here: past, p...

Eva Martineau, Afro Latina of Mexican and Haitian lineage and nurse midwife, discusses persistent racial disparities in birth care that traumatize primarily minority populations in America. Find out why this researcher didn't stop at stats, but collected degrees as she decided to set the stirrups straight and serve her community to prevent further harm to future generations. She's taking names and kicking false stories we tell about birth in the...well, take a guess. ​​​We've touched on birth w...

Shownotes: There have been a lot of new listeners recently, and we thought, what better way to give them an intro to the podcast than to provide a montage of our top 5 most downloaded episodes? If you’ve already heard these, you’re ahead of the game, but take a listen to this production to see what the common theme is. Lucky guesses what your fellow listeners prefer to tune into every week? Tune in every Thursday 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music or ask Ale...

Which one of us has met a deaf Muslim? Chances are, very few, but it’s most likely because we aren’t creating spaces where we can, as Andaleeb Elayan, Executive Director of Global Deaf Muslim discusses today. We learn A LOT about accessibility and inclusivity and the most important pearl of the day from Andaleeb herself, “Your deaf child can do EVERYTHING except hear.” Treat them as such. ​For our podcast audience, please be mindful that the voice you hear is that of voice interpreter, Cheryl, ...

It’s hard to imagine that schools would discriminate against students with disabilities, but Saadia Qureshi leaves us breathless as she discusses her fight to obtain inclusive education for her daughter with Down syndrome. The system is not designed to help our disabled students succeed, and the “separate but equal” model is anything BUT. Learn not just about the emotional weight of a diagnosis without community or medical support, but how we can do better by insisting on equity in our education...

Sara Minkara continues our Disability Awareness series this month by talking about her blindness, the challenges of blind Muslims, and how to change the disability narrative from one of charity to the “suffering,” to one of value-based inclusion: you are important because you are you in every way you are created. The current “favor” dynamic perpetuates ableism and disempowers the disabled, so we have to undo the pity perspective. Accessibility and integration are RIGHTS that will change the prob...

​Dilshad Ali shares a day in the life of a mom raising an adult child with autism, inspiring and teaching us today. Tune in to hear all the things we take for granted, and all the beautiful things we miss. Rather than perpetuate cultural behavior and silence around disabilities, we break the sound barrier for Muslim Americans to better support moms in the same position as Dilshad. We don't pity, other, ignore, and pretend disabled Muslims don't exist anymore! ​ ​Get inspired by Dilshad's mutiple...