Monday 18 June 2012

Fathers Day: A Love Letter to Muslim Fathers

Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi write for the Huffington Post (17th June 2012)on Fathers Day about Muslim fathers, usually a much maligned group:

"All of my life, Muslim men -- from my father to my uncles, from my cousins to my friends -- are the ones who have nurtured, supported and protected me. They've cheered every success, inspired me to push higher with my personal and professional ambitions, and believed in me even when -- especially when -- I did not believe in myself.

I'm married to an utterly irresistible Muslim man who makes me laugh, respects and cherishes me as an equal partner. I'm the mother of a Muslim son whom we are raising with the Islamic values that will make him a strong advocate of women's rights, just like his father and the other Muslim men in my life.

So this Father's Day, I'm writing a love letter to Muslim fathers.

I begin this love letter with my own Pakistani-American father, who raised three strong, independent daughters, encouraged us to pursue our professional goals, and who made space in his heart for the Albanian-American man I told him I wanted to marry. Though no other woman (or man) in my huge, extended family had ever married someone who was not Pakistani, my father listened to my perspectives and made room for my desires even when they were different from what he had imagined for me."

You can read the full article here.

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