Faithless Hijabi

Faithless Hijabi Supporting ExMuslims to overcome religious trauma and honour based abuse.

Healing is often talked about as though it has to look dramatic, fearless, or perfect.But for many Ex-Muslim women, heal...
30/05/2026

Healing is often talked about as though it has to look dramatic, fearless, or perfect.

But for many Ex-Muslim women, healing begins quietly.

Sometimes it looks like:
• saying “no” without apologising
• resting without “earning” it first
• feeling anger without shame
• experiencing joy without guilt
• grieving what was taken from you
• finding people who do not fear your voice

Healing is not always loud.
Sometimes it is simply reconnecting with yourself after years of suppression, fear, shame, or control.

You do not have to become fearless to become free.

Your voice was never the problem.

This series is being shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, recovery, and healing.

Inspired by ’s book *Rage Becomes Her* ().

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Anger is often treated as something dangerous.But sometimes anger is information.It can be the feeling that tells you:• ...
28/05/2026

Anger is often treated as something dangerous.

But sometimes anger is information.

It can be the feeling that tells you:
• a boundary was crossed
• something felt unsafe
• something was unjust

For many Ex-Muslim women, anger was treated as a threat even when it came from fear, pain, grief, or self-protection.

But anger can also mean that part of you still expects:
• dignity
• safety
• change

That matters.

Because emotional suppression can teach people to distrust themselves so deeply that they stop listening to what their emotions are trying to communicate.

You do not have to:
• explode
• suppress
• or destroy yourself

to listen to your anger.

Healing can also mean learning to ask:
“What is this feeling trying to tell me?”

Your anger does not make you cruel.
Ignoring your pain will not make you moral.

Sometimes healing begins when you stop fearing your own voice.

This series is being shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, shame, and healing.

Inspired by ’s book *Rage Becomes Her* ().

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Many Ex-Muslim women were not only taught to suppress anger.They were taught that anger itself was morally wrong.Questio...
23/05/2026

Many Ex-Muslim women were not only taught to suppress anger.

They were taught that anger itself was morally wrong.

Questioning authority could become:
• disrespect
• rebellion
• disobedience

Even when the authority causing harm was abusive, controlling, or unjust.

Obedience was often praised more than emotional honesty.
Silence was treated as goodness.
Endurance was treated as strength.

Over time, anger became tangled with:
• guilt
• shame
• fear

And when anger threatens systems of control, it often gets labelled “dangerous.”

But your anger was not immoral.

Sometimes anger is the part of you trying to recognise harm, defend boundaries, and protect yourself.

This series is being shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, shame, and healing.

Inspired by ’s book *Rage Becomes Her* ().

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Packed audience.A visible front row of ex-Muslims.A rare space where ex-Muslim women spoke openly in our own voices.At L...
20/05/2026

Packed audience.
A visible front row of ex-Muslims.
A rare space where ex-Muslim women spoke openly in our own voices.

At Leicester Secular Society, I gave a talk about growing up Muslim in Britain and how experiences of shame, surveillance, gender policing, forced marriage, obedience culture, racism, and sexual control are not distant issues “over there” — but realities many ex-Muslims have lived through in the UK too.

One of the most powerful parts of the evening was the Q&A, where ex-Muslims collectively answered questions together. Spaces like this remain rare because visibility still carries risks.

Ex-Muslims are often caught between religious extremism from the communities we left behind and far-right racism from those who still see us as foreign or politically useful only when convenient.

We reject both.

The evening also highlighted secular solidarity across communities. Behind me in these photos are displays connected to anti-caste activism, secular resistance, and previous events hosted at Leicester Secular Hall challenging religious hierarchy and authoritarianism.

The chair of the event spoke about how ex-Muslim voices are routinely shut down and how No Hijab Day became one of the most contested events hosted by Leicester Secular Society. It was never about attacking Muslims — it was about allowing ex-Muslim women to speak honestly about coercion, shame, abuse, and backlash linked to both wearing and removing the hijab.

These conversations matter globally too.

Today, Islam remains the only major religion with states still enforcing the death penalty for apostasy in law or practice. In Iran alone, at least 1,639 executions were recorded in 2025 according to human rights organisations.

Women and girls globally continue to bear the harshest burden of religious misogyny and gender-based control.

Thank you to everyone who attended, listened, and helped create a space where ex-Muslims could speak openly and collectively.

Special thanks to Nazreen Bibi for the photography.

Transcript coming soon.


faithlesshijabi.org

Sometimes suppressed anger does not disappear.It turns inward.For many Ex-Muslim women, emotions that should have been r...
18/05/2026

Sometimes suppressed anger does not disappear.

It turns inward.

For many Ex-Muslim women, emotions that should have been recognised as fear, grief, injustice, or self-protection were instead treated as weakness, disobedience, or shame.

Over time, that anger can become:
• anxiety
• burnout
• numbness
• self-blame
• constant questioning of yourself

When people are taught that anger is “wrong,” they often stop asking:
“What harmed me?”

And start asking:
“What’s wrong with me?”

This series is about reclaiming emotional honesty from shame and silence.

Shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, and healing.

Inspired by ’s book *Rage Becomes Her* ().

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Many Ex-Muslim women were not simply told to suppress anger.They were trained to fear it.To associate anger with:• shame...
14/05/2026

Many Ex-Muslim women were not simply told to suppress anger.

They were trained to fear it.

To associate anger with:
• shame
• disrespect
• disobedience
• losing love
• bringing dishonour

For many women, silence was praised as maturity — even when it meant abandoning themselves.

This conditioning does not disappear overnight.

It can shape how people respond to conflict, boundaries, self-expression, burnout, and even their own pain.

This series is being shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, shame, and healing.

The remaining parts of this six-part series will continue throughout May.

Inspired by Rage Becomes Her by
and the work of

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Rage is often treated as something dangerous in Ex-Muslim women.Something shameful. Something to suppress.But anger does...
10/05/2026

Rage is often treated as something dangerous in Ex-Muslim women.
Something shameful. Something to suppress.

But anger does not appear out of nowhere.

Sometimes it is a response to:
• control
• fear
• being silenced
• having your boundaries crossed
• living under constant scrutiny

Many Ex-Muslim women were taught to distrust their emotions before they were ever taught to understand them.

This series is about reclaiming anger from shame.

Not glorifying harm.
Not romanticising pain.
But recognising that anger can also be information, grief, self-protection, clarity, and survival.

This series is being shared during Mental Health Awareness Month (USA) and UK Mental Health Awareness Week (12–18 May) to support conversations around religious trauma, emotional suppression, shame, and healing.

The remaining parts of this six-part series will be shared throughout May.

Inspired by *Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger* by Soraya Chemaly.

💛 Support and resources:
https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

Some stories are hard to tell.Some are even harder to hear.But they matter.In a month where Mental Health Awareness Mont...
09/05/2026

Some stories are hard to tell.
Some are even harder to hear.

But they matter.

In a month where Mental Health Awareness Month is being marked in the US, and Mental Health Awareness Week is taking place here in the UK, it’s worth remembering:

Silence doesn’t protect people.
It isolates them.

Stories like this break through the silence — the fear, the shame, the pressure to stay quiet
“for the family,”
“for the community,”
“for your own safety.”

When these voices are shared, something shifts:

isolation becomes connection
stigma is challenged
and others realise: it’s not just me

That shift is part of mental health.
Being heard. Being believed. Not carrying it alone.

This is why spaces like this exist.
To listen. To validate. To hold these truths without minimising them.

🗣️ These stories are not isolated — and they are not staying hidden.

💬 Want to share your story, poetry, or art?
You don’t have to do it alone.

🌐 Faithless Hijabi: https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/

💛 Support our work: https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/support-us/

Faithless Hijabi is honoured to share this piece by Hamna, an ExMuslim writer exploring identity, resistance, and self-r...
27/04/2026

Faithless Hijabi is honoured to share this piece by Hamna, an ExMuslim writer exploring identity, resistance, and self-reclamation through poetry.
Her words speak to something many recognise but rarely name — the quiet expectations, the pressure to shrink, and the courage it takes to unlearn them.
🖊️ “Not by submission. But by integrity. And integrity requires a spine.”
If this resonates with you, take a moment to sit with it — and share your reflections below.

🔗 Explore more from Hamna
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Hamna-UnFollowed/
Substack: https://substack.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584242262016

🌍 About Faithless Hijabi
Faithless Hijabi supports ExMuslims navigating identity, trauma, and healing.
🔗 https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/
💛 Support our work: https://www.faithlesshijabi.org/support-us

📣 Get Involved
Want to share your story or poetry?
Message us to join the Writers Club.

Maryam Namazie: Urgent Concern Over Reported Arrest and Disappearance of Egyptian Activist Sherif GaberEx-Muslims Intern...
08/11/2025

Maryam Namazie: Urgent Concern Over Reported Arrest and Disappearance of Egyptian Activist Sherif Gaber

Ex-Muslims International, including Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB), expresses deep concern following credible reports that Sherif Gaber was arrested on 4 November 2025. Sherif Gaber is a well-known Egyptian atheist, political activist, blogger, and YouTuber who advocates for free thought, secularism, and scientific reasoning in Egypt and the wider Arab world.

According to information obtained his current whereabouts remain unknown and no official authority has confirmed the reason for his detention or where he is being held.

The reports of Gaber’s detention come amid what appears to be a wider government crackdown on free thought and secular activists across Egypt. Credible human rights monitoring reports indicate that over the past few weeks, up to 20 other atheists have reportedly been detained or questioned by security services. These arrests, if confirmed, represent a deeply troubling escalation in the repression of non-violent belief and expression.

Sherif Gaber is widely recognised for his outspoken advocacy of free thought, scientific reasoning, and secular values in Egypt and the wider Arab world. Over the past decade, he has faced repeated harassment and prosecution on charges such as “blasphemy” and “spreading atheistic ideas.” In May 2024, an Egyptian court sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of “contempt of religion” and “promoting atheism,” continuing a longstanding pattern of persecution for peacefully expressing his opinions.

The arbitrary arrest or disappearance of individuals for their beliefs or opinions violates rights obligations.

Ex-Muslims International urges the Egyptian authorities to:
Immediately disclose his whereabouts and allow him contact with his family and legal representatives;
Ensure his safety and humane treatment in line with international standards;
Release him immediately and unconditionally
End the ongoing campaign of intimidation and arrests targeting non-believers, secularists, and free-expression advocates

https://tinyurl.com/bdbbncsx

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