Faithless Hijabi

23/08/2026

In remembrance of 5 years since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, below is a message from someone from inside the country directed to the world outside of Afghanistan as quoted from WDI Afghanistan:

‘To the governments, international organizations, and world leaders who have the power to act:

🙏If even these words do not wake you up, what will?

💔For five years, Afghan women and girls have been stripped of their most basic human rights.

🚨The Taliban officially say that girls’ education is against Islam. They say women who leave their homes to study are not “good” women. They say girls’ education is a Western and “un-Islamic” culture.
They have used these claims to shut millions of Afghan girls out of secondary schools and universities.

🚨This is the deliberate destruction of girls’ futures.
And the world must stop treating it as normal."

27/07/2026

04/06/2026

Her graphic novel series, published in English in 2003, followed an Iranian girl through the Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. The work helped millions relate to Iranians.

04/06/2026

Some poems are soft reflections.
Some are acts of defiance.

“Submissive Delusion” captures the exhaustion, rage, contradiction, and clarity that can come with resisting misogyny, religious control, purity culture, and social policing.

It speaks to the pressure placed on women and ExMuslims to shrink themselves, stay silent, defend systems that harm them, or accept shame as virtue.

But survival can become rebellion.
Questioning can become liberation.
And storytelling can become a way of reclaiming power.

Thank you to Storm for sharing this powerful piece with the Faithless Hijabi Writers Club. 💜

🖋️ Want to share your poetry, writing, reflections, or artwork with us?
We welcome voices from across the ExMuslim experience.

🌐 Faithless Hijabi: www.faithlesshijabi.org

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/

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/

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/

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

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/