The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth

Prompted by a chance encounter with a colleague who had commented thatSamia Hussain was the only Muslimah she knew – in a city in which about12% of the population is Muslim –the author reached out across Canada to assemblean edited collection of autobiographical essays by Canadian Muslimahs:The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth: Personal Stories by CanadianMuslim Women. She asked them to “share their personal experiences relatingto what it meant for them to be Canadians and Muslims, to tell readers detailsabout their lives, their concerns, and their aspirations” (p. 2).Hussain made “considerable effort to reflect the diversity of Canada’s Muslimpopulation” (p. 2), recounting at a book launch how she approachedstrangers on the street to ask them to contribute. This effort, which surely ledto the inclusion of people who might otherwise have been left out, is also thesource of my only minor criticism: Inviting women who are not normally writersto write their own stories gives the book a slightly uneven quality. I wishthat Hussain had taken a stronger role as editor and tidied up those pieces thatare a bit choppy, hard to follow due to missing elements, or end abruptly withouta seeming conclusion. Of course, that is also the beauty of the collection,for writers normally already have some kind of public presence. Bringing outthe voices of ordinary Muslimahs so that readers can “meet” women theywould not otherwise meet is a gift of bridge building

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