We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir

by Samra Habib

I tried to hold back my tears—for the first time I was witnessing a version of Islam I could be a part of. After being scolded and frozen out, I now felt that Islam was welcoming me back into its arms. It had been an awful lonely time, and I was glad to be in the company of people who didn’t ask me to change who I was in order to share space with them. I had finally found my people.

Representation is a critical way for people to recognize that their experiences—even if invisible in the mainstream—are valid.

“We have always been here, it’s just that the world wasn’t ready for us yet.