“It’s that glorious feeling that comes from inviting someone into your world.”

Hijab Butch Blues is Lamya’s memoir that weaves their personal life stories of growing up and migrating to the U.S., with stories from the Quran. Lamya sees ways their queerness and religion go hand in hand, which goes against a lot of traditional thinking.

I am always a little skeptical when I start a book with any religious themes, but I am SO glad I read this and ignored that skepticism. This book made me so emotional. The writing is absolutely beautiful and captivating. By using the stories from the Quran, Lamya added so much depth to the stories of their experiences. 

I learned so much from this book and have done a lot of reflection after reading. One of the big things I learned was about being a hijabi Muslim living in the U.S. and how people are treated. The stories of the microaggressions were eye opening; I am so grateful to the author for sharing those. 

One of my favorite stories was Lamya questioning why male pronouns are used for Allah if Allah is neither male nor female, asking if Allah could be nonbinary. This is just one example of Lamya draws parallels between their queerness and gender identity, and their religion. 

A part that really resonated with me and I related to is Lamya's discussion on queer indispensability. They describe this as not wanting to open up to people or show a need for support for the fear that loved ones will leave. Being vulnerable is hard!! And I think being a queer person adds different dimensions to that, which was very relatable. 

In summary: highly recommend. It’s really great on audio, but I will be buying a physical copy to highlight and reference back to.