Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2023

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: Pseudonymous Author

Hijab Butch Blues is a memoir written under a pseudonym or fictitious name—Lamya H. Authors may use pseudonyms for a variety of reasons. For example, in the 19thcentury, female authors would use pen names to obscure their gender because books by women were often rejected for publication or not considered authoritative by audiences, as in the case of novelist Mary Ann Evans, who published under the pseudonym George Eliot. Author Lamya H. uses a pseudonym to protect herself. As she explains in the final chapter of Hijab Butch Blues, “[My pseudonym] allows me to save my energy for curious, kind dialogue and to support those I love—instead of fighting to fend off racists, sexists, homophobes, transphobes, Islamophobes who could look up where I live, where I work, who and what I hold dear” (277). Put another way, Lamya uses a pseudonym to avoid “doxxing”—a practice in which someone’s private details are intentionally made public as a target for harassment. As a queer Muslim person, Lamya recognizes that she is particularly vulnerable to prejudiced attacks.

Although it is a pseudonym, Lamya H. expresses rather than obscures the author’s point of view. Lamya is a feminine first name from Arabic that denotes radiance and beauty. It is also associated with dark lips. As such, Lamya is a pseudonym that highlights the author’s Muslim identity and feminist perspective. She uses this pseudonym across her public identity, and she has published multiple articles and texts under this name.

Cultural Context: Islam and the Quran

Lamya H. structures her memoir around her relationship with Islam and her readings of the Quran. The Quran, or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam. It is considered the transcribed words of the prophet Muhammad as communicated to him by Allah (God) and was written in classical Arabic sometime in the early seventh century CE. The Quran is organized into 114 chapters known as surahs and broken into lines, or ayahs. Lamya often specifies the individual surah and sometimes the ayah to which she is referring. For instance, she opens the preface with a citation of The Quran 2:260, that is, the second surah, ayah 260. The surahs each have titles that refer to their subject, as in Surah Maryam, or “Mary’s Chapter.”

The Quran contains many references to characters from the Jewish Tenakh and the Christian Bible. Lamya structures each chapter around one figure from the Quran. When relevant, this guide notes both the Arabic name as found in Hijab Butch Blues and the corresponding English-language name for clarity. The contours of the stories as told in the Quran are broadly similar to the way they are recounted in the other monotheistic holy books. However, they often contain specific details not found in those previous texts. For instance, the Quran describes God alone being the one who commanded Ibrahim (Abraham) to take Hajar and Ishmael into the desert, whereas in the Talmud, it is Sara who sends them away so that her son, Isaac, does not have to share his inheritance with Ishmael.