Hijab Butch Blues: A Memoir

Lamya H. is the pseudonym of the author of Hijab Butch Blues. Based on the information found in the memoir, Lamya was born in southeast Asia, likely Pakistan or India. Around the age of five, she moved with her family to a “rich Arab country,” likely the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, because her father could earn more money there. At 18, Lamya moved to the United States to attend a “prestigious college” in New York state. Later, she attended graduate school in New York City. After graduate school, she met her partner, Olivia, or “Liv,” “a white girl from Vermont” (209). According to the author biography on her website, Lamya H. currently works as a writer and organizer in NYC, “creating spaces for LGBTQ+ Muslims, fighting Islamophobia, and abolishing prisons” (“Home.” Lamya H). Little else is known about her biographical information.

Hijab Book Blues gives insight into Lamya’s growth and maturity over the course of her life. However, some aspects of her personality remained consistent over time. As a child, Lamya was a “irascible tomboy” who preferred watching cricket with her male relatives over wearing makeup or getting dressed up with her female relatives. Later, she adopted a casual, nonbinary self-presentation: “baggy jeans, a red hoodie, sneakers” (78). She was a dedicated and focused student in grade school; her curiosity and attention to detail enabled her to win a scholarship to a prestigious American university and later attend graduate school. She characterizes herself as a “nerd,” both as a child and an adult. As a child, this manifested in her eagerness to attend her Islamic studies class, in contrast to her peers. As an adult, she describes an episode where she attended a lecture—while on a date—and taking notes. She was fiercely independent as a child out of necessity since she grew up in a country where she was discriminated against and where it was hard to make friends since people often moved away. Her independence continued into adulthood as she moved to the United States alone, without her immediate family, and pursued her own course in life, although she later learned to temper this independence by letting in and cultivating a supportive community around herself.

Lamya comes from a devout Muslim family and has remained devout into her adulthood, even as her relationship with her religious practice evolved. As a child, she attended classes at the mosque and read the Quran regularly. As an adult, she wears a hijab, even against the advice of her family members, and prays five times a day. However, from a young age, she began the process of Developing a Personal Relationship With Islam, learning to question and challenge the interpretations of authority figures, as when she asked her teacher why Allah’s pronouns are always translated as male. As an adult, she uses this questioning stance to imagine and reinterpret scripture in a way that aligns with her feminist ideals.

Lamya engages with the world and describes herself in the context of her intersectional identity: she is brown, queer, nonbinary, Muslim, and an immigrant. These different facets define who she is and shape her world. Despite the prejudice that she faces as a result of these identities, she also uses them as the foundation to build community and find joy. Lamya is principled, strident, and passionate about social justice. She describes herself as fighting for “a world that is kinder, more generous, more just” through her activism and her writing (279), which is an extension of that activism.