Saturday, October 13, 2018

Radical Love: Inspiring the Artist in Me

In case you missed it, I shared my first poem on Radical Love at Hagar Lives, the blog by me and my sister Ayisha Karim. Check it out: Coming Out as a Radical Lover: Prayers, Poems, and Passion for Hagar. The post demonstrates my movement between Academia and the Arts. I recently had the opportunity to share my current work and goals as an artist. Here's how I see it:


I presented my first talk on Radical Love at the IMAN Arts Retreat, October 2017. My talk inspired this drawing by multimedia artist Kelly Crosby.

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I see my art fitting in a unique genre that I call creative academic nonfiction. I was trained as an academic, and the goal of my academic publications was to use creative narrative to challenge the stereotypical images of Islam, Muslim women, African Americans, and immigrants.

I was advised to read fiction when writing my first academic book, American Muslim Women, because it would inspire me to write with brilliant color and rhythm. This practice, I believe, made my book award winning. I discovered that people found my narratives of Muslim women highly captivating and compelling. Since storytelling moves people, I decided to strengthen my craft by incorporating artistic practice in my writing as much as possible. Literary devices that I use include imagery and characterization. Characterization in my writing means spending time portraying real people in great depth, including myself. I regularly incorporate personal stories to draw readers in and to convey particular ideas.

I left academia in 2011, and yet I am still invited by colleges and universities to speak about American Muslim women or speak on Islam, gender, and race, my areas of expertise. In this way, I flow in and out of academic spaces, all the while inspired by great literature. My current work reflects this movement. Beautiful storytelling as an art is as important to me as presenting new ideas that challenge negative portrayals of Islam. Creative academic nonfiction is my genre because I use my words to resist and educate, but with style and elegance.

Blogging and public speaking have provided me the space to enhance my craft as an artist, with the goal of moving away from academic forms of presentation. My goals can be defined as publishing creative writing in print and online that tell real stories through literary craft and at the same time challenge people to think in new ways.  

My current goal is to write my first non-academic book, a collection of creative essays on Radical Love, a concept in the Sufi tradition that teaches that the path to God is the path of Love. The 13th-century Persian poet Rumi has provided for most Westerners a window into this tradition of divinely inspired human love, layered with passion, ecstasy, separation, heartbreak, and union. We’ve embraced Rumi because of his timeless sayings like this one: “They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls.”

Imagine, though, rediscovering Radical Love from the perspective of an African American Muslim woman from Atlanta, GA. Illuminated by my personal stories of finding love in never expected places, my essays explore love’s vastness, challenging the way we have been conditioned to think of and talk about love in such limited ways. It’s as though we have locks on our hearts. What happens when we free our hearts to meet their true capacity, to reach deep love outside of romantic relationships and familial ties? And what happens to our stereotypical views of Islam when an African American Muslim woman artist explores love with bold and bewildering beauty and honesty?

Monday, May 21, 2018

American Muslim Women, Still Relevant Ten Years Later

Alhamdulillah, I was quite pleased and grateful to discover these 2018 amazon reviews of my first book, American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Gender and Class Within the Ummah.




Dr. Jamillah Karim speaks truth to power! This brilliant book has become a cornerstone of my library and played an immense role in my return to academia as it sheds light on the lived experiences of Muslim women in America. By focusing on Muslim women within in their religious spheres along with the imbrication of race, gender, class and age--Dr. Karim delivers a richly textured account of and on American Women as they negotiate so many facets of their identity.

By fully, confronting the intra-Muslims racism of American Islam, Dr. Karim has created an opening for a new genera of study and long overdue discussion on this very real issue.

This book is perfectly suited for the non-academic as well as those within. Her brilliant methodologies foster an accessible reading.

Above all, Dr. Karim sheds light on the eloquent and nuanced dance of identity negotiation(s) that all Muslim women must perform in the richly diverse context of America. One of my all time favorite books!


Ananda W, March 2018

Ground-breaking study on gender and interminority relationships. A bold move away from studies that give a "portrait" of one particular ethnic minority. Also brings an important class analysis. A must read for religious studies, American and ethnic studies and the study of Islam more generally.

Dr. Su’ad, March 2018

Bio 2018

Photo by Joi Faison, 2016
Jamillah Karim is an award-winning author, speaker, and blogger. She specializes in race, gender, and Islam in America. 

Jamillah is author of Women of the Nation: Between Black Protest and Sunni Islam (with Dawn-Marie Gibson) and American Muslim Women: Negotiating Race, Class, and Gender Within the Ummahwhich was awarded the 2008 Book Award in Social Sciences by the Association for Asian American Studies. 

She is currently working on a new book, Radical Love, where she explores the depth and beauty of divine and human love.

Jamillah blogs for Sapelo Square, Hagar Lives, Race+Gender+Faith, NYU Press Blog, and Huffington Post Religion. She speaks regularly at college campuses and Muslim conferences across the nation. In 2014, her scholarly activism was recognized by JET magazine, which featured her as a young faith leader in the African American community.

Jamillah is a former associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Spelman College. She holds a BSE in electrical engineering and a PhD in Islamic Studies from Duke University. 


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Amazon Review of American Muslim Women, March 2018

Dr. Jamillah Karim speaks truth to power! This brilliant book has become a cornerstone of my library and played an immense role in my return to academia as it sheds light on the lived experiences of Muslim women in America. By focusing on Muslim women within in their religious spheres along with the imbrication of race, gender, class and age--Dr. Karim delivers a richly textured account of and on American Women as they negotiate so many facets of their identity.

By fully, confronting the intra-Muslims racism of American Islam, Dr. Karim has created an opening for a new genera of study and long overdue discussion on this very real issue.

This book is perfectly suited for the non-academic as well as those within. Her brilliant methodologies foster an accessible reading.

Above all, Dr. Karim sheds light on the eloquent and nuanced dance of identity negotiation(s) that all Muslim women must perform in the richly diverse context of America. One of my all time favorite books!

 Ananda W


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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Omar Suleiman Tweets on "Women of the Nation"

This totally made my day! Popular Muslim preacher, scholar, and Black Lives Matter activist Omar Suleiman tweets that he is thoroughly enjoying Women of the Nation! Alhamdulillah!




Monday, September 25, 2017

My Visit to TC Columbia University, New Trends Among Muslim Youth




Alhamdulillah my trip to NYC to talk at TC Columbia was perfect MashaAllah! Allah gave me everything as always.





My taxi dropped me off in the wonderful middle of Harlem because the African American Day parade was blocking the route to my apartment on Columbia's campus. I soaked up the cultural experience, feeling at home with Langston Hughes on my mind.


My hosts at Teachers College were abundantly hospitable. And friends from the two Muslim communities closest to my heart came to the lecture to support me.



Dr. Arshad Ali, who organized the panel, was gracious in his introduction of me as he noted that I was writing about the complexity (depth and diversity) of American Muslim youth identities before anyone else, Alhamdulillah. The main take away for me, which I began to realize from the three young Muslims I interviewed in preparation for this talk, and was confirmed from the research of other panelists, is that young Muslims today of Arab and Asian background are showing an outstanding amount of solidarity with other people of color, something we all agreed was mostly absence just 10 years ago and certainly 15 years ago when I was doing my research. We all thought this has so much to do with Black Lives Matter and of course growing up after 9/11 wherein for them Muslim identity has always meant a marginalized identity.

I also feel confident that superstar activist/scholars/artists beloved by Muslim youth like Su'ad Abdul Khabeer, Rami Nashashibi, Donna Auston, Kameelah Mu'min Rashad, Margari Hill, Namira Islam, Linda Sarsour, Layla Abdullah-Poulos, Hind Makki, Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, Tariq Toure, Omid Safi, Zareena Grewal, Dalia Mogahed, Omar Sulaiman, Umar Farooq Abdallah, Suhaib Webb, Brother Ali, Cristal Chanelle Truscott, and Tasleem Jamila have played a tremendous role in inspiring Muslim youth. Alhamdulillah it feels wonderful to know that my research and writing truly inspires and qualifies as activism. May Allah purify my intentions, keep me close to Him, elevate my work, and make us all beacons of light and mercy pointing to the beloved (S) and the Most Merciful, the Most Loving.