The “a” in this title cannot be emphasised enough. Over the past month I have been trying to gather my thoughts around both the impetus for re-imagining justice that is inherent to Islam, and the ways that Islam approaches justice and accountability which offer solid and exciting alternatives to today’s criminal justice system. As the demand for abolition is popularised to a wider level of public discussion and imagination in the past few months I have only really seen the conversation around Islam and transformed notions of justice take off in the USA (e.g. through the work of Believers Bailo ..read more

This isn’t specifically more important now than at any other time, but in light of George Floyd’s murder and the momentum that has been building against structural White Supremacy and the murderous apparatus of the colonial nation-state, my mind is buzzing and I want to have a clear space where my full thoughts are traceable rather than a few tweet threads. This is not to center myself in this moment, I am simply attaching this to the threads and resources  I have already put up to ensure there is a fullness of my thought to accompany them iA. The conditional promise of Whiteness and its ..read more

I have been wanting to write for some time, but have been unsure exactly what it is I need to say. The words I noted down on the piece of paper on my desk seem to have derived from particular moments and feelings. They say ‘isolation’, ‘alienation of violence’ and there’s a drawing of circles around a dot. Something that I know all those things relate to was a feeling I wanted to write about around a month or more ago. One of the interesting outcomes of withdrawing from the Bradford Literature Festival was the way I, and the others who withdrew, came to be positioned. As throughout the whole o ..read more

Statement of explanation for withdrawal from Bradford Literature Festival 2019 – Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan – published online 17.06.2019. I regret to announce my withdrawal from participation in the Bradford Literature Festival (BLF) this year due to becoming aware of funding and support given to BLF by the Home Office’s ‘Building a Stronger Britain Together’ fund that is part of the Counter Extremism Strategy (a list of other recipients can be found on the government’s website). I apologise to anyone who was hoping to see my work at the festival but I have come to this decision through deliberat ..read more

I want to write a short reflection on Ramadan as I usually keep a daily journal during the month but this Ramadan was so hectic that I didn’t get time. Internally, however, it was hugely transformational for me – or so I pray it is, going forward. I remember a talk I heard a few years ago where there was a reminder that if you were to change one tiny thing in your life after Ramadan (e.g. read one/one more ayah of Quran a day, or give £0.50 a day to someone who needs it, or keep one fast a month, or listen to one Islamic talk a week, or memorise one ayah of Quran a week, or go to the mosque fo ..read more