Futuwwa

Call for Contributors

Futuwwa is looking for contributors for the following regions: Central Asia, the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, Western Africa, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa! Please fill out the form below if interested.

What is Futuwwa?

Futuwwa means chivalry or strength of character or this level of nobility that every Muslim should aspire to. It has been equated with brotherhood and freedom, virtue and youth. These qualities affirm something within ourselves that we should strive for – connectedness. Futuwwa is the bringing together of the youth, of those who aspire to…

Moorish Feminine Poetry

By Soultana Imagine boundless dunes  Piles of ebony sand   Under a glowing moon  Illuminating the land   From which tents arise Colorful, diverse in size  People diverse in color  All bound by family ties   Watch the sand changing sheets  To get covered in a golden veil  As the sun rises to greet  The squinting faces…

Dastan e Gul: Lale

By Durkhanai This is the story of a Turkmen refugee who fled from Afghanistan to Pakistan’s Balochistan province during the 80s, in the peak of the Cold War. Balochistan houses many refugees from Afghanistan, who came in waves during the Afghanistan’s Civil War, and to the present day. Turkmen people are from Turkmenistan, which is…

Methods of Creating History: The Somali Oral Narrative Tradition

By Casho Whenever I brought up the subject of readable Somali history to my father, I was always met with a steady grumble. Books written about Somalia’s past, at least in my father’s eyes, could generally be placed in two categories: foreign undertakings penned by colonial agents and other European scholars, or biased historical accounts…

Albanians and Islam: An Introduction

By Jetim The iterations and contexts in which Islam is found around the world are countless. One such iteration that has not often captured the hegemonic eye is Islam in the Balkan Peninsula. Though this changed for a time in the wars emanating from the breakup of Yugoslavia, this region has usually remained under-represented and…

Islam on Edge: A Mosque in Batumi

By Yıldız’ın Kızı Merely miles from the Turkish border, a Muslim legacy of its own is living on, unaffected by our ignorance of it. The only mosque in town– the Batumi mosque– was situated on an unassuming cobbled street near Piazzia Square. The small, two-story structure seamlessly blended in with the walls; only the minaret gave…

Sarajevo: Where the East Meets the West

By Lamija Every story about Sarajevo is a story about love and romance, about sacrifice and sorrow, about heartache and despair, about anguish and joy, about loss and gain, about the past and the future. And who tells the stories better than the writers? Something that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not lack is writers. In…

Kashmir: Theatre of Unspeakable Violence

By Syed Rabia Bukhari Kashmir is the real theatre of unspeakable violence and moral corrosion that can spin us into violence and nuclear war at any moment. To prevent that from happening, the conflict in Kashmir has to be addressed and resolved. That can only be done if Kashmiris are given a chance to freely…

Linguistic Diversity in Pakistan

By Durkhanai Growing up, Urdu reverberated throughout my household. Its melodic tones passed through my ears as I struggled to get the accent correct. I grew up not knowing that my parents actually communicated in two languages – Urdu and Punjabi. I always thought Punjabi was “slang” Urdu. This discourse was one that was not…

A Mauritanian Celebration

By Soultana Left cheek pressed to a warm pillow, I woke up to the absence of light outside the window facing me. It took me a little while to remember where I was because this wasn’t my room. It was a weekend which meant I was at grandma’s; it was customary for my extended family…