On Ramadan

from a "non-practicing cultural Muslim"

substack #46

Hi, I’m Bianca — Artist, Professor, & Creative Strategist in Los Angeles. In case you are new here or if a reminder could help, this newsletter began as an exploration of figuring things out, one day at a time. Upgrade to a paid subscription to make sure you never miss out on the really good stuff.

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For those of you who may not know, I’m a non-practicing cultural Muslim who loves Ramadan.

What does non-practicing cultural Muslim even mean? I often share this with my students, on dates, with coworkers, new friends, etc :

“You can’t remember that last time you went to church, right? but you still celebrate Easter and get Christmas presents? Same vibe.”

Even though I don’t fast (shout out to a lifelong struggle with disordered eating), I love Ramadan for many of the same reasons a lot of you love Christmas. It is a month-long celebration of camaraderie, charity, hospitality, spiritual cleansing, and many other gifts.

I was raised in multifaith/multiracial households isolated from larger community in a predominantly white area. Growing up I didn’t realize the pressure I felt to criticize certain Islamic positions without appearing anti-Muslim was just Little Me learning to navigate Islamophobia and respectability politics.

Today I get to lean into the fluidity of being “traditionally religiously unobservant” while figuring out how I’d like to continue to engage in my cultural upbringing. And as a queer, mixed-race, disrespectful daughter of immigrants (aka family abuse survivor who has chosen to go no contact), it’s taken a lot of intentional work.

In the past, I’ve found community in places like Vigilant Love’s Japanese / Muslim Bridging Communities Iftars, Believer’s Bailout Abolitionist Zakat for Bail, Eid Letter Writing to Incarcerated Muslims, and the Muslim Alliance for Sexual & Gender Diversity’s Ramadan of Resistance. Each offering is full of rad queer Muslims educating and mobilizing people. But this year I’m craving small and intentional one-on-one spaces over these bigger group activations.

As I sit down to talk out some intentions for Ramadan images like the one above are at the forefront of my mind. Both Muslim and Christian Palestinians continue to show the world what unshakable faith looks like.

I don’t believe that what the world needs in order to change is exposure to more images of Palestinians, Arabs, and/or Muslims suffering. I do not share photos of death (stay tuned for more on this in a few weeks). Instead, I have been returning to photos, moments, and stories of Palestinians and Arabs standing in their dignity, complexity, and humanity.

Last summer a dear friend told me, “When you don’t have faith in yourself I hope you know that your community has faith in you.”

I have not been able to stop thinking about this since he said this to me.

I return to his words now because they are my hope for this Ramadan — that we lend the people closest to us whatever faith we have when they need it most, and vice versa.

Whether you are Muslim or not, I hope this next month replenishes you however you need. In the meantime, I’ll be using this space to ask questions about how we might cultivate faith for ourselves and lend some to one another.

with love and care,
Bianca

P.S. Thank you for the many thoughtful notes on last week’s letter, appreciate all of you!

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❤️ Vigilant Love Bridging Communities Iftars
🌙 Believers Bailout
💌 2024 Eid Letters for Incarcerated Muslims
🏳️‍🌈 MASGD Ramadan of Resistance