Showing results by author "Umm Zakiyyah" in All Categories

The author promises to revolutionize story telling in this powerful story about three college students, one Christian and the others Muslim, who find themselves unlikely roommates at a small, private American university. Tamika, the main character of this novel, is a sophomore in college who dreams of becoming a famous singer. After a fight with her roommate, she is forced to move out of her room and ends up living with two Muslims, one who is religious, while the other is becoming discontented with the religion. Tamika is immediately drawn to Durrah, the latter, who shares her love for ...

This three-book edition of His Other Wife—Umm Zakiyyah’s popular online series turned novel—is a story about love and betrayal, faith and personal crisis, and withstanding deep emotional wounds. Jacob is a successful businessman and college professor, and his wife Deanna is a renowned marriage counselor and author. Together they are their Muslim community’s power couple. Aliyah is Deanna’s recently divorced best friend who has just accepted a position at the college where Jacob works—and who is the unwilling recipient of Deanna’s constant unsolicited relationship advice, ...

In this timely book, Umm Zakiyyah, internationally acclaimed author, soul-care mentor, and RTT therapy practitioner, draws on her personal, spiritual, and professional experience to offer advice to Muslim women embarking on marriage or hoping for this soul companionship, whether for the first time or after divorce. She also shares details of her own marriage contract, which she has prepared for herself and her daughter. Topics include acknowledging your own emotional wounding before marriage, recognizing red flags in yourself, being honest about incompatibility, understanding the power of ...

From the author of the internationally acclaimed novel If I Should Speak comes the anxiously awaited sequel. In this deft second book, Umm Zakiyyah again takes us through the lives of Tamika and those who brush her life. Now Muslim, Tamika must face her Christian mother who instilled in her a love for Christ and made church the heartbeat of the family. Torn between her dedication to Islam, the longing of her soul, and her mother, the longing of her heart--her "lifeline," Tamika struggles to find peace somewhere in between. But she finds that something must give. A story of faith, ...

In 2022 for the first time, Umm Zakiyyah, internationally acclaimed author, decided to share the emotional healing journey that she shared with her daughter, Fareedah Shaheed, following her divorce. This joint healing journey ultimately inspired her daughter to dedicate her own time to helping parents keep their children safe online, work that earned Fareedah multiple awards, including being named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree. In hoping to inspire other parents and their children, Umm Zakiyyah planned a live event entitled “Love Notes to My Daughter.” However, when it was time to ...

Our hearts are filled with so much hope as we walk our personal paths in this world. At times we are enjoying tremendous blessings that fill us with happiness and contentment. Other times we are facing difficult trials that leave us feeling disappointed, emotionally broken, and on the brink of despair. In this timely book, internationally acclaimed author Umm Zakiyyah, asks her own struggling soul this provocative question, “What did you expect?” as she seeks to make sense of some of the most painful and confusing trials that we face in this world. Sometimes we respond with patience, ...

Her mother was raped. This is how Melanie was born. For years, the sight of Melanie's face reminded her mother of the sexual assault, so Melanie herself was verbally and physically abused through childhood. But Melanie's obligation was to love and honor her mother, she told herself. This is what Melanie believed as a Christian, and it's what she believed even more so after converting to Islam. In the Qur'an, God commanded, "Reverence the wombs that bore you." But what if those wombs broke you, and incited deep emotional trauma? What then? In this groundbreaking book about healing from ...

In this novel, internationally acclaimed author of If I Should Speak, A Voice, and Footsteps introduces us to the heart, mind, and life of Renee Morris, the narrator of this reflective tale. Told in three parts, Renee's story tells of a stringent childhood in her father's church and her ultimate submission to the religion of her nature in young adulthood. As Renee embraces Islam wholeheartedly, the spiritual tranquility of her initial conversion begins to wane as she faces the often painful realities of navigating the terrains of the Muslim experience itself. At times humorous and at times ...

Footsteps, the third in Umm Zakiyyah’s internationally acclaimed If I Should Speak trilogy, is a story that stands on its own in both impact and inspiration. At the heart of the novel are Ismael and his wife Sarah. Married for twenty-six years and having accepted Islam on a journey they took together, Ismael and Sarah have what every marriage couple hopes to achieve. Stability, dedication, and a comfortable life. But as the story unfolds, the hairline fractures in their marriage become visible, and the fractures become splintering cracks as Sarah discovers a detrimental secret her husband...

In this novel that spans the Atlantic, from Saudi Arabia to America, internationally acclaimed author of the If I Should Speak trilogy and the novel Realities of Submission shares with readers a heart-moving tale of faith, betrayal, and affection. Sharif, the main character of this novel, after completing his undergraduate studies in America, is asked by family and friends to leave the comfort of the land he has known since childhood to study at a prestigious Islamic university in Riyadh. Haunted by the sudden death of his father who would have wanted this opportunity for his son, Sharif ...

An American high school student was given the homework assignment to interview someone from a different faith, and he chose Muslims. This latest edition of He Asked About Islam features the teen’s twenty questions about Islam and Umm Zakiyyah’s answers. Questions include: What are your views on Christianity and other religions? What are your views on Jesus and who he is? How was the Universe and the world created? Who is your God and why do you worship Him? Where do you go after you die and how do you get there? If you do something bad and sin, what happens and how do you get forgiven? ...

Faith turns to shame, confidence to doubt, and conviction to rebellion. Inaya was only nine when her mother converted to Islam and moved the family to Saudi Arabia. Now, at sixteen years old, Inaya returns to America and decides to remove her Muslim clothes and hide her religion at school. ...And she hopes to get the attention of a boy she likes. But she has no idea how to hide this double life from her mother, and from everyone who admires her strong faith.

Jacob and Aliyah hope to treasure their newfound connection in private while he and Deanna seek legal counsel in settling their marital disputes. Meanwhile, Deanna must face the pain of buried childhood trauma, and Aliyah worries about an Arab friend’s secret relationship that her parents don’t approve of. This three-book edition of His Other Wife—Umm Zakiyyah’s popular online series turned novel—is a story about love and betrayal, faith and personal crisis, and withstanding deep emotional wounds.

“You should forgive,” survivors of abuse and wrongdoing are constantly told. “Otherwise you’ll live with angry, bitter hearts for the rest of your lives.” In this eye-opening book about forgiveness and emotional trauma, Umm Zakiyyah, internationally acclaimed author of Reverencing the Wombs That Broke You, shares the painful lessons she learned about forced forgiveness during her own healing journey. As she sought answers to how to deal with depression, suicidality, and emotional triggers, she was consistently told that forgiveness was the only path to healing. Eventually, the ...

Mohsina, daughter of Muslim immigrants to America, is a college student who is very vocal in her arguments against her professor’s anti-Islam rhetoric about Muslim women being forced into unwanted marriages…until her parents try to force her into an unwanted marriage.

Your mind, life, and soul are not your own, she was told. Obey scholars because they know Islam better than you. And stay away from “doubtful matters.” This is what it means to be a good Muslim. If she disagreed with anything she was being taught, she was confronted with “Who do you think you are?” So year after year, she sacrificed “for the sake of Allah” giving up one thing after the other until she felt exhausted, confused, and unable to be Muslim. In this powerful book, Umm Zakiyyah, internationally acclaimed author of If I Should Speak, His Other Wife, and Reverencing the ...

As a private conversation between Jacob and friends about polygamy is leaked on social media, Deanna is publicly humiliated, and Aliyah is publicly maligned. Now Jacob is forced to face the painful realities of his marriage while Aliyah is forced to face the confusing reality of her heart. Meanwhile, these uncomfortable events trigger each character’s deepest emotional wounds and challenge them to confront parts of themselves they had buried long ago. This three-book edition of His Other Wife—Umm Zakiyyah’s popular online series turned novel—is a story about love and betrayal, faith...

In this 4th Anniversary Edition of I’m Divorced Now, Umm Zakiyyah offers what she calls “a positive reframe of life and soul” as she looks at the dissolution of her marriage four years ago through the lens of embracing soul-nourishing solitude instead of heartbreak and healing. With an added Prologue and Epilogue to capture this new positive outlook on her life today, we are blessed to see the beginning of her healing journey as laying the path to a life of gratitude and joy. On August 30, 2020, internationally acclaimed author and speaker, Umm Zakiyyah, parted from her second soul ...

On the afternoon of Sunday, January 26th, 2020, I was sitting in the prayer area of my Maryland home after having prayed Dhuhr. I was still doing my daily Qur’an reading after the early afternoon Salaah when my daughter knocked on the door and asked if she could talk to me for a minute. I told her yes. As she stepped into the room, she asked, “Did you hear what happened?” I told her I didn’t know what she meant. “About the basketball player, Kobe Bryant? You knew who he was, didn’t you?” Her use of the past tense confused me momentarily. “Yes…” I said tentatively. “He ...

The Test Paper teaches children to be grateful for their lives by understanding that getting what you want can come in ways you’d never expect. In this debut children’s book by Umm Zakiyyah, internationally acclaimed author of If I Should Speak and Muslim Girl, Zahra is sad that her friend Maha gets anything she wants. Maha even wins the top prizes at school. Zahra’s mother keeps telling Zahra that life is a test, so she should focus on getting what she wants in Paradise. But Zahra can’t think about that right now, because it’s award day and Maha might win the best prize again!