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Shaista Abdul Aziz Patel

Shaista Abdul Aziz Patel identifies as a Pakistani Shi’i Muslim feminist scholar. She works as an assistant professor of critical Muslim studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, San Diego. Her scholarly and all other political investments are in several questions that draw upon theories in Indigenous (to North America and South Asia), Black, Dalit, anti-caste, Muslim, and transnational feminist studies.

Essays

Who is Afraid of Allah? On Muslims Sans Muslimness

For Muslims to become worthy of any empathy and solidarity, whether in the west or in staunchly anti-Muslim India, what must first be shed is our very religiosity. Islam is to be tolerated only when reduced to culture in which the dominant-caste or white friend can joyously celebrate Muslim festivities, visit Muslim friends and restaurants for biryani in Toronto or Delhi, or post Sufi songs on their social media. Those are the parameters set around reception of a Muslim sans Islam.