US photographer and filmmaker Heidi Naguib had been wanting to create a project sharing “the authentic stories” of Muslim Americans for some time. But it was the election of president Donald Trump in November last year that eventually prompted her to launch “Muslim American Faces”.
On Instagram and Facebook accounts, Naguib - herself a Muslim - posts photos of American Muslims from all backgrounds, along with a caption sharing a little of their life story.
The first portrait appeared on March 16, timed to coincide with Mr Trump’s second attempt at implementing a travel ban on visitors from several mainly Muslim countries in the United States.
“The reason I wanted to launch a project like this is that Muslims are more than just [their] religion,” said Naguib, 32, who believes that Mr Trump’s travel ban has made it more difficult to be a Muslim in the US.
“We are [also] our hopes and our fears and our experiences and our dreams."
With this in mind, many of the captions do not mention Islam at all. Instead, they discuss issues that affect Americans from all walks of life: love, loss, ambition, illness, work, death, family.
One portrait of a man who looks to be in his 30s, wearing a shirt and suit jacket and staring straight into the lens of the camera, is simply captioned: "My fear is that I don’t have any depth anymore.”
Read more: How the video series 'Secret Life of Muslims' took on rising Islamophobia in the US
Some of the captions touch on the faith of the portraits’ subjects, but the individual – rather than Islam – is always the main focus. For example, one woman talks about her struggle with her hijab and the difficulty of always having to explain herself.
"Sometimes I do want to disappear,” she says. “I’m not in an identity crisis, I’m just tired.”
Naguib, who is based in Washington, said she also wanted to counter the portrayal of Muslims as either bad or good and nothing in between.
On the Instagram account, she says the project is “Introducing you to Muslim Americans, the young & the old; those who contribute & those who are finding their way”.
“There’s people who haven’t gotten their education yet, or perhaps won’t be. There’s people who have PhDs. There’s people who are struggling to pay the rent, there’s people who live in mansions. And there’s everyone in between,” Naguib said. “So I don’t strive to show just the perfect stories, I strive to show the real stories.”
Asked whether she fears she is simply posting to a social media “echo chamber”, Naguib said the thought had crossed her mind before but she did not believe it was necessarily true.
“Yes, I’m reaching towards an echo chamber, I’m preaching to the choir, if you will, I’m sharing these stories with the Muslim American community. But I’m also sharing it with the American community,” she said.
“I’ve had people I don’t know comment on the Facebook page, in particular, saying, ‘I’m not Muslim but thank you so much for educating me and this is stuff we all should know’.”
Naguib believes she will only reach more people as the project – which currently has over 800 followers on Instagram and nearly 2,500 likes on Facebook – grows.
“As long as Muslim Americans will continue to share their stories with me, I will continue to share their stories with the world,” she said. “That is my objective.”
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
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Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
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Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
Winner: Raghida, Szczepan Mazur (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
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6pm: Arabian Triple Crown Round-2 Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 2,200m
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Winner: AF Alwajel, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,600m
Winner: Trolius, Ryan Powell, Simon Crisford
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Essentials
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Malaysia Airlines all fly direct from the UAE to Kuala Lumpur and on to Penang from about Dh2,300 return, including taxes.
Where to stay
In Kuala Lumpur, Element is a recently opened, futuristic hotel high up in a Norman Foster-designed skyscraper. Rooms cost from Dh400 per night, including taxes. Hotel Stripes, also in KL, is a great value design hotel, with an infinity rooftop pool. Rooms cost from Dh310, including taxes.
In Penang, Ren i Tang is a boutique b&b in what was once an ancient Chinese Medicine Hall in the centre of Little India. Rooms cost from Dh220, including taxes.
23 Love Lane in Penang is a luxury boutique heritage hotel in a converted mansion, with private tropical gardens. Rooms cost from Dh400, including taxes.
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How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
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The story in numbers
18
This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens
450,000
More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps
1.5 million
There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m
73
The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association
18,000
The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme
77,400
The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study
4,926
This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee
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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
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Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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