Parenthood can be a beautiful journey, but it also comes with its share of challenges, right out of the gate.

In this week's episode, we’re discussing the early years of parenting when loneliness, loss of identity, and postpartum mental health often overwhelm, sabotage, and debilitate some of us. We also explore what it means to raise spirited little ones while holding on to faith and hope. 🤍

Join us as we share stories, insights, and encouragement for every mom navigating this season. You’re not alone in this.

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or head to our website landing page and let’s walk this path together. 🎧✨ Share this episode with a new mom or mom to be and help her be more than a tablespoon of peanut butter. IYKYK

Links:
1. Relationships Post Baby
2. Keeping Toddlers Busy
3. NISA helpline for women 1-888-315-6472
4. Naseeha mental health helpline for teens 1-866-627-3342
5. Domestic violence numbers 1-800-799-7233 or Text “BEGIN” to 88788
6. Suicide risk line-Call 988 for 24/7 help, even if it’s just to talk

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

There’s a lot to say about “mothers’ status” in Islam, but sadly, not enough about how to support her to maintain and thrive there. It’s hella lonely and confusing on these pedestals. We aren’t looking for trophies, just Jannah (heaven), but some of us get lost along the way.

Good news! There’s a whole field of study about it! Matrescence, the developmental transition into motherhood, is both spiritual AND practical for Muslims. There’s no other way we know how to do things, but we weren’t always here. It took a long way, through a lot of parenting potholes and pitfalls to get where we are, and we aren’t done yet. Take a walk down memory lane with us and maybe tune in for some familiar experiences and sentiments.

We didn’t mean to start the waterworks this early in the series, but here we are. Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or head to our website landing page. Share this episode with a new mama or even better, a mama to be, who can inshaAllah avoid curveballs where we did not.

Links:

1. What is Matrescence?
2. Huffpost on matrescence
3. Neuroscience of matrescence
4. Read more about matrescence by Dr. Aurelie Athan
5. Kevlar bulletproof hoodies (because America)
   1. https://wonderhoodie.com/collections/wonder-hoodie-bulletproof-clothing
   2. https://bulletproofeveryone.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwreW2BhBhEiwAavLwfF--spBxNBrMLb_uUFBE0pK9BGZDyRZe3jmeQG2YMy5F52UXB1WlhRoCLhQQAvD_BwE

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

☪☪On this popular replay from 2020 (can you believe it's been that long?!?!?!), podcaster mom, Farheen Raza @freeniraza, shared Shia history, practice, and whether or not sects make a difference in America. During this time of division and change in our nation, it DOES matter when we have schisms within Muslim America. Let's close those gaps together. A lot has changed for Farheen since we recorded this, so follow her and find out what that is.

☪☪Part 2 of this conversation was aired in June 2020, and we encourage you to follow up with that one next. This week, tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music, or head to our website and listen on the landing page. Share this episode with your Muslim friends who you never thought to ask about their sect (and thank goodness you didn't!).

Links:

1. Musings of a Modern Muslim podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/musings-of-a-millennial-muslim/id1489441261
2. On IG: @freeniraza

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

TRIGGER WARNING:

This is one of our favorite episodes because it's no one is above spiritual abuse, and everyone is vulnerable to falling victim to it. We need to have a means to bring leaders to account in this life so we can protect each other in the next one.

FACE (Facing Abuse in Community Environments) addresses those leaders who have taken major missteps, endangering not just our community members, but our faith itself. The time to identify and repair is yesterday. The good news is, we can do it together.

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stiticher, Spotify, or head to our web landing page to listen, follow, and share.

Links:
1. Follow FACE on IG: @facingabuse
2. FACE website: https://facetogether.org/3
2. Imam busted in AZ
4. Qari busted in KS and TX
5. The FYI Spiritual Abuse Toolkit: https://thefyi.org/religious-spiritual-abuse-toolkit/

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Trigger warning!

This episode is NOT meant to be heard by children unless our mom audience feels they're ready for it. If you're a survivor of any sexual trauma, as a child or as an adult, you may not be ready for it either, so gauge your ability to revisit the past. We are here for you either way. If you need resources to deal with PTSD due to a history of abuse, we have links for you in the shownotes, and we are always just a DM/PM or email away.

This episode IS meant to prepare us to hear the hard truths about child sex abuse, such as our personal experiences with it, how pervasive it is, and also new things, like how subversive it can be. Learn about grooming, disclosure, even forgivenesss, and how to be the safety net our kids need in the event that the worst should happen; may Allah SWT protect them all always. Ameen.

Shariea Shoatz and our team made ourselves incredibly vulnerable in this episode because we trust our Muslim and non Muslim mom sisters to receive these hard truths in love and compassion, and to offer those in turn to themselves, as well as to their children. We are not alone in this. ... Sexual abuse doesn't happen because we are Americans and that's "this culture." NO! Sexual abuse doesn't monopolize any one country or society. Many cultures within and without the US have to deal with it, but we have the opportunity to dive deep into this difficult topic and figure out how to prevent and treat it. Mommying means rolling up our sleeves for the sake of the kids and our God-given duty to protect them at all costs.

Shariea Shoatz is on the money when she says education is the best prevention, so that's where most of this conversation will be. Hugs for anyone who needs them after this one!

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or click on our bio to listen right on our website. Share this episode with all your mom friends because education is the best prevention.

Links:

1. Follow Shariea on IG: @shariea_shoatz
2. Learn more about Buddy Speaks and purchase the book: https://buddyspeaks.org/home
3. The FYI resources on sexual abuse
4. Are Muslims Doing Enough to Combat Child Sexual Abuse?

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Anyone ever feel self pity as you pick up in the kitchen at the end of the night, get laundry started or finished in the dark, put toys back where they belong, or end up refilling the tank at the most inopportune time because no one else did it? Are you the only one praying at salah time because your reminders fall on deaf ears or outright refusal?

Review the status of mothers in Islam and be confident in our role as seen by our Creator. We believe in the angels recording even when people are not. Kids’ sense of security in knowing we are always there. They are taught early on “mother, mother, mother” and will never see us as “nobody.” And because Allah SWT sees us, can we ever be invisible?

Tune in at 6pm EST on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or click on our bio for the website to listen and share this with momsisters who may feel invisible. Shoot them a text that reads "I see you" and check out what happens.

Links:

1. The original article by Nicole Johnson that went viral
2. Omar Suleiman tribute to his parents
3. Quranic &Hadeeth references on mothers’ status

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

Tina Khan joins us today to discuss her experience watching her son’s spiral into drugs and mental health crises and what it did to their family. This is definitely an episode you want to hear before you choose to let your kids listen in, but it really does merit a listen by young people to hear what drug addiction does, not just to an individual, but a family and community.

Where are we as a Muslim community in terms of supporting our young Muslims struggling with drug addiction, and just as importantly to our momcrew, are we there for our moms who have a child in crisis like this? If not now, WHY NOT. If not now, WHEN?

Tune in at 6pm EST tonight on Apple podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or click on our link in bio and SHARE this episode link with 2 moms you know so THEY know they’ve got allies and ears with us. Make sure you use your podcast app to look up the links on this one.

Links:

1. Ten years of substance use research in Muslim populations: Where do we go from here?: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jmmh/10381607.0010.103/--ten-years-of-substance-use-research-in-muslim-populations?rgn=main;view=fulltext
2. Substance Abuse and Addiction in the Muslim Community: Facing Stigma and Seeking Support: https://www.ispu.org/substance-abuse-and-addiction-in-the-muslim-community/
3. Participate in Muslim drug treatment research study: https://betterconduct.org/
4. Teena’s email: teena.khn@gmail.com
5. Listen to Teena on King of the World podcast: https://www.rifelion.com/shows/kingoftheworld

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w

In this episode, Zaiba discusses the concept of embracing challenges to develop many strengths, including the elusive growth mindset. It’s not just for kids, folks!

Takeaways include

• Leaning into toughness to build resilience.
• Setting clear achievable goals
• Breaking down challenges into manageable steps can help in leaning into toughness.
• And many more!

Tune in at 6pm EST and share this with an accountability partner. Don’t what that is? LISTEN!

Did you know you can send us a text? Feedback, questions, or recommendations welcomed!

Support the show

1. Web: www.mommyingwhilemuslim.com

2. Email: salam@mommyingwhilemuslim.com

3. FB: Mommying While Muslim page and Mommyingwhilemuslim group

4. IG: @mommyingwhilemuslimpodcast

5. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrdKxpBdBO4ZLwB1kTmz1w