Amaliah spoke to the founders at Culturing Success Rikki and Rhianna who are behind the recent #afrohijabi campaign which was also visible during #blackouteid.

It’s been inspiring to hear that the events they run are beneficial to those who attend and that they are creating visible representation for #afrohijabis on social media.

Follow them on Instagram 

Why did you use #afrohijabi?

We chose the hashtag ‘afrohijabi’ for the same reasons black people refer to themselves as Afro-Caribbean, or African-American. It simply means we are hijabi’s from African decent. We wanted something that encompassed us all, whilst portraying what the campaign was about. As you can see, most of the ladies in our campaign do not look like generic Africans or people from African descent which is what makes the campaign as well as the hashtag so interesting.

Why?

We felt there was a lack of representation of black muslim women and we thought it’s time to raise awareness. The photos from the shoot are the start of a campaign we’ve launched to highlight the lives of black muslim women, the issues they face and who they are. As convert black muslim woman, it can sometimes feel as though you’re being pushed out from all angles. Some black non muslim women can ignore to recognise you as a black woman and some muslim women will refuse to give you salaam. In the past we’ve been told that our beauty could only come from the light Allah has given us for being muslim. This is after we explained where we are from. As much as it’s frustrating we believe education is key, hence why we’ve put this campaign together to put these misconceptions to rest.

The community has also been celebrating the campaign and praising the ladies, we wish them much success!

More beautiful #WOC ????✨????????check out @culture_success for some more stunning photos #AfroHijabi #EmpoweringWOC #MuslimWomen pic.twitter.com/i1jOIcwexo

— Afro Glory (@AfroGlory_) September 3, 2017

Very excited for this campaign from @culturingsuccess who want to put black hijabis front and centre “In a sea of division we are forgotten. A second thought and constantly discredited amongst the Ummah. Made invisible by our hijabs amongst our fellow black women. WE ARE HERE. #AFROHIJABI”

A post shared by New Horizons (@n_horizons) on Sep 5, 2017 at 5:43am PDT