Check out my latest Daily Life Article: Being a Muslim Single Mum
Here’s hoping that my article will shed light on the everyday battles faced by single mums in general, and Muslim single mums, in particular. One of my close friends is a long-time convert to Islam, and she finds it really puzzling when Muslim families skirt uncomfortably around the topic of divorce, even if that’s their reality. It’s only as awkward as people make it out to be. Accepting the reality of divorce doesn’t make people more prone to it. Rather, I think that acceptance generates compassion and understanding, which is never a bad thing.
Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), the wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), was a single mum! My seerah (Prophetic biography) teacher in Jordan taught us that in pre-Islamic Arabia, single mums were desirable because everyone knew they were fertile. Now that’s an interesting twist on single mums….
On another note, it’s a crying shame that the government has made drastic cuts to the welfare payments for single parents – single mums are the ones left with raising the kids and juggling jobs with less money coming in to help them. Isn’t the Labour government meant to help the most vulnerable segments of society?
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Published by Raidah Shah Idil
Raidah Shah Idil is a student counsellor, poet, writer, and creative instructor with a passion for YA (young adult), fantasy, sci-fi and detective fiction. She was born in Singapore and moved to Australia at the age of 12. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (English) and Bachelor of Science (Psychology) from the University of New South Wales in 2005.
After working as a marketing copywriter and studying the Islamic Sciences in Amman, Jordan for nearly two years, she returned to Sydney, got married, then moved to Malaysia. While working as a part-time tutor at Axiom Learning, she works as an online counsellor for Seekershub Global. She has completed her Diploma of Counselling through the Australian Institute of Professional Counsellors. Her full-time job is raising her baby daughter. Everything else is squeezed in between. Literally. Her writing has been published in The Feminist Wire, SISTERS magazine, Daily Life, Lip Mag and Venture Beat. Raidah’s poetry was recently published in the ‘Armed With Only Our Souls’ online DDFS chapbook by New York poet Caits Meissner. Her debut double-featured novel, “Finding Jamilah and the Story of Yusuf” was published by MyLegacy publications in early 2014.
In her spare time (ha), she reads, listens to audiobooks, goes on walks, and is always on the lookout for tasty noodle soup. She currently lives in a green, leafy suburb in Kuala Lumpur with her husband, three small children and mother-in-law.
View all posts by Raidah Shah Idil
Raidah Shah Idil 
Congrats dear Raidah! I’m off to read your article. I’m sure it’s another great one. Thanks for bringing awareness to this issue! Definitely need more Muslim writers to tackle this topic.