Eid al-Adha started last night, July 19, and will continue through July 23. Eid al-Adha is the festival of sacrifice when Muslims celebrate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice Ismail, his son, as an act of obedience to God’s command. But just before the sacrifice, Allah provided a lamb instead.
As the first full day of Eid al-Adha, here are five Muslim authors we would love to celebrate this special holiday with.
Samina Ali’s debut novel, Madras on Rainy Days won the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger Award from France and was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award in Fiction. She has spoken at a number of universities and institutions, while also hosting her own Tedx Talk, “What does the Qur’an really say about a Muslim Woman’s Hijab?” She is currently working on a story that weaves her life story with women’s equality and justice.
As a historical fantasy and speculative fiction author, S.A. Chakraborty is most known for her Daevabad trilogy The City of Brass, The Kingdom of Copper, and The Empire of Gold. She has been nominated for the Hugo, Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, and Astounding Awards.
G Willow Wilson created her first graphic novel, Cairo, after living in Egypt, which was then listed as a top graphic novel for teens. Wilson has also written for X-Men, Superman, and Wonderwoman. She was even the co-creator of Hugo and American Book Award-winning Ms. Marvel!
Aminah Mae Safi is the author of four novels and the winner of the We Need Diverse Books short story contest. Her fourth book, Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix is set to be released March 1, 2022.
You may recognize Khaled Hosseini’s name from books you might have read in school. He is the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, And the Mountains Echoed, and New York Times best-selling novel The Kite Runner. Hosseini wrote The Kite Runner for his debut while practicing medicine.