ISSUE 015 // TAHMINA BEGUM
Why do you feel like the Aram newsletter is necessary?
Real life, raw stories from different kinds of backgrounds are integral in order to have as much of a well-rounded view as possible yet you don’t have to always share stories of trauma and generational pain, especially as a person of colour, in order to achieve that. Aram in Bangla translates to ‘ease’ and ‘comfort’ so I wanted to share our relationship with ease and joy, as a Muslim woman and a woman of colour while centering women like me.
The intention is for the reader to feel more at ease, or feel as though they can relate to the words somewhat by the end of the newsletter.
“Real life, raw stories from different kinds of backgrounds are integral in order to have as much of a well-rounded view as possible yet you don’t have to always share stories of trauma and generational pain, especially as a person of colour, in order to achieve that.”
It’s no secret that you’re multifaceted; what’s a skill you would like to teach yourself in the future?
Thank you. I want to learn how to make my own gold jewellery inshallah!
Looking back at the past 10 years of your life - what’s the most significant transformation you went through?
The biggest transition I went through was basically a shift I experienced a year before lockdown where I really had to reevaluate if my lifestyle, as much as I enjoyed it and worked hard for it, was one I liked. It meant shedding old friendships, becoming closer to my faith and embracing the unknown as cliche as that may sound. Katherine May names that dark period as ‘the wintering’ in her book of the same title. I’m very grateful for it.
What is it that attracts you to writing?
This is a question I don’t know how to answer and enjoy my ambiguity towards it to be honest. Writing feels like a limb to me as well as something I do for work. It’s something I’ve always done, inshallah will continue to do, it’s how I process things, reflect and honour moments and change. It’s done across so many different mediums, from morning pages, to my dua journal, to 10-6 work to editing to annotating as I’m reading to writing my loved ones love letters or writing down my monthly intentions and looking back upon them. It’s both hazardous and transparent. It’s not all of me, and I’m more than just a writer but it definitely feels like my shadow.
Do you have a certain routine when you feel overwhelmed with life?
I literally pray namaz or do dhikr. I breathe. I move my body and try to go for a walk somewhere green. But mainly, I dunk myself into hot water, refresh myself, turn everything off and bow down and pray for whatever’s good for me to happen and whatever’s not good for me and won’t bring me closer to God, or my purpose, to be removed. Ameen, ameen.