Shining In the Spotlight Presents:Internationally Acclaimed Author Umm Zakiyyah!!pt 3/4 March 14, 2009

by Umm Zakiyyah

Part 3 of a 4 part series with internationally acclaimed author Umm Zakiyyah!!!

Is writing a dream of a lifetime or a dream developed along the way?

I suppose it is more of a dream developed along the way because my writing goals are constantly evolving for the better, both practically and spiritually, and I don’t think I’ll ever feel that I’ve attained my “dream.”  Also, I don’t like to think of my writing as “a dream of a lifetime” because success is a process, not a solitary goal in itself.   If I were to believe I’m fulfilling “a dream of a lifetime,” I fear that I would become complacent and focus on me as a writer fulfilling her personal dream when, in truth, my focus should be on my writing as a process (a developing amaanah—a trust from Allah that I’m accountable for—more than a dream) that is in constant need of revision and refocus as I strive to achieve my ultimate life mission:  Paradise.

Please share what feeds your soul?

Prayer, du’aa, and Qur’an.

As women, sometimes we wear many hats, how do you take time out to care for your own needs?

For me, whenever I feel the need to take time out for “my own needs,” this is an indication that my focus has been disrupted, and the first places I look to levy blame are my prayer and my intentions.  In other words, I don’t view my natural and most correct state of affairs as my running around incessantly and putting on different hats, only to find myself exhausted at the end of the day and in need of “me time.”   Personally, I believe as long as my prayer and intentions are correct, everything will fall in line, and peacefully so, such that every moment of my day is  “me time”:  What better “me time” can I have besides my faith and good health, together giving me opportunity to earn blessings and seek forgiveness before I die?  So I don’t view myself as “wearing many hats,” but as simply fulfilling the many roles that are natural to the state of affairs of every human on earth, male or female.  Thus, to me, when I say, “Take time for yourself,” this means, “Umm Zakiyyah, stop and focus.  Go pray and ask Allah to purify your intentions.”  The best way for me to attain this refocus, I’ve found, is getting up in the last third of the night to pray and make extended du’aa. 

Everyone has a story to tell, what are your top tips for aspiring writers?

Because I haven’t yet found my voice in telling a personal story that covers my and others’ faults at the same time, I can only offer tips to aspiring fiction writers.  My list of tips, however, can be condensed to five key points, although I’m sure other experienced writers could add much more: 

1.  Make du’aa that Allah guides you to do everything for His sake and according to the Sunnah of His Messenger, sallallaahu’alayhi wa sallam.
2. Actively seek Islamic knowledge to make sure that your foundational  Islamic knowledge is correct.
3. Make Istikhaarah before you begin any writing venture.
4. Throughout your writing process, seek the advice and feedback of:  knowledgeable, trustworthy believers; average people representing your target audience; and experts in your genre’s field (by reading “How to” publications, as well as award-winning and bestselling books in the field).
5. Make Istikhaarah again before publishing your final work.

 Contemporary Islamic fiction is a fairly field new field, what have been some of the challenges you have faced in this area?

Due to the genre of Islamic fiction being a fairly new field, my challenges are primarily two: 

During the writing process, I find it challenging to write an engaging novel up to standard with contemporary, bestselling fiction, while at the same time offering an authentic Muslim experience  accessible to and spiritually beneficial for avid Muslim readers of all ages.  I sometimes feel like I’m feeling my way in the dark, because, historically, there are no novelists for me to look to for guidance in this vein.   When I began writing, I knew of no other authentic, Islamic fiction writers; this created a huge challenge for me.  However, it also created a wealth of opportunity, and I was excited and grateful to be a pioneer in this field.

Possibly the greatest challenge I face is, due to the dearth of Muslim novels,  there is a general expectation  by many readers that my books authentically represent “the” Muslim experience, or that they present a particular Islamic perspective—or that they, due to their fiction genre, present very little Islam at all.  I think each Muslim reader, particular in the West, is hungry for a novel that authentically represents them, and rightfully so.  Naturally, when they learn of the few Muslim novels that are out there, they eagerly read them in hopes that the writer has finally made that personal Islamic statement that they wish to make to the world.  This is a natural sentiment when a minority’s voice is finally being heard; I have this feeling myself on occasion.  However, this is a weighty burden to carry, and my prayer is that more authentic Muslim fiction becomes available so that more voices are accurately heard.

   A question that many of my coaching clients ask is how do you find the time to write? 

As I learned in a writing workshop I attended:   If you’re a writer, writing is a natural part of your life, just as is everything else you do on a daily basis.  Thus, I don’t look at my writing, teaching, or da’wah as “extracurricular;” it’s life, and, most specifically, it’s my life.  In keeping this in mind, I tell myself:  You don’t make time for life, you live it. 

For me, writing is a part of my life, a part of me, in fact—so much so that there are times I have to pull back and utilize my time for other things.  Nevertheless, I do have a general schedule that I alter from time to time, and that schedule includes, among other things, my writing. 

The first aspect of my schedule involves my approach to my sleep schedule.  In general, I’m most productive when I view sleep as a means and not an ends.  In other words, I get the most done when I minimize sleep to meet my need to function, as opposed to when I maximize sleep to meet my insatiable desire for rest.  I too am most productive when I sleep between four-to-five hours at night, pray in the last third of the night, and take a short nap after Dhuhr prayer (and sometimes one shortly before the Fajr adhaan).   On this sleep schedule, I have the most energy, and following an adequate night’s rest (and voluntary prayer before Fajr), the best and most productive time to write, I’ve found, is early in the morning after I’ve prayed Fajr.  Naturally, as a full-time teacher, I benefit most from this writing schedule on the weekends and during summer vacations.

Come back soon for the final part of Teacher~Tamara’s exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed author Umm Zakiyyah!

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