YUMNA once started from a simple question over coffee from one Muslim woman to another: what are the physical spaces where we come together? It opened an exploration to find ways and places where our multifacetedness - from hijabi influencer to football lover - can fit beyond the digital realm. What spaces allow us to navigate our hybrid identities while centering our faith and womanhood? And how does the secular environment we move through reflect and make room for that?
In the early spring of 2022, these questions turned into a gathering of 7 Muslim women of different (spiritual) paths and backgrounds in a small studio in Rotterdam. Each of these women gave words to how they relate to faith, prayer and the complexities that come with it—vulnerable conversations that ask for an intentional approach. This symbolized the birth of YUMNA: a platform that creates intentional and faith-centered spaces for Muslim women through community, intimate knowledge sharing and playful gatherings. We regularly share upcoming gatherings on our Instagram page.
Going beyond representation and fighting stereotypes, we believe it is way more valuable to bring Muslim women together to not only discuss the manifold ways in which we exist, but also to center that which unites us is an inherently spiritual and existential way of being: reliance on God.
Besides our practice being meaningful to our community, we found a broader relevance of inviting faith into different conversations, (secular) spaces and design. We translate this into research, workshops & facilitation to create room for less awkwardness around navigating faith and spirituality in public spaces and (cultural) institutions.
A few of our past or current collaborators are: Dutch Design Foundation, FAHM Instituut, Concrete Blossom, Stichting Krachtvrouwen, Reading Room Rotterdam and many others.
Flowers for the wonderful women that have worked with us on the website: Nabiha Zaid (web design & development), Joud Toamah (graphic design & visual identity), Romy Lumei Zhang (photography) and Rahma Bulaleh (photography)
YUMNA is carefully carried by the core team: Jasmin Sharif, Sarah Leklye and Habon Ismaïl.
