The ideals of liberty and equality clash with cultural and religious oppression in We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib. An accomplished journalist, writer and photographer, Habib is a queer Muslim woman from a persecuted sect of Islam known as the Ahmadiyya faith.
Life as an Ahmadi in Pakistan is dangerous. They are shunned by fellow Muslims and attacked for their beliefs, and they receive no protection from local law enforcement or the government. Habib was raised to shield her religious identity; her parents were adamant on this point--it was literally a matter of life and death. Fearing for their lives, her family was forced to flee Pakistan when Habib was in middle school.
From her early years as a religious minority in Lahore to the dissonance of refugee status in Canada, Habib became an expert at disguising her true self and subjugating her own needs and desires for the sake of others. Her parents commandeered complete control over her life, coercing her into marriage while she was in high school. But Habib was blessed with good friendships in college and beyond. It was through friends that she acquired the strength to envision a life of bold self-determination and the courage to forge her own path. She blossomed as a fearless activist defending the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQIA community, including queer Muslims like herself, all the while strengthening her spiritual commitment to Islam.
Among the most gratifying aspects of Habib's remarkable story is the transformation her parents undertake in an effort to regain their daughter's trust after years of estrangement. Theirs is truly an inspirational example of cultural and generational reconciliation. --Shahina Piyarali, writer and reviewer