Interview: Corey Habbas

Corey Habbas, a Muslim revert since 2000 and freelance writer, has had her writing published in various online and print journals, newspapers and magazines. She currently writes articles for EngageMN.com. Her short stories and articles for children have been featured in Learning Through History Magazine and Skipping Stones. Corey has won several awards for her poetry including prizes from the Islamic Writers Alliance and Qalaam. In 2006, her poetry won the Andalusia Prize for Literature. Corey grew up in California where she studied art and also earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from the University of Redlands. She now lives in Minnesota with her family. She is a member of the Islamic Writers Alliance.

Nimo Adan: Assalaamu ‘alaikum Corey, welcome to the An-Najm Blog.

Corey Habbas: Wa Alaikum Assalam. Thanks, it’s really nice to be here.

N.A: Let's start off by talking about your new book 'The Runway Scarf', tell us a little about what inspired you to write this particular book.

C.H: Well, after reverting to Islam I became very aware of how the entertainment media treats Muslims. I remember seeing the movie Hidalgo and seeing how grossly distorted their depictions of Muslims were. I was pretty disappointed, and I never lost that feeling. It was kind of nagging, you know, the kind of feeling that says that maybe it needed to be addressed. I wanted to take the negativity and do something positive with it, so I decided to write a children’s book about how Islam places a high value on individual freedoms and human equality.

N.A: It’s rare to see a hadeeth – tradition of the Prophet (peace be upon him) – as the basis of a fictional book without the result being one that is ‘preachy’. Were there hurdles you had to overcome to achieve this?

C.H: I don’t want people to think that this is a story that tries to present itself as a hadith. I feel like that would be crossing over a big line- big taboo there. The book even has a disclaimer that states the importance of teaching children the difference between fiction and actual scripture.

The Runaway Scarf is an historical fiction children’s book that uses the device of fiction to present Islamic values. The story uses hadith as the Islamic influencers to construct that story, so when I read a hadith, it inspired me to create a similar fictional story of someone’s struggle for freedom and there are so many parallels in the human journey. The book isn’t preachy because, I tried to do a lot of showing, instead of telling. That’s what I learned when I was taking a class from the Institute of Children’s Literature. I felt like their program really prepped me well for building up the skills needed to write a compelling story that Muslim kids could connect with. AlhamduAllah, going through the journey of publication was a strong learning experience and I really enjoyed working with Muslim Writers Publishing.

N.A: I suppose your book could be the first of many that bring engaging hadeeth to life, where they are not seen as being mundane by a younger audience. Is this a trend that will pass on into your future books?

C.H: The Runaway Scarf brings Islamic values to life, and not really a specific hadith, per say, although the story was inspired by one in particular- when I saw that one my eyes lit up and I said, yeah, a story like this - of struggle for freedom; looking to Allah because we are taught that Allah judges our spirit and not our race; culture; wealth and other things like that, that are material. The story is fictional and really only loosely inspired on similar events within a series of hadiths. The hadiths that speak of slave emancipation and how Muslims freed slaves are a kind of model for many stories of justice that have played out through history. My fictional story is designed on the same structure, but I think it’s important for me to state that I am not trying to re-create a hadith in a children’s story. In my own personal belief, I think that hadiths should be taught in their true form, from the actual sources, unobstructed and unaltered. However, I believe that while we are waiting for kids to get old enough to assimilate some of that knowledge, we can instil our values and belief system through fiction that brings those values to life. I think I will continue to let Islam inspire the stories I write for kids. Like, my future ideas are not as much inspired by events of hadith, but on general values found in the Qur’an and Sunnah.

N.A: What has been your prime motivation to write a children’s book as opposed to a teen or adult one?

C.H: Oh, that’s an easy one to answer. I think it’s because having young children really caused me to want to speak to them and teach them through characters that they can identify with and enjoy. I feel that, when children learn, they need to have things that make them feel like they are not actually studying. InshaAllah, I hope that it will build in them a natural curiosity to learn and enjoy their faith. I also wanted to put to use what I learned when I took Writing for Children and Teens from the Institute of Children’s Literature. I feel like there definitely needs to be more choices for Muslim teens and adults in the way of Islamic Fiction. I’d like to finally finish my novelette geared towards teens and young adults.

N.A: Do you envision that your readers will have an attachment to the main character in your book?

C.H: I really do hope that they do. I feel an attachment to the main character. Ibsituu, the main character in The Runaway Scarf, is compelling in that she has been told that she is less than by people, pushed down and even has come to internalize some of those messages, until she learns that it isn’t about what people think at all. It’s about what God thinks, and God sees the equality and value in the human spirit. It isn’t about being a class or a colour. It isn’t about having power in the material world or about how many degrees someone has. Worth is about being a sincere believer in God and for worshipping as the Qur’an and hadiths require. If a believer strives to do good in the eyes of God, then the false and oppressive judgements of people won’t hold any power. That is what this story is about. And also, I shouldn’t leave out that Ibsituu is a revert like me. It’s funny that I didn’t even notice that until I finished the book. I think I must have felt it on a subconscious level but it didn’t reach the surface until later.

N.A: I understand that you illustrated the book yourself. How long did it take to do, and would you encourage others to do the same?

C.H: Since I was young I remember obsessing over my drawings and, later, paintings. I almost majored in art but I didn’t end up pursuing that as a career. I took art in college and continued to work on my own, but after becoming Muslim I gave up creating paintings of thing with souls to hang on the walls, because from my understanding of Islam, and some hadiths that warn against this type of thing, it was a dangerous direction to go. When art is used within books to teach youth, I feel more comfortable creating that kind of thing, this also seems to be more standard in the Muslim publishing arena…children’s books tend to have pictures and illustrations of people and animals. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, whether someone decides to illustrate their own book or not really rests on two factors. The first is, do they have the skill to create a consistent look and feel throughout the book? And the second is, do they have any theological reservation about creating the images? It’s definitely a personal decision. For me it took about a year to illustrate the pictures, because I had a lot going on.

N.A: Although Muslim-authored and Islamic illustrated fiction books are becoming increasingly published, many are of poor quality. What can be done to combat this?

C.H: I feel like the progression in quality over time will be an organic process, mostly because the industry will become more and more competitive as demand increases, and this will cause more push from artists and writers. Really creating art and literature for a Muslim audience is an individual process and there are artists out there now who are working at their very best level, producing something that has value but may be overlooked because of the more commercial non-Muslim publishing industry that tend to overpower us all. I feel like the biggest factor in getting good quality is to ask the community to invest in Muslim Publishing by purchasing Islamic fiction books for their kids instead of the latest non-Muslim DVDs, video games and non-Muslim entertainment. Once Muslim consumers show where their values are, we will be seeing a huge increase of publishing and entertainment diversity.

N.A: Aside from writing, are you involved in anything else?

C.H: My most important job is being a wife and mom. I’m busiest with homeschooling my children and when I’m not doing that, sometimes, if I can find the extra time, volunteer in the community, mostly writing articles and seeing how I can apply my writing to community efforts.

N.A: For those who are interested in your work, where can they find out more about you, and purchase your book?

C.H: They can find out more about me and my writing and other projects at http://coreyhabbas.4t.com and my blog at http://americanbloggess.blogspot.com/ The Runaway Scarf can be purchased through Muslim Writers Publishing (http://muslimwriterspublishing.com/runawayscarf.html), Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, The Islamic Center of Minnesota Bookstore and others.

The interviewer, Nimo Adan, is a journalism student and is part of the An-Najm team. To be interviewed for The An-Najm Blog, send a email to info@ an-najmpublishers.co.uk.

'Interview: Corey Habbas' was posted on March 2, 2008 by Umm Junayd under Fiction Spotlight , Writers' Showcase , and tagged with fiction, interview, showcase, writer

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