BLACK MUSLIMS MAKE UP A RELATIVELY SMALL PORTION OF AMERICA’S POPULATION. ACCORDING. TO PEW RESEARCH CENTER. ONLY ABOUT 2% OF BLACK AMERICANS IDENTIFY AS MUSLIM. BUT AN AUTHOR OUT OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, IS MAKING IT CLEAR THAT THEIR VOICES AND STORIES ARE CRUCIAL TO THIS COUNTRY’S NARRATIVE. LAST YEAR, ALIYA BILAL PUBLISHED A SERIES OF SHORT STORIES FOCUSED ON THE LIVES OF BLACK MUSLIM. SHE WAS INSPIRED TO WRITE THEM AFTER SHE NOTICED THAT BLACK MUSLIMS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN, WERE, QUOTE, INVISIBLE. BOTH ON SCREEN AND IN THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION. OUR PRODUCER, TAMIKA CODY, SPENT TIME WITH BILAL TO TALK ABOUT HER BOOK TEMPLE FOLK. HERE’S HER STORY IN HER OWN WORDS. MY NAME IS ALIYA BILAL AND I AM THE AUTHOR OF TEMPLE FOLK, WHICH WAS A FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN 2023. TEMPLE FOLK IS A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES THAT EXAMINES THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSLIM EXPERIENCE FROM THE VANTAGE POINT OF MUSLIMS WHO WERE ONCE PART OF THE NATION OF ISLAM, WHO TRANSITIONED TO SUNNI ISLAM. TEMPLE FOLK IS THE FIRST WORK OF LITERARY FICTION TO REALLY DELVE INTO THIS EXPERIENCE, SO IT IS A PIONEERING WORK. IT IS UNPRECEDENTED, UNPRECEDENTED, RATHER, IN ALL OF AMERICAN LETTERS, THE KINDS OF NARRATIVES THAT THAT DO FIND THEIR WAY INTO THE AMERICAN MEDIASCAPE THEY TEND TO FOCUS ON THE EXPERIENCES OF BLACK MUSLIM MEN AND GROWING UP IN THESE SPACES. IS I JUST FELT IN A REALLY PROFOUND WAY THAT OUR VOICES WERE LARGELY ABSENT FROM THE CONVERSATION, AND WE HAD REALLY IMPORTANT INSIGHTS INTO. WHAT IT MEANT TO BE MUSLIM AND BLACK IN THIS COUNTRY. I LOVE THE STORY. SISTER ROSE, BECAUSE OF ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE COLLECTION. IT’S THE ONE THAT REMINDS ME THE MOST OF MY OWN LIFE. AND THE STORY SISTER ROSE IS A REUNION BETWEEN A YOUNG WOMAN WHO’S WALKED AWAY FROM HER FAITH AND THIS WOMAN WHO’S REMAINED IN THOSE SPACES IS TRYING TO RECONCILE THE FACT THAT. THIS WOMAN HAS CHOSEN A SECULAR LIFE, AND THAT SHE STILL SEEKS THE APPROVAL OF THIS WOMAN WHO NEVER ABANDONED HER ISLAMIC FAITH. AND THEY HAVE A MOMENT OF HONESTY BETWEEN THEM, WHERE THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO PURSUED THE SECULAR, SECULAR LIFE COMES TO UNDERSTAND THAT JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE OCCUPY RELIGIOUS SPACES DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY DO NOT EXPERIENCE. EXTREME EMOTIONS AND THAT THEY ARE NOT ALSO GRAPPLING WITH THE MEANINGS OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A WOMAN LIVING IN A WORLD RUN BY MEN AND FINDING THEIR OWN UNIQUE WAYS TO SORT OF COUNTER THOSE REALITIES. IT WAS JUST IMPORTANT FOR ME TO CREATE, UM, IMAGES THAT REMINDED. ME OF MY OWN LIFE. I JUST FEEL THAT I’M JUST AN ORDINARY AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN THAT’S TRYING TO MAKE A POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY, AND THAT I COME FROM A COMMUNITY THAT’S LARGELY MISUNDERSTOOD. AND SO THAT WAS THE MOTIVATION TO CREATE THE STORIES. IT WAS JUST IMPORTANT FOR ME TO LAY A FOUNDATION FOR THESE STORIES THAT WOULD WITHSTAND THE