We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is an Islamic revival that began in the late 19th century. Ahmadiyya Muslims believe Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) was another prophet of Islam, while the dominant Sunni sect of Pakistan considers the Ahmadiyya community to be non-Muslim. The Ahmadiyya have faced historically outsized persecution in Pakistan following the governmental upheaval of the 1970s to the 1990s. Despite having the largest population of Ahmadiyya Muslims, Pakistan has regularly attempted to remove Ahmadiyya Muslims from public life. Habib’s family are Ahmadiyya and are forced to flee to Canada, a destination for many Ahmadiyya Muslims from Pakistan.

Hijra is a broad third-gender category in south Asia with many different regional names; in Pakistan, they are called the “Khawaja Sira.” This third-gender category loosely correlates to transgender women as understood in English. Historically, they have been recognized by their respective cultures and, like many third genders around the world, have held special significance in religious and ceremonial practices. British colonization introduced European ideals of the gender binary, which led to the outlawing and discrimination against the hijra through the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 and the Indian Penal Code of 1860. Today, hijra and transgender communities in south Asia still struggle against colonial legacies and ideas about gender.