Muslim Poets You Should Be Reading During Ramadan & Beyond

Celebrating these amazing creatives.

The Holy month of Ramadan began this year on March 22, 2023 and will conclude on April 20th. Several team members at Think in Ink are fasting and observing this sacred time, and we thought it was important to celebrate Muslim poets doing amazing work that you should be reading.

We hope you will see this list as a take off point, a launch pad to reading the work of Muslim poets. Our number one priority at Think in Ink is celebrating all of our heritages in a way that engages our wonderful readers like you. We also hope that some of you feel celebrated by this type of content.

Without further ado, some poets:

Hanif Abdurraqib

Notable Works: A Little Devil in America (2021), Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest (2019), “For the Dogs Who Barked at Me on the Sidewalks in Connecticut,” “Rihanna-Birthday Cake,” They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us (2017), and The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (2016).

Kaveh Akbar

Notable Works: Pilgrim Bell (2021), Calling a Wolf a Wolf (2017), Portrait of an Alcoholic (2017), “Forfeiting My Mystique,” and “River of Milk.”

Sarah Ghazal Ali

Notable Works: “My Faith Gets Grime under It’s Nails,” “Ghazal Ghazal,” “Naval to Knee.” Her debut collection Theophanies was a 2022 Alice James Award Editor’s Choice. It will be released in 2024 and is currently available for pre-sales.

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Fatimah Asghar

Notable Works: When We Were Sisters (2022), Ms. Marvel Episode 5: Time and Time Again, If They Come For Us: Poems (2018), “Pluto Shits On The Universe,” and After (2015). Unfortunately After is currently out of stock, but everything else is ready for your enjoyment!

Safia Elhillo

Notable Works: Girls That Never Die: Poems (2022), “Modern Sudanese Poetry,” Home Is Not A Country (2021), The January Children (2017), “yasmeen,” and “Ode to Gossips.”

Eman Hassan

Notable Works: Raghead (2019), “Invasion,” and “Suspended.”

Noor Hindi

Notable Works: DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. (2022), “Thirst,” “Breaking [News],” and “Fuck Your Lecture on Craft, My People Are Dying.”

Naomi Shihab Nye

Notable Works: The Turtle of Oman (2014), “Bees Were Better,” Transfer (2011), 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2005), Habibi (1999), and Red Suitcase: Poems (1994). Unfortunately at this time Habibi is out of stock, but we recommend checking your local library.

Solmaz Sharif

Notable Works: Customs: Poems (2022), “Mess Hall,” Look: Poems (2016),

Dujie Tahat

Notable Works: BALIKBAYAN (2022), “All American Ghazal,” SALAT (2020), and “Salat to be Read From Right to Left.”

Tariq Toure

Notable Works: David’s Dollar (2020), 2 Parts Oxygen (2019), “AUDUBON,” and “The Call.”

Seema Yasmin

Notable Works: If God Is A Virus (2021), Muslim Women Are Everything (2020), and “MY SISTER TEACHES ME HOW TO ULULATE.”

Now that you’ve got a list of poets to start with, we hope you’ll dive into their work and the work of other Muslim poets as we approach the end of Nation Poetry Writing Month, and continue to do so far into the future!

—CLB

Chris L. Butler (sometimes C.L. Butler) is a Black American and Dutch poet, historian, essayist, retired freestyle rapper, activist, and entrepreneur. His poetry can be found in or forthcoming with Southern Florida Poetry Journal, CV2: The Canadian Journal of Poetry & Critical Writing, Alternating Current Press, Trampset, APIARY Magazine,  and others. He is the Co-founder & Contributor of Think in Ink, the Associate Poetry Editor at Bending Genres, an Essays Reader at The Rumpus.