Muslim Lifestyle

Sabina Atta

Issue 58 July 2009

 At seven years old, life set an early challenge for Sabina Atta. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, there were times when Sabina could not even walk, yet she resolved to begin reading everything she could get her hands on in the hospital library.

 “Every time I read, I didn’t feel I had a disability. Even as a child, I knew I wanted to become a writer.” She names her parents as her “greatest inspiration” whose support and tenacity helped her pursue her own goals. After writing a host of works from diaries to comic plays, Sabina is currently working on two books, one focusing on the women of war in India and Pakistan, the other a Sufi tale of a young boy whose mother suffers from cancer. Her poem ‘Ears Wide Shut’ was shortlisted in this year’s Muslim Writers Awards, concentrating on the unbalanced media coverage of the Gaza conflict.
The British Muslim writer and peace campaigner hopes to set up her own publishing company in the future. “I was taught that nothing is impossible. Quite the opposite, in fact. Now I can finally fulfill my dreams.”

words Musa Ali
portrait Nazrul Islam