"'Butterfly Mosque' came out of the emails I wrote to family and friends back home after moving to Eg..." — G. Willow Wilson

In the West, anything that must be hidden is suspect; availability and honesty are interlinked. This clashes irreconcilably with Islam, where the things that are most precious, most perfect and most holy are always hidden: the Kaaba, the faces of prophets and angels, a woman's body, Heaven.

If you love things or ideas or people that contradict each other, you have to be prepared to fight for every square inch of intellectual real estate you occupy.

I think every Muslim woman has to feel the world out for herself.

When I am in Egypt, I am along for the ride - I am a privileged outsider, but an outsider nonetheless.