Sumbul Ali-Karamali

My first book, The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing, was published in 2008. In it, I addressed the kinds of questions I'd always been asked but which were never answered in the media or even classrooms. While on my book tour, several teachers complained to me of the absence of age-appropriate books on Islam for middle-school and high-school students. As a result, I wrote Growing up Muslim: Understanding the Beliefs and Practices of Islam (Delacorte/Random House 2012), a nonfiction chapter book for ages 10 & up.(But really, it's good for adults, too.)

My newest book, Demystifying Shariah, was released in August 2020! It's an engaging, relatable, and thought-provoking discussion of shariah.

Aside from writing and speaking, I've been a fiction and nonfiction judge, a reviewer for a university press, a board member of nonprofits dedicated to multicultural education, and a member of both the steering committee of Women in Islamic Spirituality and Equality (WISE) and the Muslim Women’s Global Shura Council, both of which aim to promote women’s rights and human rights from an Islamic perspective.

I love opera, white-water rafting, reading fantasy literature (Terry Pratchett is a favorite), and watching Star Trek reruns with my family. I'm a staunch advocate of the Oxford comma. And I make a particularly good bean pie (recipe in my second book).