Saira
“Being able to express one’s creativity is absolutely vital, because without that freedom our spirit is stifled and ultimately fades. I speak from experience. Stories have always fascinated me. Every person has a repertoire of stories to learn from and be inspired by. One of my favourite childhood memories was listening to my dad read or tell me a bedtime story. Then when I became a teacher years later, reading to my students was the best part of my day. But somewhere along the road to finding a practical career and sincerely trying to follow what was taught to me about Islam at the mosque and Islamic school, I altogether disallowed myself from creative pursuits which I loved and showed talent for, including storytelling, drawing, acting, and singing. It was a dangerous decision that suffocated me. There is a happy ending though!”
Saira is a filmmaker, actor, and co-owner of Snow Angel Films with her sister Nilufer (who was recently featured as well.) She began her career as a teacher and then made the transition to pursuing her passion for storytelling in multiple forms. She told me, “I courageously made the decision to pursue filmmaking and more recently, acting for the stage – both forms of storytelling that can be powerfully effective. I say it was “courageous” because my transition came at a time when it was strange and even frowned upon for a Muslim woman to pursue filmmaking. I was a devout Muslim youth perplexed by the fact that music, theatre, film, acting and other forms of art were generally censured by our community, whereas they made me feel closer to Allah, The Most Creative. In fact, the arts continue to be largely omitted from many mosques, Islamic schools and Muslim youth groups, slowly suffocating creativity and sometimes pushing people out. On the bright side, it is encouraging to see that attitudes have vastly improved in recent years because more and more young Muslims are proudly pursuing the arts while maintaining their Muslim identity. They realize that the arts are in fact a part of Muslim heritage – not haram but a blessing from Allah Subhana wa Ta’Ala.” When she is not working on films or on the stage, she loves spending time with her family and close friends. She told me, “It’s a treat to be able to carry on a conversation without inhibition about something frivolous and hilarious one minute and deeply serious the next. Dialogue with people who know you well is liberating because you’re able to give your two cents without judgment, and if the people you know well hold you to high moral standards and Islamic ideals, you never getting away with saying anything that’s hurtful and unfair.” When I asked Saira what her own favourite quality is she told me, “I like to think I’m adventurous. More accurately, restless to a fault. Even as a child I would make believe that I had multiple jobs – such as classroom teacher, TV actor, flight check-in attendant (not sure what you call those people who asked if you wanted a “smoking or non-smoking” seat on the plane!), café owner, and single mom of many, many children. I’ve done many different things in my life and plan to do many more, insha Allah.” Saira’s favourite place to find herself is in nature, whether it’s walking in the park, hiking in the woods, or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. She told me, “I feel I’m hugging my dad when I hug a tree!” When I asked Saira what the one thing she knows for sure is she shared with me, “Lately, since my father passed away two years ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own mortality. Death is certain, but I didn’t take it seriously before Dad left us. From time to time during my years of grieving, I felt angry and confused with Allah because I couldn’t understand what the purpose was of taking away my beloved father from our small close-knit family. We were so happy together, alhamdulillah. But whenever I look back at my life, I can recall it in stages and it never takes long to come back to the present. That’s when I remind myself that this life is indeed very short, which for me forces a frantic approach to future planning as well as a calming, peaceful notion that I’ll be with my loved ones one day soon enough, insha Allah.”
Q&A Feature:
What is your biggest hope?
“I hope that our community can learn to embrace and empower our Muslim children to be honest and genuine with themselves; to know that Allah Subhana wa Ta’Ala loves them even if they decide to become actors or fashion designers or something that seems to go against the Muslim norm.”
What is something that inspires or motivates you/ or an inspiring message you would like to share?
“I must say it’s hard to be inspired these days. The world can appear bleak and headed for disaster. I fear for future generations. I think that that’s the time to go back to the Quran and remind oneself that there is purpose and plan; there is something or “somewhere” beyond the borders of human existence and the universe as we know it. We have to stay focused on what good we can possibly do here and now. Though it may seem minuscule in the grand scheme of things, the good work we do is never insignificant to Allah.”
