Eid Mubarak, world! Tomorrow, Monday, is Eid-ul-Adha – the “festival of sacrifice.” How unfortunate that too many of us interpret that in the literal sense. Ever paused to wonder if maybe it’s sacrificing our egos for a better, more just home, community, world, instead?

The following is for Muslim women, Muslim mothers, mother-like figures, and guardians on whom the community places the responsibility of not just generally taking care of but also managing children in mosques during Eid prayer and sermon while men do the hard work of, well, enjoying their child-free zones and being angry at us for taking care of their children.

To all the Muslim mothers / mother-like figures and non-men guardians who have to have their kids with them at prayer, thank you for your presence in mosques. ❤ on behalf of the patriarchal world we live in, I apologize for the times the community stresses you out because your child/ren are not being quiet, won’t sit still – because they’re children, perhaps? – and the men keep shouting your way to tell you to control your kids but themselves won’t take the responsibility of having their kids on their side. I’m sorry that you are so distracted by stressing over how not to inconvenience the congregation that you probably don’t get much out of the worship service. And, in most cases, you don’t even attend the mosque because you don’t want to trouble the other worshipers. Thank you for your resilience, thank you for your presence, thank you for bringing your children (though I dream of a time when our men will wake up and start sharing the responsibility of childrearing publicly, too). Trust no one who makes you feel like a distraction or an inconvenience because your children are with you while we all pray together as a community. Any mosque, any community that refuses to accommodate you is no friend of yours, mine, or other women’s. #KeepFightingtheGoodFightGirls! #DeathToPatriarchy

God bless you, God reward you for the troubles the community puts you through, God be your Companion in everything – aameen.

And Eid Mubarak!