my new publication, ‘we fear no god, but ourselves’ launches this weekend on Saturday 24th @villagebooks.co in Leeds as part of the closing night party for my solo show currently on at their gallery 💌 what started as a private reckoning became something I couldn’t keep to myself. written in the aftermath of being outed and banned from my birth country, this book has held my grief, my shame, my survival. part memoir and fiction, part confession and reenactment; this book became a way to untangle what it means to live through shame, desire, worship, and survival as a queer Muslim man. Through 112 pages of photographs, poetry, film scripts, and real diary entries, I wanted to create something that didn’t just document a version of me, but tried to break him open. The one who learned to be loved through performance. The one who longed to be seen, even in the most haunted corners of himself. petrified and excited to share it this weekend! the book will be online shortly after the 24th Self-Published 148mm x 210mm Softcover First Edition of 50 112 pages Swiss-bound, with red thread Printed by @lyxbok £30

lately i’ve been thinking a lot about how an immigrant’s measure of worth is often reduced to what exists on paper. student visas. post-study visas. a failed attempt at a global talent visa. asylum claim to now refugee status. for years my life felt suspended between documents, constantly being processed, assessed and translated into proof. every form asking what value i could bring, what contribution i could make, whether my existence could be justified. it felt strange; almost unreal, to exist for the first time without the constant fear of being hunted down by paper. i think that feeling is what i’ve been trying to return to through the work lately. looking through old passports, family photographs, asylum paperwork and expired visas, trying to understand how a life begins to shift once it’s repeatedly filtered through systems designed to categorise it. through image transfers and reconstruction, i’ve been distorting and layering these materials until they start becoming something else entirely. less document, more residue. less evidence, more memory. i’ve become interested in what happens when these records stop behaving the way they were intended to, and begin resisting the versions of identity once imposed onto them.

@deepstatepress an evolving archive and publishing press centring radical queer Muslim and diasporic voices across Asian, African & SWANA contexts. coming summer 2026.

what a year 💞 i spent half of it writing, pouring everything i had into this book, holding my breath about putting it out into the world. The rest was spent bedridden with intense muscle tension, crying on the phone with my parents and the barrister, exhausted by the feeling that no matter what i did, it still wasn’t enough. living against a list of criteria you never asked for is draining in ways i’m still trying to understand. i feel ready to pivot. to be openly honest about struggle, about statelessness and passport privilege. about how every day feels like a negotiation between getting out of bed and not letting it all swallow me while. it’s infuriating to watch life go by with your back against the wall, having to carefully choose what you share and what you keep to yourself. i’m looking ahead to a lighter year, if that’s possible. a new publishing imprint and making room for stories that don’t always get told. huge thank you to @thecoldmagazine , especially @jude_j0nes2002 and @lexicovalsen for telling my story with such tenderness. please read it if you get a chance ❤️‍🩹

LAST REMAINING COPIES LEFT OF ‘WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES’ — thank you again for everyone who’s supported this project 💞 there’s only a handful of copies left. grab one from either @villagebooks.co @tenderbooks or @referencepoint180 following spread is from the last lines of my poem, ‘EAT ME’. it’s about what it means to lose yourself in someone else's mouth. to be looked at so long you begin to disappear. it asks what's left when you've given too much of yourself away, and whether that giving was ever really yours to choose.

still on cloud nine after the launch of my publication “WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVE”, @minor.attractions for frieze week with @villagebooks.co I got away with not doing a speech but 😅 a big warm hug to everyone who took time out of their day to come to the launch; to those who bought the book, shared a conversation with and friends I haven’t seen in ages. grateful is an understatement; especially when hearing people connect with the book and with my experiences around shame, rejection, Islam and growing up gay. To then see them take a piece of my life home to put on a bookshelf is still wild to me. thank you for giving me more reasons to be honest and to share my art!!! and as always; forever indebted to @realbadtime and @joetorr87 for being my biggest support system with putting my work out there 🥲 if you missed out, you can still grab a copy from @villagebooks.co @tenderbooks & @referencepoint180 🤲🏽

A small celebration for, “We Fear No God, But Ourselves” will take place during Minor Attractions 2025 (@minor.attractions ) at The Mandrake, taking place in the Library on Oct 15th from 7–9pm. ⠀ An informal evening to mark the book’s journey, share a few words, and offer the remaining first edition copies before they sell out. ⠀ Grateful to @villagebooks.co and @minor.attractions for making this little moment possible. ⠀ More details soon! RSVP via the link in bio. 🌙

“The tightrope tightens, unraveling me with every question until i finally speak, but even then, I wonder… I never wanted to be whole, just the parts that I could handle”. following spreads and images featured are in my new monograph WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES available to purchase @villagebooks.co , @tenderbooks & @referencepoint180 .

so thrilled to share that my book WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES has been reviewed by @georgeartgreg for @soanywaymagazine ! the piece sits with the heart of the work: to survive being outed, exiled and still find ways to write from the wound. we spoke a lot about grief, tenderness, sex, spirituality, Anne ernaux and everything in between. this means more than i can say. to have something so personal received and reflected on like this by a fellow queer writer as well ❤️‍🩹 pls go have a read of it too 💌 WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES available at: @villagebooks.co @tenderbooks @referencepoint180

a thank-you to everyone who’s bought, read, sat with, messaged and cried with this book. it means more than i can say ❤️‍🩹 and continues to remind me why i make the work i do. photo above: a still from the book. the opening sequence before the fall begins (Part I) 📕 ‘we fear no god, but ourselves’ now available at: 📍 @villagebooks.co (leeds & manchester) 📍 @tenderbooks (london) 📍 @referencepoint180 (london) in-store & online worldwide links in bio 💞

a few more shots from my solo show WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES @villagebooks.co the whole space came out of grief, rage, love and faith. thank you to everyone who showed up, sat with it and saw me through it. 1-2: slipshod facade 3-4: see me for me 5-6: wide view shots 7: back of the exhibit pamphlet shot by @realbadtime 💌 design & curation by moi photo prints by @freshaire_ltd

my poem ‘POINT OF NO RETURN’ from my new book — WE FEAR NO GOD, BUT OURSELVES there’s a moment where the silence stops protecting you. sometimes the body speaks before the mouth does. this one came out of a night i couldn’t sleep. 112 pages edition of 50 softcover with exposed spine, red thread 🪡 available now — link in bio