Mona Haydar

Haydar was raised, along with her seven siblings, in Flint, Michigan.[4] Her parents immigrated to the United States from Damascus, Syria, in 1971.

At 14 years old, Haydar began performing spoken word poetry in Flint at open mics and poetry shows downtown. There she developed her act and was taught to use poetry as a way to tell stories she felt were largely ignored by the mainstream media.[5] Haydar was brought in and mentored by black women who taught her to use her voice as a way to oppose white supremacy and Western culture. One such mentor was Dr. Traci Currie, a professor at the University of Michigan - Flint, when Haydar attended.[6]

In 2011, after graduating from the University of Michigan - Flint, Haydar left the US and studied at Jami' Abu-Noor in Damascus, Syria. When the Syrian conflict erupted, Haydar's studies in Islamic spirituality were cut short and she moved back to Flint.[6]

Haydar has a master's degree in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary.[7][8]

In 2012, Haydar lost a close friend to suicide and this caused her to question her own reasons for living and changed her life.[9] She uprooted from her life in Flint where she had been working as a substitute teacher and moved off grid to an inter-spiritual community and retreat center called the Lama Foundation. There she met her partner. They married and had their first child there.[5]

In 2015, Haydar and her husband, Sebastian, set up a stand in Cambridge, Massachusetts, inviting people to “Talk to a Muslim,” offering them coffee, donuts, and flowers as a means to “replace trauma with love.”[10] Haydar gained an audience after her social media post about their project went viral, and it helped her reach an international audience.[11] Her music is a continuation of that work.

In 2016, at 6 months pregnant with her second child, Haydar was at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, taking a stand with the indigenous peoples of the U.S in opposition to the Key Stone Pipeline.[12] Her song "American", from her EP Barbarican, speaks to some of her experiences there.[13]

Haydar appeared in the 2016 Microsoft holiday campaign “#SpreadHarmony”,[14] shot by Jake Scott.[15]

Haydar's debut song, "Hjabi (Wrap My Hijab)", went viral.[16][17][18] Billboard named this 2017 single one of “The 20 Best Protest Songs of 2017”[19] as well as one of the “Top 25 Feminist Anthems."[20] The song builds bridges of hope and understanding while dispelling myths, correcting stereotypes, and educating the world about who she is and what she stands for.[21] The song launched her career as well as creating positive reception.[22]

NPR called her debut video for “Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)" “reminiscent of Lemonade”, and that the visuals “channel Beyonce”.[23] The video was included by the De Young Museum in San Francisco in an exhibit on Muslim women's fashions in 2018.[24]

Haydar's second single "Dog" featured Jackie Cruz of Orange Is the New Black.[25][18] The video featured a public service announcement about violence against women, taking on the global problem of toxic patriarchy.[26] Her other song, "Suicide Doors", she wrote to deal with the suicide of one of her friends.[27] The culture of Flint, in which she grew up is the reason Haydar to become a lover, student and creator in hip hop culture. She cites the likes of Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Lauryn Hill and others as inspirations to her for representing themselves and their religion in music proudly and without compromise.[5]

In 2018, Haydar spoke alongside Katie Couric at the media festival SXSW.[28] She also appeared in Couric's National Geographic show America Inside Out.[29] On March 28, 2018, she was featured on the CBS Evening News for her "resistance music".[30]

The Emmy-nominated series The Secret Life of Muslims by Josh Seftel featured her and Sebastian. Their episode remains the most viewed episode of the series. In July 2018, Haydar appeared on Marcus Samuelsson's PBS show No Passport Required,[31] where she showed him around the studio where she recorded her first two songs.[32] In November 2018, Haydar released her song "Lifted".[33] "Lifted" encourages community building and healing from imperial and colonial wounds through the strategies she learned from James H. Cone and others while getting her master's.[8]

Her debut 2018 EP Barbarican was met with positive reviews.[34][13][35]

In 2020, Haydar took part in the online Call to Unite program which was put on by Tim Shriver amidst the Corona Virus Pandemic which aimed to help those most vulnerable. She performed a song live during the [36]

Haydar received her Bachelors of Arts from the University of Michigan in English literature. She received her Masters in Christian Ethics from the Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. She did her field work at New York University and worked as a chaplain at NYU at that time.[37]

• Barbarican (2018)

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