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START | Hello friend

I'm Liy, a tropical cryptid foraging for narrative resources and sharing them with you in writing that is human, not autotuned.

Here to be the queer Muslim ancestor of my dreams.
I begin by invoking the Beloved, Most Gracious-Compassionate, the Source I am loyal to above all.
  • 🦜 I am a knowledge worker foraging for narrative resources to resist collective forgetting.
  • 🫆 I am here to be the strange Southeast Asian Muslim ancestor of my dreams.
  • 🍉 Here is where I play with communicating what I have learned in independent study so that you and I can endure The Long Now together.

Everything I post here I try to keep 'evergreen,’ easy to read, and meaningful for you. If you valued something I wrote, buy me a coffee! This lets me know to keep going. You can also send a link to someone else, or make a prayer for my well-being the way you know how.

"Across the ages, humans have left evidence in the form of relics about orienting themselves towards something Sacred, Ultimate, or Holy Other." - amina wadud

I keep a place to return to whenever you remember it, hopefully with your tea of choice. Some house rules:

🪬 Do not feed my voice to the slop machine

A human being wrote this. There is no generative 'AI' here, just my messy flesh and blood crafting every transmission slowly as an act of care in between other obligations. Stay for the OPPOSITE of themed auto-playlists, polished people-pleasing text, eerie unreal images that interrupt our recognition of what is human in each other.

🪬 Accept that some things are for you, but not all

I choose what I write about here, and I do not write for everyone. I do not value 'producing content' to maximise popularity or profit. I use this space to practice acts of service that help others feel less alone. This means I write in solidarity with different groups of people. Let's not expect every post here to resonate with you the same way. I have added a dedication section at the top of most essays to help set expectations of your attention and time.

🪬 Be a chill guest

Here is not the space or time to defend theologies and ideologies of domination and exclusion. The world is not improved when you use rejection narratives to bully and burden others. Take responsibility for your reactions when reading. While you are a guest in my garden of free time, let's keep as many possibilities open as we can for a world with less domination and exclusion in it, not more.

As ever, the Beloved knows best.

Before the 2020 pandemic changed everything, I was co-organising community spaces for isolated queer people to befriend the Qur'an together. I also started a zettelkasten notes system that I still use today. While sheltering in place, I co-wrote the love letter I've always wanted to make, a spiritual workbook called The Signs In Ourselves.

Now I cultivate this pocket of the web in my free time, and curate collections of essays, tools and stories saved for others. Every thoughtful reader is an honour.

Read some of my personal favourites:

A ‘privilege’ so slow, it is the same as losing
A gentle reminder to the next person who asks me if we are in a world war, and if yes, how would I know.
Liy Learned ThatLiy Yusof
Abusers always use the same moves (and physical violence is not one of them)
The methods common to intimate abuse match those used by all traders of human captivity. What should surprise us about abuse isn’t how long it takes to leave, but that one has the strength to endure captivity disguised as courtship.
Liy Learned ThatLiy Yusof
The Tawhidic paradigm for human rights
This is a brief adventure into the world of Islamic ethics. Tawhid is a fundamental Islamic principle, often translated to as ‘monotheism’, but as we’ll see, there are more layers to it than that.
Liy Learned ThatLiy Yusof
Rethinking a social emphasis on procreation and proliferation
When confronted with this growth-oriented worldview, the burden is often placed on sexually diverse Muslims to change ourselves to conform to it.
Liy Learned ThatLiy Yusof
Here is a queer Muslim wellbeing workbook to help you feel less alone
Sheltering indoors in the holy month of the first year of the global pandemic, encouraged by a friend, I made a love letter to God and to all the queer Muslims who changed my life.
Liy Learned ThatLiy Yusof
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Navigate: Basics | Values | Now | Shelf | Spirit Garden | Notes Garden | Future Garden | Imaginary Garden | Poem Garden | Tea In The Garden | The Signs In Ourselves | Here | FAQ
[VALUES] My compass
[BASICS] My comfort Quranic bookmarks

Spirit Garden

At this point, God is mine: Notes where I practice being the Muslim ancestor of my dreams.

All posts in Spirit Garden

Notes Garden

Sharing reflections from what I read and watch, and notes from thinking in my zettelkasten.

All posts in the Notes Garden

Future Garden

Essays practicing for later, formed from the alchemy of different reading notes.

All posts in Future Garden

Imaginary Garden

Short stories, flash fiction, role play, possible and impossible timelines.

All posts in the Imaginary Garden

Poem Garden

There's never a wrong time for a poem. Some I made and some I share with you from others.

All posts in the Poem Garden

Tea In The Garden

Personal transmissions and creative nonfiction.

All posts in Tea In The Garden
[FAQ] "What do you mean you're ______?"
[SHELF] My working library
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Liy is a tropical cryptid in Southeast Asia foraging for narrative resources from the periphery to prepare for precarious futures. This is an ad-free space outside of the algo. If you're new here (hello!) or need a refresher, start here for house rules. Here is what I am up to now. I spend time thinking out of my zettelkasten notes system and sharing curated playlists from my time travels. Consider subscribing (it's free!) to read more and stay in touch: I only send out letters a few times a year. If you valued something here, say so (if we have access to each other) or it means so much to buy me a coffee— that sends me a signal to keep going.

Site icon: Iconathon. Typefaces: Sora and Arvo.