Mona Haydar

Mona Haydar (born 18 May 1988) is an American rapper, poet, activist, and chaplain. Her EP is Barbarian (2018), and she is best known for her viral song "Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)," a protest song.

Early life and education

Haydar was raised, along with her seven siblings, in Flint, Michigan. 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. 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.

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.

Haydar has a master's degree in Christian Ethics from Union Theological Seminary.

In 2012, Haydar lost a close friend to suicide and this caused her to question her own reasons for living and changed her life. 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.

Early career

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.” Haydar gained an audience after her social media post about their project went viral, and it helped her reach an international audience. Her music is a continuation of that work.

Career

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. Her song "American", from her EP Barbarican, speaks to some of her experiences there.

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

Haydar's debut song, "Hijabi (Wrap My Hijab)", went viral. Billboard named this 2017 single one of “The 20 Best Protest Songs of 2017” as well as one of the “Top 25 Feminist Anthems." 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. The song launched her career as well as creating positive reception.

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