Amal Fertility is a Mississauga-based support group for Muslim women struggling with infertility. The group offers monthly meetings and information sessions on topics such as adoption and foster care. Muslim Link connected with the group’s founders, Sarah Hussain and Fatima Shaikh, to explore the need to initiate more discussion on the realities of Muslim women struggling with infertility and childlessness in our communities. Hussain and Shaikh shared their individual journeys that brought them to forming the Amal Fertility Support Group and then responded to the rest of our questions collaboratively.
Nazima Khan, 34, and Riyad Khan, 35, married young in the hopes of starting a family early. Born and raised in Toronto to South Asian parents, Nazima works as a registered nurse in a labour and delivery ward and Riyad works as a teacher. They are the proud parents of three young children. There is very little that distinguishes them from your average Muslim Canadian professional family. Except that they adopted their children from the Children’s Aid Society (CAS).
When Sarah* and her husband Ali struggled to conceive for five years, they felt isolated and confused; unable to get the support they needed in their community to help them in their journey to start a family.
“Since I was a young girl I had dreamt of being a mother, but I never realized how difficult it might end up being for us,” Sarah shares. “Infertility is a common and growing problem, but unfortunately it is still quite a taboo subject. So when you are struggling, it can be difficult to find the courage and strength to speak out about your challenges and get the help you need, without feeling like you are being judged or gossiped about.”
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