ASRA Club | London, UK

Words by Karen Edwards. Photography by Aisyah Octavia.

​​Sahra-Isha Muhammad-Jones joined an athletics club at the age of 11. Straight away, she felt the benefits of sport and exercise – running made her feel good; carefree and healthy. Following some time out for her A-Level exams, she returned to running as an 18-year-old Muslim woman, and found the landscape had changed. By now, she was wearing a hijab – and her old athletics circles felt less inclusive. Supported by other Muslim women who had experienced the same feelings of exclusion and disillusionment from running, she launched ASRA Club  in East and South London in 2019. This is Muhammad-Jones’ story.

Running helped me with my mental health. It became a huge part of my identity.  I love how running makes me feel. When I run, I feel a weight flying off me. It’s as though I’m letting go of anything I’ve been stressed about. It makes me feel free. Yet, when I returned to running after my exams, it just didn’t feel the same. I didn’t feel as though I could just turn up and feel accepted to run [in my hijab]. So, I took to social media to see if I was the only one who felt that way.

Muslim women are constantly facing hurdles within society. Before I walk into a room, there will be assumptions made about me. It’s tough trying to be yourself, while also having to acknowledge what is being assumed of you and, sometimes, counteract that assumption. As a Black Muslim woman, there are even more layers. We are burdened with a lot [of stigma and expectation] before we even reach the running space. This can lead to low self-esteem, feeling drained and burned out.

I received hundreds of responses from Muslim women. Each one explained the difficulty of finding a space where they could be themselves and feel safe when running. I was at university at the time but was also working as a researcher for brands – so I held a focus group. I wanted to hear the many voices of Muslim women; to understand their needs and the barriers they face. 

ASRA Club launched in March 2019. We began working during Ramadan, so we started with holistic conversations around wellness and nutrition. I organized yoga sessions, poetry workshops, journaling and sisterhood workshops each week. The running club started in September 2019. In essence, it’s a space for people to be themselves when they walk onto the running track. The name ‘ASRA’ derives from ‘Al-Isra’, a chapter from The Quran meaning ‘the night journey’. Our philosophy is that no one is left behind. 

Now up to 40 people join us for a run every week. We hold track running sessions every week. When we move, we go all together – but often divide into smaller groups depending on our ability or pace. There’s someone at every level, so no one runs alone. We also offer ‘walk and talk’ park sessions – an intergenerational project – every other Saturday, and during Ramadan, a program of yoga and sisterhood-related wellness workshops. 

The idea of sisterhood is also rooted in Islamic principles. We are a community that faces a lot [of issues] in wider society, so showing up for each other is important. It’s a beautiful way of thinking; we understand that we all come with different lived experiences. Islamic teachings also tell us that we are responsible for looking after our bodies. Staying active and wellness are part of that.

Our partnership with On gives us the backing to be heard. Unlike other running clubs, we are already hyper visible, but we are not heard enough – so this is really important. On understands this and has provided us with funding that truly supports our community and enables us to continue to deliver sessions for our runners.

I am from The Gambia and Sierra Leone, so I had always wanted to create an ASRA Club space for young women there, too. The idea came to me when I heard some amazing young women talking about their experiences around sport while I was in The Gambia a couple of years ago. In The Gambia, much like in Britain, women feel they can’t run in a dress or niqab. Until now, that hasn’t been normalized, so women feel like they have to wear leggings to run, compromising their clothing choice. It makes running as a woman feel impossible. How you dress shouldn’t stop you from engaging in sports. I hope for the female community to see themselves represented within a running club, especially when there is currently a societal shift happening alongside the work that groups like ASRA Club are doing.

We now have a global community of 700+ runners. We have members in the UK, The Gambia, France, Spain and the US. We received messages from women who don’t live in the UK, but they love what we do and wanted to be a part of our group chat. So, we welcomed them into our community. Our international members might not be physically able to run with us, but they are still part of our Club.

Being a member of ASRA Club brings so much love. You can feel it every time you walk on and off the track. That love is important for restorative justice, and we need more of it within society as a whole. 

Through Right To Run partnership support, ASRA Club receives funds and support that empowers Muslim women to enjoy sport and wellness activities in a safe, comfortable space. To learn more about how you can get involved, visit ASRA Club