Ruqayyah K. Muhammad was born in the early 80s in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.A. As the youngest of eight children of the late Dr. Abdul Baaqee Wilson Muhammad and the late Gloria Saleem  (may God be pleased with them both), she considers herself uniquely favored to have been born into a family that fostered God-consciousness, self-knowledge, curiosity, service, and love.

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After an idyllic childhood spent on the U.S. Marine Corps base in Camp Lejune, North Carolina and in the small town of Andalusia, Alabama, Ruqayyah later settled with her family in Atlanta, Georgia. In Atlanta, she matriculated at the African-American Muslim-run Mohammed School System and then attended the all-woman HBCU Spelman College, majoring in Political Science. While in Atlanta, she was an active member of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam. She is forever grateful to each of these institutions for providing such unique safe spaces for the gathering of the extraordinary individuals she was blessed to know and love.

During a semester studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, she fell deeply and irrevocably in love with her now-husband Muhammad Milanzi. Following her college graduation, in 2004 she returned to South Africa to wed and live permanently. She and Muhammad live in Dawn Park, a small town near Johannesburg, with their three children Amatur-Rahman, Muhammad Al-Hasan, and Faatimah Zahra Ayesha.

Ruqayyah calls herself a “full-time wife and mother” although she fears the phrase fails truly convey the beautiful madness of her day-to-day life. Along with her husband, his extended family, and a close-knit community, she is working to establish a model Islamic community. She also runs the indie publishing and editing company Deep Roots Books. Ruqayyah is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in such publications as The Muslim Journal, Azizah Magazine, The Flood, and The Atlanta Journal Constitution.  

Her deep desire and passionate prayer is to stand powerfully in her truth, share light in dark places, and inspire others to do the same. Khayalami and Wildflower are  her first two books, but she hopes they won’t be her last.