A BRIT glamour model wants to join the ranks of Mia Khalifa – and become one the world’s biggest Muslim porn stars.
Aaliyah Yasin, not her real name, has forged a career as an adult star – but says she still receives hate for flaunting her body while wearing a hijab.
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Raised as a devout Muslim in Birmingham, Aaliyah, 27, says her strict upbringing inspired her to pursue the career.
Speaking to The Sun, Aaliyah said her dad forced her to wear a hijab – and she now sees it as a symbol of empowerment in her sex scenes.
Although her career has fractured some relationships in her family, she said her choices have been mostly tolerated.
She told The Sun: “I was forced to wear a hijab when I was growing up.
“I’m reclaiming it because I was forced to wear this and I was so repressed.
“People criticise me for using it in this way but why are they watching me in the first place? It’s sheer hypocrisy.
“The hijab in that context shocks people but consent is involved, but I’m not breaking any laws. I’m consenting to it but it makes people uncomfortable.”
She hails Mia Khalifa – the former porn star notorious for popularising hijabi porn during her short stint in the industry – as an inspiration.
“Mia Khalifa broke boundaries for women of colour, even though she’s from a Catholic background herself,” Aaliyah said.
“I love making porn while wearing my hijab.
“It’s so empowering to wear it with your own consent. She did it. Why can’t I? Last year I gained 40,000 followers in one month on Twitter.”
Aaliyah describes a tough childhood where bullies “would spit on me” and shout racist slurs.
Lonely, the adult actress resorted to downloading friendship apps to make new pals.
Even in her family, she claimed her aunts and uncles told her she’d be prettier if she lost weight.
However, the struggles of her teenage years pushed her to pursue a career as an adult star.
Aaliyah started on OnlyFans – the British-founded website notorious for its adult content – while with her ex-husband.
She uploaded pictures of her feet – decorated with henna designs from her wedding night which took place the month before.
Aaliyah moved to filming sex with both men and women – all while maintaining a relationship with her boyfriend, who sometimes does scenes with her.
I want to be the world’s biggest Muslim porn star because I grew up strict
Aaliyah Yasin
She told The Sun: “I sleep with people for work, but my sex life with my boyfriend is completely separate from this.”
The sex worker incorporates aspects of her South Asian identity into her work – either role-playing in Urdu or wearing traditional clothing.
Unusually, she wears the Islamic veil in her scenes, traditionally used as a symbol of modesty, but has strict boundaries in place.
She has an “outright ban” on performing requests involving the Quran.
She said: “Hats off to the Muslim porn stars that do [it], I’m just not comfortable.”
Aaliyah revealed that many of her followers are Muslim South Asians and married men – the demographic she targets.
She has even noticed prominent Islamic scholars subscribing to her adult content – and prominent mosque leaders.
Last year, the holy month of Ramadan was when she saw the biggest spike in followers from Muslim nations.
People criticise me for using the hijab in this way but why are they watching me in the first place? It’s sheer hypocrisy
Aaliyah Yasin
“Ramadan is the craziest time every year,” she said.
Aaliyah said she enjoys playing on cultural stereotypes.
She said: “I don’t mind being pigeonholed.
“While I get a lot of hate within the community I also get lots of messages from both men and women telling me I’m an inspiration for breaking barriers.
“Lots of messages are from women and people in the LGBTQ+ community. They all come to me and say, I’m so glad you’re an ally and I’m happy to be.
“I’m so proud of who I’ve become and I want to be the world’s biggest Muslim porn star because I grew up Muslim.
“I grew up strict. I grew up being forced to do things I didn’t want to do. So now’s my chance to reclaim it all.”
While she credits her success to her large fan base – with more than 50,000 Twitter followers, her family haven’t always taken it so well.
But they now tolerate the porn star’s lifestyle choices.
Mia Khalifa broke boundaries for women of colour, even though she’s from a Catholic background herself
Aaliyah Yasin
“When my mum found out, my brother called me to warn me that he was told to forcefully grab me, along with my other brother, from my partner’s house to be sent to Pakistan,” Aailyah said.
“She found out close to my birthday and I didn’t even get a happy birthday or anything.
“To celebrate, my partner had booked a beautiful retreat away, and the whole time I wanted to cry my eyes out. Even my siblings who I was still talking to forgot.
“One of my brothers is very religious. He said to me that he didn’t agree with it morally but told me to do whatever I wanted as long as I was happy.
“And one of my siblings is queer and trans – going through a gender transition at the moment, and that relationship has been super helpful to me.”
As her online fame has increased, Aaliyah has even been threatened with vile acid attacks.
“They’re all villagers back in Pakistan who claim they’ll come to the UK just to attack me so I take it really lightly – but it still hurts,” she said.
“They’re the ones watching, and they’re the ones watching. Like do they seriously want to throw acid on a girl’s face?”
Who is Mia Khalifa?
MIA KHALIFA, was born Sarah Joe Chamoun, in Lebanon’s capital Beirut.
Raised in what she described a “very conservative” catholic family, she moved to the US in 2001 due to the conflict in South Lebanon.
The 31-year-old shot to fame in 2014 with the notorious pornographic video shot of her sporting the hijab while having a threesome.
The video proved so contentious that she received death threats from ISIS and was publicly disowned from her religious parents.
Despite a short stint of just three months in the adult industry, she became the most viewed and the most-searched-for adult actress on Pornhub.
Now she tries to distance herself from her past work and has started a jewellery line called Sheytan.
She urges young women not to get involved in porn.
Safety is Aaliyah’s top priority, and she has even hired a private driver to escort her to and from her home and regularly gets NDAs signed.
She said: “My friends even use my fake name when we’re out in public to protect me.”
But being a practising Muslim with her lifestyle is challenging.
“I don’t practise because my job will not allow me to fast because I have to have sex, I have to drink, I have to go to gym,” she said.
“I have to make sure I am fit and healthy for the camera.
“I’m still spiritual – I believe in bright and wrong and I don’t feel that a man in a book needs to tell me what is right and wrong.
“Just because I make pornography doesn’t mean I don’t follow a basic moral code. I don’t see it as wrong.”
Just because I make pornography doesn’t mean I don’t follow a basic moral code. I don’t see it as wrong
Aaliyah Yasin
Aaliyah visited her family for Eid – and maintained a more reserved image for the sake of her family.
“Even if suppressing myself depresses me, it is always about image, and about how your family perceives you in South Asian culture,” she said.
“[My mum] keeps me very private and doesn’t tell anybody about my job, but in my personal relationship with her, my sex work is definitely the elephant in the room.
“Whenever I come back to Birmingham I do suffer from anxiety, especially at family gatherings – what if a family member sees me?
“I even walked out at Eid when random people I wasn’t expecting to see came over. Who’s to say they’re not gonna get some thugs to come over and try and kill me?”