[6] Hilal was able to have some of her poems published in Saudi newspapers and magazines while working in a clerical position in a hospital in Riyadh, using the money from her first sales to buy a fax machine so that she could write arts articles from home.
[7] Hilal had wanted to compete on earlier seasons of Million's Poet, but her husband, while not refusing her the written permission that she as a Saudi woman would need to travel outside the country, was hesitant to grant it.
[8] The poem was seen as responding specifically to recent remarks by Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak which called for supporters of sex integration to be put to death.
"[7] Hilal's poem the subsequent week was 15 verses on a similar theme, and won her the top score of the round, a place in the final, and the judges' praise for her courage.
[10] Hilal adds that since extremist clerics are able to hold support by using "the religious terms and expressions that are deep-rooted in everyone's psyche," moderates should counter them using similar rhetoric rather than a modern language that people will not relate to.
[8] Hilal said that her experience wearing niqab while traveling outside Saudi Arabia was part of what led to the composition of "The Chaos of Fatwas"; the negative reactions she received from westerners made her think of how extremists of her own religion have given all Muslims a bad name.
Hilal edited the collection, which she sees as demonstrating the freedom of speech and autonomy in family matters that women in Saudi Arabia had in former generations.
[6][16] The book contains poems by fifty women poets from different Bedouin tribes and is made up of two sections, "The Right of Choice" and "Rejection and Resistance.