[2][3] This was after the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état in which the Islamist military toppled the democratically elected government and brought in harsh laws, such as the policing of women's clothing and mandating the speaking and teaching of Arabic in universities.
[27] In late 2016, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) sent Abdel-Magied, as a CAAR board member, to several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt and Sudan, to promote Australia.
[39] In June 2016 on the ABC TV program The Drum, Abdel-Magied said that Sharia law "allows for multiple interpretations... it's about mercy, it's about kindness".
Abdel-Magied's words in brackets referenced refugees held in detention on Manus Island and Nauru, and injustices against Palestinians.
She did not specify her reasons for leaving, but after arriving in London said that it had been "exhausting" to have been the subject of controversy and that she had felt betrayed by her home country, after criticism aimed at her had been "visceral" and "more about who I am than about what is said".
[54][55] An essay originally published by the Griffith Review in April 2017 was reprinted in The Guardian on 6 July, along with a short introduction describing the extremity of the behaviours to which she had been subjected.
She had been trolled relentlessly after her Q&A appearance and Anzac Day post, including being sent videos of beheadings and rapes with suggestions that the same should happen to her.
[61][62] Randa Abdel-Fattah wrote "Abdel-Magied has come to represent everything that Islamophobia hates – but actually loves – about 'the Muslim problem' ", and that her critics would have preferred her to stay in Australia.
[64] In April 2019, comedian and writer Sami Shah presented a series of radio programmes in which he investigated the concept and practice of free speech in Australia.
[69] In April of the same year, Abdel-Magied appeared in her acting debut in the SBS TV series Homecoming Queens, made in her Australian hometown of Brisbane, about the lives of two young women dealing with life after major illness.
[72] At the Melbourne Writers Festival in August 2018, Abdel-Magied spoke of the grief she felt, for the loss of both her engineering career as well as her youthful optimism and innocence.
The target audience is young readers, and the plot centres on a Sudanese girl who struggles to fit into her new private school.
[79][80] In January 2020, the Australia Council for the Arts announced Abdel-Magied as a recipient of a A$20,000 international development writing grant and a six-month residency at the Keesing Studio in Paris.
It is divided into two sections, "The Private and Public Self", and "Systems and Society", with all of the writings linked by a broad interpretation of the term "revolution".
[86][87] She spoke about the book in conversation with Sisonke Msimang via live video at the Sydney Writers Festival on 21 May,[88] and also appeared on ABC News Breakfast.
[82] In February 2024, ITV Academy selected her as a writer for Emmerdale, along with Oneikah Campbell, as part of their "Original Voices" initiative.