Full Transcript of Interview with Zohra Baig
TSJ: Could you please say your name, age, occupation and hometown?
ZB: My name is Zohra Baig, I’m 21 years old, I’m a student and I’m from Houston.
TSJ: Could you just talk a little bit about your understanding with and relation to Islam?
ZB: I grew up in a sort of religious household in the sense that we went to the mosque pretty often growing up when we were young just to go to Sunday school, learn stories from the Quran and morals and what not and pray but as I got older we didn’t go as much and kind of used it as a community moreso where we would meet up with people from the mosque and such and obviously still celebrate holidays and what not. Now I would consider myself more spiritual, like I don’t pray but I used to pray a lot when I was younger moreso and so I have a more spiritual relationship with God and I follow the teachings the way that I interpret them and the way that I want to apply them to my everyday life.
TSJ: What specific sect of Islam are you?
ZB: I’m Sunni Muslim.
TSJ: How do you interpret the Quran? How strictly do you follow the teachings of the Quran?
ZB: I’ve definitely interpreted it in a way that I can apply it to my everyday life so I think I’ve taken the main things and main teachings which I think are to treat others like a brother or sister and you know don’t like and cheat and the things that I know are strictly immoral for me but I take those teachings with me everyday. Maybe the little, minute things that I don’t think are as important to me being a good person, I don’t emphasize as much.
TSJ: How does culture specifically influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam?
ZB: My parents are both Pakistani and I think the culture there might be a little more liberal in terms of their interpretation of Islam. I’ve gone to Pakistan before-when I was around twelve- and not everyone wears a scarf I don’t see a hijab that often, I don’t see a burqa that often, it’s more liberal I’d say than Middle Eastern countries and I think that’s because it’s tied to the culture in India because Pakistan was once a part of India which is a majority Hindu nation, not Muslim, so I think culture definitely impacts how people interpret Islam. It’s interpreted differently in the Middle East than maybe in Pakistan. So it’s not as common to wear the hijab there, my mother didn’t wear the hijab so yeah.
TSJ: Do you see any difference within the Pakistanis in the United States regionally in the country?
ZB: I have family members in the North East and other places and it just really depends on...so my father came here in the late 70s so he’s been here a long time and considers Houston is home and so others that came here much more recently are more tied to the culture back home in Pakistan so they might cover a little more, etc. vs I was born and raised here and I see myself as an American Muslim more so than them who might have immigrated here. So for example I have cousins in the North East and they recently came here in the last five to ten years so she wears the hijab here. She didn’t wear the hijab in Pakistan but she covered up a little more so I think to have her culture and religion with her here is why she wears the hijab vs I was born and raised here and I don’t have that same issues as them coming from another country.
TSJ: What are your biggest influencers of your decision not to cover?
ZB: I think it was just my family life. I had two older brothers and then I had my mother to look at. My mother didn’t cover. I also grew up very boyish so I never really saw a difference between me and my brothers and that was not, it was very much encouraged for me to be my own person and I had no limits and boundaries on who I had to be and so my parents never pressured me to be more girly or wear hijab or be more religious and so I would wear basketball shorts playing with my brothers but then as I got older I decided I’d dress more modestly so I wouldn’t wear shorts but I would wear capri pants so I think I started interpreting in my own terms what modesty means to me but yeah it ended up becoming my own decision which I think is what my interpretation of Islam is, as I grow it’s…
TSJ: Have you felt any societal pressure to cover in specific moments?
ZB: I think when I’m around other Muslims that are more conservative I’ll feel the need to cover more out of respect to them kind of but yeah so I see that pressure around other Muslims in America and everyone’s different so you want to respect their beliefs as well. I’m not going to wear hijab just because my friend does but because i know she’s completely covered, I’m not going to also ...I mean it doesn’t affect me too much because I do wear t shirts, I wear capris at some points, even dresses so it doesn’t affect me too much per say but sometimes I say “hey might as well wear pants today” which wouldn’t affect me too much because I wear pants anyways.
TSJ: Have you ever faced specific discrimination, like in a mosque, for not covering?
ZB: Yeah so I think from any religions you see extreme situations where people might be a lot more passionate about certain things. I do remember being in a mosque when I was really young and my scarf didn’t cover my hair because it was too long and when I tied it I thought I tied it well but it was still showing and after someone came up to me and told me “hey, your hair’s not covered, you need to cover your hair” and my mom said “don’t worry about that” my mom was very, always, she wanted me to like my religion and wanted me to just interpret it in my own way and not feel the need to hate it just because someone might be a little more hostile towards different scenarios so she definitely brushed it off and didn’t like the fact that the lady came up to me but said that it’s the thought that counts and God still knows I was praying, God knows that so it’s not like a big deal. For my parents they didn’t emphasize that.
TSJ: Does seeing violent hate crimes against hijabi women ever influence or have an impact on your decision?
ZB: I definitely feel for my friends who wear hijab and are scared to go out and are especially impacted by it because they are automatically seen as Muslim and I have the appearance of not being immediately assumed as a Muslim, I have that privilege basically but it doesn’t impact my decision at all to wear hijab but I do feel for them and know that I am in a privileged situation where I don’t have to worry about that too much but then if I out myself as Muslim then it’s different maybe then I would get similar sentiments toward me but it’s something where there’s going to be extreme people everywhere whether you’re white, whether you’re black, whether you’re Muslim, no matter what you are people are going to hate but I think for them it’s more out there because for me at least I can be assumed to be something else.
TSJ: Is there anything that would make you change your decision to cover?
ZB: I don’t know I mean I guess it would just have to be something in life that happens to wear...At the end of the day my decision to cover is like my relationship with God and my relationship with religion so it would never be something like I want to show that I’m Muslim. If you ask me my religion, I’m not going to shy away from it- I will tell you that I’m Muslim. My decision to wear hijab has just always been my interpretation of what the Quran is and I think that God is happy with me being modest and dressed the way I am. It’s okay that I don’t wear hijab. It would be a drastic change for me to do that and I think...I don’t see my interpretation changing so much that suddenly I would do that but who knows, maybe, I don’t see that happening?
TSJ: How do you view other Muslim women who don’t cover vs. women who do? Do you have different opinions of them or see them differently?
ZB: I will preface this with the fact that I didn’t have too many Muslim friends that were my age towards my teenage years like high school just because my high school didn’t have that many Muslims and so the few that I had the ones that did wear hijab just happened to be a little meaner and I had this stereotype that the ones that wore hijab were mean or something but I mean anyone can be mean so when I got to Rice there were a lot of people that wore hijab and a ton that didn’t and they were all Muslim and they were all so friendly and so nice and I finally got a good community of girls that were my age and they’re all the same to me I don’t see a difference. Some might be more religious that wear hijab and some might just be like me, just as religious as I am and still wear hijab so I don’t have any impression of them just because they wear hijab because it could be for any reason. It could be for a religious reason, it could be a statement of who they are that they want to show it and so I don’t really have any impression. I used to have that immature impression that the ones that wore hijab were meaner but I obviously don’t have that anymore.
TSJ: How do you feel when you hear people saying that Muslim women are oppressed generally or that covering specifically is a sign of oppression?
ZB: So covering is already a choice which is the opposite of oppression because covering is a choice that we make. Obviously there may be cases in the Middle East, extreme cases, where it’s not a choice for them but for the most part especially in America or there could be pressures if you come from a specific family but I don’t think the hijab implies oppression at all it’s a connection to your faith. And then just women being...I think I mentioned it earlier too my parents were very, I mentioned it specifically because I think women in Islam get this rep that we don’t have as much freedom as men in Islam. I have two brothers but my parents treated me the exact same. They always pushed us, I had the same opportunities and could do whatever I wanted and my brothers treated me that way too and I think I even got more...I think we value women a lot in Islam. I forget what my dad says but he says a lot about women being a blessing or daughters being a blessing and to the point where like if I do something stupid to forgive me quickly and are more forgiving than if my brothers were to do the same so I got an advantage there and I think it’s sad that we get that reputation because I’ve always felt that my religion values me so much as a female. It’s weird to think otherwise but yeah other people aren’t going to see that and they aren’t going to see the great things written about women. My dad’s into history and stuff so he’ll talk about how in the Quran women had rights to land before other women of other faiths did like if a husband divorced or something the woman would get the rights to that man’s land automatically vs other religions at the time hadn’t gotten there. There’s just a lot written in the Quran about women having even to a point an advantage over men or should be treated better and I always felt treated a little better so I always thought growing up..it’s unfortunate that it’s literally seen as the opposite in the media.
TSJ: What is your perspective of countries or mosques that do require women to cover?
ZB: I’m not that knowledgeable, like when I went to Pakistan the women didn’t even go to the mosque which I thought was so weird because I’ve always been able to go to the mosque, there’s like a women’s section and a men’s section. Like women prayed at home in Pakistan, in the Middle East, especially in Saudi everyone wears a burqa or has to cover and I actually have an aunt that’s from there but I think it’s a lot about state mixing with religion with religion and state in a way that’s not exactly what our religion told us to. I think in the Middle East they covered more because historically the sand and the heat and all these other reasonings that came up. Initially I think in the Quran when our prophet Muhammad was around women weren’t covering their heads and it became a thing in the Middle East to adapt to the weather so I think in the Middle East it’s really common to cover just for that historically but the countries that require it are mixing religion and state very extremely and so I don’t have a huge perspective or opinion on it because I just know that’s the way it is over there. Mosques here have a separate women’s section, I know there are some sects that will have them all in the same room just side by side but still cut off a little between men and women. I think it’s all interpretation there’s no, not that I know of, real way to allow women and men to go to the mosque and how to pray together. I think it’s just side by side. When you go to the Holy hajj, we have our pilgrimage, I’m pretty sure everyone’s praying side by side. I think people are just interpreting it in the mosque this way to be safe to separate them. I don’t know about women not being allowed to go to mosques in America I feel like it’s definitely liberal here. In the mosques we mostly cover to pray and you can take off your scarf when you’re just around, you can especially when it’s just women because you’re segregated but even so my mom always emphasized to me “you don’t have to cover if you don’t want to. When you’re walking around you don’t have to cover even if girls are. It’s not a big deal it’s always just your decision.” So if it ever fell off I wouldn’t care. I don’t know if mosques require you to cover, maybe it might be just an implied requirement because everyone around you is covering even when they’re not praying. Again, it’s all interpretation and the people that have those restrictions or those beliefs and so it depends honestly...there’s different sects I know of Christianity where Pentecostals might cover more, the women only wear skirts, there’s just different interpretations that people think it’s better to cover all the time. I don’t think there’s a right way except before and after the adhan, call to prayer, there’s a lot of different interpretations for everything so it’s hard to say which is right, which is wrong and for others to say that too.
TSJ: Do you feel the need to defend Islam whenever the mainstream media attacks?
ZB: Okay if I did that that would be very tiring! Every time? No I think if I hear something that I think is wrong I’ll say something but there’s stupidity in the media all the time it’s not really something I could do much about as a student, just sitting here. I know a lot of people are trying to fight Islamophobia and are doing a lot for that cause and I applaud them, some of them for dedicating their lives to help that but it’s really hard sitting from my standpoint to be moved to do much when there’s not a lot I can do to change the media’s perspective. I can change my friends or like someone in front of me. I don’t let myself get impacted by that. It can be more hurtful during bad times when things...when bad things happen, which have been happening a lot, it can be a bit more hurtful because it’s in the media all the time and you’re seeing it all the time but I try not to let that impact me. I just try to be there for my friends who might be impacted more so by things that are being said or what not, or hate crimes or the other way around when there’s a Muslim terrorist and all the bad things that could happen. I know it affects others maybe more so than I, so I definitely try to be there but I try to stay away from it and not be impacted by it too much.
TSJ: Muslim identity and American identity are seen to be binaries, especially post 9-11. When people say these identities are incompatible, how do you respond??
ZB: Another important point is that my interpretation of religion in general in Islam is that it taught me my morals growing up and now I take all the teachings that were told to me growing up and I just apply them to my life now and I take it with me in my life so I know that in the Quran it says not to drink but it’s my choice to drink or not but I’m going to make that choice later in life. I think it’s great for you to have your kids grow to to have a community and learn their morals growing up but at the end of the day you’re going to come to a point where you’re an adult and those are your choices and you can interpret things the way you want to and you can make religion a part of your daily life the way you want it to be. So I think it was a great tool for me growing up to keep with me and impact me and because you’re a Muslim-because you’re whatever religion- it’s going to impact your decisions every day no matter what and it does and I take all those things with me but I interpret them in the way I feel is fit to my beliefs now. I think my parents instilled that in me too. They said “take these, these are our teachings, these are our beliefs but it’s your decision to take with it what you want, what you think.” I always took with it to be a good person first and to always consider everyone a brother and a sister and we emphasize that. I think the stupidity comes from...I think all religions preaches the same thing so it’s funny that other religions are being isolated..they preach the exact same thing just in different ways and so they always said befriend your brother and your sister, everyone’s a brother and a sister, not just Muslims. I just take that with me and whatever my religion taught me growing up I’m going to take that with me everyday but it’s still my choice to what I think to emphasize and what I think is important.
ZB: My name is Zohra Baig, I’m 21 years old, I’m a student and I’m from Houston.
TSJ: Could you just talk a little bit about your understanding with and relation to Islam?
ZB: I grew up in a sort of religious household in the sense that we went to the mosque pretty often growing up when we were young just to go to Sunday school, learn stories from the Quran and morals and what not and pray but as I got older we didn’t go as much and kind of used it as a community moreso where we would meet up with people from the mosque and such and obviously still celebrate holidays and what not. Now I would consider myself more spiritual, like I don’t pray but I used to pray a lot when I was younger moreso and so I have a more spiritual relationship with God and I follow the teachings the way that I interpret them and the way that I want to apply them to my everyday life.
TSJ: What specific sect of Islam are you?
ZB: I’m Sunni Muslim.
TSJ: How do you interpret the Quran? How strictly do you follow the teachings of the Quran?
ZB: I’ve definitely interpreted it in a way that I can apply it to my everyday life so I think I’ve taken the main things and main teachings which I think are to treat others like a brother or sister and you know don’t like and cheat and the things that I know are strictly immoral for me but I take those teachings with me everyday. Maybe the little, minute things that I don’t think are as important to me being a good person, I don’t emphasize as much.
TSJ: How does culture specifically influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam?
ZB: My parents are both Pakistani and I think the culture there might be a little more liberal in terms of their interpretation of Islam. I’ve gone to Pakistan before-when I was around twelve- and not everyone wears a scarf I don’t see a hijab that often, I don’t see a burqa that often, it’s more liberal I’d say than Middle Eastern countries and I think that’s because it’s tied to the culture in India because Pakistan was once a part of India which is a majority Hindu nation, not Muslim, so I think culture definitely impacts how people interpret Islam. It’s interpreted differently in the Middle East than maybe in Pakistan. So it’s not as common to wear the hijab there, my mother didn’t wear the hijab so yeah.
TSJ: Do you see any difference within the Pakistanis in the United States regionally in the country?
ZB: I have family members in the North East and other places and it just really depends on...so my father came here in the late 70s so he’s been here a long time and considers Houston is home and so others that came here much more recently are more tied to the culture back home in Pakistan so they might cover a little more, etc. vs I was born and raised here and I see myself as an American Muslim more so than them who might have immigrated here. So for example I have cousins in the North East and they recently came here in the last five to ten years so she wears the hijab here. She didn’t wear the hijab in Pakistan but she covered up a little more so I think to have her culture and religion with her here is why she wears the hijab vs I was born and raised here and I don’t have that same issues as them coming from another country.
TSJ: What are your biggest influencers of your decision not to cover?
ZB: I think it was just my family life. I had two older brothers and then I had my mother to look at. My mother didn’t cover. I also grew up very boyish so I never really saw a difference between me and my brothers and that was not, it was very much encouraged for me to be my own person and I had no limits and boundaries on who I had to be and so my parents never pressured me to be more girly or wear hijab or be more religious and so I would wear basketball shorts playing with my brothers but then as I got older I decided I’d dress more modestly so I wouldn’t wear shorts but I would wear capri pants so I think I started interpreting in my own terms what modesty means to me but yeah it ended up becoming my own decision which I think is what my interpretation of Islam is, as I grow it’s…
TSJ: Have you felt any societal pressure to cover in specific moments?
ZB: I think when I’m around other Muslims that are more conservative I’ll feel the need to cover more out of respect to them kind of but yeah so I see that pressure around other Muslims in America and everyone’s different so you want to respect their beliefs as well. I’m not going to wear hijab just because my friend does but because i know she’s completely covered, I’m not going to also ...I mean it doesn’t affect me too much because I do wear t shirts, I wear capris at some points, even dresses so it doesn’t affect me too much per say but sometimes I say “hey might as well wear pants today” which wouldn’t affect me too much because I wear pants anyways.
TSJ: Have you ever faced specific discrimination, like in a mosque, for not covering?
ZB: Yeah so I think from any religions you see extreme situations where people might be a lot more passionate about certain things. I do remember being in a mosque when I was really young and my scarf didn’t cover my hair because it was too long and when I tied it I thought I tied it well but it was still showing and after someone came up to me and told me “hey, your hair’s not covered, you need to cover your hair” and my mom said “don’t worry about that” my mom was very, always, she wanted me to like my religion and wanted me to just interpret it in my own way and not feel the need to hate it just because someone might be a little more hostile towards different scenarios so she definitely brushed it off and didn’t like the fact that the lady came up to me but said that it’s the thought that counts and God still knows I was praying, God knows that so it’s not like a big deal. For my parents they didn’t emphasize that.
TSJ: Does seeing violent hate crimes against hijabi women ever influence or have an impact on your decision?
ZB: I definitely feel for my friends who wear hijab and are scared to go out and are especially impacted by it because they are automatically seen as Muslim and I have the appearance of not being immediately assumed as a Muslim, I have that privilege basically but it doesn’t impact my decision at all to wear hijab but I do feel for them and know that I am in a privileged situation where I don’t have to worry about that too much but then if I out myself as Muslim then it’s different maybe then I would get similar sentiments toward me but it’s something where there’s going to be extreme people everywhere whether you’re white, whether you’re black, whether you’re Muslim, no matter what you are people are going to hate but I think for them it’s more out there because for me at least I can be assumed to be something else.
TSJ: Is there anything that would make you change your decision to cover?
ZB: I don’t know I mean I guess it would just have to be something in life that happens to wear...At the end of the day my decision to cover is like my relationship with God and my relationship with religion so it would never be something like I want to show that I’m Muslim. If you ask me my religion, I’m not going to shy away from it- I will tell you that I’m Muslim. My decision to wear hijab has just always been my interpretation of what the Quran is and I think that God is happy with me being modest and dressed the way I am. It’s okay that I don’t wear hijab. It would be a drastic change for me to do that and I think...I don’t see my interpretation changing so much that suddenly I would do that but who knows, maybe, I don’t see that happening?
TSJ: How do you view other Muslim women who don’t cover vs. women who do? Do you have different opinions of them or see them differently?
ZB: I will preface this with the fact that I didn’t have too many Muslim friends that were my age towards my teenage years like high school just because my high school didn’t have that many Muslims and so the few that I had the ones that did wear hijab just happened to be a little meaner and I had this stereotype that the ones that wore hijab were mean or something but I mean anyone can be mean so when I got to Rice there were a lot of people that wore hijab and a ton that didn’t and they were all Muslim and they were all so friendly and so nice and I finally got a good community of girls that were my age and they’re all the same to me I don’t see a difference. Some might be more religious that wear hijab and some might just be like me, just as religious as I am and still wear hijab so I don’t have any impression of them just because they wear hijab because it could be for any reason. It could be for a religious reason, it could be a statement of who they are that they want to show it and so I don’t really have any impression. I used to have that immature impression that the ones that wore hijab were meaner but I obviously don’t have that anymore.
TSJ: How do you feel when you hear people saying that Muslim women are oppressed generally or that covering specifically is a sign of oppression?
ZB: So covering is already a choice which is the opposite of oppression because covering is a choice that we make. Obviously there may be cases in the Middle East, extreme cases, where it’s not a choice for them but for the most part especially in America or there could be pressures if you come from a specific family but I don’t think the hijab implies oppression at all it’s a connection to your faith. And then just women being...I think I mentioned it earlier too my parents were very, I mentioned it specifically because I think women in Islam get this rep that we don’t have as much freedom as men in Islam. I have two brothers but my parents treated me the exact same. They always pushed us, I had the same opportunities and could do whatever I wanted and my brothers treated me that way too and I think I even got more...I think we value women a lot in Islam. I forget what my dad says but he says a lot about women being a blessing or daughters being a blessing and to the point where like if I do something stupid to forgive me quickly and are more forgiving than if my brothers were to do the same so I got an advantage there and I think it’s sad that we get that reputation because I’ve always felt that my religion values me so much as a female. It’s weird to think otherwise but yeah other people aren’t going to see that and they aren’t going to see the great things written about women. My dad’s into history and stuff so he’ll talk about how in the Quran women had rights to land before other women of other faiths did like if a husband divorced or something the woman would get the rights to that man’s land automatically vs other religions at the time hadn’t gotten there. There’s just a lot written in the Quran about women having even to a point an advantage over men or should be treated better and I always felt treated a little better so I always thought growing up..it’s unfortunate that it’s literally seen as the opposite in the media.
TSJ: What is your perspective of countries or mosques that do require women to cover?
ZB: I’m not that knowledgeable, like when I went to Pakistan the women didn’t even go to the mosque which I thought was so weird because I’ve always been able to go to the mosque, there’s like a women’s section and a men’s section. Like women prayed at home in Pakistan, in the Middle East, especially in Saudi everyone wears a burqa or has to cover and I actually have an aunt that’s from there but I think it’s a lot about state mixing with religion with religion and state in a way that’s not exactly what our religion told us to. I think in the Middle East they covered more because historically the sand and the heat and all these other reasonings that came up. Initially I think in the Quran when our prophet Muhammad was around women weren’t covering their heads and it became a thing in the Middle East to adapt to the weather so I think in the Middle East it’s really common to cover just for that historically but the countries that require it are mixing religion and state very extremely and so I don’t have a huge perspective or opinion on it because I just know that’s the way it is over there. Mosques here have a separate women’s section, I know there are some sects that will have them all in the same room just side by side but still cut off a little between men and women. I think it’s all interpretation there’s no, not that I know of, real way to allow women and men to go to the mosque and how to pray together. I think it’s just side by side. When you go to the Holy hajj, we have our pilgrimage, I’m pretty sure everyone’s praying side by side. I think people are just interpreting it in the mosque this way to be safe to separate them. I don’t know about women not being allowed to go to mosques in America I feel like it’s definitely liberal here. In the mosques we mostly cover to pray and you can take off your scarf when you’re just around, you can especially when it’s just women because you’re segregated but even so my mom always emphasized to me “you don’t have to cover if you don’t want to. When you’re walking around you don’t have to cover even if girls are. It’s not a big deal it’s always just your decision.” So if it ever fell off I wouldn’t care. I don’t know if mosques require you to cover, maybe it might be just an implied requirement because everyone around you is covering even when they’re not praying. Again, it’s all interpretation and the people that have those restrictions or those beliefs and so it depends honestly...there’s different sects I know of Christianity where Pentecostals might cover more, the women only wear skirts, there’s just different interpretations that people think it’s better to cover all the time. I don’t think there’s a right way except before and after the adhan, call to prayer, there’s a lot of different interpretations for everything so it’s hard to say which is right, which is wrong and for others to say that too.
TSJ: Do you feel the need to defend Islam whenever the mainstream media attacks?
ZB: Okay if I did that that would be very tiring! Every time? No I think if I hear something that I think is wrong I’ll say something but there’s stupidity in the media all the time it’s not really something I could do much about as a student, just sitting here. I know a lot of people are trying to fight Islamophobia and are doing a lot for that cause and I applaud them, some of them for dedicating their lives to help that but it’s really hard sitting from my standpoint to be moved to do much when there’s not a lot I can do to change the media’s perspective. I can change my friends or like someone in front of me. I don’t let myself get impacted by that. It can be more hurtful during bad times when things...when bad things happen, which have been happening a lot, it can be a bit more hurtful because it’s in the media all the time and you’re seeing it all the time but I try not to let that impact me. I just try to be there for my friends who might be impacted more so by things that are being said or what not, or hate crimes or the other way around when there’s a Muslim terrorist and all the bad things that could happen. I know it affects others maybe more so than I, so I definitely try to be there but I try to stay away from it and not be impacted by it too much.
TSJ: Muslim identity and American identity are seen to be binaries, especially post 9-11. When people say these identities are incompatible, how do you respond??
ZB: Another important point is that my interpretation of religion in general in Islam is that it taught me my morals growing up and now I take all the teachings that were told to me growing up and I just apply them to my life now and I take it with me in my life so I know that in the Quran it says not to drink but it’s my choice to drink or not but I’m going to make that choice later in life. I think it’s great for you to have your kids grow to to have a community and learn their morals growing up but at the end of the day you’re going to come to a point where you’re an adult and those are your choices and you can interpret things the way you want to and you can make religion a part of your daily life the way you want it to be. So I think it was a great tool for me growing up to keep with me and impact me and because you’re a Muslim-because you’re whatever religion- it’s going to impact your decisions every day no matter what and it does and I take all those things with me but I interpret them in the way I feel is fit to my beliefs now. I think my parents instilled that in me too. They said “take these, these are our teachings, these are our beliefs but it’s your decision to take with it what you want, what you think.” I always took with it to be a good person first and to always consider everyone a brother and a sister and we emphasize that. I think the stupidity comes from...I think all religions preaches the same thing so it’s funny that other religions are being isolated..they preach the exact same thing just in different ways and so they always said befriend your brother and your sister, everyone’s a brother and a sister, not just Muslims. I just take that with me and whatever my religion taught me growing up I’m going to take that with me everyday but it’s still my choice to what I think to emphasize and what I think is important.