Thresa Skeslien-Jenkins interviewed 21 year old Accenture Strategy Analyst Anisah Khan. Anisah is originally from New York but has lived in Houston for ten years. The full transcript could be found here. My first question is can you talk a little bit about your relationship to Islam, just generally? I was born into a Muslim family who has been practicing Islam for generations. Growing up I went to Sunday School and my parents gave me an Islamic upbringing but, really during my time in high school and middle school I started going to Islamic conventions on my own with my cousins and uncles to learn more about Islam and what it means to me. I think ever since high school it’s a conscious decision I’ve made to be a Muslim, to wear hijab, to be a practicing Muslim. It’s not something I follow because it’s been a tradition in my family but it’s something that I follow because I truly believe in the teachings and how it tells us to be as a person and how to treat others. Those are things that I truly believe in and that’s why I choose to be a Muslim everyday. How does culture influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam?
Islam is void of any culture. Islam is a practice and a religion but the way we do practice it changes based upon the context we grew up in and our upbringing, all those things. I don’t think it’s correct to say that Islam changes by your culture: that’s not true. Islam is the same for all cultures, it’s how we end up practicing it. How I practice it is somewhat more American, it’s not the same way my parents practice it because a lot of how they practice it is very cultural-they’ll have a mix of Bengali traditions that they’ll sometimes unintentionally mesh with the religion. How I try to practice it is that I know this is American culture and I know that not all I do as an American will fit into the Islamic teachings and stuff but I try my best to follow Islam to the cores as much as possible but obviously not everything that our culture promotes always translates perfectly to Islam and the Quran so finding that balance of what is modest dressing?, what is halal food?, finding that within Islam but also as an American. It’s hard to explain because I’m also trying to figure out how to practice the best way possible in this changing, growing world and environment so it’s a learning process for me too as I’m growing up. What are the biggest influencers of your decision to cover each day and have you ever struggled with I don’t want to cover today or in this situation? Yeah, absolutely so I started wearing hijab in the seventh grade and I made that decision because like I mentioned I started going to Islamic conventions to socialize with other Muslims and learn more about my own faith. I was really inspired by a specific lecture about the hijab and modesty and how it can empower you as a Muslim and so, initially, that’s how I started wearing it, as a way to remind myself that I’m Muslim so I can reflect those teachings because sometimes you get wrapped up in your day to day life and you forget your faith so in that way it’s a reminder for myself. How I pray, to conduct myself in a manner that I would be proud of so those are the reasons that I keep wearing it but definitely I have struggled with keeping it on because I feel like by wearing it you’re making a statement and you are visibly a Muslim and so if you end up doing anything...I guess how I’ve struggled with it is say I say a bad word or I’m accidentally rude because I’m having a bad day because I’m wearing a hijab it translates more to Islam and not to me having a bad day. It looks like “oh Muslims are rude” and it kind of makes it easier for people to stereotype because I’m so visibly Muslim and so that’s I guess why I’ve struggled with it but at the end of the day I remind myself I wear it because it’s a good reminder for myself and it helps me become that better person. Even though it’s a struggle sometimes and on a vain level sometimes you just want to look cute at school or work or something but I’m able to overcome those distractions because it is so important to me. As you mentioned women are often victims of hate crimes for their decision to cover. Does seeing hijabi women being victims have any impact on your decision? ...there are lots of motivating factors as to why these atrocities are conducted so I can see why Muslim women are targeted because of the way the media and the way that society sometimes presents the Islamic faith and Muslims and after the Paris attacks my mom kind of warned me and said “Are you sure you still want to wear hijab because you are so visibly Muslim you are more likely to fall victim to these discriminatory acts or hate crimes or what not?” but for me I want to keep wearing it so that if someone does come talk to me or even if they’re mistreating me...I’ve never faced a hate crime so it’s really hard to say what I would do or how my perspective on that would change because I have never personally faced it. Even though I know that other Muslim women have been attacked I decide to keep wearing it but I think that if I ever was to be targeted specifically with actual abuse I may reevaluate it at that point in time but I haven’t actually faced a tragic incident like that. This is from my point of view at this moment. How do you view other Muslim women who don’t cover and the discrimination they might face for this? My perception is that just as I choose to wear the hijab there are other people who choose not to wear it and that is because their choice and their views on the truest form of the religion may not be the same and that’s totally fine. Everyone has the right to practice as they wish as long as it’s not harming other people and putting another person’s life at risk and so in that regard I don’t even blink an eye. You’re just talking to another person. Everyone in the faith and even outside of the faith is just like my brother and sister so for me to treat them badly for a decision they’re not making it makes me hypocritical and so I’m not here to judge anyone or be a hypocrite I try to practice my faith as much as I can and I try to learn more about it and that’s my personal journey and I have no right to judge anyone else’s. Definitely if you go to more conservative cultures-that’s the main key it’s not so much the religion but the culture that you’re brought up with. We’re brought up with such a broad mindset and so, yeah, there may be some judgement from those types of individuals but I think they’re judgement comes from a place of not having a broader understanding and having a very specific upbringing. Yeah it sucks that there are such judgemental people but for most of them it’s not their fault so it’s not our responsibility but if you want to see change you have to have dialogues with those people and try to explain to them how you choose to follow Islam and how your interpretation might not always match theirs and you have to be ready to accept the fact that just because you have that dialogue doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll agree with you or that it will change their minds but at least you know that you’re doing something to advocate for something that you believe and for me that’s practicing Islam to the best of your abilities and not judging others on how they practice their faith because at the end of the day it’s a relationship between me and God not a relationship between you, me and God. There’s no third person in that relationship unless you're interacting with people and as long as you’re not throwing faith at them it should be okay. One of the themes in class is that the “Muslim World” is seen to be oppressive of women. How do you feel when you hear people say that Islam or covering is a sign of oppression? When I hear that it makes a lot of sense because honestly that’s what’s portrayed in the media. You believe what you hear the most often so it doesn’t surprise me. It makes me a little sad but it doesn’t upset me... And yes, there’s cultures that treat woman as second class citizens and I wouldn’t be too far from saying that the U.S. is one of them. You could say that the U.S. is oppressive or they treat women like second class citizens in many different aspects like unequal pay or different areas whether it’s in politics or economics or X, Y, Z. So it makes sense that they focus on a certain culture and try to project that as a complete religion but I think that’s an absurd idea because billions of Muslims-and in our generation there’s millions of us- who are not “oppressed,” we make conscious decisions and to say that woman in our generation in the U.S. are subjected to oppression is actually an insult. We grew up here, we went through the same education system we fully understand our rights and we have a mind of our own and so everything we do is our own choice. But it doesn’t surprise me that other people think we’re oppressed because either they haven’t spoken to other Muslim woman and men growing up in our generation in the U.S. or even older generations who have been here. They just follow whatever the mainstream media throws at them which is usually not accurate but we all know that. Do you have a perspective on countries that do require women to cover? How about mosques in the U.S. that require that? So from how I practice and from what I believe-this is all my opinion so there’s no 100% truth or accuracy to it it’s just what I interpret and believe the faith to be- so when we pray usually there’s, from what I believe, you’re covered from head to your ankle and so it makes sense that during that act you’re covered and so I guess when most people go they go for the purpose of praying and so they are usually covered but I will say that mosques are run by an older generation who kind of carry their cultural and conservative mindsets into the way they run the mosques so I guess that’s why they force woman to cover but honestly I haven’t really seen that. In my scope-which is limited to all of my interactions- all the mosques I go to the women do take off their hijab in the woman’s section because they are there to listen to lecture and no one is really governing them telling them to put the hijab back on. If you’re older, like an older conservative woman might give you a dirty stare maybe and that’s like a stretch but I guess that is why it is kind of mandated-the prayer aspect of it but in my opinion if you’re not praying and you don’t wear it on a regular basis because you choose not to, there should be no reason why you’d have to cover in the mosque because that’s a communal place where everyone goes to learn about the faith and has spiritual connection so it really shouldn’t bother anyone else. If you’re there to focus on your own faith you should go and do that you should go and judge someone while they’re trying to connect with their faith because that may end up pushing them away from the faith altogether so that’s my view on it. Do you feel the need to defend Islam when the mainstream media attacks it? When you do defend it how? Are you ever apprehensive to do so? The thing is that I defend it to the certain extent that when I leave the house everyday I try to be a good example of what I think a good Muslim is so that’s how I try to defend my faith-by my actions. I’m personally not one to...and that’s just my personality, it has nothing to do with not being a defender of the faith I just don’t like to go on social media and draw attention to myself and that’s not anything to do with faith just personally that’s not who I am. I don’t think just because you’re Muslim you’re automatically an agent to represent that “Islam is good, oh look at all of us we practice it so peacefully.” I don’t think that has to fall on individuals because that’s a lot of pressure. If you think these bad actors are making such a big, portraying such a bad example of us on mainstream media to have that pressure to go on and disprove that is a LOT so I think the individuals who do are doing a great job of trying to push forward that message that Muslims are peaceful and moderate Islam is a new term that’s approached on social media platforms and what not but it does change people’s minds to a certain extent but for me at an individual basis I think the biggest impact I can make is just by having conversations with people who are unfamiliar with the faith or have misconstrued conceptions of it like at the workplace, at school, at the grocery store when I’m conducting myself to the best of my ability and not only is that a good representation of my faith but a good representation of my culture and that also shows that as Americans we’re very open minded, we’re trying to reflect a lot more than our faith, you’re also trying to represent yourself as an American and what our country stands for: that’s acceptance, that’s being able to pursue your dreams and practice your faith openly without any apprehension or facing any fear of discrimination. Your question was whether I defend it or not and it’s a long way from it but I’m American, I’m Bengali, I’m Muslim- I try to conduct myself so that all of those attributes are represented in a good light. By wearing it and by being the best I can be is the best way I know to defend it and that’s just because my personality doesn’t push me to have a larger platform A lot of people believe that the words Muslim and American are binaries. When you think of your two identities how do you see them go together or do you ever see them as incompatible? Being a Muslim and an American has never really contradicted itself because what does it mean to be an American? That’s very subjective as well. For me, to be an American, as I mentioned earlier, is being able to work hard, it’s being able to make a living, it’s everything that normal individuals peg with being an American-whether it’s going out or the party culture. There’s a certain persona that’s given to Americans and that’s not what I believe to be an American for me it’s never been an issue but if you associate being an American with doing certain activities then yeah, you’re going to have conflicting values or teachings because you’re definition and your view on what an American is is very specific. For me it’s not very specific. I am living and breathing as an American and so I’ve never faced a contradicting issue it’s more about how you define it and trying to fit into that specific mold that you face conflicting issues. One last thing: everything that I said now it’s because of my experiences and it obviously doesn’t reflect anyone else’s experience it’s very specific to me and one thing is, as a disclaimer, everyone is growing and changing every day so tomorrow I may wake up and my circumstances in life may be completely different so everything that I just said may completely change. That’s something to always remember, one person’s point of view at a certain point in time might not be constant throughout and it’s important to remember that I think. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world and 3.3 million Muslims in the United States. Every Muslim has a different personality, different upbringing, different life circumstance, and different religious philosophy. To peg the actions of a handful of irrational individuals onto 1.6 billion people is absurd to the nth degree. The media pushes for this type portrayal because their sponsors and corporate partners profit from it. Stereotyping is a double edged sword. If we stereotype all Muslims as “terrorists” or “oppressed”, then you can only image what other nations think of Americans based on our leader Donald Trump and bad actors like Stephen Paddock (Las Vegas Shooter).
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