Anu Dwarumpudi interviewed Miriam Cole, a interior designer from New Jersey who is currently residing in Houston. Miriam's family is Puerto-Rican and Christian, and she converted to Islam based on her own research. You can read their full conversation here. What are your biggest influences and your decision to cover? When I first researched Islam, I looked into women's rights because I'm a strong character. So I felt like oppression is not right. Some of the things that I've read about or that the media portrayed to be of the Islamic religion, I realize we're actually not. These things were perhaps the cultural baggage that those people came with. Just like I have cultural baggage maybe those people also brought it to the end because they identify themselves as Muslims.
0 Comments
Alec Tobin interviewed a 43 year old professional counselor who is studying towards her medical license, who we will call Daliah. Daliah was born in Cairo Egypt, but has lived in the United States for the past 22 years and currently resides in Houston. You can read the full transcript of their conversation here.
Do you cover today? Have you in the past? What would you say are the biggest influences on your decision regarding that? So I started to wear the way I believe abides by the Islamic dress code when I was maybe 13 and a half. It was my decision completely. My parents, I remember especially my mom, would say "Oh you're too young, why are you doing this now? How about you take it gradually," but I insisted at that time. My father was okay either way, he wasn't pushing in any direction, and I remember having fights, actually, at home, because I wanted to follow the dress code strictly. My mom was thinking "Oh you are too young, why are you doing this?" It took me a few battles at home to do what I think was right. I haven't taken it off since then, which means I cover in front of strangers. Some people don't understand how this practically works. Muslim ladies take of the hijab, we call it the hijab. We wear normal clothes at home, or at women's parties or whatever. The whole point is covering in front of stranger men. So I of course cover according to the Islamic dress code now. But I feel that growing up, it became more of - I mean the position grew stronger as I grew up because I felt like it's not just a religious obligation. For me, definitely number one is it's between me and God and I feel this is something that pleases God and I'm gonna do it and that' enough reason for me. Thresa Skeslien-Jenkins interviewed a Medical Student, Houstonian, and Sunni Muslim who we will call Sobia. Sobia does not cover. You can read their full transcript here.
How does culture influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam? (Country of origin, View of family members) My parents are immigrants from Pakistan, which is obviously a Muslim-majority country. I do think religion and culture become intertwined and difficult to separate when you’re from an area that is predominantly Muslim. I did have to do some of my own research or have discussions with my non-Pakistani Muslim friends when I wasn’t certain if some practices or beliefs were grounded in religion or culture. I’m specifically thinking of attitudes towards women. Pakistan has ways to go in terms of gender equality, and I think some people try to justify the current disparities in education or work with Islam. But based on what I know of Islam, that’s really unfair. Islam encourages everyone - regardless of gender - to seek knowledge. I think these attitudes about gender differences and disparities are really based on history and culture. Anu Dwarumpudi and Sierra Cowan interviewed Saadia Faruqi, an Ahmadiyya Muslim, author, speaker, and interfaith activist originally from Karachi, Pakistan. You can read the full transcript of their conversation here. How does your culture and family members influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam? My whole family isn’t practicing and everyone in the family has different levels. Like my mom would call herself practicing. She is good in somethings and not in others. She doesn’t wear a hijab for example. One of my sisters doesn’t even consider herself Muslim. It is very much across a wide spectrum. I think definitely this is a struggle that most Muslims have, including myself. Culture and religion become so closely connected or intertwined with each other and a lot of times we aren’t able to really distinguish it. Anu Dwarumpudi corresponded with Cedya Kural over email. Cedya is a 20 year old student and Sunni Muslim from Houston, Texas. A full transcript of their conversation can be found here. Can you talk a bit about your relationship to Islam? I went to Islamic school from elementary- middle school and we had Quran classes everyday- we learned how to read it as well as memorize important passages and their meanings. Now in college I read during prayers and primarily in Ramadan.... My parents are stricter in some areas than others, and I'd say compared to them I'm pretty relaxed, but I know other Muslims who think I'm strict too so I believe its all subjective. Alec Tobin and Anu Dwarumpudi interviewed Amani Ramiz over email. Amani is a 20 year old student from Houston, Texas. A full transcript of their correspondence can be found here. Can you talk a bit about your relationship to Islam? I grew up in a Muslim household, I would attend Sunday school for 4 hours at the local masjid/mosque. My parents are Muslims, but grew more conservative and religious as I grew up in high school and college, when I was growing less religious and more spiritual. Monica Morales goes by "Noor" her Muslim name, which means “light from God.” Her family is from Mexico, but she was born and raised in Houston. Noor is a insurance agent and caregiver for her son. She was interviewed by Thresa Skeslien-Jenkins. A full transcript of their conversation can be found here. Okay, could you talk a little bit about your relationship to Islam, and just how you interpret it today? I was raised as a Catholic but there were a lot of things I would not agree with and I was kind of confused so I was in search for something to fulfill my soul and my understanding of my relationship with the higher power, with the creator. So, I used to study different types of religions and I used to be very mystical, very spiritual and I found Islam at an insurance company where I was working. A lady who came into my office, was wearing the hijab which is a scarf. "Nadine" is a 19 year old student who was interviewed by Alec Tobin. She asked that we use a pseudonym. A full transcript of their conversation can be found here. AT: Ok. Can you talk a little bit about your choice to cover or not cover and what influences that? N: My choice to not cover for now is just my family. They didn't cover when they were young, but they usually cover when they're older. It's usually a personal choice and it's never something that should be forced in our opinion, or maybe in the Lebanese culture. Just because in Lebanese culture there are many religions and we are, I would say, more liberal in terms of Islam. Sierra Cowan interviewed Rice senior and OpenStax intern, Yasmine Rahmat. Yasmine is originally from Tusla, OK and of Indonesian descent. The full transcript of their conversation can be found here. What are the biggest influences on your decision to not wear a Hijab? I would say probably the biggest one is my mom because she didn’t start wearing a Hijab until maybe five years ago, and then she’s always said it is going to be my choice. Like she wants me to want to wear it rather than have her force me to wear things. And also, just kind of the culture I grew up in. So, I grew up in Oklahoma where we didn’t really have a huge Muslim community there and everyone was really Christian. So, it was kind of like of a weird thing. I never really was drawn to it because it was like if I wear it, I will be super different. And even now, it’s just like that feeling of like being different if I wear it still follows me. I don’t have any desire to wear it because I didn’t grow up feeling like I wanted to wear it, and now even though I’m not as sensitive to the social stuff that comes with wearing a Hijab, I just like don’t really want to. Jaime Fletcher was born in Columbia but was raised in Houston, Texas since age 8. He converted to Islam and adopted the name Mujahid in his young adulthood as a way to recenter his life. He is a founder of Centro Islamico and Islam In Spanish (https://www.islaminspanish.org/leadership-1) where he uses his experience and education in media to spread information about Islam to the Spanish Speaking world. After touring Centro Islamico, Thresa and Anu (researchers) were intrigued by the way he spoke about his wife’s conversion and remembering that his grandma had covered in church. After the tour, we were able to interview Jaime so he could elaborate further. A full transcript can be found here. Could you please elaborate on your understanding of covering historically in Catholicism, your first religion, and how you understood covering when you and your girlfriend first converted to Islam? From the Latino culture many of our grandmothers will remember that they used to cover their head whenever they went to mass. They don't necessarily know where it came from, but they were possibly at the very edge of the generation where they stopped covering. But even when you look at nuns, for example, they cover as well. So, when the Muslim women cover, unfortunately there is an element of misconception that they're doing so because they're being forced or because they're being treated as a second class citizen or being forced to do it by their husbands. It couldn't be further from the truth, in fact if you look at a nun who wears a headscarf, no one would think she was being oppressed so the issue is not about who covers and who doesn't, it's about the connotation that the Muslim Woman has been put under. Unfortunately for many of us who become Muslim we don't even know these things, so as I was learning Islam when I first became Muslim, my girlfriend became Muslim a week after I became Muslim, and right away, as soon as she accepted Islam, she wore the headscarf. Now she had been studying Islam from a woman's perspective. So I was one week old in Islam, and I didn't even know why she covered, but some of her family members were blaming me for forcing her as to why she was covering, and I didn't even know why she was covering. So a lot of miscommunication was taking place, but she covered because she realized that for her to send the message to any other man, other than the one that she was going to marry, they needed to deal with her as a person who has respect for herself, confidence, and that she was not to be dealt with as an object. She just did it because she understood the benefits of it, it's respecting one's self and having a sense of dignity and of confidence and a sense of confidence and respect in herself and that's what we benefit from now as a family. I have three daughters, my wife, they looked up to her and that's why they wanted to follow the example of how their mom carried herself with dignity and respect and that's what we hope women value, whether their Muslim or non-Muslim, and that's the way we see women and we see a high level of value for it. Sierra Cowan interviewed Zulfa Quadri, a senior at Rice University. Zulfa was born in India but grew up in Houston her entire life. She is a Sunni Muslim who's father is an imam at her mosque. You can read the full transcript of her interview here. So how does culture influence your religious practices and understanding of Islam? So this is kind of difficult because I have to kind of mish-mash both my Indian and my [Muslim] culture and make it fit with the Western culture that I live in. And so, a lot of the things that are strictly prohibited in, I don’t take part in. So for example, I don’t drink alcohol, but I still to go parties. And you know, that isn’t necessarily a huge part of Indian culture or Muslim culture, to go out and party or whatever, and so that is kind of a mish-mash. I do a lot of that. And then Muslim culture tends to be a little bit more conservative, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s void of any kind of conversation about difficult topics. So, for example, something that I encounter a lot is talking about sex and feminism. Those are very hot button issues. And I understand if some Muslim cultures don’t wanna talk about that, but I’m apart of one that does, if that makes sense. Thresa Skeslien-Jenkins interviewed Zohra Baig a 21 year old student and Sunni Muslim from Houston, Texas. The full transcript of their interview can be found here. How do you interpret the Quran? How strictly do you follow the teachings of the Quran? 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 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 [in the Quran] that I don’t think are as important to me being a good person, I don’t emphasize as much. What are your biggest influencers of your decision not to cover? 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. 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. |
We also created a Facebook Page to highlight these interviews and reach a larger audience.
|