Mus•lim Inaugural Edition (v2), May 2018

CHAMPAIGN: THEN & NOW SAYING NO TO S.T.E.M.

inside the prison pipeline

egress from egypt healing inside out VOL. 1 issue 1 may 1, 2018

STAFF EDITOR IN CHIEF AHSAN “ACE” ALI

DESIGN TEAM LEAD CARL FERRÉ

CHIEF WRITING EDITOR ISRA RAHMAN

ASSOCIATE EDITOR FATIMA FARHA

MARKETING DIRECTOR MUSTAFA ALI

ART CURATOR AISHA MOTAN

ASSOCIATE DESIGNER KOFO SULAIMAN

FINANCIAL OFFICER EMA KHAN

SPECIAL THANKS TIFFANY ZHANG -

CONTACT US

MUSLIM MAGAZINE 1401 W GREEN ST, URBANA, IL 61801 USA muslimmag.uiuc@gmail.com

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INAUGURAL EDITION MUS•LIM as a magazine challenges the ignorance that perpetuates in both Muslim and non-Muslim communities. In a time where Islamophobia has been legitimized by presidential candidates and a variety of oppressive views that plague our own communities, it is essential we highlight the individuality of Muslims in America.

Only by first understanding our own intersectionality and the differences within the broader community can we then begin to change our narrative on the national stage. This is only a step towards ensuring justice within and for our community.

Inception began in late 2017 on a Facebook chat between a couple of friends at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; a cliché story of sudden ingenuity. After much rumination, we decided to focus the magazine on showcasing the many voices of Muslim collegiate youth through art, cultural diversity, and religious expression.

By mid-November the magazine was well under way, gathering writers and art pieces as we glued together the story of Muslims across campus. With every diverse story told, we aim to pick apart stereotypical images of Muslims and teach our community, and the community at large, what it means to be a Muslim in America.

the MUS·LIM team 04/21/2018

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Featured 09 A BRIDGE TO HEALING

THINKING BACK

19 CASTING BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY 48 A MUSLIM ON THE INSIDE 11 STANDING BY BIPOLAR DISORDER

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MENTAL HEALTH & MINDFULNESS

Mustafa Ali

16 PLAYER, PRACTICE, & PATIENCE

09 A BRIDGE TO HEALING 11 STANDING BY BIPOLAR DISORDER 14 SWEEPING AWAY STIGMA

Ozair Rahman

Heena Hira

19 CASTING BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY

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28

FLAIR

SPOTLIGHT: MUSLIM WOMEN 28 COLONIZING THE PSYCHE OF THE MUSLIM WOMAN 31 MS. MARVEL 34 BADASS MUSLIM WOMEN

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OPINION EDITORIAL 40 IMAM HUSSEIN & THE LEGACY

OF ACTIVISM 43 A RELIGION OF SCEPTICISM 46 AID & ASYLUM

Ozair Rahman

48 A MUSLIM ON THE INSIDE

Aya Sellami

From the Desk of the Editor Media outlets spark new conversations and uncover stories every second, and yet amidst this un-ending change, I find myself continually confused by the stagnancy of our perceived Muslim identity.

It seems inevitable that our experience is tied to debates on modesty or countless examples of despotism. Flip on CNN and invariably you will see the anchors discussing, yet again, unrest in the Middle East spurred by an unrelenting religious extremism. Very infrequently have I witnessed different conversations and different rhetoric. Often I find myself wondering if Muslims are allowed to have another perspective, or if the life of Muslim-Americans is relegated to the same, stifling political rhetoric white America has compounded for decades. Are we different than what they say? If so, why haven’t we seen it in the media? Why haven’t our lives and experiences and endeavors been shown with any deviation from the bias of non-Muslim commentary? And why haven’t our communities banded together to demand a fair perspective? How can we continue to justify a widening divide that keeps us from advocating for one another?

Our excuses, however palpable, cannot remain the rationale for a onedimensional illustration of ourselves.

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Enter Mus•lim.

Mus•lim encapsulates this very struggle: to tackle and widen the narrow scope through with Muslims have classically been perceived. This issue, crafted by one of the most unique teams I have ever known, shatters the narrative. Each writer has contributed a piece of themselves, building an amalgamation of unapologetic realism and lighthearted community that inexorably drafts a new display of Muslim Americanism.

Our work can change minds and change hearts, and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

Ahsan Ali Editor

Afifa Chaudhry, 07/20/2017

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MUS•LIM

A BRIDGE TO

HEALING

BY FARAH HUSSAIN

“I

don’t like math or science,” might be one of the worst things to say to your parents as a South Asian Muslim. I knew there were other ways I could contribute to society in a meaningful way that did not involve forcing myself through years and years of schooling in a discipline that I had no passion for. Unfortunately, I am an exception and my parents (thankfully) are an exception. The norm in Muslim communities is to pursue a career in STEM, if you do not, you are looked down upon.

Our Muslim community needs more people to pursue less traditional fields of study like medicine and engineering, to not only to diversify different workplaces, but to also heal the problems that plague our communities internally. Healing comes in a variety of forms, and can be more than just physical.

Many Muslim youth of different socioeconomic backgrounds need someone to turn to for their physical health, and especially

their mental health. Social workers who specialize in mental healthcare provide their clients with self-help tools through different therapeutic interventions; cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common form of this therapy. CBT focuses on the idea that changing your beliefs can change your actions and is a practice widely used by licensed counselors and therapists, including those at Khalil Center.

The Khalil Center works to fill a growing deficit within the Muslim community: the decline in social and spiritual wellness. The center uses a faith-based approach to provide Islamic counseling.

Shireen Musleh, a licensed therapist at Khalil Center, explains “there [are] over 400,000 Muslims in the [Chicagoland] area and ... over 35% of them would not go to a non-Muslim therapist.” Further, Musleh emphasized that there is a great demand for more Muslims to enter the field because nationwide research has indicated that “Muslim Americans experience the same

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amount of anxiety as other nonMuslim communities,” and that they actually experience more trauma than some other communities.

“We have the same level of distress, but less people likely or willing to seek out services because of not enough Muslim clinicians out there to service them.”

More Muslims feel comfortable opening up when they can rely on a foundation of understanding and familiarity, further emphasizing the importance of community involvement in mental health awareness and education. “We have tons of Muslims doctors, and psychiatrists even, but not as many social workers, psychologists, clinicians, counselors.” Sharing similar faiths, ethnicities, and languages with patients is a bridge to dialogue and, most importantly, a bridge to healing.

According to Musleh, the Khalil Center collects data from a majority of the clients they serve; amongst a survey of

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“Muslim Americans experience the same amount of anxiety as other non-Muslim communities,” questions they ask is if clients have previously sought out mental health services. For many patients, going to Khalil Center is the first time clients have been exposed to such services from the community.

“There’s this level of rapport that’s built initially solely on the similarities in cultural background, ethnic background,

religious background especially.

Even if religious principles are not always integrated into the therapy, there’s just this comfort level that’s there that otherwise wouldn’t be there if the work were to be done by a non-Muslim,” Musleh said.

Sharing that understanding can only be possible with accessibility to Muslim clinicians. These reasons

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highlight the incredibly valuable services offered by organizations like the Khalil Center and why it is crucial for Muslim communities to become more pursuant of careers relating to mental health.

■

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Kofo Sulaiman, 2017

ANONYMOUS

STANDING BY BIPOLAR DISORDER

Some quotes have been edited for clarity and privacy of the author.

M

y mom did not expect to journey across the world and spend her life in the United States. She always thought she would move back to Egypt, the way relatives and friends of hers had done, and for her, the only family she had in the U.S. was the one she was marrying into. It was only when she had to endure hardships in isolation that she realized how far she truly was from her family.

My mom feels like the

life she lived was not hers, and it’s hard to believe she experienced it. While she sat with me and told me this story, memories flooded back from when she was young and oblivious to what was to come, admitting her own naiveté.

I had heard the story of my mom’s experience with my father and the difficult marriage they had, but this was the first time I listened in on the details, the feelings, and the heartache.

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She was 20 years old and newly married. She was excited to start a family with her husband, whom she knew loved her from the first moment he set eyes on her in the old apartment building in northern Egypt where they were neighbors.

But she didn’t think she would be able to survive without her family. Shortly after she came to the United States, however, her older brother passed away. She had admired

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her parents and older brother her whole life, and they were everything she aspired to be.

It made it even harder to feel connected to a family in Egypt when phone calls to Egypt were so expensive in 1988; and she was only able to call home once a month. A half-hour phone call would cost her $18, which could also pay the month’s electric bill, buy a brand new winter coat or a full tank of gas. “I wrote letters,” she remembers, often holding back the sadness of her new life from her parents to keep from upsetting them.

And yet, this was a new beginning. The first time she discovered my father’s mental illness was when my grandmother, her mother-inlaw, and my father visited a doctor. “[My mother-in-law] told me the doctor was a friend of the family’s and they were going to pay him a visit. The symptoms became obvious, and eventually the truth came out,” my mother said. “He was still in college and I was pregnant with our first child.”

My father was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I was shocked that my grandmother was able to keep something like this from her son’s wife, but my mom did not expect to have known, especially since my grandparents were not sure what my father’s illness was when he got married. “I had to make sure he took his medication.

I would go to the doctor and social worker appointments with him,” she said.

In her opinion, the treatment of mental illness today is not very different from how it was in the 1980s and 1990s: an uncoordinated mess of psychiatric and social worker appointments and many, many different combinations of medicine. Some medicines worked better than others, but the process of going through various medications was tedious and inconclusive, forcing them never to settle on a combination that worked.

My dad was in his final year of college studying biochemistry, and he wanted to drop out. “He thought he could get a job instead and support us and the baby that was coming,” my mom said, “I had to convince him to stay [in college] so we could get enough money to move into our own apartment.”

She didn’t know what the rest of their life together was going to be like. She did not want to expect the worst, and tried her best to live one day at a time, some of which were good and some not.“I could understand what he was thinking because he was faced with a life that he was not prepared for. He didn’t realize the responsibility of marriage or of building a family. He was young and he was scared, but so was I.”

Throughout the next

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couple of years, my father would experience bipolar episodes.

They would occur at least once a year, sometimes more, almost always in the winter. He would take off from work for days, stay up all night, drink a lot of caffeine and go out and buy things he didn’t need and didn’t have the money for. My mom was struggling to take care of my brothers, as well as my father.

“Sometimes [the episodes] were mild and they would pass, sometimes they were not,” she said.

My father would insist on not taking his medication when he was feeling fine, and this would trigger the beginning of the cycle that would cause his symptoms to worsen. Many times, my father turned to extreme religiosity, spending days and nights in the local mosques near our home on the northside of Chicago, causing a rift in our family life.

“The family was growing, and I was worried about the symptoms of his illness getting worse,” my mom said. She felt helpless because she could not get a job or be as independent as she wanted to be because she had three young kids to take care of at home.

At one point, when I was about six years old, my father took a four month leave from his job to travel with some members of the local mosque on a form of spiritual da’wa, the

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proselytizing or preaching of Islam. This took a huge toll on my mom and her concern for her marriage and family became much greater, amplifying her feeling of helplessness. My grandmother placed a huge strain on her as well, preventing her from getting a job or having any sort of independence.

In 1996, my parents were forced out of the apartment in my grandfather’s building due to a dispute between my grandparents who were going through a divorce at the time. They soon moved into my grandmother’s house again, this time into an apartment on the second floor. They would stay there for about 11 years, the longest undisturbed period of time they would spend in any place.

When asked if she had ever considered leaving my father, my mother said she had.

“I wanted to, but I was worried his situation would get worse.

I did not want to separate [my kids] from him, but I also didn’t want [my kids] to see him this way,” she said.

In 2007 my parents separated. For several years thereafter, my parent’s relationship was marked with instability. My father’s condition would reach a point that was unsafe for those around him, which prompted my mother to admit him to a hospital several times.

In 2010, after experiencing health problems that were a side effect of the psychiatric medicine he had been taking, my father passed away in my grandmother’s home in Chicago. In the week before his death, he was admitted to the hospital for two separate heart attacks, and was developing early signs of diabetes.

My mother vividly recalls the day he died. “His health was spiraling [downward].

He was having health issues that someone his age doesn’t typically have,” my mother said.

“It still came as a shock to me. I kept thinking there was something I should have done but didn’t, that anyone could pass away at any moment. I was scared for my kids because they would not have a father in their lives anymore. Especially Adam, he was the first one to see him after he passed.”

Today, my mother said her life and expectations for the future have drastically transformed because of these

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experiences. Her experiences through the unpredictable and unstable ups and downs of her marriage have caused her to be apprehensive and protective of my brother and I. She meticulously thinks about every decision in her life, both those pertaining to us and those not, and feels like she has to worry about everything and everyone all on her own.

Nonetheless, her hope for the future of her kids is deeply rooted in her faith in God. “I want you all to graduate college, be happy in your own lives and care for each other because life is so short,” she said. ■

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SWEEPING AWAY A STIGMA

BY IFRAH SYED

W

hen people first hear the word “disability,” most imagine someone who

can’t do the things the average person can do. However, the formal definition of a “disability” covers a myriad of conditions, and predisposed ideas can, rather problematically, compare disabled persons to a baseline of what the “average person” can do. Most conventional definitions of a disability break it down into physical or mental impairments.

For some, this can refer to difficulty with the ability to learn, problem solve, and reason. For others, it can refer to physical restrictions on their mobility, physical function, and dexterity. These definitions present us with a brief look into what it means to have either a mental, intellectual, or physical disability. However, it is important to note that none of these definitions suggest individuals with disabilities are unable to perform the same tasks as those without.

For years, people with disabilities have faced prejudice and marginalization as a result of the social stigma thrust upon them.

Beginning in the 1800’s, individuals with disabilities were labeled as incompetent and were often placed in institutions or asylums. This method of segregation was said to be humane, while it was merely a way to conceal people with disabilities from a deceived society.

As stigma was lessened years later, federal organizations worked to provide disabled veterans the assistance they needed. But even with this progress, individuals with disabilities were still unable to acquire jobs and have access to transportation, telephones, bathrooms, and stores. Many continued to demand equality and challenge negative stereotypes against people with disabilities, but it wasn’t until the late 1900’s when significant changes began.

In 1973 the Rehabilitation Act was passed and enabled individuals with disabilities to have an equal opportunity for employment; in 1975 the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was also passed to assure equal access to public education for children with disabilities.

According to the United

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States Census Bureau, about 1 in 5 people in the U.S. have a disability, or close to 56.7 million people.

And because of this massive population, we have come quite a long way towards understanding the marginalization of disabled people. However in other countries such as Pakistan, only 3.2 million out of 193.2 million individuals live with a disability, implying many can still be ill informed about how to interact with those who have some form of disability.

The lack of awareness and education in countries like Pakistan has led to the development of inaccurate ideologies that surpass borders and seep into the mindsets of immigrant families in America as well. As a Pakistani American myself, I have lived in communities that are filled with others like me, and this lack of awareness is apparent within my own circle of friends and family. It is important to remind myself that these ideologies do not reflect and, are far different from what Islam says, but are rather stigmas that have been formed within the culture. A negative stigma was created as a

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result of the lack of understanding to these problems.

In large part the stigma can come from the fact that people dismiss modern treatments of disabilities and identify prayer as the sole method of healing. I always hear elders say that, “since the disability was ‘inflicted’ by God then he must be the one to heal it.”

This mentality dominates in many of our parents’ home countries, and follows them as they come to the Western world. But as the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said “There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment’(Ibn Qay'em, 2003, p.

18); essentially, it is an obligation for people to take advantage of

act towards individuals with either physical, learning, or intellectual disabilities. And yet, there are several examples all throughout the Quran that discuss the topic of disability and the ways in which we should interact with those with disabilities. Islam emphasizes our responsibility as Muslims to be empathetic and caring towards those with disabilities, and that it is it our duty to assist them whenever needed. One thing I’ve learned overtime through studying the Quran is that Islam teaches us that all humans are created different, whether that be by color, mentality, or abilities. As a result of these differences, we must unite and learn from one another. In the same

the treatment resources and learn to heal or live with disabilities.

Think back to the past friday prayers you’ve attended— how often was the topic of disability discussed?

When discussing Islam, we have been taught how we as Muslims should behave around our elders, teachers, spouses, and siblings. However, you most likely haven’t noticed many conversations related to how we should behave or

way individuals with disabilities are different, Islam believes that it is our responsibility as Muslims to be empathetic and caring towards those with disabilities and assist them whenever they need help.

When interacting with a mentally or physically disabled person, we still need to acknowledge their disability without overlooking their struggles. Simultaneously, we need to acknowledge that

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many can possess the ability to perform several tasks with the same efficacy as any other person. Our community has not yet grasped this idea of inclusion due to a simple lack knowledge, and yet families with disabled members continue to be extremely informed and understanding of the need for inclusion. These families know about the struggles, and they often have a strong understanding of what their disabled family member is facing on a day-to-day basis. We need to progress to a point at which we encounter someone who is different, we learn about them, we think about their situation from their perspective, and we think of them as no lesser than ourselves. But most importantly, we must learn to embrace their differences to truly be effective in bringing change. ■

PLAYER + PRACTICE + PATIENCE

BY ABDULRAHMAN QADDOUR

I

t is my final season playing football for the Huskies. We are playing Bishop Miege for our first game, one of the top teams in the area. They have the ball in the first quarter of the game and it is second and 10 at their own 35 yard line.

I am lined up as cornerback standing across one of the best wide receivers in the state. I am ready on my toes, knees bent and body crouched.

My fingers are tingling with anticipation and my eyes are set and focused on my opponent.

The ball is snapped and I begin backpedaling as fast as I can. The receiver is already sprinting directly towards me and I watch his hips closely to see which way he will turn (cue Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie”).

He is bolting to the inside of the field and is planning to go deep. Quickly, I turn my hips to the inside and begin sprinting alongside him. I see the quarterback in the backfield put all his weight behind this throw, letting his arm rip. The ball is spiraling in the air now and is

moving fast. The receiver and I are the only two players deep and the ball is coming down hard now. My opponent begins to open his arms to accept the ball. With all the energy I can muster up, I throw my body at the last second to deflect the pass. The ball slams the ground and the referee blows his whistle to signal the end of the play. Success. That moment was the culmination of hours of practice. Hours of missing out on hangouts with with friends. Hours of wishing I could be napping in my bed rather than practicing under the hot sun. Sacrifice is what got me here and helped drive me to what was important. And at the same time, it helped understand what wasn’t important after all.

Trying to make it to practice on time every day, which began 20 minutes after school ended, was nearly impossible. While this may seem like a lot of time, everyday after school I would rush to my counselor's room where he would allow me to pray privately, forcing me to be late

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to practice by a few minutes.

But being late meant you had to do stadium runs after practice, followed by a stern scolding from coach. I could have easily talked to the coaches about my situation, and they probably wouldn’t have said anything, however walking into the stadium five minutes after everyone else as they watch you rush down the stairs...it was just an uncomfortable position I wanted to avoid at all costs.

At first, I would make the conscious choice to miss out on prayer for that part of the day or sometimes I would be able to fit a rushed prayer in time if I felt I could afford it. But I began to realize I was sacrificing something incredibly valuable to me just to make it to practice on time. I told myself from then that I would shift my priorities, and in time I found a way to pray and still make it to practice on time. Although I had a little bit of a learning curve, I was able to reflect and relearn the significance of having a couple of minutes throughout

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the day to sit and reflect on my blessings, my privileges and my existence. I did not master this from the offset, and I certainly am still not perfect in these kinds of situations today, but I learn and continue to grow-just like I did in football. Thankfully, I did not let minor setbacks discourage me from staying persistent and disciplined, as these were the tools that allowed me to achieve success in maintaining prayer, in sports and everything else in life.

It is my last season on the wrestling team. We are in the small town of Marion, Iowa for a tournament this weekend, and I am competing for third place

in the 152-pound division in my last match for the weekend.

There are only 30 seconds left in the match and it is 3-2; I am losing. But if I get one takedown, I can win the match and go home with a medal.

Exhausted and glistening with sweat, I hear my coaches pleading me to get a takedown.

20 seconds. My opponent is burying his forehead into mine.

One of my hands is yanking on the back of his neck while the other is gripping his elbow. We are both hunched over and I am pushing and shoving to find some sort of opening, but all he has to do is keep his distance and back up. 10 seconds. My

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coaches are going crazy now, and I am getting really desperate to get a takedown. Finally, I am able to get double underhooks; I have both my arms under his.

I slip my arms down around his torso to grip him in a body lock. 5 seconds. I gather up all the energy I have left and my opponent off the ground and body slam him onto the mat.

Time expires, the buzzer sounds, and the scoreboard reads 4-3. I go home with a medal.

I loved playing sports just for moments like that, but one of the toughest challenges while wrestling was fasting throughout the month of Ramadan. My rigorous schedule

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Qaddour after boxing gone wrong (or right), 2018

of summer workouts always overlapped with the month, meaning I had to force myself out of bed around 6:00am and be at school by 6:45am to do two hours of footwork, cardio and weightlifting drills. Then, around 5:00pm, I would have to get some wrestling practice for upcoming summer wrestling camps and tournaments in Iowa. I would always explain the situation beforehand to my coaches, but I hated feeling like the odd one out if I slowed down my workouts. Many of my Muslim peers would often rule

out the option of even showing up to summer workouts while fasting; others would sacrifice fasting in Ramadan to keep up with the workouts. But I knew that if I took a break, I would feel like I was taking it easy while everyone else was hard at work. So I pushed myself.

In the beginning, it was awful. Not only was I exhausted by the minimal sleep I was getting, I would feel sick to my stomach without water or food. By the end of practice, my energy would be completely drained and I could barely do

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anything else until I could break my fast at sunset. But over time, I got used to working out with little food and water. Just as my body slowly got used to fasting, my body adjusted to the rigor of the workouts and practices, and they became easily manageable.

It was no easy task, but with patience and persistence I learned to successfully complete my summer workouts while fasting throughout the month of Ramadan. â–

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CASTING BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY

Interview with a former UIUC MSA President (2001-2002)

BY AMINAH BILAL Can you tell me about your involvement in the MSA? I was a student from 1997 to 2002, and I was involved in MSA throughout my undergraduate years and was the president during my final year, which was from the fall of 2001 to the spring of 2002.

What was the Muslim culture like on campus?

There are people that aren’t Desi, that aren’t Arab, so making sure that [the MSA] offered a good environment for any level of religiosity, any

cultural background, different types of interests, whether it’s political activism or [Islamic] knowledge is very important.

MSA’s purpose is to provide whatever Muslims on campus need. Now of course, after 9/11 it was a different ballgame.

So how did it change after 9/11?

After [9/11]…it changed a lot.

The thing was that the terrorist acts that had happened prior, they had some very specific requests, like the hijackings were like “we want these

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three people released from this prison”, or whatever. But [9/11] kind of became like “we are going to kill as many Americans or Westerners as possible in the name of Islam”.

So now, people were like, “woah, holy sh*t, what is Islam, [Muslims] are out to kill us.”

After 9/11, our MSA events, like Islam Awareness Week, we'd get a lot of people asking, “what does Islam say about Jihad?”

Jihad was always a big term. You had people picking up random verses of the Quran,

Imad Rahman, former UIUC MSA President

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completely out of context, and saying “Oh, well [Muslims] say kill all Jews and Christians.”

And so it was a difficult time.

People wanted to know what Islam was, and that was the big change. We weren’t accustomed to that. They were asking us very difficult questions, but the majority of Muslims are not knowledgeable about scripture, they just know what they learned from growing up. It brought around this awareness to Muslims, an “I need to be able to answer this question if they ask me, I need to learn a lot more.”

We had many open houses here at CIMIC, people were flooding in. The number one thing we learned was

that any time there was an existing relationship with a non-Muslim group, those people immediately came to our aid. It was a beautiful thing.

After 9/11, we had so many organizations here locally come out. On Wednesday (September 12th, 2001), we had flowers at the front entrance of the mosque. People were worried about you, they said they knew this isn’t something we believe.

The community [in ChampaignUrbana] had done a good job of interfaith work, building bridges and relationships.

Generally... there wasn’t this intent of needing to get to know our neighbors—this was a very foreign concept. Then it became like, “Oh crap, we

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do need to get to know our neighbors, because if they don’t know who we are and they don’t know that we’re not terrorists."

A lot of leaders understood that we needed to start investing in interfaith activities, open houses, “Get to Know Your Muslim Neighbor” types of events. And we saw that people were flocking to these events to get to know more about Islam. On top of that, once nonMuslims were finding out what Islam was, some of them were even becoming Muslim.

But the flip side of that was that anyone with an anti-Muslim agenda hadn’t changed. They had a very easy time of manipulating people into thinking Muslims were terrorists, that Muslims want to

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"take over the West". The first and foremost concern we had right after 9/11 was personal safety. You kind of felt dirty for thinking like that but we had already started hearing of these anti-Muslim attacks, people getting attacked on campus and other campuses, especially girls in hijab were getting jumped. Every parent was calling their kids like, you should come home, we don’t feel safe with you being on campus... [some] were asking them to stop wearing the hijab. All completely legitimate emotions.

What do you think is the next step for the Muslim community to continue to grow?

We have been taking steps, and

whether it was September 10th, 2001, or today, it’s very difficult for everyone to come out of their comfort zones and build those relationships with people that are different from themselves.

We just keep needing to do that.

In the last 15 years, not giving myself too much credit, I feel like every time I have a positive interaction with someone who didn’t know a Muslim before, who didn’t know anything about Islam, it changes them. That’s the only way we’re gonna be able to do it, it’s just one person at a time. Anyone can say, "I hate Muslims, I hate Arabs" but then if they know you, it’s difficult for them to say they hate you. I think it’s all about personal relationships—that’s the only way that were going to

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2016, Dayne Topkin

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do it. It’s not about preaching, it’s not about anything overt, it’s all of the subtle da’wah that really counts, doing what we’re supposed to do, which is being good Muslims, whether it’s in the workplace or wherever. People notice things.

The Prophet’s first part of his life had nothing to do with overt preaching of Islam, it was just about his character, and everyone knew his character was flawless, so when he did say anything about Islam, then it was like "he’s never wronged us before, so maybe there’s something, some truth to this message". ■

IT’S A

FIT

A I S H A M O TA N

C OLON I Z IN G T P SYC H E OF TH

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Kofo Sulaiman, Red Woman, 2017

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HE HE MUSLIM WOMA N

BY SAFA KHAN

W

esterners are convinced that Muslim women are oppressed, even if Muslim women themselves claim not to be. The hijab, as seen by those who do not understand its significance, is an object that undermines women and the freedom all people are entitled to. But these critics don’t realize their inherent ignorance of a remarkable form of feminism.

Muslim women are oppressed, not by Islam, but by the West. Western standards that demand all women to be alike in their feminism and other forms of expression, oppresses Muslims women around the world, disregarding the individuality they may attain when wearing hijab.

This history of oppression and imperialism is the direct cause for Islamophobia in America, and is apparent in the ways Western feminism

rejects Islamic feminism, denying Muslim women a place within the Western world.

Many Western nations have criticized Islam as a religion that threatens their values by giving examples of rogue Islamic nations that have always been invaded, but never the invader. As explained

by Josh Cerretti, a professor in gender studies at Western Washington University, “The last Muslim army left Spain in 1492 and Ottoman control of the Balkans ended before World War I. Since World War I, European and U.S.-American military endeavors have been launched against Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia, but no Muslimmajority nation has invaded a Western nation during this time.”

(Cerretti). Along with militant threats, Western nations have constantly degraded the religion

29

of Islam and openly oppressed Muslims for years, normalizing such a response. Through constantly linking the practice of Islam to the oppression of women, Westerners have become brainwashed to believe that the appearance of Western culture in the Muslim world automatically indicates freedom. The physicality of the hijab immediately ties someone’s identity to Islam and the Western world uses their public identities against them, to make all of America sympathize for the Muslim females, all while ignoring the explanations of Muslims and the purpose of hijab.

But why paint Muslim females as oppressed? Islamic oppression paired with a visual of the hijab can be used for political purposes. Western nations demand Muslim females to remove their hijabs to prove a “liberal” mindset has

MUS•LIM

been ingrained. For example, a mother was told to remove her hijab or face being fined by police while relaxing on a beach in France (Samuels).

These nations preach about women being able to make their own choices, and yet they are stripping the right away from women to dress a certain way or practice a certain religion. As stated in Confronting Prejudice against Muslim Women in the West, “In this political discourse, it is Muslim women’s bodies that are subjected to regulation and political actions within Western societies in the name of national security, preserved national identities and gender equality” (Soltani). If Western nations are indirectly telling Muslim women what they should wear and what their choices should be, how feminist and open minded can they truly be? How does taking away someone’s free will count as ‘saving’ someone?

From the perspective of the Western world, Islam and feminism are antonyms.

But some of the very first feminists were Muslim women, long before feminism became accepted by the society. During the European colonial period, for example, the hijab was worn by Muslim women as a sign of anti-colonial resistance to re-affirm their identity and culture (Soltani). However, even today, the choice for women to veil themselves is something

that doesn’t exist everywhere: “women have been banned from wearing a full veil in Chad since June 2015” (Sanghani).

Many fail to realize that there is much more of a common ground between the Western feminist movement and the Muslim feminist movement.

While feminists in Europe and the U.S. fought for suffrage and legal personhood in the early twentieth century, similar goals were fought for by women like Hoda Shawari in Egypt and Halide Edip in Turkey, who were simultaneously engaged in attempting to rid their country of British and U.S.-American domination (Cerretti). However, with the specific conditions that Western feminists require in feminism, they are hurting Muslim feminists by not understanding that feminism comes in various different ways.

Western feminism points out problems faced by women in underdeveloped countries, such as female genital mutilation and honor killings, which are major issues always emphasized.

However, they fail to notice that many of the regions where these practices occur are recovering from the oppression of Western imperialism, and that many groups that carry out these crime, like Boko Haram and the Taliban, are direct results of colonialist regimes (Al- Sibai).

This underscores the bigger issue: Western feminists

30

need to understand the core of the issues, the history of each, and the reasons these issues perpetuate, ultimately allowing for a space to build solutions and understand different forms of feminism. Muslim women face unique challenges, specifically in Muslim regions, but criticizing Islam is an inadequate way to fight patriarchy and, moreover, disrupts efforts at solidarity with Muslim women (Al Sibai). Equality for all cannot be achieved if the Western feminist movement continues to alienate Muslim feminism, along with those demonstrating other unique types of feminism.

Inequality will only push the movement towards certain failure, and the beliefs of a non-white woman will always be disregarded and disgraced.

The Western world may symbolize freedom for many, but for Muslim women, it frequently signifies oppression.

The Western world constantly tries to control the choices and mindsets of Muslim women, failing to realize that Islam and hijab are symbols of freedom and individuality. Demanding that Muslim women be like the non-Muslim women is a direct form of oppression, stealing their freedom of religion and will. The fault isn’t within Islam, it is within the Western world’s limited capacity to understand diversity of thoughts.

■

Ms. Marvel, Volume 8: Mecca

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MS. MARVEL

BY AFFAN KHALID

I

Ms. Marvel is a comic book series featuring Kamala Khan, one of the first female Muslim superheroes in comics. G. Willow Wilson, a Muslim convert, began the series in 2014 and has published 7 volumes so far, showing no sign of stopping.

could rave about Ms. Marvel’s impact on the topography of the comics world all day; about how a comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously still managed to capture and delight such a huge audience; how Kamala Khan’s adventures, balancing her identity as a new

superhero while being a regular high schooler, hearkens back to the glory days of SpiderMan; how refreshing a lighthearted teen superhero can be in a sea of more dark and gritty mainstream heroes. But I don’t need to. Ms. Marvel’s success, as we pass its 4-year

31

anniversary, speaks for itself.

Instead, I want to talk about the impact of Ms. Marvel on my sister. Sara is now in 8th grade and burns through reading material like nobody’s business.

I had read a few issues of Ms. Marvel and thought it would be the perfect chance for her to

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give comics a shot. Of course, she thinks Captain America and Spiderman are awesome, but she remained hesitant, despite my recommendations, to jump in with characters she didn’t feel as comfortable with. Kamala Khan, on the other hand, was someone she immediately took to, and before I knew it she had

living that kind of life, she’s just an average person. She has to balance all her life situations with being a superhero and her school and family and friends, and I have to handle stuff like that too with my family and friends and school and Sunday school too— minus the superhero stuff of course!”

As G. Willow Wilson highlighted when speaking about the difficulties when approaching diversity in comics, “the understanding at the time was that there were 3 things that do not sell. New characters do not sell. Female characters do not sell. Minority characters do not sell.” It was an uphill battle for many reasons; whitewashing prevalent in every form of entertainment is hard to push past, especially when you’re growing up. Minority characters like Kamala Khan are few and far between, and it’s incredibly important they become a force to be reckoned with in popular media; not only to be a relatable role model for teenagers, but to also to remind everyone that immigrants in America are just as American as everyone else.

Khan struggles with the labels imposed on her, and it forms her sense of self— a struggle we've all faced in one form or another, not just because she’s a Muslim.

“New characters do not sell. Female characters do not sell. Minority

characters do not sell.” breezed past my bookmark, badgering me for the next issue. “It’s the first Pakistani superhero!” she would say, “That's just really really cool!”

Kamala is a Muslim American, and Sara loved how similar she was to Kamala.

“She’s just the average American girl. She does her studies, she has all of her schoolwork, she’s dealing with everything like those parents telling her ‘get good grades!’ and handling all the people at her school… I find it very relatable because she honestly is really like me!”

Sara didn’t find Kamala perfect either, and appreciated her portrayal as a typical teen. “...even when she gets her powers and is fighting all those supervillains, you can tell that she’s kind of confused at some parts, because she wasn’t really

32

Khan isn’t meant to be a character made solely to tell white people “Muslims aren’t all terrorists.” She is someone who, despite not being a traditional white superhero, is as likable, funny, kind, and as capable as anyone else because of her actions, not where she comes from. That’s what matters; not that she is representative of all Pakistanis in America, but that she is a Jersey-girl, born and raised, who likes comic books, writing fanfictions, and doing good because she’s a good person with a good heart. And she’s found quite the audience; anthology after anthology of Ms. Marvel have hit the New York Times Bestseller List .

Wilson believes the secret isn’t anything that she personally did; she believes the reason for Ms. Marvel’s massive success is the audience itself.

The audience is what has immortalized Ms. Marvel as an iconic character, against all odds. “The reason [Ms. Marvel] survived was because it was the right character at the right time… it’s not just a story about a superhero, it’s certainly not just my story— in fact it’s really not my story at all. It’s yours.” ■

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BADASS MUSLIM WOMEN

by fatima farha

I AM MUSLIM. I AM AMERICAN.

34 Ibtihaj Muhammad, first American woman to win an individual fencing Grand Prix in The Olympics, and first women to compete in hijab; Rio de Janiero, 2016

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Scene from the Women’s March on Washington, DC., January 26 2017, Jerry Kiesewetter

M

ost of us grew up learning about women in Islamic history through a narrow lens; we do not learn about the hundreds of women who, from the time of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), have been leaders, innovators, activists and warriors. The breadth of important Muslim women in history knows no bounds; there is no way complete justice can be done to their stories.

However, it is important to be able to tell their stories and understand the ways in which they contributed not just to the Islamic communities,

but to the rest of the world as well.

These women were not just exceptional wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers.

the patriarchy tries to rip apart our power and independence.

Just looking around at the many kinds of ways Muslim women are

They were independent women who contributed to history in a variety of platforms, whether as scholars, literary figures, activists, artists, soldiers, or scientists.

Everyday Muslim women are doing their own part in contributing to society. In today’s day and age, Muslim women are continuing to do more, say more, and take action to reserve their rights and transform the ways

owning their intelligence, their talents, their specialties their skills and their influence is inspiring and noteworthy. Whether they are doing this as activists, writers, artists, scientists, doctors, researchers, lawyers, journalists—or as bloggers and fashion designers on social media, these Muslim women are joining the long line of strong Muslim women who came before them.

35

Nusayba bint Al Harith was one of the earliest converts to Islam in Medina. She is best known for being a soldier during the Battle of

Khadija bint Khuwaylid

protected the Prophet Muhammad

d. 620 Khadija wealthy

was

one

Aisha bint abi bakr

Uhud in 625 A.D., during which she

d. 678

(PBUH) and fought alongside him.

of

businesswomen

the of

most her

time and the first wife of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Khadija, known

d. 634 Khadija bint Khuwaylid

Aisha was a scholar and one of the foremost narrators of the hadith. She is best known as one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); however,

as “Umm’ Al-Mumineen”, lived an

she was also one of the earliest figures

independent

fighting

and

successful

life

for

female

before even meeting the Prophet.

She was one of the first Muslims,

politics, education and in society.

and she steadfastly supported the Prophet during the first years of his revelation and preaching of Islam.

THROUGHOUT HISTORY

important

independence

and

female

roles

in

A ruler of Egypt after the disappearance of the Fatimid-era Caliph al-Hakim, Sitt

al-Mulk

was

instrumental

in

A jurist and teacher, Umm al-Darda

various political policies, such as

is known best as a renowned Muslim

removing

scholar

Christian laws. She also resurrected

who

knowledge

spread

about

extensive

and

anti-

She

the synagogues and churches that

taught mostly in the Great Mosque

had been torn down and replaced

at

with mosques, allowing individuals

Damascus

to

Islam.

anti-Jewish

both

male

and

female students. Along with further very educated on the Qur’an, which she

religion to return to their respective faiths.

d. 890

memorized when she was a little girl.

d. 700 umm al darda as sughra

who had been forced out of their

Arib

transmission of Hadith, she was also

and

A famous female musician, singer, poet

and

composer

of

over

one

thousand songs. She was also highly skilled in calligraphy and music theory.

Sitt

skilled

was

an

influential

leader

and

politician.

d. 1023 Sitt al-Mulk

Ozair Rahman

Shafik was a feminist, poet and editor, and one of the principal leaders of the

Malahayati of Aceh

is

Asian

movement

Sabiha Gokcen

women were granted the right to

1913-2001

vote by the Egyptian constitution.

With military and political expertise, Southeast

liberation

direct result of her efforts, Egyptian

1550-1615

Malahayati

women’s

in Egypt in the mid-1940s. As a

remembered Muslim

as

a

woman

who fought valiantly against Dutch

1908-1975 Doria ShafIk

Born in Bursa, Turkey, Sabiha was the first woman to receive a pilot license in Turkey, and also the world’s first female combat pilot. Compared

colonialists as a navy admiral and

frequently to Amelia Earhart, Sabiha

leader.

in

held the rank of lieutenant on the

defeating Dutch naval commander

Turkish Air Force. She was also the

Cornelis

adopted daughter of Mustafa Kemal

She de

Malahayati fleet up

called of

war

was

instrumental

Houtman also

in

1599.

commanded

Inong widows

a

Balee,

made

from

Aceh.

Ataturk,

Turkey’s

first

president.

Muslim women have been influential and exceptional leaders in education, art, history, literature, math, science, politics and society in general. Patriarchal limitations have caused many remarkable Muslim women to be forgotten, but their contributions will continue to live on. â–

A ruler of Egypt after the disappearance of the Fatimid-era Caliph al-Hakim, Sitt

al-Mulk

was

instrumental

in

Zainab Al-Ghazali was an Egyptian

various political policies, such as

activist

removing

who

started

the

Muslim

anti-Jewish

and

anti-

Women’s Association. Ghazali was

Christian laws. She also resurrected

dedicated to Islamic education and

the synagogues and churches that

followed in the footsteps of Nusaybah

had been torn down and replaced

bint Al Harith. She was a strong

with mosques, allowing individuals

Dr. Azizah Al Hibri

political and social justice activist who was imprisoned for her work. She also worked to help the poor, widows and

other

underprivileged

1917-2005 Zainab Al Ghazali

who had been forced out of their religion to return to their respective faiths.

b. 1945

groups.

and

A law school graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. AlHibri is a legal expert on human rights and Islamic jurisprudence and the founder of KARMAH, an organization supporting

the

rights

of

Muslim

Sitt

skilled

was

an

influential

leader

and

politician.

d. 1987 Meena Keshwar Kamal

women worldwide through educational programs, jurisprudential scholarship, and a network of Muslim jurists and leaders. In 1992, Dr. Al-Hibri also became

the

first

Muslim

woman

law professor in the United States.

Ahmad El Khatib

IMAM HUSSEIN & THE LEGACY OF ACTIVISM

BY SYED ALI

Shia mosque, an Islamic center of America in Dearborn, MI, Ozair Rahman

40

MUS•LIM

T

he largest gathering of Muslims is not Hajj, which would come as a shock to most. Each year, the assembly to commemorate the death of Imam Hussain in Karbala, Iraq draws over 4.5 million people to the city in just under ten days. What makes Imam Hussein worthy of a procession this massive?

To answer that, we need to look 1400 years into the past.

Imam Hussain was a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder and first preacher of Islam, and he had a close connection to his message. Imam Hussein was widely known as a leading source of Islamic knowledge and guidance during his lifetime. Several decades after the Prophet’s passing, the Islamic empire had succumb to a monarchical caliphate, with each caliph appointing his son as the next sovereign ruler of the Islamic state.

Yazid ibn Mu’awiya, was the second ruler of this socalled “Ummayad Caliphate.”

Prior to this monarchy, the Islamic empire was considered a republic with a strong foundation upon appointing political leaders from those who showed extensive knowledge of Islam. The first three caliphs were appointed from amongst the closest companions to the Prophet, and continued the legacy of

41

his teachings and ideologies.

Ali ibn Abi Talib, a first cousin of the Prophet, was recognized by the Islamic empire as the fourth caliph in this succession.

During this period, Yazid’s father, Mu’awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, ruled as a governor under the caliphate, presiding over much of what is now Syria and Egypt. Mu’awiya did not see Ali as worthy of the caliphate, especially since the majority of Ali’s more devout followers were of the empire's poor and destitute. And after the assassination of a former caliph, he accused Ali of being an accomplice to the crime.

Though many claim Mu’awiya’s innocence in the matter, Ali was assassinated very shortly after Mu’awiya made this accusation while Ali was performing morning prayers.

Thus Imam Hussain, along with many other powerful and knowledgeable leaders of the Islam empire, took a stand against this illegitimate rule of Yazid. Yazid demanded Hussein’s allegiance, to which Hussein famously retorted, “I only desire to enjoin good values and prevent evil”.

Hussein’s life then under threat, he moved to the holy city of Mecca in hopes that Yazid would respect the religious sanctity of the city.

However, he soon began to receive ardent requests from his supporters, urging him to seize

the caliphate from Yazid. But as Imam Hussein began traveling to Kufa, the center of the Islamic empire, he was intercepted by Yazid’s army. Yazid’s army was 30,000 strong, and Hussein and his followers were pushed off-course to the small, desert town of Karbala. Again, Yazid demanded Hussein’s allegiance.

Hussain fervently resisted, and Yazid commanded his men to slaughter each of Hussein’s companions, one by one. Imam Hussein was then martyred, and his death fractured the Muslim empire; those who followed Imam Hussein now refer to themselves as “Shi’a.”

Passive, or un-assertive, protest to oppression can only go so far. Voting is not always enough to stop a menace from gaining immense power, as we now see with the Trump administration. Think of Bernie Sanders, a revolutionary who was set back by a system working against him; think of the Standing Rock protesters, a group that started a movement to save the land taken from them. Passivism and complacency are the antithesis of progressive social change.

Imam Hussain’s stance against a government largely in opposition to himself was a dangerous move. He knew of the

possibility of death, remained steadfast upon his pursuit of equity, and sacrificed his life for this cause. Hussein’s dedication and tenacity underlines the importance in standing firm against injustice and inequity, rather than falling to moderate ideologies and appeasement.

His legacy can push us to become better activists.

Our own Muslim communities have many harmful ideologies and attitudes, and throughout my life I have dealt with various forms of hate because of my intersecting identities. I would be afraid to go to school because I knew some of my friends would target Shi’ism and use the practice of self-flagellation as a joke. I would hide my own identity just to ensure I wasn’t a target. The news continually publicized hate crimes towards people of color, Muslims, and those identifying LGBT, and I tried whatever I could to protect myself from these unrelenting waves of bigotry and hatred.

And, I have been ostracized from circles of Muslims because I would not conform to a “majority” standard, which only pushed me further into painful isolation. Erasing the diversity of our Ummah only detaches people from the beauty of our

42

beliefs, implying that people must become more “Muslim” to fit a biased mold. Shirk, the sin of practicing idolatry or polytheism, is constantly thrown at my community of Shia’as as an insult, only further emphasizing how unwilling sects are to understand what Shia Islam truly means. It is the duty of muslims to grow, we need to respect differences and take initiative to understand oppression if we are to unite our communities.

The beauty in activism is the solidarity of dedicated individuals, who realize that issues of equity and justice are connected, who understand intersectionality, and who internalize the true meaning of being an “ally.” Imam Hussain knew that Yazid’s rule was founded upon an incredible injustice, and used his voice to change the status quo. Thus the Shia struggle is, and has been, a constant fight for liberation.

Every struggle our society faces, whether or not directly pertinent to ourselves, is based on real aggression that can radically impact innumerable lives. It is the duty of Muslims to understand these struggles and aid those in danger, as revolutionary leaders in the past have always done. ■

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A RELIGION OF SKEPTICISM

Drake Materre

BY DRAKE MATERRE

M

arcus Garvey’s “PanAfrican Flag” flag sits on the wall behind a choir dressed in colorful African garments. They sing “Total Praise” by Richard Smallwood in contrapuntal and multivocal cooperation, while Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright preaches

“all of God’s children—black and white, gay and straight, rich and poor—come together and say Amen.” This was how mass ended at Trinity United Church of Christ every Sunday after the 11am service when Reverend Wright was still the pastor. You might be wondering:

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“Trinity United Church of Christ and Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright...isn’t that the church that Barack Obama attended, when the pastor said, ‘Not God bless America, but God damn America’?” Yes, part of that story is correct, but Trinity United Church of

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Christ is not the racist, antiAmerican, unpatriotic church that the conservative media has painted it as. The church is a community center, a home for spiritual and community development. Programs to hire recently released men from prison, to raise awareness for the HIV/AIDS epidemic, or to stop community violence are just some of the many opportunities that this church, this community center, offers the South Side of Chicago. As a young Black man who grew up in this center, I still call it home.

I was raised in a Christian household and attended Catholic school my whole life.

From kindergarten to second grade, my schoolmates and I pledged allegiance to the RBG flag and received a Kente cloth whenever someone was on the honor roll. Pictures of Black leaders hung on the walls, and for Black history month we dressed in African garb and presented projects on black influencers. I did not realize how pivotal this experience was until I began my pursuit for knowledge.

By placing me in environments that fostered Afrocentricity, my parents taught me to always be proud of who I was, but it wasn’t until I began to read books and academic articles from Black intellectuals that I finally realized my place in American society.

My deep pursuit of knowledge

started in eighth grade when I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X, which sparked my interest in the black liberation movement. However, it was the book I call my Bible, Black Man: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?

by Haki R. Madhubuti, that completely changed my life.

These readings on Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam drove me to look at Islam as an alternative religion to Christianity. Historically, the Nation of Islam has played a major role in the growth of Islam in the black community.

The story of Malcolm X: a pimp and gangster turned minister and human rights activist, was a story that many Black men had experienced prior to joining the Nation. I looked at the Nation of Islam, and eventually Islam as a whole, as a way for men and women to clean themselves up, to turn away from alcohol, gambling, and the vices that seemed to plague our communities.

I began to research Islam and question Christianity.

Amidst the variety of theological issues I had with Christianity, one stood out: I could not believe that the Savior had already arrived, especially given the state of the world today. So, I decided to convert to Islam. I did not seek any guidance from Islamic scholars or anyone who could guide me on my journey to Islam. The only

44

thing I knew was that I agreed with Islam and I agreed with Malcolm X. One day, freshman year of high school, alone in my room, I faced Mecca, kneeled, and recited the Shahada. Some people may say that you need to recite the Shahada in a mosque, but I believe religion is a relationship with a higher power, inherently my own; I believed that I did not need anyone else when forming my relationship with God.

I called this whole process “transitioning to a religion of skepticism”. The problem with society is that everyone is stuck in their own microcosmic view of the world. From culture to religion to political ideologies, our worldview is usually passed down from family; a change in education is necessary so that people recognize a more macrocosmic and open-minded view. I was raised Christian. If I continued to be a Christian without ever questioning my own religion, am I a true Christian? Would not Allah want us to think for ourselves?

I believe that any person must question their entire existence, their thought processes, their ideologies, essentially everything that has been handed down to them. A true Muslim first rejects Islam, researches it, finds answers and reconverts; this is something every person must do, Muslim or not. This is

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what a religion of skepticism is.

Why I remain a member of the black church may be confusing: theological differences do not mean we cannot work together. I remain a member of the black church for the simple fact that it has become a fundamental organization that focuses on community development within the black community. Trinity United Church of Christ has multiple ministries that focus on community development, racial and economic justice, family development, HIV/AIDS awareness, spiritual growth, and more. The church is doing work that must be done within the community. Even as a Muslim I still believe in this verse from the Bible: James 2:17, “Faith without works, is dead.” Any organization that is willing to put in the work to bring about the liberation of black people and underrepresented groups is an organization that receives

my support and I will happily remain in that organization.

Unfortunately, I also remain a member of the Black church because of the prevailing anti-Blackness within the Muslim community.

Black mosques, like the Nation of Islam, are not legitimized by the mainstream Muslim community and are not deemed a part of “true” Islam. We, at times, are not recognized as real Muslims. Muslims are a targeted and marginalized group in America, especially due to the war on terrorism and unrest in the Middle East.

However, even though groups can be marginalized, they can still perpetuate that exact marginalization upon other groups. Black men can be Islamophobic, white LGBTQIA+ members can be misogynist, and Muslims can be racist; no one is exempt from perpetuating evil. Hamza Yusuf, a leading Muslim scholar, has stated that

45

America was one of the least racist societies in the world and that the racism of police brutality is not truly racism.

“We have between 15,000 and 18,000 homicides per year.

Fifty percent are black-on-black crime, literally. … There are twice as many whites that have been shot by police, but nobody ever shows those videos,” Yusuf said. He came to this conclusion the along the same path any right wing, conservative person can take: by bringing up Blackon-Black crime, a statement inevitably perpetuating racism.

I remain a member of the Black church because I remain a member of the family of Allah; the family of Allah should be based on the principle of uplifting the poor, the neglected, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, and the oppressed. The Black church, specifically Trinity United Church of Christ, lives by this principle. ■

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AID & ASYLUM

BY REEMA GHABRA

W

hen the civil war in Syria began, I was deeply affected by the crisis.

I would read a new, devastating story of my country every few days, detailing the atrocities that were taking place. Images of the once beautiful country with now vacant streets, covered in rubble would be featured on news platform I could see. Pictures of children covered in blood and dust would be shown to the world each time the Assad regime led a raid on a city, only underlining the hundreds killed in a matter of hours.

Knowing I had to take action, I began to search for ways to help Syrians that had suffered during the war. With the violence and instability, there was no way for me to go to Syria and so instead I turned my attention towards my home city Chicago. After searching and applying to numerous nongovernmental organizations, I eventually was accepted as an intern with RefugeeOne, the largest refugee center in Chicago, where I helped Syrian refugee families adjust to America after they acquired asylum. I worked as

Mustafa Ali

a youth intern, teaching English to the children to prepare them for their education in America.

On one of my assignments, I was paired with a Syrian family to act as a mentor for two girls who were mentally and physically affected by the war. When I was first assigned to the family I was

46

warned to be careful with how I interacted with them; during a fire attack in Syria they had experienced immense trauma, leading to permanent burn marks on their bodies. And as if to add insult to injury, a psychiatrist they were assigned to while they sought refuge in Egypt had mentally and

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emotionally abused the girls.

The family began to see me as a role model and a big sister to their daughters. Every Friday after I had finished work, I would go to the family’s house and take the girls to the park because their mother was still not comfortable in doing so.

We would come back and I would join the family for dinner, a l w a y s consisting of traditional S y r i a n d i s h e s .

Before I left, I would sit down and review E n g l i s h with the girls while the mother sat and also tried to learn. And frequently, I also served as a translator between the family and the RefugeeOne employees. The mother and father truly struggled with English, and being able to speak to someone in their familiar language was evidently comforting to both of them. Even though I was

only able to help this family very little, any interaction I had with them was always appreciated.

All the refugees I encountered simply wanted one thing: a connection with someone that could remind them of their past life.

Giving back to your community is an integral aspect of Islam. Besides being a child of Syrian immigrants, I believed I had a duty as a Muslim to engage with the refugee families in Chicago.

We should be educated in what is happening to our sisters and brothers in Islam overseas, and always seek ways to get involved in helping. As Americans, we have to take the first step in welcoming the families in their new homes.

When there is a global problem that you want to resolve, it is important to start your efforts by becoming involved with local organizations in such as RefugeeOne. In addition to donating to different charities that will send aid to Syria, start engaging with members of your community that could benefit from your help. By actively volunteering and communicating with people in need, you can see your efforts make a difference and bring change to people’s lives. There will always be people in your community who will appreciate and benefit from your actions, even if it is as simple as being a mentor to their children. ■

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MUS•LIM

A MUSLIM ON THE INSIDE

BY ISRA RAHMAN

"

P

raise the Gods, Martin Luther is dead.”

Monroe Haynes was an 18-yearold in Vietnam fighting a war he did not understand, with people he did not know, when he heard his commander proclaim this statement. Just barely an adult, Haynes knew only that he was fighting for peace in a foreign land whilst a freedom fighter was martyred back home by the people he was fighting for.

After serving two years in this war, Haynes was honorably discharged and diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder, categorizing him as a completely disabled veteran according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Finally having returned home, he saw the place he left through a lens warped by trauma: completely different.

He received his barbers certification in Compton, California, and began working in a barber shop in an attempt

to normalize a stress he could not rid himself of. At one point he was visiting his family in Mississippi and was picked up by the police on minor charges and landed a spot in prison. While serving in the penitentiary in Georgia, Haynes was introduced to a group of Muslims praying together.

They followed all different sects of Islam from the Nation to Sunniism to Shia’ism to non-denominational but still gathered to pray together and discuss the core principles of their faith. Haynes learned more about unity in those encounters than he did at any other point in his life.

Every Friday they would congregate for prayer led by a prison chaplain and eventually Haynes decided to attend one. He was moved by the uniformity of Islam, the way individuals who looked just like him found faith so liberating. After that Jummah he began attending more and more, eventually converting while in prison. “The way the faith moved those people

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was something I wanted.

There was a simplicity to the faith, I could open a Quran and understand what it says, the theology people spoke of was not grand and complicated, it was just simple.”

As I sit in the visitation room only a glass window away from Haynes, my brother in Islam, I could not feel more disconnected from the Ummah. Across me sat a man who found Islam in the hardest of circumstances, while being caged in a prison and regarded as sub-human.

Yet, his Islam does not waver while the community of Muslims meant to support him is nonexistent. For the first time I saw what it was like to be a Muslim but not part of a bigger Ummah.

Haynes recalled the moment he saw Malcolm X when he was 15 while traveling from Chicago to Mississippi. It was about a year before Malcolm died.

“I remember seeing Malcolm and nothing made sense to me when I was 15, just broad phrases about

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Champaign County jail, Darrell Hoemann, 2017

unifying the black community and fighting the oppressors. It was only when I converted to Islam in 94 that I thought back to that moment and realized the true liberation that came from Islam,” Haynes said.

I stumbled upon Haynes while researching incarcerated Muslims in Champaign County jail, and his trauma could not be more visible upon meeting him.

Haynes, now a 69-year-old man waiting for a trial that has been delayed for two years, is sitting in a jail full of 20 and 30-year-old’s. The right to a “quick and speedy trial” has not been much of

a right for Haynes. Prior to being incarcerated, Haynes was diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy which usually requires that individuals wear specific kinds of shoes and take medication to ease nerve pain. Haynes was prescribed Gabapentin, a nerve-pain medication, and was using it prior to being in jail, however once he was arrested the jail stopped his medication and had to wait a few months to receive clearance to give it to him again. While painfully waiting for his medication and becoming increasingly handicapped, Haynes could only turn to his faith again

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and again. His lawyer was able to get him therapeutic neuropathy shoes and after a while they prescribed him a lower dosage of gabapentin.

In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center with 50 prison chaplains in 2012, the center found that 51% of chaplains saw Islam as the fastest growing religion in prisons; those same chaplains noted that these Muslim inmates are also among the most underserved of incarcerated people. The population of incarcerated Muslims so large that one would think issues related to mass incarceration

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would be Muslim issues.

However, the marginalization of incarcerated individuals seems to be an issue separate from faith to most Muslims. While a secondgeneration Muslim living in the U.S. has the same faith as an incarcerated Muslim, their experiences are immensely different and a bridge between these two communities is rarely ever made. This is why it is so essential to understand that Monroe’s story is

one of many, highlighting how the system of mass incarceration targets certain communities of Americans, and Muslim Americans, more than others. The experiences of African Americans and the experiences of mainstream immigrant Muslims are not mutually exclusive and should not be the reason why one community is separated from the other, especially when there is so much overlap. The issue of mass incarceration in America is

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a Muslim issue because it is the modern reiteration of the enslavement of people, and yet another means of perpetuating injustice. Seeing the humanity in Monroe, and in so many incarcerated individuals, is the first step to bridging the gap between these various parts of the community, and is the only way to finally ensure that Islam truly does bring the peace it promises. â–

Mustafa Ali

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