I am a Muslim by faith, originally from Pakistan. I ran a computer sales business for 12 years, but after the dot-com bust, business started slowing down.
Then 9-11 happened and completely changed my life. I decided I was not going to be a victim and sit at home and cry. That was when my community activism began.
Fremont, California where I live is an extremely diverse community. I felt I needed to educate people about who I am, by doing what my faith teaches me. In the Muslim faith, we are taught from childhood to know our neighbors in 40 homes within our radius, to make sure everyone is doing well, has food on the table. These are the values we grow up with.
I started small – just talking to people while standing in lines, wherever I could find a chance. I worked on interfaith relations and, at age 56, began serving as a volunteer “ambassador” with a city program known as CAPS, counseling new immigrant seniors who don’t speak good English, don’t know whom to call or where to get help. We help with everything from emotional issues in families to finances and housing. I hold their hand, speak to them in their language, take them to the social service office, help them fill out forms and get through the system. It’s satisfying, gratifying and humbling. The work makes me feel wonderful in being able to help in meaningful way.
Then, in December of last year, another terror attack, this time in San Bernardino, California, shook me to my core. I realized that, in the work I had been doing to promote tolerance, I was always preaching “to the choir.” After San Bernardino, I wanted to reach “the masses,” or at least people who might have never met and spoken to a Muslim before.
My idea was to sit in a coffee shop and invite people to join me in a conversation. I called it “Meet a Muslim” and I put an ad in the paper. The newspaper told me to be prepared for no one to show up. So I just brought my laptop and planned to do some work. But I didn’t need it.
When I got to the coffee shop ahead of time, there were already 20 people waiting there. By the time it was over, there were over 100. I told them that, yes, I was a Muslim woman in a headscarf, but I was also just an ordinary American person. I have children, I raised them here, sent them to school here. And that what happened in San Bernardino was not the real Islam.
Many wanted to talk about current events, and the San Bernardino shooters. They wanted to know about radical Islam, about Shia and Sunni, the “oppression” of Muslim women, sharia law and more. For the most part, the audiences have been very respectful. A few people made blanket criticisms of Muslims as terrorists, but I nod my head and say that killers don’t represent the true Islam.
I also encourage my Muslim friends to get out into their communities and volunteer, even an hour a week, to show Muslim-Americans as real people who want the communities they live in to thrive.
Many won’t step forward because of fear of backlash, or even fear of the FBI. While they have reason to be cautious, I tell them, “This is not about you. We need to lay this groundwork for our children to have a good life here in America.”
So far, I have staged 11 “Meet a Muslim” events, and have many new invitations to speak at places of worship, schools, mobile home parks and senior living facilities.
My goal is to change one person, one heart at a time. People need to live together with compassion and acceptance. We Muslim-Americans are not going anywhere, no one else is either. And we’re all in this fight against hatred together.
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Mohammed was a terrorist. 1,400 years later, it's the same. He was also a rapist, pedophile, murderer and looter.
Moina, you're doing a very good thing and never be ashamed of your faith. Mohammed taught many good things including faith and compassion as did my mentor, Moses and the prophets. We share this Earth together and need to learn to live in peace together, respecting one another. The violence and intolerance we see in the world is not the truth of any faith. It is the result of the broken humanity in which we live. Keep it up. I'll show up to meet you when I can. Salaam/Shalom/Peace to you and your Muslim brothers and sisters.
A silly story-
Part 1
Long, long ago a group humans living in a remote corner of the world realised they have more thinking power than other animals around them. The power to solve problems and do things better and make life easier. Soon they started to share the ideas with family, friends and neighbors. Some felt it is good to write and keep, so it is easy to remember or access. The book of ideas passed down generations as a valuable inheritance. It became a BIG book of ideas. It had everything that you need to live by. So some of them also corroborated that things not in the book were untrue, because anything worth should be there in the book! Not just families but the whole community started living by the book. Eventually it became imperative to have the book and follow it to do anything in life ... how to eat, what to drink, how to love, how to die and even when to kill. Though it was difficult to follow the book, it helped the community to grow, have order and governance. People lived happily. After many generations the book grew in size but lost the details of people who contributed. The small group of people who accessed the book more frequently and who knew more about the book got together and thought- How could we make the book more popular and make it (book/us) relevant for all the people? We declare the book has come from the master of our universe and it is his “word”. The master of the universe had laid the code of living and it is compulsory to live by the laws of the book or else suffer, suffer in a place called "hell". Conversly, people who obeyed the word and lived by the book would go straight to heaven. This sounded great and within no time there was a great demand for the book and people in the book business!
Part 2
Someone traveled far and discovered another strange community of people. He was even more surprised to know they also had a book to live by. A thought flashed in his mind- which book was better?
[Hide Full Comment]I worked with plenty of Muslims at Texas Instruments, like the engineer from Bangladesh who hung around my desk several times a day (I was single, he was married with newborn twins) and talked about how wonderful it was to have as many wives in "his country" as he could afford. (I am *not* making this up.) I did ask him how much he'd be making in Bangladesh, and he just laughed. Oh, the reality that "your" country is still in the third world, let's not talk about that. Assimilation, anyone?
They have a prayer room at Texas Instruments dedicated for Muslim use. I once asked if I could use it, as a Christian (thinking at best it must actually be a generic "chapel" - that surely a private business wouldn't promote religion at all, let alone one particular religion), and was told that Christians could pray anywhere. This is true, but it was also pretty disappointing.
The prayer room is there to accommodate Muslims. Many businesses now have this. Don't tell me the US doesn't accommodate other religions. I don't care what religion others practice as long as they don't intrude on my rights. Freedom of religion is a right we all (should) hold dear.
But if a woman is going to defend Islam, I would strongly encourage her to be honest with herself and look at how women and young girls are still treated in Islam countries, where many women still can't even VOTE. When I see a woman in the grocery store literally walking behind a man, my stomach turns. When I read of honor killings - in the US! - and the fact that the "princes" of Saudi Arabia STILL think women shouldn't even DRIVE, I kind of think, "Honey, don't tell ME how great you have it. Just stop lying to yourself, because I already know. Your husband told me this morning."
[Hide Full Comment]In answer to those responses to Islam below; if you call yourself a Christian, I believe that the Golden Rule states "Love your neighbor as yourself". Your views are not compatible with true Christianity and please brush up on your U.S. Constitution - 1 st Amendment which states:
The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning
religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids
Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression
by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of
individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens
to assemble peaceably and to petition their government.
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
What Islam is Not. Watch this very informative video, only 8 minutes, about the spread of Islam. Four decades of immigration, lack of assimilation and radicalization in Europe is all we need to know to stop the spread of Islam in America. Peace.
Sorry, it's not the Muslim, it's ISLAM. And Islam is incompatible with a free and democratic society. http://www.citizenwarrior.c...