2004-10-31
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve
Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Muslims everywhere are in the middle of
Ramadan. The holy month is a time for special prayers. It also means
no food or drink from sunrise until sunset each day. Today we
explore what it is like, especially for girls, to be young and
Muslim in America.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Jesmin Saikh is a student at a public high school in Rockville,
Maryland. There are more than two thousand students at Magruder High
School. About twenty of them are members of the Muslim Student
Association.
Most of these young people were born in the United States. But
their parents came from other countries, like India, Bangladesh,
Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan.
The students say more people began to ask them questions about
Islam after the terrorist attacks on the United States in two
thousand one. But the teenagers say they have not been treated badly
because of what happened.
For Ramadan, the Muslim students gave candy to all the teachers
at the school. Tied to the candy was a piece of paper with facts
about the observance.
VOICE TWO:
It is easy to tell that Jesmin is
Muslim. A hijab cloth covers her hair. Jesmin says it is easier to
follow Muslim rules about boys and girls when she wears hijab. These
rules limit social relationships between girls and boys. Jesmin and
another student, Sherine Heshmat, say the scarf lets boys know that
they do not go on dates.
In some schools, religious rules about dress can sometimes
conflict with administrative rules. For example, schools might want
students only to wear hats outdoors. Or some kinds of head coverings
might be banned because they can represent a sign of membership in a
gang.
VOICE ONE:
An eleven-year-old Muslim girl faced these sorts of rules at her
school in the state of Oklahoma. She was told not to wear her scarf
because schools in her city ban all head coverings for boys and
girls.
Her family brought action in court. They said the school was
treating her unfairly because of her religion. The court agreed. Now
school officials must permit students to wear religious head
coverings.
Atena Asiaii goes to high school in a small town in Pennsylvania.
She wants to become a doctor. She, too, wears hijab. Atena wrote
about herself for a new American magazine for Muslim women, called
Azizah. Azizah is the Arabic word for strong and dear.
Atena says she likes people to ask questions about Islam. She
found the students at her school, in her words, "simply uninformed."
One girl asked if she had ever seen her own hair. Another girl
pulled the cloth off Atena's head. But Atena's friends explained
that the girl who did that liked to play tricks on everyone, not
just Muslim girls.
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VOICE TWO:
Asma Gull Hasan is twenty-nine years old and works as a lawyer in
San Francisco, California. Her parents are from Pakistan, but she
grew up in the state of Colorado. She has written two books,
"American Muslim" and "Why I Am a Muslim." She is also a public
speaker.
Asma Hasan wears hijab only when she prays at a mosque. She
believes Muslim women and girls should wear clothes that do not show
too much skin. But she agrees that it can be difficult to resist
popular culture.
Asma Hasan has a Web site where girls can ask questions. Some ask
about problems they may be having as Muslims in American society.
Others ask about personal relationships, or how to deal with their
parents.
The questions are answered by a group of older Muslim women. They
often tell young people to try to understand the differences between
growing up here and growing up in their parents' country.
The Web site is asmahasan.com.
VOICE ONE:
Another young Muslim woman from California is Munira Lekovic
Ezzeldine. Her parents are from Montenegro. She is the author of a
book called "Before the Wedding: One-hundred-fifty Questions for
Muslims to Ask Before Getting Married."
Munira Ezzeldine says she began to study her religion seriously
only after she became a university student. Now she is a mother who
wears hijab and works with organizations of young Muslim girls.
She says she tries to help girls understand that their parents
want to protect them. She urges them to have parties at their own
homes, so their parents will know their friends.
Munira Ezzeldine says teenage girls who wear hijabs like boys
just as much as girls who do not cover their hair. So she says it is
a good thing there are more places where Muslim girls can talk about
these issues.
She lives in Irvine, California. She says there are four high
schools just in her city that now have Muslim student associations.
VOICE TWO:
For the first time, the national president of the Muslim Student
Association is female. Hadia Mubarak is also the first president
born in the United States. Her parents are from Syria; she grew up
in Florida.
In a story for Azizah magazine, Hadia Mubarak wrote that she
sometimes felt she did not belong in America or in Syria. But, as a
university student, she met Muslims from many other countries. She
wrote that she started to feel good about being an American Muslim.
Now she will lead an organization of Muslim young people that has
more members born inside the United States than outside.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Jabbir Khan is a Muslim boy who goes to Magruder High School in
Maryland.
Recently, he sat in a circle of boys and girls and talked about
being Muslim. Jabbir says boys and girls would not be sitting
together in his parents' country, Bangladesh. But he says following
his religion helps him do the right thing when he is with other
young people.
For example, Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol. Usman
Khan, another boy in the circle, says he is sometimes offered
alcohol at parties. The legal drinking age in the United States is
twenty-one. Usman says no one asks questions if you say no because
of your religion.
VOICE TWO:
High school proms are a tradition in the United States. A prom is
a special dance where boys and girls celebrate the completion of
high school. At a school in California last year, Muslim girls
organized their own prom, without any boys. They took off their
scarves and wore the same long, pretty dresses that other girls wear
to proms.
On the other side of the country, in Maryland, Jesmin Saikh says
she does not plan to attend her high school prom. She says she would
rather go to dinner or a party after the prom with her friends.
Another student, Aisha Jamal, does not think a separate dance for
girls is a good idea. She says it would only make the differences
seem greater between students who are Muslim and those who are not.
VOICE ONE:
Aisha is a little rebellious. Recently she decided to stop
covering her hair. She says one reason is that she found it
difficult to play sports. She says the scarf made her very hot when
she played basketball.
But Aisha says she also believes it is easier to say what she
thinks when she is not wearing hijab. She explains that she was once
defending a friend who was arguing with another girl. She says the
other girl called Aisha a terrorist because of her hijab.
Jesmin says people have thought similar things about her, because
she is Muslim and wears hijab. She agrees that it is often difficult
to explain Islam to other people. But when she goes back to India,
where her parents were born, Jesmin says she feels defensive about
America. She says she does not like to hear insults against
Americans.
VOICE TWO:
Young Muslims in America are finding more ways to explain Islam
to other Americans. In the town of Herndon, Virginia, children from
a Muslim school visited a public school to explain Ramadan. They
shared foods that their families eat at night during the month of
fasting.
The Muslim Student Association is organizing events called
"fast-a-thons." On some days, the association asks Muslim and
non-Muslim students to give the money they would spend on food to
community groups.
There is also a Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament, or MIST. This
is for Islamic organizations in American high schools, though
students of any religion can compete. The areas are knowledge, arts,
skills and community service.
This event gives Muslim young people a chance to think about who
they are and what they believe. It also gives them a chance to think
about their identity in America and how they relate to other
Americans.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Karen Leggett. Jill Moss was our
producer and Bob Doughty was our recording engineer. This is Steve
Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English.