Chapter

MUSLIMAH

IN A NON-MUSLIM LAND

Al Muhajirah

(The Immigrant Muslimah)

“Not equal are those Believers who sit (at home)

and receive no hurt, and those who strive
and fight in the cause of ALLAH

with their goods and their persons.
ALLAH hath granted a grade higher
to those who strive and fight with their goods
and persons than to those who sit (at home).

Unto all (in Faith) hath ALLAH promised good:
But those who strive and fight
hath He distinguished above
those who sit by a special reward:
‘Ranks specially bestowed by Him
and Forgiveness and Mercy,
for ALLAH is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’”

HOLY QUR’AN 4:95-96

I WAS BORN TO MUSLIM PARENTS AND RAISED IN EGYPT

—AN ISLAMIC COUNTRY.

Four years ago I left my Islamic environment for the first time. I traveled to a small Caribbean Island called the Commonwealth of Dominica to join my husband who was working as an Associate Professor at an American university there.

It was my first time not hearing al Athan five times a day and I missed it terribly. (Athan--The public Islamic call to prayer—-see Appendix IV for text and audio-visual download.) One never realizes how much one loves and values something until it is taken away. And what could be more valuable than hearing the name of ALLAH being praised and glorified five times every day. What is more merciful than hearing a reminder for salat (prayer) five times every day. What is more beautiful than hearing a call for the straight path, a call for the pure Oneness of God, five times every day. Till now, sometimes I hear it, like a whisper in my ears . . . . I think it comes from deep inside my soul¾the longing to hear the Athan.

There was only one Muslim family on that island and they were in another city. There were also very few American-Muslim students. There was only myself and one Muslim student who wore Al Hijab (Islamic covering garment) in the city where we lived. When she went back to America I became the only one wearing Hijab in the whole city. I guess I was well-known for that. People would stop me on the streets to ask if I am a Muslim and to ask about ISLAM. It was my first time realizing that Hijab, in itself, is da’wah (invitation) to ISLAM. The meaning of the HOLY QUR’AN Surah and Ayah 33:59 became clearer in my mind:

“O Prophet! Tell thy wives and daughters,

and the believing women,

that they should cast their outer garments

over their persons :

That is most convenient that they should be known

(As such) and not molested.

And ALLAH is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful.”

Yes, Hijab makes us known as religious Muslim women so that no one would harass us. No one would approach us in a way we didn’t like. Hijab is a shield for Muslim women and it is a declaration of ISLAM at the same time.

Hijab is one of the most controversial and misunderstood issues relating to Muslim women. The majority of people in western countries think that Muslim women have lost their freedom and are forced to wear Hijab. They see Hijab as a symbol of man’s power over women and that Muslims are ashamed of their sexuality¾but the truth is far from what they think or feel.

Suppose you own a beautiful garden. Your garden was without a fence so some people would come, cut the flowers and enjoy the fruits. You asked them not to do so, but they refuse your request saying: “The garden is open—has no door and no fence—so we can use it, as we wish.” They are punished but they return again and new unwanted comers are joining them everyday. So, finally you realize that it is better to build a fence and close the door to protect your privacy. That is why people invented houses in the beginning¾to protect their privacy and to allow them to be in control, to permit whomever they want to enter and to prevent others.

Women’s beauty is like that garden and Hijab is like that fence. ALLAH gave you the key to your house (body) to be in control. Hijab does not control you, it puts you in control. Hijab gives you the freedom to allow only the person you love and choose as a husband to enjoy your beauty and to prevent others from abuse and uninvited enjoyment of your garden (beauty).

It may take some effort to build the fence around your garden and it may cost you something, but the goal deserves the effort and the cost.

Some people think religion controls their freedom, but if they widen their horizon, they will realize that ISLAM puts them in control and protects their freedom from the abusers. ISLAM gives us a solution to have both peace of mind and peace with others. Any other kind of freedom¾is only a mirage!

Returning to the subject of the Caribbean island of Dominica. There was no masjid there, but we would gather with all the Muslim students to pray every Friday for Jumah in a small room on the students’ campus. Maybe that room would be a seed for the first Masjid on that island. When we were on that island the majority of people didn’t know about ISLAM. We spent less than a year there and before we left I noticed that people started to ask about ISLAM and a few of them became interested in learning more and converting¾just because they saw good examples of Muslim students.

The first Ramadan came and was very hard on me¾being in a non-Muslim environment. I missed Twasheeh Al Fajr (songs to praise and glorify ALLAH) and Du’a Al Fajr (supplications made to ALLAH) on the Egyptian broadcasts and at every masjid there, and Adhan Al Maghrib. During Ramadan the enlightening minarets would shine and the celebration of ALLAH’S Name was broadcast from every microphone in every minaret in every community. The voices would mix in the air as if all humans on earth were praising ALLAH at that particular moment.

The spirit of Ramadan covered the whole city of Cairo where you can find women walking alone before dawn on dark streets¾feeling no fear. Feeling only peace and joy. You see also children walking hand in hand on their way to their local masjid.

I miss all of this and appreciate it more than ever. I realized that practicing ISLAM can make any community a peaceful one and that in applying the true ISLAM our streets and our children can be safe. ISLAM means peace, both peace of mind and peace with others. What is more peaceful than submitting yourself to your Creator¾Who knows best, Who is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful and the Wise.

A famous Egyptian scholar gives this parable. When someone invents a machine, doesn’t he write an instruction manual with it, to teach people how to use and maintain that machine? And, who is the best one to teach people to do so, isn’t he the inventor himself?

ALLAH created us, gave us life and He gave us the instruction manual for our life. These instruction manuals are His Holy Books and the last Holy Book is the HOLY QUR’AN, in which ALLAH (The Maker) described to us how to maintain ourselves to make the most of our lives without harming ourselves. And who is the best One to describe for us maintenance than Him?

Of course during such a special season as Ramadan I missed my family in Egypt very much. Then I discovered that I have a bigger family¾the Muslim family. We would gather with all the Muslim students on the island for iftar, salat Al Taraweeh and EID; enjoying the feeling of having a very big family.

As I longed for the beauty of the Islamic environment I began to discover new treasures in ISLAM! I will never forget the day we entered the American Embassy in Barbados and I noticed a Muslim couple. I knew she was a Muslimah because she was wearing Niqab (veil) and she knew I was a Muslimah because I was wearing Hijab. She then came and sat beside me and we exchanged a short dialog and she understood that we were foreigners, who had come to the island for just a couple of days in order to complete official papers at the American Embassy. A few minutes had brought us together, but the Iman (faith)¾the Love of ALLAH and His messenger¾allowed my heart to feel for the first time the effect of the positive power of the Islamic teaching of unity and brotherhood. ISLAM can overcome all the barriers of nationality, color, race, language, etc. ISLAM can unite people. The Love of the Only One True God can have a great reflection over hearts. It can shadow all humans under the same merciful umbrella of Iman, unity and brotherhood:

“O mankind!

We created you from a single (pair)

of a male and a female,

and made you into nations and tribes,

that you may know each other

(not that you may despise each other).

Verily the most honored of you in the Sight of ALLAH,

is the most righteous of you.

And ALLAH has full knowledge

and is well acquainted (with all things).”

HOLY QUR’AN 49:13

We understood that the man’s father is an Imam on the island. Long ago many Indians migrated from India and established ISLAM and dawah (Invitation to ISLAM) there. Many natives joined ISLAM as a result of their dawah. On the island one can find women walking on the streets wearing their Hijab or niqab. They built a very beautiful masjid there. Like his father, the son and his wife were traveling to Canada to teach ISLAM. I found them very kind, generous and good Muslims. I loved them.

This love is the kind of love that the Prophet (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) called hub fi ALLAH, love for the sake of ALLAH. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said about it:

“Three, whoever have them, can taste the beauty of Iman:

1. That he loves ALLAH and His Messenger

more than anyone else,

2. When he loves someone, he loves him for

the sake of ALLAH, and

3. He hates to return to Kufr (unbelief), as he

hates to be thrown in the fire.”

Ans ben Malik said: “There was a man sitting with RasulALLAH (pbuh) when another man passed them. The man said: “RasulALLAH, I love that man.” So the Prophet (pbuh) said “Did you tell him? And the man answered “No”, so the Prophet (pbuh) said: “Tell him”. The man ran till he reached his Muslim brother and said to him: “I love you for the sake of ALLAH”, so the Muslim replied: “He, Whom you loved me for, loves you too.”

It was the beginning of my spiritual journey of discovering more Islamic treasures in non-Muslim lands where I have never been.

My neighbor in Barbados was an American Christian Mormon who never heard about ISLAM and had never met a Muslim. We invited them and it was the beginning of a dialog between her and myself about our religions. We would meet each day to discuss our beliefs. That helped me to read more in ISLAM so I could answer her questions, and the more I read, the more treasures I found and the deeper my Iman became. Alhamdulillah! I left her with at least a better understanding of ISLAM and respect for Muslims¾there is no compulsion in ISLAM. We left each other with a friendly good-bye.

While on the island I attended English classes to improve my language skills. One day we were required to write an essay on any topic we chose and I chose to write about ISLAM. When my teacher read it she commented: “You explained your belief very clearly and I have no problem with it, but what about the social issues? What about the situation of women in ISLAM? Why don’t the social issues seem as great?” She handed me a book of fiction written by a non-Muslim western author about Muslim women and how they are oppressed and treated as a second class citizens who have no rights at all!. When I read the book I tried not to question the author’s motives because she wrote in her introduction that her book has nothing to do with the religion of ISLAM and her wish was to write about the good side of the Arabic culture she lived in. She had written the book in response to a request from her Muslim female friend who begged her to write to the world about the oppression that Muslim women are suffering. Even when I read her statement: “This religion is written by a man for men.” I tried hard not to question her motives and putting her motives aside I found the western author confused traditions and policies of the country with the religion of ISLAM. She then left her readers not knowing anything about ISLAM. When she did write of ISLAM she only looked at the surface and never to the depth¾to the reasons¾or to the results. She had gathered all the wrong-doing of a few Muslims, who did not practice ISLAM and put it in her book; leaving the readers feeling that this is ISLAM and that these Muslims reflected what all Muslims do and believe.

Later when I came to America, I found the American media dealing with ISLAM and Muslims in the same manner the author did. Mixing policy, traditions and religion. Collecting all the wrong-doing and giving it to their audience. Representing their view about ISLAM. Looking only to the surface in depth. Seeking their information from non-Muslim resources¾never from understanding, well-educated, practicing Muslims. Leaving their audience with a negative, unfair picture of ISLAM and Muslims.

I have to say that some of the people who work in media like to use concave lenses to magnify the defects of others, but the scientific truth is: the concave lense always gives an unreal magnified picture. The concave lense scatters the rays of light, unable to gather in focus in order to have a real picture. The media chooses some lines from QUR’AN and some lines from hadith (recorded sayings of Prophet Muhammad [pbuh]) out of context and never look at either as a whole.

I also had occasion to meet many people who were confused, mislead, misunderstood or knew nothing about ISLAM. Many times I found myself facing odd questions like: “Why is your country forcing you to wear clothing like this?”, “Do Muslim women always have to walk behind Muslim men?”, “Are Muslim women forced to marry against their will?” I received all kinds of questions which showed to what extent ISLAM is misunderstood by the West.

I realized that most of the West knows nothing of the history of ISLAM. That ISLAM came to liberate women and every other human being on earth from any kind of oppression, even the oppression of oneself. ISLAM returned to women their rights. ISLAM changed the culture of its origin from oppressing women (treating them as second class citizens and burying the female infant alive) to highly respected and equal human beings. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Paradise is under the mother’s feet.”

Some fear the power of ISLAM because they don’t realize that it is for fairness and equality.

Since my arrival in America I have come to realize that Americans know very little about ISLAM and I, as a Muslim, feel a great responsibility. We Muslims should not blame anyone else for the misunderstanding of ISLAM by others. In a way I felt guilty that we don’t do enough to reach out to non-Muslims and tell them of the true ISLAM. The Islamic da’wah has since become my goal, my dream, my focus; yet I don’t feel I have done enough in this regard.

We should do something to assist others in understanding ISLAM in the West. We should counteract all that may be done against ISLAM. We should live ISLAM and be good examples for people to know what the true ISLAM is. We should provide ISLAM through whatever popular medium of this day. If movies, show Islamic movies, if computers, produce Islamic software. We must reach the media and educate people about ISLAM. This should be one of our first priorities.

We Muslims enjoy ISLAM so much, yet many non-Muslims don’t realize this. I asked myself why don’t we help others feel and share the joy that is ISLAM. My first thoughts before migration to America were that the migration should be first for the sake of ALLAH. I should not only take benefits from America, I should also give back and the way I choose to give back was through giving dawah (invitation) to ISLAM.

Initially I tried to write a book to refute all of what western authors wrote against ISLAM, but because I was new at learning the English language I did not have the mastery of the words I knew would be necessary to be both convincing and effective. I remember writing a duah (prayer) to ALLAH in the Introduction of my book in which I said: “Oh ALLAH, if my words could open the mind of one person to understand ISLAM, if I could touch one heart to love ISLAM, if I could enlighten one path, guide and help me to spread ISLAM across the world.” Later ALLAH would answer this duah.

I tasted the real beauty of ISLAM when we moved to America where I could find Muslims of different races and ethnic origins standing in prayer, shoulder to shoulder, bowing down to The One Creator. Shaking hands after Salat, hugging each other during Eid, celebrating the oneness of God and enjoying the pleasures of unity and peace. It was a great source of pure happiness.

During salat al Eid, I noticed that a written paper with transliteration was distributed helping those who don’t know Arabic to pronounce the words of the Salat. I saw them struggling to read the Salat correctly. I admired and respected their efforts. As a native Arabic speaker who knows the language of the QUR’AN¾feels its beauty and its power as the words of ALLAH¾I felt a great responsibility. I thought I must do something to help others discover the beauty of the Quranic language. My beginning was to decide to read QUR’AN in English and to have as one of my goals mastery of the English language, so that I may help. There is still a lot ahead for me to do in that regard:

Assalamu Alaikum: Peace be upon you.

ALLAHu Akbar: ALLAH is the Greatest

Alhamdulillah: Praise be to ALLAH.

Jazak ALLAH Khiran: May ALLAH reward you for your good acts.

All Muslims across the globe using those Arabic terms in their daily lives. ISLAM can even unite the language of all people and gather them. ISLAM can destroy all the barriers. ISLAM is a pure call for unity and brotherhood.

Only a few months ago I joined the Internet (America on Line) and was so happy to find the Islamic Resources Section (keyword: religion or ISLAM) and began posting on the Islamic Message Boards. Little by little I got the courage to share my posts and represent the ISLAM I believe in, I understand and love. Alhamdulillah, day by day, I find more people becoming interested in learning about ISLAM and many are e-mailing me asking me questions about ISLAM.

It then came to my mind that ALLAH had accepted my duah and my words are spreading across America and the world¾even with my poor English. I feel so grateful to ALLAH that I made the decision to devote my life to help people understand ISLAM.

ISLAM is a beautiful and enjoyable journey towards ALLAH. Every step the Muslim takes on this journey some may view as a backwards step. Yes, it is! It is a backward step! Back to 1400 A.D.! Back to the future. A beautiful, wonderful future. Muslims across the world are coming back to the true ISLAM and new Muslims are joining them every day. They are all going back to the true ISLAM, which was practiced by the last Messenger of ALLAH, Muhammad (pbuh)¾the straight shorter path that will lead to a great, peaceful and enjoyable future in Paradise.