Hijabi Monologues

We recently had a Hijabi Monologues performance at my school and it was pretty awesome. If you haven't heard of HM it's basically a play wherein monologues are performed about Muslim women who wore the hijab. They are all true stories but the actresses are not necessarily Muslim, and they are not necessarily the ones whom the stories happened to.

At first when a close friend of mine told me about HM and how we should bring it to our school I was a bit hesitant. We are both part of the MSA so it would be sponsored by us, and I was concerned whether the content would be "Islam-friendly" or not. Early on in one of the pre-organizational meetings I learned that one of the monologues contained swear-words and another was about a teenage girl who had an illicit intimate relationship with a guy, became pregnant, and after struggling eventually removed her hijab. "These are bad representations of Islam, why should we be showing this side of Muslims to non-Muslims..to Muslims...to the world?" I thought to myself.

I voiced my concerns and it took me a while to wrap my head around this but I realized that Hijabi Monologues is indeed not a 'Dawa (outreach) Event' or an 'Islamic Lecture.' It's not telling you how a Muslim should be, should not be, or what is halal (permissible) or haram (impermissible) in Islam.. It's simply real stories that happened to real Muslim women who wore the hijab.

To say outright that these stories are un-Islamic does not apply here. What does that even mean anyways?  These stories happened in real life. Should they be changed, not told in their entirety, or altered to leave out 'un-Islamic' details like how the naive, low self-esteemed teenager was knocked-up or how the f-bomb was dropped by an ignorant racist on two innocent hijabis waiting in line just to appease the disillusioned ideal that we are all perfect Muslims and none of that stuff happens to us?

I'm actually glad that some people respond negatively to Hijabi Monologues, and some positively, because this sparks dialogue and discussion, which I believe is very lacking in the Muslim community nowadays. For those who disagree with showing this side of reality of living as a Muslim woman, how else will we relate and learn from each others' experiences if we are sweeping things under the rug? Yes, there are illegitimate Muslim pregnancies. Yes Muslim and non-Muslim men do hit on hijabis. Yes, Muslims are confronted with scary incidences and angry/ignorant comments. Yes, Muslims do face heartbreaking situations dealing with death. And yes, apparently niqabis do go to college football games? (this was new to me)

All in all the Hijabi Monologues was at some points funny, and at other points tragic and serious. I feel it is a lifeline for those who struggle with being a Muslim in America. It's for those whose voices are silenced by the idealistic cultural microcosm Muslims have created for themselves. It's for those who have even more shocking and tragic stories that they are keeping inside because they're not socially or 'Islamicly' acceptable to talk about.

It's for those who have yet to realize that we are all human deep-down and undergo experiences that connect us all. We are all slaves of Allah and we can only do our best, let's talk, let's grow, let's help each other out on this temporary journey...

9/11 Reflection: A Deaf Encounter

Broccoli: check. Grapefruit: check. Milk: check. Only a few items remained on my grocery list. Next was orange juice. Since I began wearing the hijab this summer, I had not been to the grocery store alone many times. I'm not sure why but I'd always try to bring someone with me when I went. Maybe I was scared someone might make a comment about my clothes, or stare at me, or do something worse. I felt very self-conscious.

So I headed to the aisle with the orange juice, and as I was deciding between the Simply Orange o.j. or the Simply Orange with Pineapple o.j. (such a hard decision to make) I felt a tap on my shoulder. Surprised, I turned around and there was a man standing there holding something out for me. I took the card and said thanks. The card read: "Happy Holidays. I AM DEAF. I LOVE YOU. I am selling alphabet cards. I am doing this for a living for me and my family. PAY ANYTHING YOU WISH. Any donations will be greatly appreciated. KEEP SMILING :) THANK YOU!!!" With pictures of the sign alphabet printed on the back.

Flustered, I replied "Oh, ummm," and I got out some cash and handed it to him. He took it and smiled and tipped his head. Then he signed a message I wasn't expecting.

He pointed to my headscarf and made a motion as if he was wearing one, and then gave a thumbs up. Then he pretended to have a gun and began shooting all around. Then he motioned a building and blew it up with an exploding noise. Then he pointed to me and shook his head, not attributing these things to me. He gave another thumbs up, smiled, motioned thanks in sign language then walked away.

After this incident I recalled 9/11. I remembered my reaction to hearing about the twin towers 8 years ago, to hearing it was attributed to Muslims. "This can't be right," I thought, "How could they do such a horrible thing against Islam? How could they kill innocent people and call themselves Muslims?"

The World Trade Center bombings were an atrocity against mankind and against Islam. Islam is a religion of peace and it does not condone killing of innocent people. These bombings were despicable, and as a Muslim I feel great sorrow that people attacked us and claimed it was in the name of Islam.

But amidst the onslaught of propaganda, disillusionment, and misleading biases in the media about Islam, a deaf man saw through the lies and heard the truth in his heart.

My encounter with him gave me confidence and hope. After hearing lies and attacks again and again toward Islam you begin to question yourself subconsciously. You become apologetic about your beliefs. You seek to justify your ways according to the media's standards. It is a destructive trend because playing by the media's belittling rules you will never win. I now play by the rules of Islam, which felt right since the beginning. The intruder certainly did his damage but now I am definitely stronger because of him. May we all be guided to truth, and protected from the evils of this world.

Test-drive

In my speech class I was assigned an informative speech. So I chose to speak about the Holy Qur'an in 5-7 minutes (it was very difficult to stay within the time limit). I had just recently begun wearing the hijab (Islamic headscarf) so I was slightly nervous about standing up and speaking in front of the class. But I said Bismillah (in the name of God) and got up there and did it.

After I gave the speech this guy sitting in front of me turned around and said, "That was really good, it was better than all the other speeches given so far." I said thanks, and the girl next to him concurred. Then he said "I have a Muslim friend, but I don't think he is how he's supposed to be, like you." He went to high school with one of the other guys in class and asked him "Yo man, remember Amir?" The other guy did and they both began reminiscing about the great times they had together partying with Amir.

First of all, I would like to say that I am not a perfect Muslimah, nor will I ever be. But I am glad he saw me as an example of how a Muslim is 'supposed' to be, as opposed to his other Muslim friend who regularly drank alcohol and did other things against the teachings of Islam.

Second, no matter who you are or how religious you are, you are bound to make mistakes because you are human. God knows humans better than they know themselves, and it is a huge blessing that He is so merciful and forgiving. The door is always open for repentance and if you are sincere, you will be forgiven for your sins, InshAllah (God-willing). Muslims must always strive to become better in the eyes of God.

So then this begs the question, how are Muslims 'supposed' to be? And if Islam is the truth, and it is perfect, then why are there extremists, terrorists, hypocrites, and Amir's in this world calling themselves Muslims? I heard an interesting example given by Dr. Zakir Naik that might help answer this question. It was something along the lines of:

"Imagine there was a brand new Mercedes-Benz at a car dealership. A man comes and wishes to test-drive it. He gets behind the steering wheel and immediately after he crashes the beauty. It turns out he didn't know how to drive. Would you blame the car or the driver? You would blame the driver, the car was perfectly fine. How would you know if the car was not at fault? You would check its specifications and safety features, then get a professional driver to test-drive it. In this example, the car is Islam, the specifications are the Qur'an and Sunnah, and the professional driver is the Prophet Muhammad."

In truth Muslims are supposed to be like the Prophet Muhammad (saw). He is the one and only true professional of Islam. If one wishes to pass judgment on Islam, do not base judgments on individual Muslims, that is illogical. One should base judgments on the authentic sources of Islam [the Qur'an and Sunnah] and the original teachings of Islam exemplified by Prophet Muhammad (saw).