Shireen Khan writes in Time magazine about Being American – and Muslim. Here are her opening paragraphs:
It was evening rush hour in New York City. 42nd St. was packed, and I was hoping I would make the bus. His voice came out of the crowd.
“Take that rag off!”
Huh?
In my four months of working in New York, that was a first. Actually, that was a first in the seven years since I started wearing a hijab. A lot of people turned to look at me as he shouted those words. I don’t know exactly what I was feeling — some mixture of anger and embarrassment — but I knew I wanted to stop and explain to this man the significance of what he dismissed as a “rag.” He didn’t understand the one thing I cherished most, the thing that I took so much care in making sure I did right — my religion.
This is her conclusion:
I may cover my hair for the sake of God, but I love getting it cut and styled. I have a husband who can’t understand how I spend so much time at the mall; I have big dreams for work; I play sports; I love to run. I cringe at the word extremist. And I thank God that I am both Muslim and American at the same time.
Read the whole thing.
You can also see a photo essay from Time.com called Muslim in America (it could more accurately be called Muslims in New York).
HT: Hahmed.com
