City of Residence:
Maplewood, MN
Occupation:
Industrial Engineer/Child Development
Excerpt:
“For me particularly because I came in ’65, my experience has been very different from most people who have come later because I was involved in the Islamic activities right from, say, day one, if you want to call it – from ’65, being part of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Minnesota. We were really bringing out a lot of things as a student body, taking part in all the student activities, trying to expose the non-Muslims or even the student community on campus to Islam and Muslims. In that process, we did get lot help from the, some of the key professor or the, like the, there was an organization, student religious organization on campus which would coordinate all these religious organizations, the student bodies.
Well, you know, I do remember we went through a lot of changes in accepting some Western ideals or Western practices even, you know, as part of our lives, even though and, and even, for me, and I think for most Muslims, the biggest challenge always was to figure out what is truly Islamic and what is from my culture, you know. And a lot of times because we, I grew up as an Indian Muslim, I didn’t, couldn’t really differentiate the two when I was a new Muslim here, you know. And so I would say things to my sons, even, as they were growing up I would say, you know, this is not what we do, this is not how we do things. And they would say, “Mom, are you talking from your religious experience or Islamic experience or are you talking from Indian experience?” And so for us as, as parents, that was probably the biggest challenge to figure out what we should allow our kids to do and what we shouldn’t allow our kids to do.”
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