City of Residence:
Northfield, MN
Occupation:
Student at Carleton College
Excerpt:
“It’s a lot more private here at Carleton than it’s—I don’t know if private is the right word, personal. It’s a lot more having to motivate myself because there isn’t a Masjid in town. I was really lucky about was I had a fantastic, very, very open and very—the most loving girl as my roommate and I explained to her at the beginning of the year: “Um, so I’m going to pray in here.” I figured out the direction and all that sort of stuff and I was like “here’s what’s going to go down basically, um, five times a day I am going to be in here and I am going to facing that wall and I’m going to be praying.” I told her if you ever, ever have any questions about it, please please please ask me; and she did ask me. It was a lot more, it was really easy—she made it a lot easier for me to lay down what I needed rather of just being like BAM, this is what I need from you when I’m praying. She asked me, “Well is there anything I should do, should I not talk? Should I not play music?” And I was like, Yes! That’s exactly what you should do, thank you so much for bringing it up for me. The first few times were a little awkward because she tried to talk to me not realizing I was praying, but she was so sweet about it.
I personally cannot see a life where I do not involve my family, and if my family is going to be an important part of my life there is just some things I know that my dad won’t accept, some things I know that my mom won’t be comfortable with and like barring, like I don’t want to be cut off from them over silly things like this. So it was important, that’s why it was important for me I guess, to come up with ways that we could both kind of win because I wasn’t going to be happy sitting at home all the time and they weren’t going to be happy having me out all the time. So I mean, I’m sure it’s what every family really has to do, like compromise on curfews and like allowances and stuff like that. But first generation I think there is just that added layer of—it’s like not only what your parents want you to do, but the fact that their expectations are just so different from the very beginning.
I think, I guess advice for Muslim youth today would really be… to make your Muslim identity part of who you are, and not something separate that you have to keep referring back to. It’s very important for—I think especially in your teenage years, where your identity is something you’re always questioning. To be very deliberate about making your religion part of your identity and not aside of yourself, and not something separate from who you are.”
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