|1. What was the strongest thing that pulled you toward Islam?
I wouldn’t say I was pulled towards Islam, possibly quite the contrary. My engagement with Islam and its principles began on the basis of an instinctive hostility I felt towards it in the post 9/11 climate, and as a result of an education which tended to regard religion at best as a moral crutch and at worst as a dangerous delusion.
Filed under Miscellaneous
Job hunting sucks. Seriously.
As someone who’s trying to make a difference and apply my skills and knowledge from university into the real world, nothing shatters my idealism faster than looking at the job market, reading stories from disillusioned experienced people, listening to wary family members, and facing my own fears and self-doubts.
High-impact careers, careers for social change etc. come with such huge risks and it’s been quite depressing learning how little I’m willing to give up for comfort, familiarity, and my own mental health. Also, my obsession with ethical responsibility is making me so so suspicious of working for the government AND NGOs/nonprofits AND the private sector. My aunt was telling me the night after my graduation that I need to chill and that there’s no such thing as a perfect place to work.
“You can’t do everything,” she said. “But you can at least do something.”
She’s right, of course. I understand that. I’m not trying to solve every social ill out there, but I am trying to just work at a decent place with decent pay that won’t contribute to greater corruption and irresponsibility in the name of good intentions. I want to know I’m contributing to something purposeful, meaningful, and exciting and it’s worth the move away from home, my family, and my community. Perhaps that’s just too naive of me, but it’s not my fault that going through Journalism and Global Studies classes made me think that way.
I don’t think I previously shared this but I was nominated for the Peace Corps for this July in the Youth/Community Development sector. After months of waiting on a response from placement, I reconsidered this endeavor after much soul-searching and research about the organization. I realized that the extreme flexibility I would need to have in order to be placed, the 2+ year stint abroad, and the uncertainty about the sustainability, necessity of the projects I could work on or even my presence in XYZ country was just too much for me to accept. I also accepted a paid summer internship at the Make A Wish Foundation in Phoenix through August which would make me unable to join the service at the time I was nominated. I contacted placement with my situation and was notified that my application would be deactivated and should I decide to apply again, I would have one year.
So there goes my trusty job plan that I had counted on after graduation. I thought I would be gone as a Peace Corps Volunteer for 2 years and then come back to grad school, apply for tons of jobs and be accepted to all of them—BAM! AWESOME LIFE ACHIEVEMENT. Hehe, if only it worked out that way.
I’m also feeling slightly self-conscious anxious about being one of few Muslim/African-American/hijabi/women entering this field of international development/affairs. It’s so intimidating to feel confident and respected and secure in the professional work world anyways, but even more so when you know you may be the first one going through this process. I wish I could network with more people like me so that I could get a better idea of what the reality is like for me to get a job and successfully navigate all the social/political issues that come with it. Like have there been any hijabi Peace Corps volunteers? What has their experience been like? Traveling/living in Guatemala was tough for me as a Muslim in a country that had very little familiarity with the religion so it was not really accommodating at all, even though many people were very in general nice and welcoming. It’s hard to not be wary or have certain expectations when entering someone else’s country, but if you can’t have a place to escape and seek solace with a community that understands you and meets your basic social/spiritual needs, how can you last through such grueling work? Also, hijab is a pretty red flag already in the U.S. where enough people are educated about Muslims, so imagine that in rural, not-so-safe areas of developing countries that are ignorant to Islam or have negative perceptions? This is a problem area for me that I have yet to see resolved or addressed by anyone in the field, even by materials on diversity in Peace Corps, USAID and the Foreign Service. I’d like to act like I’m so brave and don’t care about what people think of me as I win the locals all over with my Pollyanna attitude and determination, but sadly, I do not have that kind of energy. If you know where to get some, please let me know and I’ll buy it off of you.
So where does that leave me now? Like I said for the summer I’m working at the Make-A-Wish Foundation in their National Events and Brand Campaign department from June-August AND THEN I’m going on a 2 week trip to London & Rome with my cousin!! I’m so excited! This trip is exactly what I need as I end my academic career and enter my stage of disillusioned graduate having an existential crisis before waking up to the real world.
I’m not stopping the job applications though. I’ve found several that I’ll be applying to over the next few weeks. Entry-level jobs are quite difficult to find these days. Everything is an internship or a position that needs 5-7 years of experience. So how am I supposed to get experience if I need to have experience first?? It makes no sense honestly. And then there are great positions like AmeriCorps that pay you next to nothing and are so rigid in their timelines that you can’t negotiate your start and end date. I had that issue already when I was offered an AmeriCorps position in Phoenix but I would have to miss school for an orientation, and now I’m going to have the same problem again for another position because I’ll be gone to Europe. It’s ridiculous how my life presents such frustrating conflicts.
My mother also wants me to study for the GRE and take the test so that I can apply for school next fall. When am I going to have time for that?? I also don’t know how long I should plan to work either, because that affects the type of job I’m going to pursue and how much I will give up for it (relocating and commitment). I’d like to do an academic type master’s like in Public Diplomacy or Global Communication or Development, but then I think about how I need to be practical and should go for an MPA/MBA. If I decide for an MPA/MBA, then I’ll definitely have to work for longer in order to be competitive, so that means more time out of school and more pressure on finding a good job.
And then every so often, my law school aspirations sneak back into my head until I smack myself. Another option is just being a freelance writer and giving myself time to write a book while mooching off of my parents. That could be quite character-building. I just can’t seem to narrow down what it is I want to do in my career. I JUST WANT TO LEARN FOR THE SAKE OF LEARNING, IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?
If you have any job hunting advice, consoling words, or sarcastic remarks, feel free to share. I’d love to hear some sobering thoughts from the rest of you in this field of social entrepreneurship NGO/public service/international affairs. If you’re Muslim too, I really want to talk to you as well! Sorry for such a depressing post, but I really needed to unload and just vent. I can’t be the only one thinking this…
Filed under Miscellaneous
Below is a slightly revised version of a couple of emails I sent in an exchange over the general topic of the responsibility of the American/Canada Muslim communities to address misconstructions/abuse of 'jihad'. It seemed to me that were some important considerations missing in this conversation (coming in the shadow of the Boston bombings and the obsession over the Tsarnaev brothers' "religiosity") as well as some problematic assumptions being made about the nature of crime and violence.
Filed under Miscellaneous
I absolutely love this parody video of CNN News covering the Boston bombing.
It’s quite ridiculous and degrading for news outlets to chase stories without real facts and information just for the sake of appearing like they know what’s going on so people will tune in.
Journalism is tested the most during times of crisis and tragedy but when reporters fail to live up to their ethical and professional standards and harm innocent people, it only makes it that much harder to maintain credibility the rest of the time. It also spread ignorance and sensationalism, when what we need most in understanding the story behind the Boston bombing and the suspects, is logic and commonsense.
Better to have the facts and be late, then be first with all the errors.
Filed under News Analysis
If you had told me two weeks ago that I would be launching a mass petition and social media campaign against a corporate retailer, I would not have believed you. For those unaware, about two weeks ago, a group of friends and I launched a Change.org petition and social media campaign against corporate retailer Urban Outfitters, and the attention the campaign has been receiving since has been simultaenously overwhelming and exciting.
Filed under Miscellaneous
In a desperate race against time, the Eritrean community living in the diaspora has managed to raise $41,000 demanded by Bedouin people-traffickers to buy the freedom of the girl's family.
Ahlam, who is just eight, has already seen her father beaten and tortured in front of her.
It was when the Eritrean community heard that their kidnappers would force 19 men, all captives themselves, to rape her mother in front of the little girl, that they decided they had no option but to act.
Filed under Miscellaneous
http://www.unmosquedthemovie.com/film-unmosqued/
I just came across this trailer for a film called Unmosqued and I just had to post this here, because I’m so so happy we’re finally having this type of conversation in the mainstream, public eye FINALLY.
Our mosques have failed us in so many ways, but I never truly realized that as a child when everything seemed so simple and everyone seemed so perfect. I went to several mosques over the years for Sunday school religious education, for Friday prayers during school breaks and for Tarraweh prayer during Ramadan. I always remember thinking about how the mosques I went to didn’t seem as organized or as fun or as American as my friends’ churches and temples. At the same time, I didn’t expect a lot of of my mosque because I saw it as a one-dimensional venue, a place to read Quran and pray. Debate, creativity, arts, social service, interfaith dialogue, investigation, activism, media engagement–all of these activities were things I assumed I’d do outside of the mosque, during the week, with “American” institutions and individuals.
I didn’t question the partition of the mosque between women and men either when I was young. I know that men and women prayed separately so I suppose I thought it was easier to have their own spaces. The various mosques I attended had fairly decent spaces for women and they always seemed like dignified delineations of where we should each preside in the prayer hall.
One issue I do remember recognizing early on was the ethnocentrism of certain mosques and the language barrier. Certain mosques would speak more Arabic, others more Urdu and no one was all that proficient at English yet they expected me-an American born child of African parents, to relate one culture or the other as my means of spiritual guidance. How was that fair or reasonable? Who could blame me when I began to feel less comfortable or confident in my own faith, when I could barely understand what I was learning or feel like the leadership of the mosque could understand me?
If we were all equally Muslims, then we should be able to go into any mosque and feel at home. That’s what I loved about being Muslim. I loved that while my Christian friends had a particular church they were a congregation of and they couldn’t go to service at a church of a different denomination, I, on the other hand, could walk into any mosque that I visited and join one of the five daily prayers without a problem. I also noticed that while my Christian friends hated waking up and going to church on Sundays, I really enjoyed going to Friday prayers and would never ever say it was boring. (I was soon proven wrong.)
What I envied about Christian friends particularly was the community they did build because of their attachment to a particular church. They had their youth groups and Bible studies and knew the names of their pastors, who they could just talk to whenever they wanted. I had no equivalent experience in the mosque. Any type of activities I did that in what remotely resembled a youth group were self-organized or depended on the time and effort given by a patient volunteer teacher–it was never institutionally recognized or validated.
The most hard working teachers we had at Sunday school were female. In fact, most of the teachers were female, so they became like second mothers or aunts to us.The dedication they displayed to us was phenomenal and made it that much more horrifying when at one mosque I went to in late elementary school, a new leadership began and decided that having women teach boys and girls out was unacceptable. They wanted to put up a barrier to separate the boys and girls because at the time, we were all in an open space, learning at tables based on our age level. Soon after, my parents and several other families decided to leave the mosque and start another Sunday school program, which we ran out of a church. The fact that another religious group was willing to let us rent their space out for our education while members of our own tradition were pushing us out is unbelievable.
I remember at another mosque, when it was the night before Halloween and the school principal asked the young kids if we celebrated Halloween. The entire rows squealed with excitement as they nodded their heads and raised their hands to show they were in fact celebrating. The principal shook his head and chastised the children in his thick accent: “No we do not celebrate Halloween! It is haram! Why would you celebrate it?”
One kid’s response: “Because there’s candy! We want candy!”
The principal was quiet for a moment and then said: “If you want to have candy, go to your parents and ask for five dollars and then go to the candy store and buy yourself a bag of candy!”
There was some laughter and disappointed faces and then we prayed. And that was it. I could only reflect upon one of the mosques I had gone to that used to hold “Muslim Fun Nights” in place of Halloween and would actually discuss what parts of the holiday were antithetical to our religion. What a more productive and constructive way to empower our youth to be proud of their religion and actually understand the reasoning behind what we do. How many people bother to try that anymore? Or do they really think just telling kids “no” is enough to satisfy their questions about why they can’t drink or date or do drugs or gamble etc. etc. etc.
All in all, I would call myself a member of five different mosques. Some were good, some not so good, but I tried to not let it get to me. I accepted things as they were. As I grew older and my attendance at Sunday School waned, my spiritual education became unshackled from the strict curriculum my teachers assigned and roamed into peer to peer conversations, media, articles and my own investigation.
I became more headstrong, defiant and full of doubt, but I chose to not let those wandering thoughts take over me and question my legitimate beliefs because I thought at the end of the day, I was still a good person. I was a much better person than a lot of people out there, so there’s no way God could be disappointed in me that I didn’t always pray on time or wear the hijab or memorize the whole Quran like some child prodigy in Malaysia. The mosque became a place I went to because I had to. It was the old relative you had to say hi to in order to be polite and maintain good relations, perhaps even get a nice gift every now and then. I even went to remind myself that even though the other kids at school or people in the community might hate me because of my faith or what they think my faith is, in this building, I was with other people that knew how I felt. I was in a place that had a n unexplainable magnetic draw for repentance, mercy and peace. No Islamophobic person could take that away from me.
One of my favorite times of being in the mosque was when a person converted and the imam would announce his or her name. It was a jolting reminder that there were people out there who were willingly coming into the mosque, exploring, questioning and searching for answers just like me, but they had so much working against them. They didn’t come from a Muslim background or speak Arabic, but they still made the effort to come into a mosque, read the Quran, feel the Quran and decide they wanted to join our community. The sad thing is they don’t realize how much harder it is to want to stay in that community once you’re in. Those of us who have already been here don’t even know what we’re doing here half the time and the fact that we don’t share those thoughts is a problem.
Youth absence from the mosque. Marginalization of women. Segregation by ethnicity. Culturally irrelevant, unoriginal, intolerant khutbahs. Lack of civic engagement. Neglect of converts. Judgement of women’s dress or behavior or involvement or opinions.
These are all problems we are facing, but I believe we can get over them and we will, as long as we acknowledge our mistakes and open up a dialogue that includes everyone who wants to be able to come to the mosque. Top-down or grass-roots, we need a comprehensive evaluation and progressive analysis of our communities and what they are seeking. I want the mosque to be the center of my life, but instead, unfortunately, it has moved to the margins.
This is kinda off topic but I just want to give a shout out to Imam Suhaib Webb and the Ella Collins Institute in Boston, which is a fantastic mosque named after Malcolm X’s sister. “Tying the past with the present, ECI seeks to educate and prepare students of religious knowledge for a life of service to God and community.” Check out the Twitter and Facebook page to be inspired for the model of American Islamic leaders and literacy they are promoting.
This film is a great, easy way for all our mosques to improve for the betterment of the future generations of Muslims in America. I’d love hear your thoughts on this endeavor and what your experiences have been like at mosques that you’d like to see change.
Filed under Miscellaneous
I was on Arizona Public Media a few weeks ago talking about my work with refugees and my thesis-in-progress.
Check it out:)
Nonprofit organizations and charities don’t have the same PR/marketing budget that private companies and government entities do, so when it comes to raise awareness for fundraising campaigns, their outreach is very minimal and simple.
Now, thanks to social media, engaging potential donors in the global community is much easier now that users can follow the organizations on Twitter, stay updated on Facebook fan pages and watch videos on YouTube. Emails and letters begging for donations aren’t the best mechanisms to grab someone’s attention or convince them to care; it’s all about the perfect viral sensation that gets people buzzing. The Oklahoma-based nonprofit, Water is Life, has done just that thanks to their new ad called #FirstWorldProblems, created by the DDB New York ad agency.
The ad references the popular Twitter hashtag #FirstWorldProblems, an ironic shoutout people use when discussing their daily trivial inconveniences. Real Haitian villagers are featured, standing amidst a backdrop of impoverished homes and street corners reading actual #FirstWorldProblems tweets.
“I hate it when I forget my maid’s name,” a young man says in the middle of a shack.
“I hate it when I leave my clothes in the washer so long it starts to smell,” one girl says standing in front of a river where people are bent over, washing their clothes.
“I hate it when my phone charger won’t reach my bed,” a young girl says in front of a school bus.
The tweets are meant to be tongue-in-cheek and understanding of how silly those problems are, but the DDB New York agency said in a press release that they want to eliminate the use of the “insensitive” #FirstWorldProblems hashtag.
“Though meant in jest, these tweets about “problems”—such as having to get up to change the TV channel or a phone charger that won’t reach the bed — also reveal a lack of sensitivity or awareness about serious social and health concerns and the ways that social media users can help alleviate real problems.”
The release goes on to say that the campaign isn’t meant to humiliate the tweeters but there has still been some negative backlash towards it. What’s strange is that in the original ad, the actors only read out anonymous tweets, but the organization has release more videos featuring specific people who have used the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag.
The original ad has racked up approximately 1.4 million views on YouTube as of October 13, igniting mixed reactions in the comment section. Some users say they now feel bad about a viral trend they used to think was funny, while others remark that it’s not their fault they are rich and the hashtag was only a joke. The users that successfully retained the message that the agency wanted were in the middle ground, by admitting their problems aren’t that significant as those who live in poverty, feeling sudden guilt and wanting to donate.
The release states that the campaign also has a number of endorsements from celebrities like Kara DioGuardi, Bella Thorne and Christina Milian, who will be sharing the videos through their networks.
Regardless of the nerve this campaign touched, as a whole, it seems to be quite successful. Integrating a popular social media reference allows your campaign to immediately become relevant to a large population and personally connect with them (in a good or bad way.) It set off a conversation about comparing “first world” and “third world” problems and what responsibility we have to donate to the charity. I personally am happy people are actually critically discussing the source of these problems and what the concept of “first world” even means.
Nonprofits have a tricky balancing act in not being too emotional and sappy that potential donors are turned off by donation drives, but also not being too serious and fact-driven. WaterisLife clearly wanted a compelling ad that would motivate people to “help solve real problems,” which for the organization specifically revolves around “bringing clean water to those in need – short and long term – saving lives and transforming communities.”
Do you think this #FirstWorldProblems campaign was demeaning to the Twitter users and/or Haitians who had to read the tweets? Was this a gross misunderstanding of a social media trend that could hurt the charity’s future outreach efforts? Or do you think it was an appropriate, original way to start a conversation and generate donations for WaterisLife?
Originally posted on Textifying: Trends and Issues in Public Relations.
Filed under Public Relations
A virulently Islamophobic advertisement campaign referring to Muslims as "savage" went live this week in ten New York City subway stations. The advertisements, created and funded by Pamela Geller's American Freedom Defense Initiative, read, "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."
These are the 'uncivilized savages' Geller is talking about.
Filed under Miscellaneous
