I am Assia. I grew up outside of Chicago; and I find that my life straddles what it is to be Muslim and American. Being born to Algerian parents, I attended an Islamic school and a Sunni mosque around the corner from my home. I watched Nickelodeon and Al Jazeera. I got takeout food from Kentucky Fried Chicken and the falafel place down the street. I find that Americans seeing me scarved think that I'm not American.
I am Anila. I am a twenty-five-year-old Canadian woman. My parents are originally from India and Pakistan. It has been hard for me growing up in Canada. For years I was confused about my identity. Am I Canadian? Am I Indian? Am I Pakistani? Am I Muslim? I finally came to the conclusion that I am all of these and yet none of them. The only thing I really am is Anila — a young woman struggling within herself to personally effect change, a young woman who wants other young girls to grow up feeling less confused about who they are and proud of being themselves, not the statues that society creates, statues of perfect little girls who grow up to be perfect little women. I am a young woman who is struggling to gain inner peace, to reconcile who she is, within herself.
I am Asra. I live in West Virginia. As a Muslim American daughter, I broke religious boundaries by entering into premarital relationships and by getting pregnant. My pregnancy led me back to my faith. I even went on the journey to Mecca. And my faith helped me to see how I, as an unwed mother, am connected to other progressive Muslims and Muslim leaders in the past and present.
I'm Ali. I came to America last year for high school. I'm from Saudi Arabia. I'm with the YES program of the US Govt, a program where Saudi students can live with an American family while attending a semester or a full year of high school. I really like my host family. I admire their marriage and the way the mother and father treat their kids. There's something different about them.
I'm Abdulaziz, better known to my friends as Aziz and I'm a pre-med student from Saudi Arabia. Coming to study in America was quite the culture shock. From women to friendship, the differences stack up, but America isn't so bad. School was my main motivation when deciding to come to America. The United States has the best colleges and universities; and I wanted to get a good degree. At my high school, tests are taken in order to receive scholarships. When students score a 90 or higher on the exam, they can study in America and the Saudi government pays the bill. I didn't expect that I would get to go to school here. I guess that I am just lucky.
One cultural difference I've noticed is attire. Abayas are worn by women at home because a woman's hair is beautiful and it is like a gift for her husband to see. It is like a diamond or something really beautiful. You want to keep it away for only special people to look at it. But here, women show a lot of their bodies.
Hi I'm Kevi. My parents came to America as refugees from Iraq. Going to American schools, I fell in love with an American guy. But this is unacceptable in my family's culture; so I had to run away from home in order to marry the man I love. So now, I never get to see my family. I'm married and have my own two children; but oh how I miss seeing my parents and my grandparents. I wonder if they will ever know my children. It's so sad for my heart.
I am Haman. I always said that Christian people are foolish and mad because they believe that the Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Is Mary was the wife of God? There were many questions in my mind, which I can ask to Christian people. How a man, Jesus Christ, can save you? How you can call God the Father? God is God, and He has no wife that He can have Children.
I was praying and asking to Allah for help for the wisdom and knowledge so that I can convert Christians to the Islam. Hand bills that I pick was Gospel of John and when I read it, my eyes were opened: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. But I still thought that Christians were foolish to not know that Allah was in the beginning.
I was continue praying to Allah for to accomplish my vision converting Christian into the only and holy religion of Islam. One night I saw in dream, a man dressed in white appeared and asked me "Do you want to convert Christians to the Islam?" "Yes", I answered. "Then read the Quran with meanings in your own language." Through reading more about Jesus in the Qur'an and by meeting a Christian man, I began struggling with the truth and eventually asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins.
My name is Salha. I am a mother of ten children and we live in Nashville. I don't speak English very well...mostly because I'm always in the home and not around many English speakers. I would love to study English with a native speaker.
My name is Mohammad. God spoke to me in a dream last night. A man in white approached me and gave me a book and said, "For eternal life, read this."
SOURCE: A local mission-minded church planting pastor with a Muslim-outreach program
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