Fear, pride collide in a Muslim life

Don't feel sorry for Najia Kurdi as she walks the halls of Pine View Middle School in her hijab. This is her choice.

"I'm not being oppressed," said the 22-year-old, who grew up in Tampa and Clearwater. "A lot of people don't understand. It's a badge of honor."

Kurdi works as an interpreter for deaf and hearing impaired students at the Land O'Lakes school. She accompanies them to classes and translates the teacher's spoken words into sign language.

When she came to work for the school in August, she talked to the students about the hijab, a black scarf that covers her hair and is safety-pinned under her chin. This week, at a media center presentation on winter holidays around the world, she appeared during the segment on Ramadan, Islam's holy month of prayer and fasting. She signed the words to a song called The Veil.

This body that I have is just a simple part of me;

This body that I have, no stranger has the right to see.

Lift the veil of your heart to see the heart of purity.

Kurdi said she wants to dispel all the misinformation about Islam.

She's happy to answer questions, no matter how silly or rude they may seem.

Questions don't hurt. Ignorance does.

"I don't want people to look at me and see oppression and violence," she said. Her family has always been open to helping educate people about their faith. Last year, Kurdi's sister, Jenan, allowed a St. Petersburg Times reporter to spend about a month with her during Ramadan.

Islam is about peace, Kurdi explained. It is not about terrorism. The Koran verses about war often are taken out of context. War is permissible only if you are attacked first or are being prevented from practicing your religion. But the verse goes on to say that Muslims should always look for peaceful solutions first.

Islam also puts women as equals with men, she said. Christian scripture puts the blame for the fall of humanity primarily on Eve. In Islam, Adam and Eve are held equally responsible.

Unlike the Taliban, Islam does not forbid women to vote or to work. It also lets them keep all their earnings and buy and sell property. Their belongings stay with them when they marry, and wives have as much right to seek divorce as husbands.

Even the dress code is not as strict as the Taliban requires.

"All it says is that you must wear loose, modest clothing and cover everything but your hands and face," said Kurdi, who is wearing a long khaki skirt and long-sleeved forest green knit shirt in addition to her hijab.

Kurdi says like many United States women, she, too, is heartbroken over the way some Middle Eastern governments oppress women in the name of Islam.

She also is saddened by the way she says she and other Muslims in the United States have been mistreated in the name of patriotism.

On Sept. 12, she stayed home from work. Although she felt perfectly safe at Pine View, she feared what some people might do when they saw a woman wearing a hijab behind the wheel of a pickup truck.

Many of her friends were afraid to go grocery shopping. She and other Muslims feared what the government might do to them. Extra guards were posted at the mosques.

Would they be rounded up and put in concentration camps like Japanese-Americans were during World War II? Were there going to be riots?

Shortly after the attacks, one of her sisters was chased in her car by three men screaming obscenities. A male friend who pulled into a handicapped parking space momentarily to check a posting of a store's hours was detained by police for nearly half an hour.

When Kurdi and two Muslim friends showed up at the JCPenney styling salon at University Mall recently, a stylist refused to cut their hair. A manager later apologized and offered them free haircuts.

Last week, Kurdi worried about whether her husband, Yousef, will be able to fly to a job interview without incident.

But prejudice is nothing new to Kurdi.

When she was in elementary school, her principal suspended her because she refused to participate in dance lessons with boys.

When she asked about the ingredients of a cookie to make sure it contained no pig lard, (Muslims cannot eat pork) the teacher yelled at her and threw the cookie out the window.

Still, she chose Islam and the hijab at age 8. She studied other religions but says Islam is best for her.

With her blue eyes and medium-toned skin (her mother is of Irish descent), Kurdi could shed the hijab and no one would be able to tell she is Muslim. Would she do that if she were being threatened?

It would be allowed under such circumstances, she said. But she would not want to.

"It's very much a part of me," she said. "I'm not going to let hatred and ignorance ruin my life."

- Lisa Buie is the editor of the central/east edition of the Pasco Times. You can reach her at (813) 909-4604 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4604, or by e-mail at buie@sptimes.com.

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