The ad offered ideas for questions: Are women oppressed in Islam? What is the
Islamic view of terrorism? How does Islam view other religions?
She set up shop at a coffee house in the San Francisco Bay Area city of
Fremont, hoping for good attendance, but brought her laptop to do some work in
case no one showed. To her surprise, about 100 people turned out that day last
year, and her "Meet a Muslim” program was born.
"It was over overwhelming,” said Shaiq, a mother of
four and grandmother. "Fremont is so diverse, you will see women in hijab on
the streets all the time. I didn't think people here would be interested or
even need to know about Muslims.”
Shaiq has since spoken about being Muslim and answered questions at dozens of
libraries, pizza parlors and coffee shops in the San Francisco Bay Area. She
recently expanded Meet a Muslim to churches, service clubs and private homes,
and traveled to Arizona and Atlanta with the program.
She gives the talks once or twice a week on her own time and her own dime to
break down stereotypes.
Similar programs emerged after 9/11, when many Muslims felt the need to engage
with their fellow Americans to dispel negative perceptions of their faith.
They've seen a resurgence with a recent uptick in anti-Muslim crimes.
Earlier this year, for instance, Muslim and former US Marine Mansoor Shams traveled
the country with a sign that read "I'm a Muslim and a US Marine, Ask Me
Anything.” In Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mona Haydar and her husband set up a
booth outside a library in 2015 with coffee, doughnuts and a sign that stated
"Ask a Muslim.”
Shaiq said she started her program to educate people about her faith and
culture while addressing people's misconceptions and stereotypes.
She explains the importance of the hijab (head scarf) or niqab (face covering),
the differences between Sunnis and Shias (the two main sects of Islam), the
rights of women in Islam, and what it's like to be an American Muslim today.
At a recent Rotary club meeting in Fremont, a man asked how she thinks people
can combat Muslim extremism. "This is where you start," Shaiq said.
"You understand what the faith is."
Recent anti-Muslim incidents across the US include arson attacks, vandalism,
harassment and school bullying. In May, authorities in Portland, Oregon, say a
man killed two men and wounded a third after they tried to stop his anti-Muslim
tirade.
Shaiq herself has faced threats at her events. One man in Atlanta warned he
would "slit her throat" if she said something he didn't like. He
listened to the discussion, never asked a question and then left. "That
was scary," Shaiq said.
Muslim leaders consider the incidents part of a deeply alarming trend that came
to the forefront in last year's presidential election with far-right activists
portraying Islam — and all Muslims — as a threat.
They see echoes of these far-right views in President Donald Trump's efforts to
ban entry into the US from six Muslim-majority countries and in his claims of
dangers posed by immigrants and Muslim refugees. Trump has said his policies
are critical for protecting national security.
Initiatives like Meet a Muslim are important at "this time of heightened
fear and xenophobia," said Zainab Arain, who works to monitor and combat
Islamophobia with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington,
D.C.-based Muslim advocacy group. "An effective way to push back against
that, especially at a local level, is to gather people and have them get to
know one another."
Some American Muslims, however, have struggled to see the benefit of these
efforts when they see community members having the same conversations they had
almost 16 years ago. "It's just not a good use of time. The likelihood of
changing a bigot's mind is so low," said Asha Noor, a racial justice
activist based in Detroit.
Instead, Noor and other critics say the focus should be on policy change. For
Shaiq, her program is about sharing a message of love, compassion and peace.
Attendance at her talks spikes following news events that include Muslims, and
the discussion often gets spirited, even tense and angry. "I want to
proactively educate my fellow Americans that Muslims are humans just like they
are," Shaiq said. "They have the same needs as anyone else.”
Source: News18