Greetings,
I’m Shama Farag. An Egyptian Arabic translator. I am settled in the Seattle area which has been known as a liberal state of freedom of speech, anti-racism, anti-discrimination against minorities including Muslims, but unfortunately, this is not entirely true. Discrimination is happening daily. Two years ago, our local mosque in Redmond city got vandalized twice. Last year, our local mosque in Bellevue city got burnt down to Earth! And guess what? It’s not a hate crime!
I’m a mom of two kids BTW, I never talked to my nine years old kiddo about president Trump and what he was willing to do with Muslims and mosques prior to the presidential election, but I brought him to see people from different backgrounds coming and gathering to protest all around our vandalized mosque with banners and signs saying:” We stand with our Muslim neighbors!”. I remembered his eyes were shining from joy!
I can tell he was so proud of being a lovable and appreciated Muslim since the first time we came to America!
I can tell he was so proud of being a lovable and appreciated Muslim since the first time we came to America!
Yes, it was the first time he felt proud of being a Muslim. When he was in Kindergarten, He'd always been hiding his culture and preferred not to speak about it. He was still getting mocked by his peers because he was almost the only Muslim in class. He was the only one not to eat gelatin Jellybeans, the one who asks about food if it contained pork or gelatin before he eats it. The one who was not interested in Christmas and didn’t know anything about how to decorate a Christmas tree, neither how to hum Christmas songs. Surprisingly, our Muslim kids in Public schools are exposed to Hanukah, Halloween, Christmas, Valentine, Sant Patrick day, but nothing about Ramadan or Eid, despite that that Muslim community here is LARGE. Also, Seattle is a diverse community. I needed to expose him more to his own culture to make it easy for him, and to minimize how outcasted he already felt.
I’m keen on making Ramadan presentations, I offered cookies and goodie bags for multiple Islamic occasions, I donated Islamic religious books, I participated in the international night, but it seemed like my humble efforts to improve the distorted image of Muslims- especially Arabs obviously failed after one of his friends asked him to show him a picture of his Allah!
I’m keen on making Ramadan presentations, I offered cookies and goodie bags for multiple Islamic occasions, I donated Islamic religious books, I participated in the international night, but it seemed like my humble efforts to improve the distorted image of Muslims- especially Arabs obviously failed after one of his friends asked him to show him a picture of his Allah!
My efforts failed again when he came crying as one of his friends told him that we would be kicked out of the US. His friend said that President Trump won the elections and most probably, we would be kicked out as we were from those banned countries!
My efforts failed again when I realized him hiding his mouth when reciting “Bismillah-which means In the name of God in Arabic” at launch room area because he didn’t want more of that, and I realized one more time that my efforts didn't pay off when he told me one day:" what if we're worshipping the wrong God? I'm always asking Allah for a good day at school, but never happened!”.
Like hundreds of moms' efforts will fail again when their kids grow one additional year and know that we are tagged with the title “Terrorists” or “Jihadist” or “Filthy Arabs” or whatsoever!
In light of those different situations and stories, I’m writing to you to help us get heard. Help us highlight those efforts to improve our Muslim community to rise and shine despite the bigotry, hatred, and injustice that are dangerously enraging us.
In our local mosque in Redmond city -the previously vandalized mosque; we are focusing on reaching out to most non-Muslims around us through Interfaith dinner dialogues. We do a free legal clinic. Also, the free dental clinic is an option. Donation drives to help families affected by government shutdowns. Other charity activities to assist in homelessness, drama classes, filmmaking classes, art and cultural exchange through MAPS MCOC and MAPS IOC.
MAPS stand for Muslim Association of Puget Sound.
MCOC stands for Many cultures in one community.
IOC Interfaith outreach community.
Kindly, look at the FB page here
And our website
We are blessed that we have got some people coming to learn about our culture. They were curious to know about what we believe and what we do.
But, we need more exposure to non-religious communities to make sure our services and activities are more open to the Public.
But, we need more exposure to non-religious communities to make sure our services and activities are more open to the Public.
Also, the Muslim community agreed on some few suggestions to help you understand our needs and to name a few, here they are:
1) Be aware that some/many Muslim kids are fasting. It may be warranted to offer a space away from other kids during lunchtime (and/or sanctioned snack time).
2) Consider offering a space for young kids and a room/rooms for older kids so they may pray as needed during the month of Ramadan.
3) Consider the impact of fasting all day on testing and mitigate the adverse impact when possible (i.e., don’t double up on testing — Ramadan this year will be the weeks of AP testing….)
4) Make PE teachers aware of the potential challenges of fasting kids during the month. Ensure they are NOT PENALIZED RE if fasting or otherwise observing their religious rituals effects PE participation.
2) Consider offering a space for young kids and a room/rooms for older kids so they may pray as needed during the month of Ramadan.
3) Consider the impact of fasting all day on testing and mitigate the adverse impact when possible (i.e., don’t double up on testing — Ramadan this year will be the weeks of AP testing….)
4) Make PE teachers aware of the potential challenges of fasting kids during the month. Ensure they are NOT PENALIZED RE if fasting or otherwise observing their religious rituals effects PE participation.
Kindly, help us spread the word about our mosque, and shed light on the efforts that are being done to combat the Islamophobia. Help us encourage other Muslim communities all around the states or across the globe to remodel those ideas and spread them widely.
All the best!
Shama
