Mosquerade
I did start college. It wasn’t right after high school because I
had two children. When I finished high school,
I was supposed to join the military. I
was sworn in my senior year. However,
that was also the first year that I lived with my boyfriend and outside of my
mother’s eyes. I never made it to the
military. And when that plan failed, I
didn’t have a backup.
A few years later I
decided to go to school for journalism.
I’d already worked in radio and that felt very comfortable for me, but I
also love writing, so I decided to try writing for a newspaper. I was so excited to start school.
When I was reviewing the
selections for the elective courses, I noticed some religious classes. I was excited to be able to take a different
perspective on Christianity. During this
time my perspective on religion changed.
Every semester I committed to taking one religious’ course. One of my first courses was World Religions.
The professor was a Black clergy man for the
military. He was animated but not in a
southern Baptist kind of way. He was
soft spoken but he moved his hands and body a lot when he talked and made wild
facial expressions when he spoke. I enjoyed his lectures because I was
entertained. His class was interesting
because the first day you were given a religion you would study for the entire
course. I was given Islam.
I didn’t know much but
the purpose of the course was to immerse yourself as much as possible in the
culture of the religion and there would be four opportunities to present what
you learned through your studies and experiences. I was excited but a little overwhelmed.
I connected with a young
Muslim woman, and we became school friends.
We shared a class and studied together.
We didn’t do much outside of school together but we both enjoyed the
time we shared.
When I told with her
about my class, she offered to assist me and invited me to her home for dinner to
answer all my questions and it was very different.
Not only did she invite
me to her home she also invited me to her Mosque. I was so excited. I learned so much from her just by spending
time with her. Books and videos could
tell you a lot but sharing personal experiences gave me so much more. When I had
questions, she always explained them with so much patience even when I didn’t
understand their practices.
There was a moment when I
thought I injured our relationship.
She’d arranged for me and other members of my class to visit her
mosque. Because the class I was in was
so large several people had the same religion.
When others heard about my plans to visit a mosque they asked if they
could join so they could share in the experience. Without this inside person we may not have
ever had this experience.
My friend gave me and two
other girls a hijab. This is the garment
most Muslim women wear that covers their face and hair. Most Muslim women are required to wear them
in the presence of men outside of their immediately family and husband. We also had to wear lined clothing that
covered our arms and legs. None of our skin could show. There were strict rules for having this
opportunity and they had to be followed closely.
When I arrived, I met up with my other classmates and my friend. She gave us the hijabs and helped us put them on correctly.
Stay Tuned For More Next Week...
Check out this discussion between myself and Poetess/Writer/Columnist Chelsey Pough @diction_junky below.
Comments
Post a Comment