Somalia meeting in Turkey

My friend Kamil N. gets credit for letting me know about this!

All hell broke loose at the Somalia meeting in Istanbul, Turkey when this woman mistakingly calls one of the Sharif guys (Sharif Hassan) “Sharif Sakeen”. It’s a derogatory nickname for him supposedly, members supporting him left the meeting in anger to protest. Watch the video below. Poor lady was apologizing the whole time after uttering that.

Getting stared at for wearing HIJAB

Hey everyone. I wanted to talk a little bit about wearing hijab in America, specifically on the east coast where there aren’t many Hijabis. So basically we all know Americans are not very used to hijabs, everyone basically shows their hair here, and dresses the same. Being a hijabi instantly makes you stand out from the crowd. I always got stared at my whole life, and it wasn’t a big deal to me because it became part of my life in America. I became immune to the stares, I used to envision myself as a celebrity (LOL) sometimes, and that everyone was interested in me as I walked with my headscarf. I just think some people are rude, because they think just because you wear a hijab you’re stupid, or don’t speak English. They think they can get away with giving you stares. I find that rude, and alot of times I stare RIGHT BACK. Like I got eyes too. I remember a while back a man telling me as I was waiting for the train “you don’t have to wear that here, this is America”. LOOOOOL *tears*. However, I wonder when will Americans stop being so unused to differences? When will they accept that the world isn’t only in America? That the world is big, and that many people “live” in the world who aren’t the same. It has become a normal routine for me, I go to walmart, there you go I get STARED at. I go to the grocery store, what do you know everyone is staring at me. I go to the mall, again it seems like the whole world is staring at moi. Like I’m no different, I’m just as human as everyone, except I’m Muslim, I wear hijab because as a Muslim woman I’m required to cover my hair, and wear long loose clothing in public. It doesn’t mean I’m oppressed, I do it because I think it’s right. I wear hijab because Allah wants me to wear it, it’s stated clearly in the Quran that Muslim women are required. Men are required to observe a different type of hijab. Nuns also wear hijab, but they are separate from public life, but as Muslim women we are in the “world”, we aren’t required to live a quiet, celibate life in a far away place. So, I can’t take it off because that’s part of my religion. But, I can say the last time I didn’t get stared at was when I was living in Dubai. In Dubai, being that it’s in the middle east, people could care less how you’re dressed. I sometimes wish America was like that. Well, I noticed when I went back to Minneapolis people stared less at me, mainly because they’re so used to the Somalis there. Anyways, I don’t think the staring part is going away anytime soon, it’s my little challenge living here in America I guess, but it has definitely made me a stronger, better person. I don’t think narrowly as I would have had I never experienced the challenges with my hijab that I have come to face. In school, I used to question whether a teacher was being a certain way to me because “I’m Muslim”. If I got a lower mark on an assignment, I would question is it possible they don’t like me because “I’m Muslim”. I often did think someone was behaving a certain way towards me because they could possibly “hate” me because I’m Muslim. Everytime I see a person staring at me, even though it doesn’t bother me my mind tells me, they’re staring because they “hate” Muslims (lol). I’m always in a defensive mode, 24/7 living in this country. I do get some chill days here and there when I’m preoccupied with daily life hassles, but it would’ve been nice if I didn’t feel that ever. I mean it doesn’t get in the way of me accomplishing things in my life, in fact, I think that defensive mode has made me always push myself to be better, to prove to these people. It has become a bit of motivation for me. If a random person who’s not Muslim behaves nice towards me, especially if they’re Caucasian, I sometimes get taken a back because I’m not used to that. I always think every non-Muslim white person basically “hates” me because they think all Muslims are terrorists, etc etc. So, these are the little things that go in my head sometimes. I’ve been fortunate to travel the world and know that people are not the same, there are good and bad people everywhere. I love my hijab, because the benefits definitely outweigh the negative attention I get with it on. Even non-Muslim men show me respect, and that’s a beautiful thing.

“TOWEL HEAD” =)

I had a very “interesting” day today. I was minding my business, driving, drinking my Tim Horton’s coffee and as I was about to stop at a red light this man (white) in a truck shouts at me “F**king TOWEL HEAD!!” He was looking directly at me. Now, this man I would say was in his late 50s, and me being a young woman driving alone you’d think he’d be more courteous towards me. But, no, he wanted to insult me for having a scarf wrapped neatly around my hair and covering my neck. I don’t know what took over me, you can say it’s my hot Somali blood (Somali ratchet style) but all I remember was I “snapped”. I rolled down my window and flipped him the bird, and also greeted him with a healthy dose of explicit terminology. You can say he was surprised that I said something, he was I guess expecting me to shut up and be “scared”. Now, imagine if he really messed with the wrong person? Sometimes you have to learn not to mess with people you don’t know because you think they might be a certain way, you just may never know.

Now, this was the first time I was called a “towel head”, I only read it online in hate filled rants by bigots, but I never had someone say that to me. It also made me laugh too, because the term itself is quite humorous. When you want to be a Muslim woman in these countries (western, christian, white dominated) and societies you will sometimes get caught off guard by people who hate you simply because of your religion. Mind you, they don’t know you personally or how you are as a person, they basically have rigid views of the world, and to them you are the problem. These types of mindless bigots are inevitable, you get them here and there, but you have to always stay on guard as a Muslim woman. Anyways, a healthy dose of entertainment is much needed in life, it just adds to the rich experiences we have in this world. Also, every negative experience only adds to your resiliency and strength as a person. It’s interesting I wrote about “ignorant people” in my last blog entry and viola this random bloke pops out of nowhere.

The majority of Americans are not Smart

Honestly, I always gave the benefit of a doubt but tonight it has become 100% clear to me that as much as the world thinks America is the greatest country in the world, the majority of people in America are very ignorant and ….stupid.

So, I was watching this video someone shared with me with these Somali girls fighting, and as I read the comments I was flabbergasted. People were commenting “wow so they cuss, and fight”. “Her hair is showing, she’ll get stoned”. “Somalis are not black”. “Their husbands, and men in their families beat them up”. ” I didn’t know they use computers”. WOW, and laughing out loud! The majority of Somalis are advanced people, technologically savvy, and very intelligent people. We know about more people in the world, and are more open minded and tolerant. First of all, I feel like women who wear the hijab in America for some reason by non-muslims and even other Muslims in America view them as being “perfect” or must behave in a way that is “perfect”. The obvious truth is, we’re all humans. We have our unique personalities ( for anyone who is ignorant enough to not know that lol) , and behaviors. Somali women are just like any other women in the world, albeit maybe more hot blooded like some cultures in the world….but we’re still different individuals.

I also believe Americans are very ignorant about Islam. They view Islam as the “enemy” and basically have been spoon fed lies about Muslims since 2001 in the media. What are people to believe? Today, there is so much knowledge in the world, yet people are reading less. So this tells us that something is wrong in the world we live in. My advice is educate yourself, don’t judge people all the same, and don’t believe the media. It often makes Muslims inhuman, and zombie like without any personality or story to tell. Furthermore,a person doesn’t have to agree with Islam, and that’s perfectly fine as I have “chosen” Islam to be my religion and way of life, and I’m completely satisfied with it. However,that doesn’t give another person the right to disrespect my religion. If a person wants to have an intelligent, honest conversation with me about Islam, I welcome it. However, if your intention is to argue with me solely to insult my religion,provoke me, that I don’t support. There is no benefit in such arguments. The ignorance I hear doesn’t bother me, I just feel sad for the ignorant people who may never know the truth. It’s like when the typical American person sees a Muslim woman in Hijab, they already have their stereotypes, they think she’s submissive, doesn’t talk back, maybe abused by her husband or males relatives…then when they see a Somali sister with Hijab talking back, standing up for her rights, and even fighting back they look surprised. What is there to be surprised about? We’re all people, with real human emotions. We don’t want to be disrespected. Even though for any normal intelligent person it’s quite obviously that’s the case, it’s not so obviously to a lot of ignorant people out there.