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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm SteveEmber.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Muslims everywhere are in the middle ofRamadan. The holy month is a time for special prayers. It also meansno food or drink from sunrise until sunset each day. Today weexplore what it is like, especially for girls, to be young andMuslim in America.
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VOICE ONE:
Jesmin Saikh is a student at a public high school in Rockville,Maryland. There are more than two thousand students at Magruder HighSchool. About twenty of them are members of the Muslim StudentAssociation.
Most of these young people were born in the United States. Buttheir parents came from other countries, like India, Bangladesh,Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan.
The students say more people began to ask them questions aboutIslam after the terrorist attacks on the United States in twothousand one. But the teenagers say they have not been treated badlybecause of what happened.
For Ramadan, the Muslim students gave candy to all the teachersat the school. Tied to the candy was a piece of paper with factsabout the observance.
VOICE TWO:
It is easy to tell that Jesmin isMuslim. A hijab cloth covers her hair. Jesmin says it is easier tofollow Muslim rules about boys and girls when she wears hijab. Theserules limit social relationships between girls and boys. Jesmin andanother student, Sherine Heshmat, say the scarf lets boys know thatthey do not go on dates.
In some schools, religious rules about dress can sometimesconflict with administrative rules. For example, schools might wantstudents only to wear hats outdoors. Or some kinds of head coveringsmight be banned because they can represent a sign of membership in agang.
VOICE ONE:
An eleven-year-old Muslim girl faced these sorts of rules at herschool in the state of Oklahoma. She was told not to wear her scarfbecause schools in her city ban all head coverings for boys andgirls.
Her family brought action in court. They said the school wastreating her unfairly because of her religion. The court agreed. Nowschool officials must permit students to wear religious headcoverings.
Atena Asiaii goes to high school in a small town in Pennsylvania.She wants to become a doctor. She, too, wears hijab. Atena wroteabout herself for a new American magazine for Muslim women, calledAzizah. Azizah is the Arabic word for strong and dear.
Atena says she likes people to ask questions about Islam. Shefound the students at her school, in her words, "simply uninformed."One girl asked if she had ever seen her own hair. Another girlpulled the cloth off Atena's head. But Atena's friends explainedthat the girl who did that liked to play tricks on everyone, notjust Muslim girls.
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VOICE TWO:
Asma Gull Hasan is twenty-nine years old and works as a lawyer inSan Francisco, California. Her parents are from Pakistan, but shegrew up in the state of Colorado. She has written two books,"American Muslim" and "Why I Am a Muslim." She is also a publicspeaker.
Asma Hasan wears hijab only when she prays at a mosque. Shebelieves Muslim women and girls should wear clothes that do not showtoo much skin. But she agrees that it can be difficult to resistpopular culture.
Asma Hasan has a Web site where girls can ask questions. Some askabout problems they may be having as Muslims in American society.Others ask about personal relationships, or how to deal with theirparents.
The questions are answered by a group of older Muslim women. Theyoften tell young people to try to understand the differences betweengrowing up here and growing up in their parents' country.
The Web site is asmahasan.com.
VOICE ONE:
Another young Muslim woman from California is Munira LekovicEzzeldine. Her parents are from Montenegro. She is the author of abook called "Before the Wedding: One-hundred-fifty Questions forMuslims to Ask Before Getting Married."
Munira Ezzeldine says she began to study her religion seriouslyonly after she became a university student. Now she is a mother whowears hijab and works with organizations of young Muslim girls.
She says she tries to help girls understand that their parentswant to protect them. She urges them to have parties at their ownhomes, so their parents will know their friends.
Munira Ezzeldine says teenage girls who wear hijabs like boysjust as much as girls who do not cover their hair. So she says it isa good thing there are more places where Muslim girls can talk aboutthese issues.
She lives in Irvine, California. She says there are four highschools just in her city that now have Muslim student associations.
VOICE TWO:
For the first time, the national president of the Muslim StudentAssociation is female. Hadia Mubarak is also the first presidentborn in the United States. Her parents are from Syria; she grew upin Florida.
In a story for Azizah magazine, Hadia Mubarak wrote that shesometimes felt she did not belong in America or in Syria. But, as auniversity student, she met Muslims from many other countries. Shewrote that she started to feel good about being an American Muslim.
Now she will lead an organization of Muslim young people that hasmore members born inside the United States than outside.
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VOICE ONE:
Jabbir Khan is a Muslim boy who goes to Magruder High School inMaryland.
Recently, he sat in a circle of boys and girls and talked aboutbeing Muslim. Jabbir says boys and girls would not be sittingtogether in his parents' country, Bangladesh. But he says followinghis religion helps him do the right thing when he is with otheryoung people.
For example, Muslims are not supposed to drink alcohol. UsmanKhan, another boy in the circle, says he is sometimes offeredalcohol at parties. The legal drinking age in the United States istwenty-one. Usman says no one asks questions if you say no becauseof your religion.
VOICE TWO:
High school proms are a tradition in the United States. A prom isa special dance where boys and girls celebrate the completion ofhigh school. At a school in California last year, Muslim girlsorganized their own prom, without any boys. They took off theirscarves and wore the same long, pretty dresses that other girls wearto proms.
On the other side of the country, in Maryland, Jesmin Saikh saysshe does not plan to attend her high school prom. She says she wouldrather go to dinner or a party after the prom with her friends.
Another student, Aisha Jamal, does not think a separate dance forgirls is a good idea. She says it would only make the differencesseem greater between students who are Muslim and those who are not.
VOICE ONE:
Aisha is a little rebellious. Recently she decided to stopcovering her hair. She says one reason is that she found itdifficult to play sports. She says the scarf made her very hot whenshe played basketball.
But Aisha says she also believes it is easier to say what shethinks when she is not wearing hijab. She explains that she was oncedefending a friend who was arguing with another girl. She says theother girl called Aisha a terrorist because of her hijab.
Jesmin says people have thought similar things about her, becauseshe is Muslim and wears hijab. She agrees that it is often difficultto explain Islam to other people. But when she goes back to India,where her parents were born, Jesmin says she feels defensive aboutAmerica. She says she does not like to hear insults againstAmericans.
VOICE TWO:
Young Muslims in America are finding more ways to explain Islamto other Americans. In the town of Herndon, Virginia, children froma Muslim school visited a public school to explain Ramadan. Theyshared foods that their families eat at night during the month offasting.
The Muslim Student Association is organizing events called"fast-a-thons." On some days, the association asks Muslim andnon-Muslim students to give the money they would spend on food tocommunity groups.
There is also a Muslim Inter-Scholastic Tournament, or MIST. Thisis for Islamic organizations in American high schools, thoughstudents of any religion can compete. The areas are knowledge, arts,skills and community service.
This event gives Muslim young people a chance to think about whothey are and what they believe. It also gives them a chance to thinkabout their identity in America and how they relate to otherAmericans.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Karen Leggett. Jill Moss was ourproducer and Bob Doughty was our recording engineer. This is SteveEmber.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for THIS ISAMERICA in VOA Special English.