| A Balancing Act By: Megan Gearheart Almost one in four people across the globe are Muslim. With data from 232 countries and territories, the 2009 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reported that 23 percent, or 1.57 billion, of the world are people of Islam. In other words, there are more Muslims across the globe than there are residents of China. Of that 23 percent, 2.5 million Muslims reside in the United States. On September 11, 2001 that number took on new meaning when 19 members of the Muslim extremist group, Al- Qaeda hijacked four planes. 2 million United States Muslims under the age of 25, were younger than eighteen on September 11, 2001. Their entire country changed before they could even vote. Kasmia Than of New York City was 17 in 2001, "The world looked at me differently than ever before. At first glance, no one identified me as an American teenage girl. Instead, I was Islamic. In my community, my friends and neighbors knew me, but outside my hometown it was different." Duke University sophomore Nusaibah Kofar-Naisa remembers similar feelings, “When I was younger it was generally harder to have peers understand the differences in my religion. I was singled out a lot and was forced to learn first had what it means to be different from your peers day in and day out.” Awareness of the struggle to understand these differences has drawn out those willing to increase conversation between Muslims and non Muslims. Teenage siblings, Imran and Yasmine Hafiz recognized their peers’ difficulties and, decided to write a handbook for young Muslim Americans. In January 2008, the siblings shared their motivation for their work with The Christian Science Monitor. The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook, helps young Muslims come to grips with a society that is often under- informed yet over- opinionated. The Christian Science Monitor asked Yasmine, a freshman at Yale University, what she had in mind when starting this project, "I wanted to show it's possible to be Muslim and American at the same time," she replied. Kofar-Naisa, 18 years old from Florida, identifies with that desire to increase understanding of the Muslim culture. Since the Associated Press reported that the Fort Hood shooting suspect, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is Islamic and may have had ties to Muslim extremists, she is aware that, “It's only natural to be concerned with the perception people may have of me after tragic events such as the one at Fort Hood.” Kofar-Naisa believes that the most valuable tools to combat prejudice against Muslims are their individual actions on behalf of their community. Through personal action in every day life, young Muslims can directly impact the opinions of the world at large and make their voices heard. Kofar-Naisa adds, “The best advice I have been given in response to this is to work harder to show the real side of Islam by increasing my good deeds towards other people and trying to give a more accurate depiction of Islam.” |
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