The Arabic word, dawah, as it is used currently in mainstream Muslim circles has come to mean ‘attempting to convert people to Islam.’
Back in Syria, I lived in a house full of Muslims from all over the world. Imagine an all-male, Muslim version of the MTV reality series “The Real World,” where seven languages are spoken, and you’ve got a pretty accurate image of my life in Damascus.
When a German Christian guy who biked from Germany to Syria stepped into the house and we all came to greet him, the first thing out of my housemate Muhammad’s mouth was how much sawab or “reward” we would get if we converted him.
All I could do was laugh, but inside my head I was heaving those heaves right before a good cry. The ones that arrive when you are exhausted by dealing with a community that doesn’t seem to get it… pardon me, for my occasional negativity. I am not interested in converting people to capital I- Islam. I don’t even believe that God wants us to do that!
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One summer morning, about a year ago, I found myself in a car with a young Muslim man who had memorized all of the Qur’an. I hadn’t really hung out with a young, male Muslim teen in a while, so I thought I’d pick his brain. This was at a time when I thought I wanted to be an imam, or religious leader. Before I got a chance though, he let out a yawn.
“Man, I’m so tired. I was on the phone till four o’clock this morning.”
“Who is the girl?” I replied, smiling.
He stiffened. He thought he could slip one by me.
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“O Marium! keep to obedience to your Lord and humble yourself, and bow down with those who bow.”
— Qur’an 3:43, Shakir Translation
If you haven’t already noticed, the issue of women in mosques is gaining increased attention, especially in North America.* After reading a statistic from CAIR’s Mosque Study Project (PDF) finding that only 2 of 6 million Muslims attend mosques in America, I created an informal survey in October of 2003 and posted it on my web site. I sought to test my hypothesis that many women do not attend the mosque because of their dissatisfaction with their prayer space. Often times, the space allotted to women in mosques, if there is any, is not as nice as the space provided for men. In fact, some mosques partition the women’s section off, leaving them with limited access to the imam, or prayer leader. Women’s sections that double as storage areas or basements are not uncommon. The question that lingered in my head everytime I entered a mosque was “Does the lack of women’s equalspace and accommodation in the mosque discourage them from attending?” Over the years people argued with me, suggesting that if women actually attended mosques, their prayer spaces would recieve more attention. It became a classic “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” battle.
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