3/26

What I learned yesterday:
Hijab is not the woman's head covering, but the veil in front of the face, which the women and girls do not wear at this school (even if they wear it at home). The head covering is called Tudung, which everyone must wear. At dinner last night all the girls were wearing their tudung tied in front instead of wrapped around the neck. I asked a teacher why, and she explained it was fashion. "But how did they all know to wear it the same way?" I asked. and the teacher replied, "the administration told them to wear it that way." Interesting.

I have now had two conversations with two different groups of people, about whether Americans believe that all Muslims are terrorists. I told them of course not, but here is my perspective which I shared with them:

Though Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world (and I believe it is also the fastest growing religion in the US), the population of Muslims in America is still small and many Americans know nothing about Islam. President Bush exploited that ignorance, creating an atmosphere of fear to push through his military agenda. One of the things I appreciate so much about President Obama is that he doesn't try to simplify complex situations and talks about the difficult issues in their complexity. One of the positive aspects (if you can call it that) of 9-11 is a deepening discussion on terrorism and on Islam. So it seems to me, at least in the environment that I live in - the progressive Pacific Northwest - that a dialogue has emerged, trying to understand the complexity of this world issue. I believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are peace-loving. The war in Pakistan, with a Muslim government fighting a Muslim enemy, shows, of course, that Islam does not equate with terrorism. But right now, what I mostly hear are non-Muslims defending Muslims. What I would love to see is the Muslim world standing up against terrorism of any kind. Every Malaysian I talked to agreed, and would love to see this as well.