American, Ambitious and Muslim

Shaheen Ahmed investigates the experiences of Muslim women working in the United States.

Dianne Ansari-Wimn is not most people's idea of a religious Muslim woman.

The 30-something African American is a Fellow in Anesthesiology at the prestigious University of Chicago Medical School. She sees no contradiction between her profession and her devotion to Islam which she has observed since her parents converted during her teenage years. But by wearing a hijab, a triangular shaped scarf covering the hair, Ansari-Wimn often finds herself being put on the defensive as her religious beliefs became public knowledge.

When interviewed by medical schools, "I was asked on numerous occasions to explain my dress and my beliefs, in essence, to prove that being a Muslim would not conflict with their expectations of what a medical student should be," she recalled.

She added, "People have all kinds of preconceived ideas about you if you're wearing a hijab. They think that Muslim women are 'uneducated' or are only from other countries, that their lives are dominated by their husbands or that 'modern' Muslim women do not wear Islamic dress."

There are about six million Muslims in the United States, 51 percent of whom are women, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Much confusion exists about these women. The media usually highlights oppression and infers, mistakenly, that this is the necessary religious condition of women in Islam. Muslim women in America in particular suffer from the dual stigma of being viewed as traitors to their nation and their sex.

But many Muslim women in the United States are ambitious professionals like Ansari-Wimn. They see decisions such as covering the hair to be a symbol of female emancipation, not oppression.

"I have the choice to be judged by my mind and my personality, rather than my looks," says Laila Ali, a 17-year-old student from New Jersey. "Isn't that what feminists are asking for?"

Although most Muslims in America are African Americans, most converts are Caucasian women, according to the Missouri-based newspaper, the St. Louis Dispatch. They are attracted to Islam through readings of the Quran, interaction with Muslims, or marriage. Heather Zawahry, 23, a medical student at the University of Florida, is one of them.

Heather had an upbringing that could be described as American as apple pie. A member of her high school's track and field team and an officer in many clubs, she was very popular. Raised a strict Southern Baptist, Heather abstained from premarital sex and drinking. It was during missionary work in Gibraltar and Morocco that she first learned about Islam. However, Heather did not feel drawn to the religion until she tried to convert Muslims at her high school in Panama City, Panama.

"There were a lot of Muslims in my high school and so we would have discussions about religion and god," said Heather. "I started studying Islam in order to find out what was wrong with it so that I could inform the Muslims that were around me. I studied it for two years. It appealed to me because it has such a perfect mix of faith and logic. I immediately realized that the image [of Muslim women] portrayed in the media was completely false and I began to understand that women are aided by god in Islam in so many ways. The right to vote, to work outside the home, to [receive] inheritance are things that women in this country did not even have until the 1920's, but Muslims had for much longer. That was very impressive to me."

Heather's decision to convert and change her name was not easy on her parents. "They were very upset, to the point that they tried to keep me in the house," she said. "They brought people to pray over me, cast out the evil spirits and that kind of thing. It was a very, very strong reaction, and I didn't speak with them for a couple of years because of that. I mean, we spoke, but it was very tense and difficult. I prayed to Allah a lot and it was the hardest thing I had to do in my life and it was a real struggle.

"We get along great now and I think a lot of that had to do with my getting into medical school. They realized that I wasn't completely wacko, giving up on all my ambitions and that this wasn't going to change everything. Also I think that they, in a way, see the good it's done in my life. Even though they would never admit it, I think that they've come to respect me."

Other Muslim women, although raised in the religion, have become more orthodox than their parents.

Saba Ternikar-Mozaffar, 25, from Chicago, Illinois, said most people assume that her decision to cover her hair was something she was forced to do by her Muslim parents: "...I say to them, 'no, this is a decision that I came to on my own because I believe in it,' " she said.

Ternikar-Mozaffar's parents are immigrants from India who had both religious and cultural expectations of their daughter.

"I realized that those things that my parents taught me were not necessarily true to the religion but to the culture, so I kind of went through a self-learning process at college and had my share of learning what was right and what was wrong for myself," she said. "I realized that the values that I think are true are very important, and I basically made Islam to be the deciding factor as to what practices I would keep and what ones I would not."

Now a health care consultant for an international benefits consulting firm, Ternikar-Mozaffar said she has never experienced any bias in her career and has in fact done better than many of her non-Muslim peers.

"I read about [Muslim] women who have been discriminated against, but I think those are frequently cases of women in entry-level positions, and I think that now there's a climate, especially in America, where it's politically correct to respect other religions and everyone's individuality," she said. "I think it will only develop further, especially in corporate America, where being a woman and being a minority [means] actually [getting] promoted more and more."

But other Muslim women in the United States have encountered problems because of their appearance. In Norfolk, Virginia, two Muslim women wearing hijabs and veils were arrested last year for violating a state law against wearing "masks" in public, according to CAIR. The law was originally intended to target the activities of the Ku Klux Klan who, covering themselves from head to toe in white sheets, who started attacking blacks during the post Civil War era.

Then there is the case of Dani, an employee at JC Penney Department Store in McLean, Virginia who was fired from her job after she refused to take off her hijab. Insisting that it violated the store's dress code, two store managers told her to take it off or "clock out now." After intervention by CAIR, the store offered Dani her job back and distributed a clarification of policy on Islamic dress to store managers nationwide.

Dress also accounts for Muslim women often being the target of the most harmful stereotype of Muslims in America -- that of terrorists. After Muslims were suspected in the bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma, women were easy targets for prejudice and suspicion.

Rabia Ahmed, who wears a black scarf and jilbaab (a long coat covering the body down to the feet), recalled being asked. "if I had an AK47 under here," said the 22-year-old medical school student from New Jersey. "I was furious."

Muslim women also find that it can be hard to achieve their Islamic rights in the United States because religious law is not recognized. For example, women who marry under Islamic law and who do not obtain a civil marriage license find themselves at a loss when that marriage is not recognized in the American courts. Wives of polygamous husbands have no marital rights in the United States since polygamy is considered illegal. The second, third or fourth wife is considered to be in a common law marriage and her children illegitimate. As such, she has some of the same rights as a woman who has "lived together" with her boyfriend and can challenge her Islamic husband to pay child support. However, the question of alimony can be particularly difficult. The onus is on the wife to prove that they lived together as partners and she, at least, thought she was married.

Muslim women in America are vocal about asserting their rights. During a conference of the Islamic Society of North America I attended a year ago -- where women actually outnumbered men -- there were several female speakers and workshops dealing with women's rights.

In "Self Defense for Sisters," mother and daughter team Nialah and Kareema Pettigen, sporting karate suits with brown belts under jilbaabs and hijabs, instructed 50 women to defend themselves from an attacker.

"I usually encourage modesty for sisters," said Nialah, an African American Tae Kwon Do instructor from New Mexico. "But if you're faced with danger, don't be a victim. Be a resister."

Amina Assilmi, director of the International Union of Muslim Women and an American convert, reminded conference participants that "women in the time of Prophet Muhammad were not weak creatures. They were able to walk for miles and use a sword. The men would think twice about approaching a Muslim woman in those days."

She added, "Many women are still struggling to regain the rights that Allah gave them 1,400 years ago...Women were allowed to directly approach the prophet of god, disagree with him, argue with him and criticize him without any fear of repercussions."

Ansari-Wimn sees herself in the tradition of such strong women. She takes the endless curiosity and occasional criticism in stride: "I feel that these occasions give me the opportunity to confirm my beliefs and to develop self-esteem by standing up for myself as a Muslimah [Muslim woman]," she said.