In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Muslimah Writers Alliance Director, Aishah Schwartz, addresses post-9/11 Islamophobic climate of misunderstanding and labeling actions of Muslims as 'suspicious' and 'weird' fueling rise in unwarranted investigative procedures
Embracing a New Identity
As a Caucasian American, Ms. Schwartz spent the first 41-years of her life as a member of the 'majority'. When she decided to embrace Islam as her religion and became Muslim, Ms. Schwartz suddenly found herself not only a new Muslim, but entering previously unchartered territory as a member of a ultra-minority; Caucasian, American, professional, female, Muslim-wearing-a-head-scarf, working in the litigation department of an internationally renowned downtown Washington, D.C. law firm. That was a lot to digest, even for her, let alone her friends, family and co-workers!
Testing the Waters of Corporate Diversity
After adapting from working in the small town law firms of South Carolina to life in the 'big city', a year-and-a-half into her new post, and just three months after becoming Muslim, Ms. Schwartz decided to adopt wearing the traditional Muslim head scarf, coupled with a change in wardrobe meticulously chosen to fully cover her body, while maintaining a level corporate professionalism.
It was with a natural degree of apprehension and mixed confidence that she entered the law firm that monumental 'first' day sporting a newfound sense of 'style'.
Gazing at her reflection in the mirrored walls of an office elevator, Ms. Schwartz wrote in a November 2005 blog post, "My cheeks were flushed and my heart was racing as I contemplated what would happen once the doors opened and I stepped out."
To her great relief, the law firm's reputation for corporate diversity turned out to be well-earned. Her friends and colleagues embraced her life-change with warmth and acceptance—and scores of questions!
That is not to say, however, that Ms. Schwartz never experienced any of the post-9/11 Islamophobic backlash widely politicized in mainstream media, and more recently brought to light in the case of seven Muslim men detained in Henderson, Nevada; their 'offense'? Stopping to answer the call to prayer in a shopping center parking lot—an act deemed by onlookers as 'weird' and 'suspicious'.
An instance that Ms. Schwartz recalls having personally affected her occurred while crossing a busy downtown D.C. street one afternoon. A passerby, observing the conservativeness of her outfit and the scarf covering her head, paused to glare in irrefutable disdain, asking, "Where'd you get that costume?"
Another instance, occurring one morning as she commuted to work, transpired as the bus Ms. Schwartz was riding approached her stop. Standing, in the aisle of the bus as she anticipated stepping off, a man sitting opposite another proclaimed, "They're everywhere...whaddya gonna do?"
But one of the most disappointing reactions affecting Ms. Schwartz occurred in the Spring of 2007. On re-entering the United States through New York after a trip to Morocco, the U.S. immigration and customs officer, on returning her entry-stamped passport offered, instead of the compulsory "welcome home", a disapproving glance and sarcastically stated, "good luck".
Toward a Better Understanding
Ms. Schwartz's experiences, in addition to those of the seven 'threatening' men praying in a Nevada parking lot, and the more recently reported instance of a Muslim woman attempting to board a Manchester, UK flight to Islamabad and was denied a boarding pass because she refused to go through the airport's x-ray vision full body scanner, are just a few examples of what the American Muslim community—and Muslims worldwide— are facing in this, the post-9/11, war on terror, media-spun climate of Islamophobia.
