Presentation topics

• 1:12 — Intro & agenda
• 1:35 — Meet Fanta
• 2:30 — Facts about Muslim faith
• 4:41 — Ramadan Basics
• 5:56 — What people think about Ramadan
• 7:20 — Let's talk about fasting
• 9:00 — A day in Fanta's life during Ramadan
• 11:53 — How to be an ally to Muslim neighbors during Ramadan (and beyond!)
• 22:52 — Q&A

Transcript (auto-generated)

00:00:02.900 --> 00:00:05.500 All right. Hello everyone. My name

1 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:08.900 is Peter. I'm on our community team here at

2 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.800 next door. We're super excited today to bring

3 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:14.700 you to bring this presentation to this webinar

4 00:00:14.700 --> 00:00:15.500 to moderators.

5 00:00:18.200 --> 00:00:24.200 Fanta's joining us. She's on our people team, which is HR today's

6 00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:25.700 all about building inclusion

7 00:00:25.700 --> 00:00:28.500 in your neighborhood moderating doing Ramadan. And

8 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.100 so this all first, it's our first

9 00:00:31.100 --> 00:00:34.100 first one this type of webinar. So we're excited to have you here

10 00:00:34.100 --> 00:00:37.700 today in a Fanta bring bring Fanta in

11 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:40.200 who's been with us. I believe for a couple of

12 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:43.400 years and so we're excited to do this today.

13 00:00:43.400 --> 00:00:46.200 And so with that I'm off camera find to

14 00:00:46.200 --> 00:00:46.400 take it away.

15 00:00:52.900 --> 00:00:55.200 Good neighbors. Welcome to moderating during

16 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.300 Ramadan. I'm really excited to be here today to

17 00:00:58.300 --> 00:01:01.900 talk through how we can build inclusion in our neighborhoods. I

18 00:01:01.900 --> 00:01:04.400 want to thank you all for joining. It shows how invested you

19 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:05.500 are in creating inclusion.

20 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:07.300 Next slide please.

21 00:01:13.600 --> 00:01:16.300 First before we begin I just want to do a quick overview of

22 00:01:16.300 --> 00:01:19.900 our agenda. We'll begin with the introduction learn more

23 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:22.500 about me give highlight about

24 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:25.600 what Ramadan is and then talk through how we can be allies

25 00:01:25.600 --> 00:01:28.200 to our Muslim neighbors and then we'll end with the Q&A.

26 00:01:29.100 --> 00:01:30.200 Next slide please.

27 00:01:32.700 --> 00:01:35.400 So I'm Fanta and I'm a people business partner at

28 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.200 next door, which is a fancy way of saying I'm an HR

29 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:41.300 team. I've been here for about a year. I'm a

30 00:01:41.300 --> 00:01:44.200 first generation Muslim Guinea in American so my parents

31 00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:47.100 and most of my family actually are from Guinea and

32 00:01:47.100 --> 00:01:50.900 West Africa. I have a beautiful three year old toddler

33 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:53.200 who's going on 13 if anyone

34 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.700 has a toddler at three major phase I

35 00:01:56.700 --> 00:01:59.200 empathize with you. It is a

36 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:02.900 very interesting and we found out he loves cupcakes. I began

37 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:05.500 wearing my hijab three years ago, but I've always

38 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:06.300 been Muslim

39 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:10.300 Can watch Harry Potter all day fun fact,

40 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.600 I saw the first one at Radio City when it first from yard, and

41 00:02:13.600 --> 00:02:16.600 my favorite neighborhood spot is called the Halal

42 00:02:16.600 --> 00:02:19.200 spot, which they have amazing Burgers. So if anyone is

43 00:02:19.200 --> 00:02:22.500 in New Jersey, please Google the Halal spot and tell them

44 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:26.400 I sent you. They probably know me by now next slide,

45 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:26.600 please.

46 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:31.600 So before we talked about Ramadan what Ramadan

47 00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:34.300 is it? Thought it'd be helpful to just highlight some

48 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:35.400 facts about Muslims.

49 00:02:36.100 --> 00:02:39.700 There's an estimated 1.8 billion Muslims around

50 00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:43.100 the world making a roughly 24% of

51 00:02:42.100 --> 00:02:44.200 the global population.

52 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:48.900 In the United States alone Muslims make up around 3% of

53 00:02:48.900 --> 00:02:49.800 the US population.

54 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:54.200 So this graph you'll see on the

55 00:02:54.200 --> 00:02:58.200 right really talks around like there's this perceived notion or

56 00:02:57.200 --> 00:03:00.900 understanding of what a Muslim looks like. So I stereotype

57 00:03:00.900 --> 00:03:04.100 which is anchored and bias. However, based

58 00:03:03.100 --> 00:03:07.200 on Research by ispu Muslims are

59 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:10.400 the most ethnically diverse Faith Community

60 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.900 the largest percentage of Muslims in the US actually

61 00:03:13.900 --> 00:03:16.200 identify as black or African-American.

62 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.100 It's important to know that not all Muslim women

63 00:03:20.100 --> 00:03:23.400 wear her jobs not all Muslims are Arab

64 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.400 not all Muslims are immigrants and not

65 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:29.300 almost in speak Arabic or just Arabic alone.

66 00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:34.300 Due to the vast difference in ethnic background Ramadan may

67 00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:37.400 look just a little bit different from culture to culture

68 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:40.200 and every neighborhood around the world.

69 00:03:41.200 --> 00:03:44.400 How they gather what food they eat the clothing.

70 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:47.200 They wear particularly for myself my family

71 00:03:47.200 --> 00:03:50.500 Ramadan. We really love something called Monique, which

72 00:03:50.500 --> 00:03:53.100 is a hornflower porridge and something called

73 00:03:53.100 --> 00:03:56.300 I check out which is a crane from Ivory Coast

74 00:03:56.300 --> 00:03:59.400 in West Africa and usually eat it with a side

75 00:03:59.400 --> 00:04:02.300 of plantain in a side of protein whether we fish

76 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:05.200 lamb chicken, it's really

77 00:04:05.200 --> 00:04:07.000 amazing and I can actually eat it every day.

78 00:04:08.200 --> 00:04:11.600 So just note that it'll look different from your neighbors

79 00:04:11.600 --> 00:04:12.500 and your neighborhood.

80 00:04:13.400 --> 00:04:16.700 If you realize that Ramadan changes every year you are

81 00:04:16.700 --> 00:04:19.500 absolutely correct Muslims follow

82 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:22.600 the lunar calendar as opposed to the Gregorian calendar.

83 00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:25.600 So next year for instance. Ramadan is

84 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.200 actually going to begin on March 11 or approximately

85 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:33.000 so now with that we'll go into the next slide to talk more about Ramadan.

86 00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:38.700 Ramadan is the holiest month of the year for Muslims.

87 00:04:39.400 --> 00:04:40.100 Next slide please.

88 00:04:41.300 --> 00:04:44.800 It is a nine month in Islamic calendar the start

89 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.300 of the month begins with the sighting of the Crescent Moon.

90 00:04:47.300 --> 00:04:50.900 This sometimes causes a bit of confusion on when

91 00:04:50.900 --> 00:04:53.600 Ramadan begins or when it ends. But since

92 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:57.100 we follow the lunar calendar, we need to specific siding

93 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:58.700 in order to commence the months.

94 00:05:00.300 --> 00:05:03.600 Ramadan last for about 29 to 30 days again.

95 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.600 It ends with the siding of the new crescent moon and

96 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:08.600 is celebrated with Eid Alfred.

97 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:12.600 Eat off with it Loosely translates to the Feast

98 00:05:12.600 --> 00:05:13.400 of fasting.

99 00:05:14.200 --> 00:05:17.500 It is celebrated by holding a community-wide prayer in

100 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:20.600 an often attracts a large number of attendees.

101 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:24.800 My cousin and I jokingly call it the Muslim Met

102 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.400 Gala because everyone comes out in their

103 00:05:27.400 --> 00:05:30.400 best year. There's a

104 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:34.200 special mandatory charity during you

105 00:05:33.200 --> 00:05:36.300 know, fifth of which is called the sakat outfit there

106 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:39.200 and it's for those who are above the poverty line

107 00:05:39.200 --> 00:05:42.600 and it helps ensure that everyone can afford

108 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:45.600 to participate in the festivities this year that

109 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:48.600 amount for that outfit. There is about 15

110 00:05:48.600 --> 00:05:49.700 dollars per person.

111 00:05:51.200 --> 00:05:52.200 Next slide please.

112 00:05:53.500 --> 00:05:56.700 So I really enjoy using this Iceberg slide

113 00:05:56.700 --> 00:06:00.200 when we're having discussions Iceberg Dairy

114 00:05:59.200 --> 00:06:02.600 states that we can not see the most

115 00:06:02.600 --> 00:06:05.700 of a situation or an individual for that

116 00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:08.600 is why visibly we can only see about 10 to

117 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:11.400 15 percent for instance using this Iceberg the

118 00:06:12.200 --> 00:06:15.300 10 to 15% is seen at the top of the ice at the

119 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:18.300 top of the waterline below. The water line is with

120 00:06:18.300 --> 00:06:21.600 the majority of the mass hits. So when it

121 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.600 comes to Ramadan people often think fasting and

122 00:06:25.600 --> 00:06:28.500 if star parties and if stars of

123 00:06:28.500 --> 00:06:31.700 Neil you eat after you break your fast, but there's so

124 00:06:31.700 --> 00:06:33.300 much more to it than that.

125 00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:38.400 Ramadan is a month of reflection mercy and

126 00:06:38.400 --> 00:06:39.000 forgiveness.

127 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.400 Emptying the stomach can really fear of space for the soul.

128 00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:47.800 Each year when Ramadan comes along Muslims pause

129 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:50.100 to reflect on their habits in the state

130 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:50.600 of their hearts.

131 00:06:51.700 --> 00:06:54.300 Many use this month as a time to reconnect with

132 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:58.000 the Divine through a focus on spiritual self-improvement.

133 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.500 It is also a time to bond with the family and

134 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:03.500 Community as well as serving others.

135 00:07:04.200 --> 00:07:07.200 Personally I try to create time to volunteer at my

136 00:07:07.200 --> 00:07:08.100 local mosque.

137 00:07:09.700 --> 00:07:10.700 Next slide please.

138 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:16.000 So with that let's talk fasting as I

139 00:07:15.400 --> 00:07:18.800 mentioned before fasting can pre-up space

140 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:21.300 for the soul. It is the Hallmark of

141 00:07:21.300 --> 00:07:24.700 Ramadan, but it's not just fasting from food and drinks

142 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:27.200 during the day. Yes, not even

143 00:07:27.200 --> 00:07:31.900 water. It is fasting from smoking gossiping intimacy

144 00:07:30.900 --> 00:07:33.700 arguing or any

145 00:07:33.700 --> 00:07:36.200 bad habits one may have again. The goal is

146 00:07:36.200 --> 00:07:37.400 for self-improofing.

147 00:07:38.200 --> 00:07:41.800 Each morning during Ramadan. We begin with suhood which

148 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:43.000 is a pre-dawn meal.

149 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.100 I know it's tempting to eat as much as you can but the

150 00:07:46.100 --> 00:07:49.500 guidance is to eat Light and Healthy in order

151 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:50.800 to sustain you during the day.

152 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:54.600 Eating too much may actually cause you to be very tired

153 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:57.800 and of course hydrate hydrate

154 00:07:57.800 --> 00:07:58.700 hydrate.

155 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:03.400 During the day we go about our usual routines with the

156 00:08:03.400 --> 00:08:07.100 emphasis on reflection reconnecting prayer

157 00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:08.400 volunteering.

158 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:12.900 Some people actually take the month off or sometime off

159 00:08:12.900 --> 00:08:15.000 during Ramadan so they can connect so they can

160 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:17.300 reconnect and fully Embrace this holy month.

161 00:08:18.100 --> 00:08:21.700 Personally for me. I'll be taking the last 10 nights off during Ramadan

162 00:08:21.700 --> 00:08:24.600 at the last 10 nights are believed to be the holiest night

163 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:25.100 throughout the year.

164 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.200 So you kind of just really want to put your all in and the month

165 00:08:28.200 --> 00:08:28.600 really strong.

166 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:32.300 We break our fast with iftar which is

167 00:08:32.300 --> 00:08:35.600 when the sun sets and it's time to spend the community

168 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:38.800 and eat not almost Sims

169 00:08:38.800 --> 00:08:42.100 are required to fast. There are exceptions. It

170 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:44.200 is a very personal thing but I really

171 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:47.300 want us all to be aware. And so the exceptions

172 00:08:47.300 --> 00:08:51.200 to fasting are people with chronic illness or

173 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:53.900 who need to take regular medication.

174 00:08:55.900 --> 00:08:58.800 Women who are menstruating or pregnant

175 00:08:58.800 --> 00:08:59.700 or nursing.

176 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:04.300 children who haven't reached the age of puberty

177 00:09:05.300 --> 00:09:08.400 And those who are traveling they can choose to skip

178 00:09:08.400 --> 00:09:10.500 their fast and make it up another time.

179 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:13.700 next slide piece

180 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:19.600 So this a day is a day in the life of me in fasting

181 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:23.100 during Ramadan. So I wake up about 450

182 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:25.600 after snoozing my alarm a bit and I

183 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:29.400 eat so heard so for me, it's usually oatmeal

184 00:09:28.400 --> 00:09:32.100 yogurt protein shake

185 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:35.100 our eggs again something that I it's

186 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:37.100 high in protein and different vitamins. I also

187 00:09:37.100 --> 00:09:41.500 take my multivitamins in the morning before I begin fasting

188 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:43.000 around five. Then I'm

189 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.000 up until about 5:30, which is the first prayer of the day

190 00:09:46.500 --> 00:09:48.000 and I read the Quran and I reflect

191 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.600 I take about maybe a 30 minute nap or so and

192 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:55.000 at 6:30. I'm up with my toddler rushing him

193 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.600 to get ready to bring him to school.

194 00:09:58.400 --> 00:10:01.100 And by nine nine to five as I'm at work

195 00:10:01.100 --> 00:10:04.100 and I'm trying to do my normal routine. The team has

196 00:10:04.100 --> 00:10:07.300 been really really helpful and inclusive just

197 00:10:07.300 --> 00:10:10.400 being cognizant that I may be a little bit tired and maybe

198 00:10:10.400 --> 00:10:13.400 that's scheduled meetings early in the morning. So my

199 00:10:13.400 --> 00:10:16.100 meetings usually typically are after like 11, which is

200 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:19.400 amazing and during the work time. I

201 00:10:19.400 --> 00:10:22.700 create moments for reflection and conversations like

202 00:10:22.700 --> 00:10:25.400 we're doing now and I also do my

203 00:10:25.400 --> 00:10:28.100 two to three prayers certain attack my second and third prayer during

204 00:10:28.100 --> 00:10:28.500 that time.

205 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.300 At 6:00 pm. I watch and Ramadan series on

206 00:10:32.300 --> 00:10:35.600 YouTube which is like my favorite one to watch is called Quran 30

207 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:35.800 for 30.

208 00:10:36.500 --> 00:10:39.400 And it's by yakini Institute. So turn this

209 00:10:39.400 --> 00:10:42.500 time. I'm kind of like multitasking. I'm listening to the

210 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:45.800 webinar watching it and I'm also preparing if damio.

211 00:10:47.800 --> 00:10:50.600 Time to Sunset is iftar. So we typically break

212 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:53.600 Muslims typically will break their fast with a

213 00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:54.300 glass of water.

214 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.400 I'm sorry a glass of water and dates and then

215 00:10:58.400 --> 00:11:01.600 we eat around 8:20 or

216 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:04.200 so. I get myself ready and we had

217 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:08.000 to our local mosque for the evening prayer during

218 00:11:07.900 --> 00:11:10.300 Ramadan. There's a special prayer in a

219 00:11:10.300 --> 00:11:13.000 night called thorari prayer. So we're in the mosque from

220 00:11:13.400 --> 00:11:16.500 about nine to 10 15 sometimes 10:30

221 00:11:16.500 --> 00:11:19.200 and then by 11, I'm home again.

222 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.600 I'm reflecting and sleeping and

223 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:25.400 trying to get my toddler to sleep who is just really active

224 00:11:25.400 --> 00:11:28.500 from the night. It's really amazing how the monster we

225 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:32.300 attend really accommodates parents or Guardians

226 00:11:31.300 --> 00:11:34.100 with children. The children also have a

227 00:11:34.100 --> 00:11:37.400 special designated place where understand age

228 00:11:37.400 --> 00:11:40.700 like a plea from like three to eight where they

229 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:43.700 are doing activities and they're keeping them occupied and

230 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:46.400 they're learning. So it's just really overall and amazing experience.

231 00:11:47.900 --> 00:11:49.100 Next slide please.

232 00:11:51.200 --> 00:11:54.700 So not that we have an idea of how recently and athlete diverse

233 00:11:54.700 --> 00:11:57.800 Muslims are and what Ramadan is let's talk

234 00:11:57.800 --> 00:12:00.200 allyship and how to be supportive to your Muslim

235 00:12:00.200 --> 00:12:01.400 neighbors during Ramadan.

236 00:12:02.200 --> 00:12:06.300 Next slide please. So first thing first unfortunately

237 00:12:05.300 --> 00:12:08.500 during Ramadan, it can

238 00:12:08.500 --> 00:12:10.500 be an increase in islamophobia.

239 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:15.000 Islamophobia is a fear Prejudice and

240 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:17.900 hatred Muslims at least hostility and

241 00:12:17.900 --> 00:12:22.100 intolerance by means of threatening harassment abuse

242 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.400 and intimidation Muslims and

243 00:12:24.400 --> 00:12:25.100 non Muslims.

244 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:27.900 both in an offline and online world

245 00:12:28.800 --> 00:12:31.800 Please note that islamophobia is a violation of

246 00:12:31.800 --> 00:12:34.700 neck doors. Do not discriminate guidelines.

247 00:12:37.100 --> 00:12:41.400 islamophobia manifests itself in many different anti-muslim activities

248 00:12:42.300 --> 00:12:45.900 College burden a scholar of islamophobia identifies three

249 00:12:45.900 --> 00:12:49.500 types of islamophobia dialectic structural

250 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:50.400 and private

251 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:56.000 dialectic islamophobia is perpetrated through bias and

252 00:12:55.300 --> 00:12:58.200 media representation and in the legal system

253 00:12:58.200 --> 00:13:01.300 in the use of end time Muslim rhetoric and

254 00:13:01.300 --> 00:13:04.200 statements by political candidates and elected or

255 00:13:04.200 --> 00:13:07.800 appointed officials dialectic islamophobia actually

256 00:13:07.800 --> 00:13:10.700 strengthened in structural in private islamophobia.

257 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.300 Structural islamophobia is reflected in

258 00:13:15.300 --> 00:13:19.400 institutionalized and time Muslim legislation. According

259 00:13:18.400 --> 00:13:21.600 to the US Berkeley's othering and

260 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:22.700 belonging Institute.

261 00:13:23.300 --> 00:13:27.400 231 pieces of anti-muslim legislation

262 00:13:26.400 --> 00:13:29.900 have been introduced across 44

263 00:13:29.900 --> 00:13:32.400 US state legislators between the years

264 00:13:32.400 --> 00:13:34.400 of 2010 and 2020.

265 00:13:35.400 --> 00:13:39.300 Of these 231 attempts 20 and

266 00:13:38.300 --> 00:13:41.400 time Wilson bills have been signed into law

267 00:13:41.400 --> 00:13:42.400 in 13 states.

268 00:13:44.300 --> 00:13:48.400 Private islamophobia is the fear suspicion and

269 00:13:47.400 --> 00:13:50.700 violent targeting of Muslims by

270 00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:53.200 pirate actors individuals are

271 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:56.300 institutions acting independently of the state

272 00:13:56.300 --> 00:14:00.000 example of these are hey Gatherings hate speech

273 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.500 mosque oppositions.

274 00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:03.100 Next slide please.

275 00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:10.000 So a Gallup has put together this graph and

276 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.300 as of 2010 it reports

277 00:14:12.300 --> 00:14:16.600 that 48% So almost half of Muslims have personally experienced

278 00:14:16.600 --> 00:14:18.900 racial or religious discrimination.

279 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:24.200 People suspected of crimes who are perceived to be Muslim remember

280 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:26.400 before saying there's no one way to look at

281 00:14:26.400 --> 00:14:29.500 Muslim, but there's a perception so people who are perceived to

282 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:33.100 be Muslim receive more than seven times media coverage

283 00:14:32.100 --> 00:14:35.600 compared to non Muslim suspects of

284 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:36.600 similar crimes.

285 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:40.300 According to research Muslims were harassed in

286 00:14:40.300 --> 00:14:44.000 145 countries in 2020. Again,

287 00:14:43.400 --> 00:14:46.400 the graph was in 2020 and it

288 00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:49.400 doesn't the graph was from 2010 apologies. So

289 00:14:49.400 --> 00:14:52.300 there hasn't taken actually hasn't considered

290 00:14:52.300 --> 00:14:55.500 all looked at the data for more recent events were actually also showed

291 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:57.000 the rise in anti-Semitism.

292 00:14:57.900 --> 00:14:58.800 Next slide please.

293 00:15:01.800 --> 00:15:04.800 March 15th is anti-islamophobia day.

294 00:15:05.500 --> 00:15:08.500 It is an international observance designated by

295 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:11.400 the United Nations in 2022.

296 00:15:12.400 --> 00:15:15.300 Taking place on the 15th of March every year

297 00:15:15.300 --> 00:15:17.800 in 140 countries worldwide.

298 00:15:18.800 --> 00:15:21.700 The date March 15 was chosen as it

299 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:25.000 is the anniversary of the Christchurch students

300 00:15:24.500 --> 00:15:27.000 in which 51 people were killed.

301 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:31.300 In the next slide, we'll move on to the best practices to be

302 00:15:31.300 --> 00:15:32.000 an ally.

303 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:39.200 Which muscle neighbors a happy Ramadan it's

304 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:41.600 easy to take a greeting for granted, but it's

305 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:44.500 a quite meaningful for Muslim neighbors

306 00:15:44.500 --> 00:15:44.700 to hear.

307 00:15:45.400 --> 00:15:48.300 Here here are a few General greetings. You can use to wish your

308 00:15:48.300 --> 00:15:50.400 neighbors a happy Ramadan in 2023.

309 00:15:51.300 --> 00:15:54.200 Note wishing was the neighbors to have you Ramadan is a

310 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.500 cultural acknowledgment not a discussion of religion.

311 00:15:57.300 --> 00:16:00.400 As a result, it does not violate guidelines to post these

312 00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:01.400 feelings in the main feed.

313 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:03.800 Ramadan Mubarak

314 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:07.100 It means have a blessed Ramadan.

315 00:16:07.700 --> 00:16:08.800 Ramadan Kareem

316 00:16:09.300 --> 00:16:12.300 hopefully means have a generous Ramadan. Both of

317 00:16:12.300 --> 00:16:15.300 these are interchangeable and it's just a matter of preference on

318 00:16:15.300 --> 00:16:16.000 which one is used.

319 00:16:16.800 --> 00:16:19.000 You can also just say happy Ramadan.

320 00:16:19.800 --> 00:16:22.300 Those are celebrate. We'll know in appreciate your

321 00:16:22.300 --> 00:16:23.400 intentional inclusion.

322 00:16:25.100 --> 00:16:27.800 When you use correctly language makes us feel seen.

323 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:31.100 It validates us and it connects us as a

324 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:32.100 global community.

325 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:36.400 As a Muslim woman it is so nice to hear someone say

326 00:16:36.400 --> 00:16:39.600 Ramadan Mubarak or Ramadan cream.

327 00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:42.200 In fact, just the other day. I was

328 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:45.300 at the mall and a sales associate turn to my cousin and

329 00:16:45.300 --> 00:16:48.600 I and said Ramadan Kareem and I just

330 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:51.300 remember at the moment just feeling seen and just feeling good.

331 00:16:51.300 --> 00:16:54.200 Like wow. Thank you for acknowledging this. I appreciate it.

332 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.100 It goes a long thing.

333 00:16:56.300 --> 00:16:57.400 Next slide please.

334 00:16:58.800 --> 00:17:01.400 So I want to give a big shout out to our

335 00:17:01.400 --> 00:17:04.400 UK neighbors who posted greetings to their neighbors

336 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:07.300 on next door at the beginning of Ramadan this

337 00:17:07.300 --> 00:17:10.000 year. Thank you so much. You'll notice

338 00:17:10.500 --> 00:17:13.400 a lot of hard reactions and gratitude from Muslim Neighbors

339 00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:14.000 in the comments.

340 00:17:15.700 --> 00:17:18.200 It's just as easy. I just saying, you know, happy Ramadan.

341 00:17:20.200 --> 00:17:21.000 Next slide please.

342 00:17:22.800 --> 00:17:23.100 So

343 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:26.400 thoughtfully, ask questions and engage

344 00:17:27.600 --> 00:17:31.000 Inclusive language is so important and

345 00:17:30.100 --> 00:17:34.000 I know the evolution of language today. It

346 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.500 can be overwhelming and scary to potentially

347 00:17:36.500 --> 00:17:37.700 say the wrong thing.

348 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:40.500 I want to one validate that

349 00:17:41.500 --> 00:17:44.200 and also say that like silence is a

350 00:17:44.200 --> 00:17:44.800 choice in itself.

351 00:17:45.400 --> 00:17:48.300 But here are some examples and tips to help you

352 00:17:48.300 --> 00:17:50.500 kind of navigate through and have a voice.

353 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:55.000 So, please do act your neighbors about Ramadan.

354 00:17:55.600 --> 00:17:58.600 Ramadan is a great opportunity to learn about an often

355 00:17:58.600 --> 00:18:01.500 misunderstood group of people. So action

356 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:04.200 Muslim neighbors of our Ramadan and

357 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:05.200 what it means to them.

358 00:18:07.800 --> 00:18:10.300 Ask your neighbors how you can support them during this

359 00:18:10.300 --> 00:18:10.500 time.

360 00:18:11.500 --> 00:18:14.200 The answer won't be the same across as Muslims have

361 00:18:14.200 --> 00:18:17.500 different experiences with fasting and have different

362 00:18:17.500 --> 00:18:20.800 needs also from different backgrounds.

363 00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:25.600 Like any holiday if dark can be lonely for some

364 00:18:25.600 --> 00:18:27.200 if they don't have family close by?

365 00:18:27.900 --> 00:18:30.500 Even if they do it's a nice gesture to

366 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:31.200 sit with them.

367 00:18:31.900 --> 00:18:34.600 And see how they break fast and they oftentimes will

368 00:18:34.600 --> 00:18:35.400 invite you to come over.

369 00:18:36.300 --> 00:18:39.000 As I mentioned Ramadan is a time

370 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:39.900 of service.

371 00:18:40.800 --> 00:18:43.300 So check with your local Mass to see if they need

372 00:18:43.300 --> 00:18:44.400 volunteers.

373 00:18:45.400 --> 00:18:48.800 I know one of the Moss that I attend they have a huge

374 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:52.200 annual Interfaith dinner if

375 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:55.600 start dinner where they invite people throughout the community to

376 00:18:55.600 --> 00:18:58.700 come in and learn a bit more about Muslims within

377 00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:01.000 their neighborhood in Ramadan again, it's like

378 00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:04.100 Educating and providing an awareness in hopes to

379 00:19:04.100 --> 00:19:05.900 have more inclusion community.

380 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:09.500 Next slide please.

381 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.000 So on the flip side here are some

382 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:18.100 things that can come across as offensive or discriminatory during

383 00:19:17.100 --> 00:19:18.600 Ramadan.

384 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:20.700 So, please don't say

385 00:19:21.800 --> 00:19:24.800 my most neighbor is being weird and leaving

386 00:19:24.800 --> 00:19:27.100 the house at different periods of time throughout the day.

387 00:19:28.100 --> 00:19:29.100 Anyone know what's up?

388 00:19:31.800 --> 00:19:34.800 Muslims typically go back and forth to the mosque multiple times

389 00:19:34.800 --> 00:19:35.400 you pray.

390 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:39.300 So it's discriminatory to frame it as suspicion or

391 00:19:39.300 --> 00:19:40.100 profiling.

392 00:19:41.700 --> 00:19:44.500 Oh, I do intermasting intermittent fasting

393 00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:47.200 all the time. I totally know what it's like.

394 00:19:48.600 --> 00:19:50.300 Well, it's okay to relay.

395 00:19:51.500 --> 00:19:54.500 Be thoughtful not to equate Health experiences with spiritual

396 00:19:54.500 --> 00:19:58.500 experiences instead extol open-ended

397 00:19:57.500 --> 00:20:00.300 questions about what fasting or

398 00:20:00.300 --> 00:20:01.600 Ramadan means to the person.

399 00:20:04.300 --> 00:20:07.200 Please don't say and I've heard it a

400 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:07.400 few times.

401 00:20:08.600 --> 00:20:11.700 Wow, poor you you must be starving

402 00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:15.200 or not even water. No not

403 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:17.300 even water. It's more

404 00:20:17.300 --> 00:20:20.700 respectful and inclusive to say I admire your

405 00:20:20.700 --> 00:20:21.700 commitment to your feet.

406 00:20:23.300 --> 00:20:27.300 And as I mentioned before there are reasons certain Muslims,

407 00:20:26.300 --> 00:20:29.500 not fast. So please don't

408 00:20:29.500 --> 00:20:33.000 ask them why they are in fasting. It's deeply personal maybe

409 00:20:32.300 --> 00:20:35.100 someone has a chronic illness that they don't want

410 00:20:35.100 --> 00:20:35.900 to disclose.

411 00:20:37.300 --> 00:20:41.400 These of course are just a few examples and

412 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:43.100 during Q&A happy to talk

413 00:20:43.100 --> 00:20:44.500 through anything that has come up for you.

414 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.300 The most important thing to remember is to be

415 00:20:48.300 --> 00:20:50.100 respectful and humble.

416 00:20:50.800 --> 00:20:53.400 Respect the differences and understand that

417 00:20:53.400 --> 00:20:56.800 Ramadan is important for your Muslim Neighbors.

418 00:20:57.300 --> 00:21:00.000 And be humble and break enough to act if you don't know.

419 00:21:00.900 --> 00:21:03.600 And commit to learning more learning is

420 00:21:03.600 --> 00:21:05.600 a lifelong journey for us all.

421 00:21:07.800 --> 00:21:08.800 Next slide please.

422 00:21:09.900 --> 00:21:10.400 So

423 00:21:11.700 --> 00:21:14.500 in order to respond to and dismantle

424 00:21:14.500 --> 00:21:18.000 islamophobia effectively narratives about

425 00:21:17.900 --> 00:21:20.300 Islam and Muslims must be

426 00:21:20.300 --> 00:21:24.100 widened and inclusive inclusive here are

427 00:21:23.100 --> 00:21:24.900 some best practices.

428 00:21:26.900 --> 00:21:29.400 Educate yourself youth authentic

429 00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:32.500 sources, maybe even reach out to your Muslim neighbor to

430 00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:35.600 educate yourself about Islam. Mostly Faith

431 00:21:35.600 --> 00:21:38.600 culture. I will say Muslims are imperfect. So

432 00:21:38.600 --> 00:21:41.200 do not expect Perfection, but they can hopefully

433 00:21:41.200 --> 00:21:43.800 guide you to get more resources.

434 00:21:44.900 --> 00:21:47.900 Learn more about dialectic structural and

435 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:50.300 private islamophobia and this impact

436 00:21:50.300 --> 00:21:52.100 on local communities.

437 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:55.300 to speak up

438 00:21:56.300 --> 00:21:59.600 talk to your neighbors about biased media coverage or any proposed

439 00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:01.700 legislation. That seems islamophobic.

440 00:22:02.600 --> 00:22:05.500 Stand against hate speech and violence towards

441 00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:07.700 mosque or other aspects of Islam.

442 00:22:09.400 --> 00:22:12.700 Question people who make islamophobic jokes are

443 00:22:12.700 --> 00:22:13.400 insults.

444 00:22:14.800 --> 00:22:16.400 class 1 model inclusion

445 00:22:17.300 --> 00:22:21.400 organized Interfaith and Intercultural events to build relationships.

446 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:25.200 Sent to the voices of Muslims give people

447 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:26.600 the space to speak up.

448 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:30.800 boost positive messages highlight the

449 00:22:30.800 --> 00:22:32.300 things we do want to see

450 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.500 an actual muscle neighbors for feedback on allyship

451 00:22:37.300 --> 00:22:40.400 Again, these are just tips that we can use during Ramadan and

452 00:22:40.400 --> 00:22:43.900 outside of Ramadan and I'm sure allies your

453 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:46.200 Muslim neighbors across will appreciate this.

454 00:22:47.300 --> 00:22:50.100 I want to thank you all for joining this webinar.

455 00:22:50.900 --> 00:22:54.300 It shows your commitment to contributing to inclusive neighborhoods.

456 00:22:53.300 --> 00:22:56.200 And with that. I'll start

457 00:22:56.200 --> 00:22:56.800 taking questions.

458 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:05.800 As I'm Fanta, thank you so much for being

459 00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:08.700 here today and for that incredible webinar and

460 00:23:08.700 --> 00:23:11.500 to everyone on the call. Hi, it's Katie.

461 00:23:11.500 --> 00:23:14.800 It's nice to see all of you. And now we're

462 00:23:14.800 --> 00:23:17.100 gonna open it up for Q&A. So

463 00:23:17.100 --> 00:23:20.200 if you have any questions, we actually didn't get

464 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:23.400 very many in the chat. I was surprised I think everybody was so excited

465 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:26.400 and like tuned into what you were saying, but feel

466 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:29.200 free to click on that Q&A button that's in your Zoom app. And

467 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:32.900 you can drop in a question. We do have a couple that

468 00:23:32.900 --> 00:23:35.400 we can get going with so

469 00:23:35.400 --> 00:23:38.100 first question that popped in

470 00:23:38.100 --> 00:23:41.800 earlier actually came from Michelle wanted to know if there

471 00:23:41.800 --> 00:23:44.700 are any Muslims that are vegetarian or vegan.

472 00:23:44.700 --> 00:23:47.800 Could you speak to any sort of maybe like dietary preferences?

473 00:23:47.800 --> 00:23:50.300 Yes, so that is deeply that is

474 00:23:50.300 --> 00:23:53.500 personal and individual to the person so it is a lifestyle

475 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:56.200 choice. So there are definitely Muslims who are both

476 00:23:56.200 --> 00:24:00.700 vegan or vegan vegetarian and prescottarian. I

477 00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:02.100 know there are a lot of dishes that

478 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:05.300 Have and specifically I live in a neighborhood that

479 00:24:05.300 --> 00:24:08.300 is predominantly Pakistani and

480 00:24:08.300 --> 00:24:11.900 Indian. So so most are huge and

481 00:24:11.900 --> 00:24:14.200 so mosters are actually filled with

482 00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:18.100 potatoes and spices. So that is definitely a large

483 00:24:17.100 --> 00:24:20.600 Hallmark within Ramadan when it comes to food. So

484 00:24:20.600 --> 00:24:23.500 yes to the question. There are Muslims to

485 00:24:23.500 --> 00:24:24.700 a vegetarian or vegan.

486 00:24:25.800 --> 00:24:28.500 Got it. Okay. There are definitely Muslims that

487 00:24:28.500 --> 00:24:31.400 are vegan or vegetarian and really dietary preferences. Just

488 00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:35.000 a personal choice. It doesn't actually have to do with with Ramadan

489 00:24:34.100 --> 00:24:37.100 or culture. Only thing is it most people

490 00:24:37.100 --> 00:24:38.700 don't know Muslims don't eat pork.

491 00:24:39.300 --> 00:24:42.700 And so that is something that is verb

492 00:24:42.700 --> 00:24:45.700 into eating Islam and this for various reasons.

493 00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:46.800 But yeah.

494 00:24:48.800 --> 00:24:51.200 Got it love that. Thank you so much for sharing.

495 00:24:52.500 --> 00:24:55.000 And all right. I have a question.

496 00:24:55.800 --> 00:24:58.300 First of all, actually, I want to share this very sweet comment that

497 00:24:58.300 --> 00:25:01.700 Champa Rhoden with so Champa wrote

498 00:25:01.700 --> 00:25:04.200 in and said that they grew up in India and

499 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:07.900 all of their neighbors were Muslims grew up spending so much of

500 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:10.600 their Community time with other Muslims and

501 00:25:10.600 --> 00:25:13.500 they come from a Hindu Bengali Indian background. Yeah

502 00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:16.500 have been raised but the very global view of inclusion to all

503 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:19.200 people they have respect and honor all of their Muslim

504 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:22.300 brothers and sisters. They're very excited for this meeting

505 00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:25.400 and grateful that we arranged it which I agree. So thank

506 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:28.400 you for that as well. It feels really really lovely to be able

507 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:28.500 to

508 00:25:30.800 --> 00:25:33.600 Um, all right, so I have another question

509 00:25:33.600 --> 00:25:36.100 that just came in from Chris. I may have

510 00:25:36.100 --> 00:25:39.400 missed this but at what age do children typically start

511 00:25:39.400 --> 00:25:42.600 fasting I'm guessing it may depend on family or

512 00:25:42.600 --> 00:25:46.000 really or Regional considerations. Yeah. So

513 00:25:45.800 --> 00:25:48.300 typically at the age of puberty, they will

514 00:25:48.300 --> 00:25:51.700 start fasting. I'll say probably around like eight

515 00:25:51.700 --> 00:25:53.900 or nine or ten for instance my

516 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:59.300 Son attended to the Islamic school in Jersey and during Ramadan

517 00:25:58.300 --> 00:26:01.500 the older children. So I think around like fourth

518 00:26:01.500 --> 00:26:04.200 grade and over our fasting but it definitely part

519 00:26:04.200 --> 00:26:08.200 of it is parents kind of influencing like a you

520 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:10.700 maybe don't fast today or

521 00:26:10.700 --> 00:26:13.200 maybe not I know for some times my mom will tell my

522 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:16.700 nephew like on weekends at least if you want to start fasting try on

523 00:26:16.700 --> 00:26:18.800 weekends and then kind of build that momentum into it.

524 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:22.700 Got it. Yeah, it sort of feels like it's a practice you

525 00:26:22.700 --> 00:26:24.000 would have to build up to.

526 00:26:25.100 --> 00:26:25.300 Yeah.

527 00:26:26.300 --> 00:26:29.600 Yeah, okay. Um, I have

528 00:26:29.600 --> 00:26:32.800 two questions that I'm combining from Mona and Margo. Um

529 00:26:32.800 --> 00:26:35.700 Margo asks, um,

530 00:26:35.700 --> 00:26:38.500 what determines when Robin on happens, they

531 00:26:38.500 --> 00:26:41.500 notice that it occurs at different times of each year. And then Mona

532 00:26:41.500 --> 00:26:44.400 asks how long Ramadan how long does Ramadan last sorry if

533 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:47.200 I miss that if we mentioned yeah, did you just give her a stick over

534 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:50.700 of that part? Yeah. So um Muslims followed

535 00:26:50.700 --> 00:26:53.300 the Luna calendar. So Ramadan is typically like

536 00:26:53.300 --> 00:26:56.900 and it's also the nine months of the year throughout the year on months

537 00:26:56.900 --> 00:26:59.600 begin and end with the siding of a new crescent moon. So

538 00:26:59.600 --> 00:27:01.200 the moon was sighted.

539 00:27:02.100 --> 00:27:05.100 Wednesday got the exact date the Wednesday before we started

540 00:27:05.100 --> 00:27:09.100 fasting. So then we started fasting on that Thursday and it's

541 00:27:08.100 --> 00:27:11.200 about 29 to 30 days again. The reason

542 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:14.500 why it's 29 and 30 is because depending on the sighting of

543 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:17.400 the new Crescent Moon, it will then end that day

544 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:19.000 and will begin e the next day.

545 00:27:19.900 --> 00:27:22.500 God okay guys, so really is your

546 00:27:22.500 --> 00:27:25.300 by year. So next year is gonna move up about two

547 00:27:25.300 --> 00:27:27.400 weeks. It changes to God every year.

548 00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:31.100 Okay, so does that mean if it changes two weeks every year

549 00:27:31.100 --> 00:27:35.100 do you ever wind up with Ramadan and like January or does it typically

550 00:27:34.100 --> 00:27:37.900 stay in this sort of like early months of

551 00:27:37.900 --> 00:27:39.300 the year all throughout the year?

552 00:27:40.100 --> 00:27:43.700 They just can't summer and August.

553 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:46.200 Okay was by two

554 00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:49.300 weeks. So in the next couple years it definitely will probably

555 00:27:49.300 --> 00:27:49.900 be in January.

556 00:27:50.800 --> 00:27:53.300 Amazing. Okay. Good to know. Um

557 00:27:53.300 --> 00:27:56.100 Anna has a question. If I

558 00:27:56.100 --> 00:27:59.400 wanted to create a post stating Ramadan Mubarak or

559 00:27:59.400 --> 00:28:02.400 Ramadan Kareem. What imagery would be appropriate to use like

560 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:05.600 if she wanted to add like a photo or post? Yeah. Um,

561 00:28:06.800 --> 00:28:08.600 I don't know if you can see kind of like my background.

562 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:12.100 For something like with like the Crescent Moon

563 00:28:12.100 --> 00:28:15.400 is really important this long. So something would like a crescent

564 00:28:15.400 --> 00:28:20.300 moon. I know sometimes people like the Emojis of the crescent moon or a

565 00:28:19.300 --> 00:28:22.400 green heart. I know I've seen a few of those slides

566 00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:25.400 a few of those. I'm actually within next door within

567 00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:29.300 our employee group, but also outside or a

568 00:28:28.300 --> 00:28:30.100 picture of him I should

569 00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:32.700 Okay, love it.

570 00:28:34.100 --> 00:28:37.300 Um, Michael asked the question would it

571 00:28:37.300 --> 00:28:40.400 be well received or acceptable to invite a Muslim family to

572 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:42.400 break fast with you in your home?

573 00:28:43.700 --> 00:28:46.400 Like if I would be non-muslim, could I invite

574 00:28:46.400 --> 00:28:49.800 you over to my house to break fast at my house? Yes, I

575 00:28:49.800 --> 00:28:52.200 would definitely say like it depends on a nature of your relationship.

576 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:55.300 If you're really close definitely like over

577 00:28:55.300 --> 00:28:58.400 like people invite me over all the time. But also again understand

578 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:01.700 that there are some restrictions when it comes to food for

579 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:04.300 Muslim. So, you know, we don't drink

580 00:29:04.300 --> 00:29:07.500 alcohol. So any making sure that there's no alcohol around

581 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:10.700 anything with alcohol in it pork or

582 00:29:10.700 --> 00:29:13.500 pork products like anything with gelatin in it.

583 00:29:13.500 --> 00:29:17.700 I know making a huge thing. He so

584 00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:19.300 just really being cognizant of

585 00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:22.300 that and maybe even doing some kind of research depending on

586 00:29:22.300 --> 00:29:26.100 if you know the ethnic background what is a traditional

587 00:29:25.100 --> 00:29:28.500 food that they like and maybe serving that will

588 00:29:28.500 --> 00:29:31.300 also be helpful and there's plenty of like Muslim restaurants that are catering

589 00:29:31.300 --> 00:29:34.700 during this time. So I think that would be a beautiful gesture just let

590 00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.600 them know in advance just in case they have other if our

591 00:29:37.600 --> 00:29:40.000 community plans but that is beautiful. I know

592 00:29:40.300 --> 00:29:41.100 I would appreciate that.

593 00:29:42.400 --> 00:29:45.300 I love that. I wish we lived in the same city. We could break fast

594 00:29:45.300 --> 00:29:48.000 together. Yeah, I agree. We'll do a virtual one of these

595 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:48.200 days.

596 00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:52.800 All right, I love that. Um and Anonymous

597 00:29:52.800 --> 00:29:55.000 person wrote in and said so this is

598 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:59.200 kind of related to the the differences and regions at

599 00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:01.300 my loss local mosque. What would

600 00:30:01.300 --> 00:30:04.300 be an appropriate conversation starter to learn

601 00:30:04.300 --> 00:30:08.000 more about the different sex of Islam

602 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.600 like the different? Yeah.

603 00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:15.400 So it's that's a really great question and their

604 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:17.200 Master usually someone who's there in their

605 00:30:17.200 --> 00:30:20.500 all the time, which is like the Imam or a shake

606 00:30:20.500 --> 00:30:23.300 and usually are designated to each month. So for the

607 00:30:23.300 --> 00:30:26.700 two larger sets of Islam is

608 00:30:26.700 --> 00:30:31.900 Sunni is SUNY covers about 85% of Shiite

609 00:30:29.900 --> 00:30:32.100 which are

610 00:30:32.100 --> 00:30:36.200 a smaller percentage and so to

611 00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:38.500 understand those sex. I would probably quote you

612 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:41.400 a mustard. I know if anyone is in for instance at

613 00:30:41.400 --> 00:30:45.100 in New York the New York nyu's Islamic

614 00:30:44.100 --> 00:30:47.500 Center actually has both any mom

615 00:30:47.500 --> 00:30:50.400 for SUNY and any mom fish. Yeah in order

616 00:30:50.400 --> 00:30:53.900 to be able equipped to access these questions, so I

617 00:30:53.900 --> 00:30:53.900 would

618 00:30:54.800 --> 00:30:57.300 Checking at your mom to see first. Okay, like so you

619 00:30:57.300 --> 00:31:00.300 need just understand more about what SUNY is or Shia, but some of

620 00:31:00.300 --> 00:31:03.600 it will kind of be challenging because there are overall they're

621 00:31:03.600 --> 00:31:06.500 the same but they're small differences in between and

622 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:09.300 I think the person who belongs in each segment actually be

623 00:31:09.300 --> 00:31:10.700 able to better speak on it.

624 00:31:11.900 --> 00:31:14.300 But you can yet go to your local Masjid and the

625 00:31:14.300 --> 00:31:15.900 mom there should be able to help you.

626 00:31:17.100 --> 00:31:19.500 Love that. Okay, great, and thank you.

627 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:24.700 Anonymous person for the question. That was a really really thoughtful question.

628 00:31:26.100 --> 00:31:29.200 Um, I have another comment and came in from Gail Gail says thank

629 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.400 you Fanta for sharing portion of Your Life Changers learning

630 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:35.800 about different cultures, especially via personal experiences. So

631 00:31:35.800 --> 00:31:38.300 just another a note to you

632 00:31:38.300 --> 00:31:41.200 for being here. Um,

633 00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:43.600 okay. I have a couple questions that

634 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:46.500 are a little

635 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:51.400 they don't necessarily borderline and political but definitely

636 00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:55.300 if you feel like you don't feel comfortable and then

637 00:31:55.300 --> 00:31:58.500 you can say like actually that's not something that we can speak to but one question

638 00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:01.300 came in earlier, um, is it possible for

639 00:32:01.300 --> 00:32:04.800 you to speak to the relationship generally between people

640 00:32:04.800 --> 00:32:06.400 who are Muslim and people who are Jewish?

641 00:32:08.600 --> 00:32:11.200 Yeah, I I'm not well equipped to answer

642 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:12.800 that in the same. I will say that.

643 00:32:14.100 --> 00:32:17.800 Islam Judaism and Christianity all all our abrahamic

644 00:32:17.800 --> 00:32:20.600 religions. So there's a lot of similarities and just

645 00:32:20.600 --> 00:32:23.400 like the monotheistic practice. I know

646 00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:26.300 of course specifically and the Middle East there's

647 00:32:26.300 --> 00:32:28.200 a lot that's going on, but there is a huge

648 00:32:30.100 --> 00:32:33.800 Allyship between them at least within my communities again, maybe because

649 00:32:33.800 --> 00:32:37.800 I'm in New York NYU. There's always Interfaith group

650 00:32:37.800 --> 00:32:41.400 that comes in and speak and really engage

651 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:43.600 and be allies to one another understanding

652 00:32:43.600 --> 00:32:46.800 that there are differences at the same time. Like we should

653 00:32:46.800 --> 00:32:48.800 be embracing just

654 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:53.600 each other and being kind towards one another so that's

655 00:32:53.600 --> 00:32:56.200 just from my personal experience and what I've seen

656 00:32:57.600 --> 00:32:59.400 I love that. Thank you for sharing that.

657 00:33:00.700 --> 00:33:00.700 um

658 00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:05.500 another question that came

659 00:33:05.500 --> 00:33:07.400 in from Harlan

660 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:11.300 Our family so heartlands as our family has gotten

661 00:33:11.300 --> 00:33:14.300 good use of a book called How To Be A Perfect Stranger the

662 00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:17.600 essential religious etiquette handbook. It is

663 00:33:17.600 --> 00:33:20.200 a guide to practices in a wide range of

664 00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:21.500 religions found in the US.

665 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:24.500 First question. Have you seen this book by chance?

666 00:33:25.100 --> 00:33:28.500 I have not but it's now on my Amazon book list to order.

667 00:33:28.500 --> 00:33:31.100 Okay? Okay. Well then

668 00:33:31.100 --> 00:33:34.600 the second question he had was just whether or not he felt like this section on

669 00:33:34.600 --> 00:33:37.500 Islam was accurate or not. But if

670 00:33:37.500 --> 00:33:40.400 you haven't read then I guess we don't we have an

671 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:43.900 answer for you on that one. Oh and I will get back to you on that after

672 00:33:43.900 --> 00:33:44.400 I read.

673 00:33:45.300 --> 00:33:48.900 All right. Got it. Perfect. Um, okay another

674 00:33:48.900 --> 00:33:50.300 question from

675 00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:55.200 Michelle is it appropriate to give

676 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:58.400 a gift of money to a close Muslim friend?

677 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.200 It is a time of Charity right? And if the

678 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:03.100 money will help the family, is that a good thing?

679 00:34:04.600 --> 00:34:07.300 Yeah, I mean, I think again it depends on the relationship with

680 00:34:07.300 --> 00:34:10.400 that person. Right and you may know them better

681 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:13.900 than I do. Like is it something that they would find helpful or sensitive?

682 00:34:13.900 --> 00:34:16.300 I'm not sure but the gesture I would say

683 00:34:16.300 --> 00:34:19.400 it would be good. I would probably give it

684 00:34:19.400 --> 00:34:19.600 to them.

685 00:34:20.500 --> 00:34:23.300 At the end of Ramadan and call it

686 00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:26.400 like an Eid gift like so again, like I mentioned we

687 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:30.100 end Ramadan with something called Idol fit. There's a big celebration and

688 00:34:29.100 --> 00:34:32.700 oftentimes we are exchanging money and gifts. So

689 00:34:32.700 --> 00:34:36.300 I think that would be a nice gesture and saying like, he's Mubarak,

690 00:34:35.300 --> 00:34:39.000 which is same thing like saying like happy Eid, I

691 00:34:38.300 --> 00:34:41.200 you know and just giving them that I think that's a great way to kind

692 00:34:41.200 --> 00:34:41.300 of

693 00:34:42.700 --> 00:34:45.300 Kind of give them that money because it typically happens

694 00:34:45.300 --> 00:34:46.400 during that time of the month.

695 00:34:48.200 --> 00:34:48.700 Okay.

696 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:51.000 um

697 00:34:52.200 --> 00:34:55.600 Let's see here. Okay. Another

698 00:34:55.600 --> 00:34:59.000 question. I apologize in advance Vijaya.

699 00:34:58.200 --> 00:35:02.200 I hope I said your name correctly the Jaya

700 00:35:01.200 --> 00:35:04.500 asked and says thank you for the webinar. You mentioned

701 00:35:04.500 --> 00:35:07.300 a US belonging something Institute. Could you please tell

702 00:35:07.300 --> 00:35:10.200 us more about what they do? And so I'm actually happy

703 00:35:10.200 --> 00:35:13.500 to take that question because I have familiarity.

704 00:35:13.500 --> 00:35:16.900 So at UC Berkeley, which is

705 00:35:16.900 --> 00:35:19.200 a university just across the bay from

706 00:35:19.200 --> 00:35:22.600 me here in California. They have something called the othering and

707 00:35:22.600 --> 00:35:25.500 belonging Institute and it's a

708 00:35:25.500 --> 00:35:29.200 really great group of thought leaders.

709 00:35:28.200 --> 00:35:31.500 And with what

710 00:35:31.500 --> 00:35:34.900 I'm looking for academics that are focused on essentially

711 00:35:34.900 --> 00:35:37.500 dismantling systems of racism and

712 00:35:37.500 --> 00:35:40.200 helping to drive a quality. They do

713 00:35:40.200 --> 00:35:43.700 a bunch of different research. So I believe the web URL

714 00:35:43.700 --> 00:35:47.600 is just belonging.berkeley.edu, but

715 00:35:47.600 --> 00:35:50.600 if you Google belonging Institute Berkeley, you'll

716 00:35:50.600 --> 00:35:51.700 be able to find it.

717 00:35:53.500 --> 00:35:56.300 Thank you. Great resource

718 00:35:56.300 --> 00:35:56.600 to have

719 00:35:57.900 --> 00:35:58.200 yeah.

720 00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:02.300 Okay. Now I just have a whole bunch of comments that are a bunch of like thank

721 00:36:02.300 --> 00:36:05.200 yous which is like really sweet and thank you

722 00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:08.700 in particular for the kind inclusive answer about the allyship between

723 00:36:08.700 --> 00:36:13.000 Jews Muslims and Christians. This gives me hope Mel says

724 00:36:12.200 --> 00:36:15.700 they love embracing differences and acceptance through

725 00:36:15.700 --> 00:36:18.300 understanding and knowledge. So just

726 00:36:18.300 --> 00:36:20.600 a lot of love and thank you and

727 00:36:22.200 --> 00:36:25.200 I have another question that I would

728 00:36:25.200 --> 00:36:28.300 love to ask you. And again if

729 00:36:28.300 --> 00:36:31.700 this one feels a little too like personal or something definitely, you

730 00:36:31.700 --> 00:36:33.100 know, thank you. Um

731 00:36:34.200 --> 00:36:37.600 But I'm curious to understand a little more about

732 00:36:37.600 --> 00:36:40.400 your relationship with wearing the hijab.

733 00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:43.000 So as we know right now, there's definitely a lot

734 00:36:43.100 --> 00:36:46.300 of tension and different parts of the Middle East in particular.

735 00:36:46.300 --> 00:36:50.600 I think many of us are seeing what's been happening with the

736 00:36:49.600 --> 00:36:52.900 uprisings any Ron and

737 00:36:52.900 --> 00:36:55.300 what women are fighting for over there. So,

738 00:36:56.300 --> 00:36:59.100 I'm sure it's a very complex subject. Would you be able to give us

739 00:36:59.100 --> 00:37:02.300 a little bit Insight from your standpoint? Yeah, I could

740 00:37:02.300 --> 00:37:05.300 definitely give like my experience with the hijab and like why I decided

741 00:37:05.300 --> 00:37:08.300 to wear it. I will say with everyone's going on with Iran. It's

742 00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:11.700 really unfortunate and it has to do more with the political regime at hand.

743 00:37:11.700 --> 00:37:14.200 But as I mentioned before I've been

744 00:37:14.200 --> 00:37:17.200 wearing I was born Muslim, but I've only been wearing the hijab about

745 00:37:17.200 --> 00:37:21.800 three years ago and it's definitely complicated growing

746 00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:24.400 up in the US being a minority in

747 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:28.400 so many ways both ethically but also religious background

748 00:37:27.400 --> 00:37:30.300 and I would just

749 00:37:30.300 --> 00:37:33.600 worry growing up how kids being mean and just being cheated

750 00:37:33.600 --> 00:37:36.100 differently and then I got to

751 00:37:36.100 --> 00:37:39.000 the workplace and I was worried, you know, I was able to like

752 00:37:40.100 --> 00:37:43.600 Fast or like find a place to pray but

753 00:37:43.600 --> 00:37:46.000 I still was not like presenting Muslim. So people would

754 00:37:46.300 --> 00:37:49.200 often ask me like, oh, wow, like I didn't know you're Muslim and my fear

755 00:37:49.200 --> 00:37:50.400 was just that people would

756 00:37:51.500 --> 00:37:54.900 discriminate against me that I wouldn't be able to grow at

757 00:37:54.900 --> 00:37:57.700 work that I would lose allies and

758 00:37:57.700 --> 00:38:00.100 friends and it really came actually like

759 00:38:01.100 --> 00:38:04.300 January first 2020 it was like and this was way before

760 00:38:04.300 --> 00:38:07.800 this was like a few months before covid became the world

761 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:10.100 went like shut down but like it was

762 00:38:10.100 --> 00:38:13.400 a decision that I've been thinking about for a bit that I

763 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:18.100 was like, it's just something that I want to do and it

764 00:38:17.100 --> 00:38:20.000 stayed with me and I was like, you know what I woke up one day I'm like, you know

765 00:38:20.200 --> 00:38:23.200 what I'm gonna do it and since putting it on I will

766 00:38:23.200 --> 00:38:23.700 say I

767 00:38:25.100 --> 00:38:28.800 The perspective from people is that it seems oppressive,

768 00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:32.000 but I've never felt more liberated in my life. I did

769 00:38:31.200 --> 00:38:32.700 just a sense of

770 00:38:33.700 --> 00:38:37.100 I dare say freedom and confidence that exudes

771 00:38:36.100 --> 00:38:39.600 with me now in the hijab is more like this is who

772 00:38:39.600 --> 00:38:42.600 I am and I'm not gonna change it for anyone

773 00:38:42.600 --> 00:38:47.500 and if you have a problem with it, that is your problem, but

774 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:48.500 also there's also

775 00:38:48.500 --> 00:38:51.500 different level of interactions that I have like the opposite success.

776 00:38:51.500 --> 00:38:54.500 I mean again working living in New York. There are

777 00:38:54.500 --> 00:38:58.000 a lot of like cat calling that it's it's really

778 00:38:57.600 --> 00:39:00.400 unfortunately you can't get away but what they job is

779 00:39:00.400 --> 00:39:03.200 like people just kind of like leave me alone and let me go about my business

780 00:39:03.200 --> 00:39:06.400 which is really really nice. But I

781 00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:09.500 think overall it's something for me that makes me

782 00:39:09.500 --> 00:39:12.200 happy, you know the decision I decided to make all my

783 00:39:12.200 --> 00:39:15.400 own I have four sisters and I'm the only one with the job.

784 00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:18.400 So again, it's something personal and everyone is within their own

785 00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.300 journey and it took me to decide like

786 00:39:21.200 --> 00:39:24.200 this is something I want to do and I'm going to commit to and since then like

787 00:39:24.200 --> 00:39:27.600 the fears that I've had around people discriminating just

788 00:39:27.600 --> 00:39:28.100 being the work.

789 00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:31.300 Actually didn't happen and I'm grateful for that because

790 00:39:31.300 --> 00:39:34.500 I've heard stories of our people who were discriminated for wearing

791 00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:37.600 her job. They were overlooked from promotions. They were fired.

792 00:39:37.600 --> 00:39:40.200 They received like harassment in the workplace and that's

793 00:39:40.200 --> 00:39:43.800 so unfortunate. And that's one of the reasons why allyship is

794 00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:47.100 so important in order to really face and

795 00:39:46.100 --> 00:39:49.300 dismantle Osama phobia, not only within our

796 00:39:49.300 --> 00:39:51.700 communities online and offline, but also in work,

797 00:39:52.700 --> 00:39:55.100 Yeah, for sure and thank you

798 00:39:55.100 --> 00:39:58.400 for sharing that. There's a couple the couple things that I really

799 00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.800 heard. You say like one. I really heard you reiterate that it's a personal choice.

800 00:40:01.800 --> 00:40:04.600 I think like where the the tensions come

801 00:40:04.600 --> 00:40:06.100 are when you're trying to force.

802 00:40:07.100 --> 00:40:10.200 Someone to do anything. It's when you don't

803 00:40:10.200 --> 00:40:13.500 give people the choice. It's really feel like

804 00:40:13.500 --> 00:40:16.900 that at least my experience as a woman and experiencing some

805 00:40:16.900 --> 00:40:19.200 of the the challenges that women are

806 00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:22.700 facing. It's when you lose that choice that that's

807 00:40:22.700 --> 00:40:25.100 where we're tensions definitely rise. And so

808 00:40:25.100 --> 00:40:29.200 I loved hearing that this was your personal choice that it

809 00:40:28.200 --> 00:40:31.200 actually makes you feel more authentic to who you

810 00:40:31.200 --> 00:40:34.700 are more free and love that.

811 00:40:34.700 --> 00:40:37.700 You don't get as much cat calling you tugs for

812 00:40:37.700 --> 00:40:40.800 that. There's nothing more obnoxious. I think

813 00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:43.200 that that's fascinating. So thank you so much

814 00:40:43.200 --> 00:40:46.400 for sharing that and then my second point I wanted to flag.

815 00:40:48.200 --> 00:40:50.500 Oh shoot. I'm like, where did it just go?

816 00:40:53.900 --> 00:40:56.300 Oh, yeah, I think and just

817 00:40:56.300 --> 00:41:00.500 and it's it's just really interesting. I think also all the intersectionality does

818 00:40:59.500 --> 00:41:02.600 it relates to forms of discrimination? Right?

819 00:41:02.600 --> 00:41:05.200 Because I think what I'm also hearing you talk about is not just

820 00:41:05.200 --> 00:41:08.800 potential discrimination you face for wearing the

821 00:41:08.800 --> 00:41:11.000 hijab but also potential discrimination that you

822 00:41:11.200 --> 00:41:14.500 can face like as a woman and making sure that we like address all

823 00:41:14.500 --> 00:41:17.100 of those as well as color addressing all of

824 00:41:17.100 --> 00:41:20.300 these things, especially like in the workplace setting. So thank you

825 00:41:20.300 --> 00:41:21.400 for digging in on that.

826 00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:22.800 um

827 00:41:23.900 --> 00:41:26.600 Of course, I love um,

828 00:41:26.600 --> 00:41:29.500 we only have a couple minutes left. So if there's any

829 00:41:29.500 --> 00:41:32.900 other questions to come in, please feel

830 00:41:32.900 --> 00:41:36.400 free to drop them in one question.

831 00:41:35.400 --> 00:41:39.100 Maybe you

832 00:41:38.100 --> 00:41:41.500 can share about this. How does your

833 00:41:41.500 --> 00:41:44.600 child your little kiddo? How does he

834 00:41:44.600 --> 00:41:47.600 relate at the age of three to Ramadan and

835 00:41:47.600 --> 00:41:50.600 or being Muslim? Yeah. It's

836 00:41:50.600 --> 00:41:53.300 thank you for acting. It's a really great question. And

837 00:41:53.300 --> 00:41:55.200 I think it's something that I'm trying to kind of.

838 00:41:56.600 --> 00:41:59.000 Make him enjoy, you know, I think growing up

839 00:41:59.200 --> 00:42:02.400 for me my parents were kind of really like very strict

840 00:42:02.400 --> 00:42:05.000 and like you do this and you don't do that and it kind of made.

841 00:42:06.300 --> 00:42:09.600 Religion scary and I think most of us feel that like where

842 00:42:09.600 --> 00:42:12.200 it's like, oh, you just tell us what not to do and what

843 00:42:12.200 --> 00:42:15.700 to do and it's through my own, you know through the

844 00:42:15.700 --> 00:42:19.100 guidance that I've received and me learning more about her

845 00:42:18.100 --> 00:42:21.000 religion and spirituality normalize. Oh, this is

846 00:42:21.500 --> 00:42:24.600 so beautiful and there's so much to it. And there's and so

847 00:42:24.600 --> 00:42:27.100 that is kind of the lens I try to do my son is

848 00:42:27.100 --> 00:42:30.300 more. So like hey, one of the things again is I recently moved

849 00:42:30.300 --> 00:42:34.300 into Islamic school so it can be around other Muslims. So

850 00:42:33.300 --> 00:42:36.800 he's in a preschool now with 20 other

851 00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:39.400 Muslim children who are experiencing Ramadan and

852 00:42:39.400 --> 00:42:42.200 like they do cute things like every Friday they do around

853 00:42:42.200 --> 00:42:45.300 on tree and they always doing something on Ramadan. It

854 00:42:45.300 --> 00:42:48.900 makes it learning fine and especially learning in a group funny thing

855 00:42:48.900 --> 00:42:52.000 is he loved love still

856 00:42:51.300 --> 00:42:54.300 sometimes he's in a different face. All the time now is monster

857 00:42:54.300 --> 00:42:57.600 trucks, but Alvin and a chipmunks love love

858 00:42:57.600 --> 00:43:01.400 and if any of you know, the

859 00:43:00.400 --> 00:43:03.900 animated one actually the movie it's all

860 00:43:03.900 --> 00:43:06.200 around Christmas. So he was like, Mommy I love

861 00:43:06.300 --> 00:43:07.700 Christmas I look

862 00:43:08.100 --> 00:43:11.400 So and then he was going to kind of like a secular daycare where

863 00:43:11.400 --> 00:43:14.300 they do celebrate the holiday Christmas and it's nothing but it's wrong

864 00:43:14.300 --> 00:43:17.200 with that but I just did not want him to kind of feel like how

865 00:43:17.200 --> 00:43:20.900 I felt like I don't belong here. This is different for

866 00:43:20.900 --> 00:43:23.500 me. Why not?

867 00:43:23.500 --> 00:43:26.500 Why can't I you know, why are they no celebrations for

868 00:43:26.500 --> 00:43:29.300 me and like for me particularly like Ramadan and Eve

869 00:43:29.300 --> 00:43:33.000 like we have two major eats and like those are our holidays.

870 00:43:32.100 --> 00:43:35.000 So I really want to make it like something that he looks

871 00:43:35.300 --> 00:43:38.200 forward to as well. So like the first day of Ramadan I got

872 00:43:38.200 --> 00:43:41.100 him a gift and I'm like, happy Ramadan and during

873 00:43:41.100 --> 00:43:44.400 like even in school they're doing like a eat party and

874 00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:47.300 we're going to Six Flags for me. So it's also

875 00:43:47.300 --> 00:43:50.700 way for them to like, you know, this is a celebration for us and

876 00:43:50.700 --> 00:43:53.300 like we want children to just love it, you know

877 00:43:53.300 --> 00:43:56.500 versus seeing it like I want to celebrate Christmas which is

878 00:43:56.500 --> 00:43:59.500 a self is beautiful, but it's just not how we practice it. So

879 00:43:59.500 --> 00:44:05.000 yeah. Yeah, that's totally

880 00:44:04.300 --> 00:44:07.700 fair and I love your approach to it and there's

881 00:44:07.700 --> 00:44:08.000 one.

882 00:44:08.100 --> 00:44:11.200 Question that hopefully you can answer in 30 seconds that came

883 00:44:11.200 --> 00:44:12.700 in from Jennifer. Um

884 00:44:14.100 --> 00:44:16.400 Jennifer says, um

885 00:44:17.800 --> 00:44:20.300 For children in particular do they

886 00:44:20.300 --> 00:44:23.800 have a choice to continue or go a different direction as it

887 00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:26.300 results to their as a result as it relates to

888 00:44:26.300 --> 00:44:29.200 their faith at a certain age. What is the process for

889 00:44:29.200 --> 00:44:32.400 an adult to enter the faith? Do you have like a 30 second

890 00:44:32.400 --> 00:44:35.800 not on that right to do that. I mean, it's very very complex. I

891 00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:38.400 don't think I'll do it as much justice, but to become Muslim is

892 00:44:38.400 --> 00:44:41.400 pretty easy like, you know, and I have someone

893 00:44:41.400 --> 00:44:42.600 to Catholic school, so I understand

894 00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:46.000 How Catholicism is and how did it comes out the

895 00:44:46.200 --> 00:44:49.500 community confirmation long story. It was like the better school in

896 00:44:49.500 --> 00:44:52.700 my neighborhood to my mom sent us there but for becoming Muslim,

897 00:44:52.700 --> 00:44:55.300 it's just something so easy. You just go to your local Masjid and

898 00:44:55.300 --> 00:44:58.500 then you repeat a lot in the shahada with the Imam and

899 00:44:58.500 --> 00:45:01.300 then you're Muslim. So for us as

900 00:45:01.300 --> 00:45:04.700 parents, I think we want to kind of create an environment where children

901 00:45:04.700 --> 00:45:07.500 understand and they fall in love with the religion outside

902 00:45:07.500 --> 00:45:07.800 of

903 00:45:09.600 --> 00:45:12.200 unfortunately with the bias that is out in the media,

904 00:45:12.200 --> 00:45:15.100 so there again everything is like all your own

905 00:45:15.100 --> 00:45:18.000 journey and personal choice and I'll use for me example like I

906 00:45:19.400 --> 00:45:22.200 How to rebellious stage in my face

907 00:45:22.200 --> 00:45:25.300 and it was around the time for college like you go there like, what are

908 00:45:25.300 --> 00:45:28.200 these people doing? And then you know somehow by the

909 00:45:28.200 --> 00:45:31.500 grace of God I kind of got back to it. So I think it's something deeply personal

910 00:45:31.500 --> 00:45:34.100 for someone so it's very times that you have

911 00:45:34.100 --> 00:45:37.200 someone in your family who converts to another religion, but

912 00:45:37.200 --> 00:45:40.700 they're often times now and I think Aslam is actually the the one

913 00:45:40.700 --> 00:45:43.400 fastest growing like the fasting religion that

914 00:45:43.400 --> 00:45:46.400 people are converting to and there are unfortunately times

915 00:45:46.400 --> 00:45:49.700 where this is convert to converted to most Islam in

916 00:45:49.700 --> 00:45:52.400 their families and they're not treated respectfully or

917 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:55.700 right. So I think it's also harder for them. So long story

918 00:45:55.700 --> 00:45:58.400 short. It's definitely a personal thing and as parents really want

919 00:45:58.400 --> 00:46:01.800 to cultivate that environment where they really truly

920 00:46:02.600 --> 00:46:05.300 Fall in love with the religion but there are also the

921 00:46:05.300 --> 00:46:08.500 times that they may decide to go about their own and probably be like Wonder

922 00:46:08.500 --> 00:46:11.200 adults. I don't know if they realize that as children and for

923 00:46:11.200 --> 00:46:14.200 adults you just really go to the Masjid and you just say

924 00:46:14.200 --> 00:46:17.000 the shahada and you're awesome. It's pretty simple. Yeah.

925 00:46:17.900 --> 00:46:21.000 Well, thank you so much so

926 00:46:20.200 --> 00:46:23.800 much for having me. Yeah, this

927 00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:26.200 was the wonderful. I feel like I have like

928 00:46:26.200 --> 00:46:29.200 learned so much. I feel lighter. It's amazing. Um,

929 00:46:29.200 --> 00:46:32.400 thank you to everyone for all of your super thoughtful questions for all

930 00:46:32.400 --> 00:46:35.400 your feedback. We will absolutely have this recording

931 00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:38.300 posted in the resource Hub. Give us about 48 hours

932 00:46:38.300 --> 00:46:41.200 or so to get it up there and then I actually think we're gonna turn

933 00:46:41.200 --> 00:46:43.400 these slides into a like

934 00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:47.400 Like a resource that that folks can use as well so that you're

935 00:46:47.400 --> 00:46:50.200 you're welcome to share with your neighbors. But thank you all so very very

936 00:46:50.200 --> 00:46:53.200 much Fanta. You're the best knee. I really

937 00:46:53.200 --> 00:46:56.300 appreciate the energy and interactions and the questions

938 00:46:56.300 --> 00:46:56.800 so

939 00:46:57.600 --> 00:46:58.600 Have a great rest of your day.