Speakers

Tuesday Gulnar Hussain joined us to talk about women in Islam. I thought she did an excellent job, and her presentation was thorough and informative. I loved that she tied her own experiences into the general information, and thought she did a great job of balancing the two. I found it especially interesting that unlike many other people I have heard or read about that chose to immigrate to the United States, Ms. Hussain came here expecting that she would return soon to live with her and her husband's family. In some ways it is quite a romantic story: She came to the US to be with her husband who was attending graduate school, and also fell in love with Kalamazoo. It was cool to here that even someone with from somewhere as incredible as Pakistan found our little city the perfect place to settle.

Ms. Hussain also talked about how she came to wear the hijab, and that it wasn't something she had always done, but found herself wanting to do after her studies of the Qur'an. In Arabic, the hijab is not just a head covering, but the entire modest dress of Islamic women, covering everything but the hands and face. When Ms. Hussain told us that her daughter had begun to wear the veil, I missed whether or not she said hijab. I wonder if she has begun wearing the hijab or just the veil. I also wanted to know what her reasons were when she said that if it were her choice, her daughter would have waited to start wearing the hijab/veil. Did she think she was just too young, or perhaps she should study Islam more before she does? I wish we would have had more time at the end of class to discuss this, as well as all the other questions I am sure many people would have asked.

I thought that this class session was quite informative and enjoyable. I only wish we would have had more time! The fact that we didn't even have time to really hear from both of our speakers or ask many questions was a bit frustrating. All-in-all, however, I think everyone learned a lot, and I am looking forward to our discussions tomorrow!

Oh! And don't forget to reserve your seats!!

http://www.islamfortoday.com/hijabcanada4.htm