 Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim So our speaker today is Moina Shahid, she is a resident of Fremont for 34 years, mother of four and grandmother of two. She serves as the Human Relations Commissioner for Alameda County. She's a founder of the Muslim Support Network and also she serves as president of the Tri-City African Council and is a member and founder of the Meet in Muslim Initiative. She has received several awards, one of which is the Council on American Community Relations Enhancing Understanding Award. And this coming Saturday, I understand, should be awarded as, or named as the Woman of the Year for California Assembly District 20. So it is a great honor that we have her with us. So please welcome our speaker, Moina. Can you hear me? No. That's better, right? Yes. Assalamu alaikum, peace be with you. This is a universal Muslim greeting wherever we meet, we say Assalamu alaikum, which means peace be with you. So I want to thank Tim Hart and Peter Friedman for giving me this opportunity. And I also want to thank all of you for being here this morning, because no matter how much effort they put, if you weren't here. You know, we wouldn't still be able to do anything. So like Tim introduced, I have been in Friedman for the past 35 years now. Four beautiful kids, two adorable grandkids. Yes, they are adorable. My oldest daughter, she's a licensed clinical social worker and she works with foster kids here in Oakland. One of my sons is a public defender for Alameda County. He was also in Oakland, he just got transferred to Friedman. And my youngest, she is still in college. Both my husband and I have purchased our burial plots here, so we do plan to die here, unless, you know, God has some other plans for us. We've been living our lives just like any ordinary American here in America for the past almost 38 years now. I've been very involved in the community for almost two decades, doing a lot of interfaith work. And, you know, when you are involved, you get to know a lot of people in the community. So I realize that any time we do any interfaith event, it's always preaching to the choir. The same faces are there, no matter what you do, or how hard you try. So when Sam Bernardino happened, I was actually out of the country. My mother-in-law was very sick and she was in Pakistan, so I went to visit her. And while there, she passed away. But after that, when Sam Bernardino happened, I started thinking, what can I do when I go back that I can reach to those people who do not come to our events? It's not pulling teeth, basically, you know. So I thought maybe I'll just go and put an ad in the paper, go sit in a coffee shop, and if somebody comes fine, if somebody comes out, take my laptop, do my work. But what I did was, in the ad that I put in the local paper, I put some questions there. And I said, no question is out of the table, you can ask anything, and it goes to you guys too. I won't be offended. And then I put some current events like what our women addressed in Islam was the difference between Shia and Sunni. So people can get a feel of what kind of questions they can ask. So the first event drew over 100 people. Yes, it was overwhelming. Like I said, I thought maybe a few people might just show up and that's about it. So the good thing was, over 90% were new people. They were not the same folks, so that was very promising. And since then I have done about 56 events so far, starting doing public, but now it's more like going to churches and schools and colleges and service clubs. Even homes, people are inviting me into their homes where they will invite their family and friends. Because the thing is, even though a lot of people are aware of the issues they have with Muslim friends, there are times when they wonder too, you know, there's a question. Why is it that people say they are so peaceful, but yet every day we see something negative on TV? And so it's hard for them to find the answers. So this gives them a platform. A lot of my friends come to these events because they don't ask me questions. They think they'll offend me if they'll ask me. But when they come to an event like this, this gives them a platform to ask a question. So, but I want to let you know that I'm a very late person. I'm feeling very big shoes today. I know you guys have been, have had three scholars. My predecessor is one of them is right here. I'm very knowledgeable with people, so I'm a very late person. So don't ask me too many technical questions. Maybe he might be able to answer, but I won't be able to. So just, you know, that's, that just got me started doing these media Muslim conversations. And I'm just trying to connect with people to show them when they are out on the streets or when they are shopping at Target or Costco, and when they see somebody looking like me doing a job, what do they think? What is this person like? What is going on in their heads? You know, just those kind of questions when you see somebody who's different than you. And for us, you know, we are all over the news. People are hearing about us. So there are more questions to be, you know, on people's minds. So just making that connection is what I'm trying to do just so that people can talk to me, see me, have an online conversation. Because I think once you get to know people, then your image changes. A guy came to one of my events and right before then one of my stories appeared in a paper. He bought a paper in his hand which was all lines were highlighted. And so I thought, oh my gosh, what kind of questions do you have? So before the event, he asked me a question and I said, you know what, why don't you wait and Bill answered in the whole group so everybody can hear it. That event, there was a lady there who completely hijacked the event. She constantly raised her hand, she constantly interrupted, made comments, asked questions. I could not get to that guy's answer question. And after the event, he barged out. As I saw him barging out, I ran after him and I said, what happened? He said, you ignored me the whole time. You did not answer my question because you saw that I have this paper highlighted. I said, no, that's not the case. He said, you know what, I hate you guys. I didn't even want you to come to this, but I just came just for the heck of it. And now I know that you guys are not right people. I sat down with him for 30 minutes. I talked to him. I answered his questions. And at that of 30 minutes, he made my day. He said he has changed this image of Muslims. He said his dad at home hates Muslims also. But he said he'll go home and he'll talk to his dad and he'll try to change his mind. So just things like these really are very uplifting to know that we can make a difference in one person's life or we can change one heart at a time. Another incident. I was in Arizona doing similar stuff and this guy came and he said that he's a Korean war veteran. He has killed a lot of people during the war and he said he will slash my 35 when they came. And he also said that he was armed with a knife. Now, I don't know if you know, but Arizona has open carry law. So going in, I was on the edge because not knowing if somebody in the crowd might have a gun and they can pull a gun at any minute. So I requested security from all the places that I went to. I said please have somebody there who can keep an eye out. So luckily there was a police officer there and he came up to me and he said this guy has a gun on him. Sorry, a knife on him and this is what he's saying. Should we let him stay or let him go? I said, you know what? Just let him stay. And he stayed the whole time for over an hour. He stayed quiet. He didn't ask a question. He didn't disrupt. Very respectfully, he stayed the whole time. And then he left. I didn't go close to him. I didn't talk to him. But I hope in my heart that maybe, you know, the way he stayed there, he probably heard something or he'll connect with something. Maybe not then, maybe down the road, he'll realize. So just, you know, these are some of the stories that have been happening in my line of work. So how many of you have been to the last three events that were hosted here? No, it's the vast majority of me here. All right. Because I usually try to give a sound 101 in a nutshell. But don't know. You don't need to know a sound 101. I will open up to questions if you guys have. I'm so glad you're here today. And we've been very much looking forward to hearing from women. Thank you. I'm interested in, I have some questions about the hijab. The difference between the version where the face is covered and where it's not and why yours is not. And what else has to be covered to be legal? Thank you. That's a good question. So seriously, I didn't wear hijab till about, I would say, a little before 9-11. Because growing up in Pakistan, there was, the culture was not. My mom would not put this, even on her hair, she wouldn't put a scarf or anything. So when I came here and I started seeing women wearing hijab, I thought this is an Arab thing. That's what was in my thoughts. Because Arab culture is such that women cover up. And growing up in Pakistan, we did see Arab women. So I thought, you know, this is an Arab thing, that's why they're covered. Because I was born Muslim. I was not educated as a Muslim. I started learning about Islam and my kids were born. And then that's when I realized that I should be covering up. That this is not an Arab thing. Muslim women and men both are required to dress modestly. And modestly it's objective. I mean, everybody has their own view on modestly. So the thing that women cover their face is more cultural than Islamic belief. Islamic belief we are required to cover from head to toe. Our arms should be covered up to here. Our pants should be, or whatever, covering on our ankles. So our hands can be free and our faces can be exposed. So that's more cultural than Islamic. So I just want to explain to you that one of the beautiful things about being Muslim in this country is that at some level everybody here has chosen Islam. So whether you're a convert like I am, or whether you grew up Muslim either in this country or you grew up Muslim somewhere else and then you came here. Because we are a minority here, it will be very easy for people not to keep their faith. So when you see Muslims here at some levels, because everybody said to themselves, this is my choice, this is what I believe in, and this is what is best for me personally. And so similarly with wearing the hijab, I mean yes, I do believe that this is what God has asked from me to do. But at the same time, it's really about a woman's relationship with God and not with other people. And so most of the women that I know who wear hijab, who didn't wear it from a young age, it's because they chose to do it. And often they did it with their parents saying, oh I don't know if that's such a good idea, or even their husband's saying, I'm not sure, I want to be so public about my religion, et cetera. So a lot of times people look at women wearing hijab and they see it as a sign of oppression, whereas it is really the opposite, it's a sign of a woman's choice. That's a good point because when I decided to wear it, my husband was very much against it. He did not like me to wear hijab. So like now it's almost 70, 80 years, he has accepted it, because he has no other way out. But still, if it was his choice, he still would not like me to wear hijab. And my two adult daughters, they have chosen not to. And that's their choice because there's no compulsion in Islam. I cannot force them to cover it. Why did he not want to? Because I think growing up, culturally, he wasn't used to it. And it's hard, even when I decided to, it was not easy for me to make this decision. Because as a woman, we like to make up in here and all that stuff. So it was not easy. And I think because he was not used to it culturally, when you're not seeing something growing up, it's hard to accept change. What was the original intention you think that Muhammad had about the hijab? I mean, was that part of his teachings? Or was it just the modesty that kind of evolved later? So it was not him. It is in the holy Quran. God is asking Muslim men and women, both, to dress modestly. For men to lower their gaze, not to look in people's eyes. And you have seen in Saudi Arabia and Middle East, men are wearing those long garbs. And so are women. When you look at Jesus and Mary, they're both wearing the long garb. Mary has a head scarf, but she's not tied so tightly. She didn't have to drive back then, right? So if I put it loosely, it's going to fly away. So I have to make sure that it's tied. But that's been, that has been the culture throughout history. And so it's not Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, that said that we should do it. God has asked us. Yeah, and the images became the interpretation of cultures. Right. Right. So like, you know, in Afghanistan, in some places, they have asked women to cover up the whole thing. You know, the bulk of it, just some holes in the eye area. So it's all cultural. Those things are cultural. Yeah. It's just a minor question. Is it something you wear at home as well? Or is it just when you're in public? The minute I get off, it's off. And I have a third grade student who's got maybe two or three that I see. But I just wonder, is it, like, sorry, is that you've got a wide array for each, like, this match is so well with what you wear today. Thank you. I'll try to. The variety that you have. Yes. So we do try to, but we are not supposed, you know, we are not required to cover up in front of our own family members, like my husband, my son, my brother. So when I get home, I take it off. But when I eat the house, that's when I put it on. Yeah. I just wanted to add, it's really interesting to me that, my name is Nassira, by the way, I've been Muslim since 1971. But he came when I was 18 years old, before Islam was a bad word. It's really interesting to me that all these questions are about hijab. I know we're on the subject, but I'd like to point out that the hijab was revealed in the 20th year, three years before the Prophet, until the lifetime died. That shows the importance of it. So for 23 years, Islam was being revealed, and the hijab wasn't revealed until three years before the end of the time, the Prophet of the Revelation. So the real reason that we're Muslim is because of our belief in monotheism and the relationship that the individual has with God to be a person who always is trying to figure out what the right thing to do is and the situation to be just, how to be sincere, how to be truthful, how to gain peace. The first names of God are Rahman and Rahim, which means merciful in his being. He is mercy and mercy giving. Those are his first attributes. Every time he says a name, he says those attributes. So while the hijab has become the flag of Islam and the burden of the war of Islam and the oppression of women, it really has a small role in terms of the meaning, the reason that we're Muslim. Yes, it's very hard for us to be modest. And I just wanted to correct one thing. She said men are allowed to look in the eyes of other men. They're not supposed to look and study and, you know, glow into the eyes of women for reasons of modest state. So I just wanted to make sure that we understood that. Thank you. I didn't have a question related to that. So in our previous three sessions, there's been some general questions about the treatment of women in Islam, bringing up the fact that inside everybody they can drive cars and things like that. So having heard the opinions of male scholars, I'm wondering, I'm interested in what your perspective is on that particular topic. Thank you. So Islam gave women the right to inheritance to property 1400 years ago. It's nothing new. Women can... A Muslim woman is not required to change her last name after she gets married because her lineage is through her father, not her husband. A woman can work, but she does not have to share her earnings at her home because it's the men's job. Islamically, God has divided the jobs for both genders and for men, he has to provide financially for the family. So if I work, I can choose to share my money, but I don't have to. So Islamically, his money is my money and my money is my money. That's a good thing. So, but of course, living here in America, when I was working, we had a joint account and everything went into the same account and there was no separation. But what I'm saying is that is the right that was given to Muslim women long time ago. So, I mean, women have a lot of rights in Islam. Again, it's the culture. If you look at history, the first Prime Minister in a Muslim country, a woman was 29 years ago. We still don't have one, you know? So if women were not allowed to study, if women were not allowed to go outside the home and work, how could that be possible? Saudi Arabia is an exception to the rule. There are 50 predominant Muslim countries in the world. It's one country that does not allow women to drive. Women are working there. It's not that they're not. They are teachers, you know, different jobs they are doing. But what we hear mostly is just Saudi Arabia. Pakistan where I grew up, women were driving, they were going to schools, colleges. A mother is called an institution in Islam. So how will a mother be an institution if she's not educated? So education is very high up here. Islamically, God tells us that if you have to walk across the globe to gain education, to gain knowledge, you should travel. So education is, and it's not for men or women, it's for both genders. So there is no differentiation that, okay, men go and study and women stay at home now. Women and men both are required to gain education and knowledge and to study. Hi. I was raised by a Southern Baptist father and a Presbyterian mother. So I was raised Presbyterian. And over the course of my, I think that was, you know, what we did. And then I went to university, and at university we changed religions every year. I was within the Protestant forum because there were opportunities to hear different speakers or different points of view or they were more into social justice or something. And then as a musician, we often become the religion where our job is. Again, within the Christian sector. I'm very intrigued by those of you who were not raised Muslim. How and why you chose Islam, whereas for a lot of us, it wasn't really on the table very obviously. Right. So since I was born a Muslim, I would defer to a sister or brother who converted here. Okay. So everybody's experience is, of course, unique. In my case, I grew up a secular Jew and had, as is common for secular Jews, I had a little exposure to both Judaism and also Christianity, the Christmas tree and the morrow. You know, that will, you know, in some ways be very American experience. I didn't really think of myself as looking for religion particularly. I went to school at UC Berkeley. I started meeting some people who... I wasn't really thinking about them being Muslim in particular because it wasn't really on my radar, but I started meeting some people who I just found to be incredibly generous. I mean, that was the main thing that struck me is I thought, I had never met people who were so generous. And then I started asking more questions and I also was starting to realize that this was... it wasn't, oh, I have to be Muslim and I have to be generous. The two things were tied to each other. And also, I remember, as I started learning a little more and I remember asking this one young woman what she was planning majoring in. And honestly, I was making a small talk. Like, I was just trying to think of something to say. And she told me that she was trying to decide what would be most pleasing to God. And that to Lord be. Because at that time, I think I probably was agnostic. Like, I kind of thought there might be some force, whatever. But it didn't, it hadn't occurred to me that I could have a personal relationship or even to the extent that one could have a personal relationship that actually would help one in your dealing life. And so I think in some ways that was a turning point for me when I started studying more and, you know, it was open to me. I guess that's it. Thank you. I just wanted to give another perspective. But you have reborn Christians who there are many, but you could call reborn Muslims and I'm one of them. I was born from a Muslim family but never practiced. I said that last time, right? But at one point, I had an emptiness in myself. I had a very good life from where I grew up in a small island of Mauritius. I came from a good family so I had all the privileges you can think of. I was a musician but I couldn't find happiness. I didn't have happiness. And that's when I started searching about religion. Buddhism, Hinduism, U-Nameism. I studied religion and I studied religion and I said that last time I came down and I referred to the book of Noris Bukai the Quran, the Bible, the science. I came down to that you can be only true religion that follows either you a Christian or a Muslim. And I went deep into both of those and I studied the concept of God, the concept of sin, the concept of prophethood, the concept of salvation and I went deep, deep into both doctrines and both scriptures and then I made the conscious choice to be a Muslim and I said as long as I live this will be my religion. So I just wanted you to give another perspective that there are, you can call them reborn Muslims if you wish and that there are many, many Muslims especially many others growing in the west they will do this as well at some point of being their life but then they will find it and connect it again. Is there a term for that as in morning in Christian? No, we don't have any such term. There is no such term. I use the term so that it can relate to the concept. There is no such term. I use that same term too because growing up I didn't pray, I didn't fast, like I said I didn't get a job so I was looking back I don't consider myself as a Muslim either. Back to the role of women. I don't see many leaders in the Muslim world in religion for women and I know that Christians cannot cast stones on them for centuries in a problem but I'm wondering if that's the kind of de facto thing or whether there is something within tradition within Quran from coming below scholars. Actually after the Prophet Muhammad died his wife, his youngest wife Aisha who lived for about I think 50 or 60 years after he passed away she was the one spreading Islam she was the one who was leading conversations between men and women teaching them about Islam answering their questions because she had lived with the Prophet and like we believe in the Quran we also believe in the Sunnah which is the life of the Prophet what he did throughout his life so there's a compilation of all the stuff all the things that he said and the way he did so we have to follow both because he is our role model and she was the one who was teaching men and women back then 1400 years ago but again most societies in the world are patriarchal societies and it's not that there are any less women scholars there are plenty of women scholars today especially right here in America but for whatever reason men are more in the forefront and women are behind but Islamically God says that we will be judged based on our pride so there is no difference in that respect that men are supposed to be scholars and teaching about Islam and women are not that's not the case so I have a niece she is married they have four children they homeschool their children they do not want any introduction of evolution into their studies very evangelical what we would call evangelical because how do Muslims do your children go to public school are they introduced to science as we know it or are there people who homeschool either because of that reason or for another reason so Muslims are the same as anybody else so there are all sites there are Muslims who are sending their kids to public schools and then there are some who are opting out and keeping their kids home and doing homeschooling all of my four kids went to public schools and then there are procured schools there are Islamic schools where private schools where parents some parents opt to send their kids there all spectrums in that respect so there is no hard and fast rule which way you go it's up on the parent's choice what they want best for their kids yeah in general one question is to do with whether or not the peripheral Muslim schools favor the voucher system that's being tossed around and I would love to have a little supply for those vouchers if it ever comes to pass but my other question was in listening to all of this over the weeks these entities that call itself the Islamic state but seem to be so antithetical to virtually everything you said how are Muslims here counteracting that besides talking in these forms very painful very frustrating because since 9-11 till today we are on the defensive constantly defending our faith would you allow KKK to define what Christianity is would anybody in this room no I would not I'm not a Christian but I would not because I know what they are doing is cannot be right no faith in this world would teach violence to hurt any human being I mean we are asked to offer our other cheat like I was talking about the sunnah of the prophet peace be upon him all his teachings are along those lines to be nice to your neighbors to know your neighbors to go visit the sick to take care of the elderly to take care of the orphans I mean where does it say anywhere in the scripture or in the teachings of the prophet during the time of war he would instruct his army not to cut a food bearing tree back then there were wars were not fought by air or by sea they were on ground so when your army is going you cannot cut a food bearing tree there is a story that he had a neighbor who would throw garbage at him every day when he would walk out of his home garbage would be thrown at him for a few days there was no garbage thrown at him so he went and knocked on the door to find out what's wrong because it was every day that was happening and so he found out that she was sick he went and prayed for her so these are the teachings that Muslims grow up with the stuff that ISIS is doing is completely contrary I mean why do we allow ISIS to define what Islam is they are not just like KKK is not so I mean it's up to us people of conscience that we have to figure out that do we just go by what we hear on the news or do we find out and again like I said we know for sure that no faith in this world teaches violence but yet again the Pope back then blessed the crusaders I mean can you imagine the Pope blessing them to go and cause mayhem in the world that great women and all that stuff but whatever he read at that time he justified it so that's human nature we are all human beings at the end of the day nobody's different I mean Christians, Muslims, Jews they are all the same in that respect so people have their own way the way I see it is if I have love in my heart we all know that God is love God loves all of us and he wants us to reflect that towards our fellow human beings in our daily interactions so if I have love in my heart I will look through that lens but if I'm a violent person inside I will look through that lens and that's all I mean so much violence is happening in the world a lot of plenty of non-Muslims I mean you look at gun violence what's going on there some of them are doing in the name of faith some of them are not doing in the name of faith but it's just human mind people convince themselves they whatever comes to their mind they work accordingly they look at things that justify their cuts so it's not that it's just those people are doing those things it has nothing to do with the stuff Hi, I just want to personally say that I really admire your patience answering all these questions and stuff I'm a different person I have a different view on a lot of stuff I've made other questions I know a lot of Muslims in school and I just don't really see that many of the differences but one thing I have a question about is she warned the teachings of Christianity about no evolution stuff I was wondering what the Quran says about science because I've heard that it's pretty separate like in Islamic science actually science is proving everything that Islam teach 1400 years ago so we believe that God created the earth and the human beings so evolution is not something that we believe in we believe that God created the earth in seven days then he created Adam and Eve and then he sent them down because they didn't listen to him they didn't obey so that's how life started on earth thank you can I add to that can I add to that please as we look at it if you make a deep study especially in the Arabic language the word that is the moin I use is the moin I use now in the Arabic language that's what it is but in Arabic you will call it yaw and the word of yaw is not te it can be translated as te but it could be translated as a long very long span of time and how you look at that is very different in my last presentation I talked to you about the word rak the word beginning of the Quran to create something and take that something all the way to its full maturity that's evolution so we don't have to go to Islam school myself I have no problem not everything that Dawin said we agree but Dawin must have read the Quran when he said life started in war and we have no problem but Dawin doesn't make sense if Dawin makes sense the rest should have still been alive because there were fiercest and toughest of the generation they should have still been alive so we don't believe in Dawin at first value but whatever he said is not foreign to the Quran I gave you the book of Dr. Keith Moore go and read it google it out and check it Dr. Keith Moore I talked to you about fingerprinting I talked to you about we will go into the space and I will think about that and when Dawin heard that he looked at his camera and he said how this camera will go out but it isn't the Quran we will go everything that science is proving is already in the Quran so the Quran is a scientific book very scientific Islam has no problem with science we are as a Christian faith with the way to open our doors and be welcoming to homosexuals and transgender people and I wonder if there is a seat at the table for them in Islam so like any other atheistic faith the teachings are the same between Christians, Jews and Muslims but God tells us not to judge anybody he is the biggest judge because we believe that if I am doing anything wrong in this world I have the chance to repent about till the moment I die so if before I die if I make amends, if I have forgiveness and if I have done bad things in this world he is the forgiver if he decides to forgive me I might go to heaven and somebody who has lived a very good life I mean in their own mind they are doing everything right maybe God might not like one of their actions or anything and they might end up in the wrong place so this is just to give you an example so God is the judge we are not to judge any human being based on who they are that's what I believe in I mean of course there's differences of opinion I'm sure people in this room might differ from what I'm saying so I have a question relating to the question of female scholars it sounds as though both male and females are allowed to pursue higher education what about encouragement are females encouraged as much as males to pursue higher education so for example if you're raising your daughters and your sons and you have a daughter who seems to have because of science would you encourage her to go to medical school if you had a son with that same propensity that's its equality so both men and women are encouraged to pursue the career that they choose there are plenty of women doctors there are plenty of women engineers my daughter is an engineer my son who has a three year old daughter he refuses to call her a princess he tells me mom I'm not ever going to call her a princess I'm not going to teach her to be the typical women model that a lot of societies have adopted think in purple you play with dolls and you play with cars and you'll be an engineer and she'll be whatever Islamic leaders no such thing both men and women are encouraged to pursue the career that they choose I just want to add something not add but I want to introduce somebody that I think she needs to speak up I want to encourage her to tell about herself so go hit my hand well firstly I just want to thank everybody you're very pleased to be here and to be among you all it's a very pleasurable moment for me and my family so I just like my friend here Dr. Freyla she herself is a doctor I just wanted to let you know in answer to one of the sisters question education I'm a medical doctor my profession as a cancer registrar my husband here is a scientist but we like to keep ourselves humble and I have a daughter who has aspirations to become an astronaut here and we totally encourage that and her idea of taking a horse into space for a lot of horses we totally encourage that I will say for college my daughter is saving for a horse and the horse is not suit so let's go see her and my other one here is seven year old she wants to be a farmer and a teacher and we're all up for that so this is one thing that that really attracts us and keeps us engaged within our religion is that it is all about education educate your children educate your women education is not specific for anyone and I have teachers female teachers like one of the sisters and they have Islamic scholar I don't know if you have heard the name of Dr. Rania a lot she is medical psychologist and she is a fellow at Stanford she has a PhD in Islamic studies and she teaches then I have another teacher her name is and you can google her too because she used to be a software engineer and I'm sorry that I'm taking her name without having her permission but she used to work in the Bay Area programming video games and she went to Egypt and got her scholarship from there and she teaches so if given chances like the one that we have right now we would be more than happy to bring their teachers with us sometimes we will also be seeing in your studies she has been very humble she is a student of those powerful guys and this is not the exception this is the norm I would definitely encourage you to invent a way to get courses in this space I think I just want to add something to that I was living in New York when I first became Muslim there was on the front page of the New York Times there was a woman holding her baby over a garbage can and that made a very very strong impression on me so I really want to put a plug in for there's nothing wrong with devoting your life to being a mother this may have been addressed in one of the earlier sessions that I did not attend but I'm curious about the Shiites versus the Sunnis and they seem to be certainly not at peace with each other is there some unique reason for that and can you maybe expand on a little bit for us? Sure, so the divide happened 1400 years ago it's not a new divide when Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him and he died he did not be the successor so there was a group of people who wanted his best friend to succeed and then there was another group who wanted his son-in-law to succeed so it was a political divide at that time so the Sunnis are the ones who wanted his friend to succeed and they are 80% of Muslims and the ones who wanted his son-in-law are false Shiites and they are approximately 20% divide happened along political lines the 5 pillars of Islam at the core both are the same both Shiites and Sunnis follow the same 5 pillars there are plenty of intermarriages in Iraq and other parts of the world where there are Shiites and Sunnis they were living very peacefully of course during Saddam Hussein he was oppressing, there were issues but they were not at each of the throat like there are today it's a lot of government and political factors that came into play when I was growing up in Pakistan my next door neighbors were Shiites we played together, we never asked if we meet a Muslim here, a new person I would never ask or they would never ask if I was a Shiite or a Sunni so there's nothing along those lines we are pretty much similar in that respect so that divide is very political and like I said 1400 years ago they were living peacefully I'd like to follow up in your comment about how you don't want ISIS to define Islam similarly I would very much not like the current president to define how we feel towards Muslims I'm concerned that the executive order banning people who are coming in from 7 countries is validating the message of ISIS say aha, see they hate us just because we're Muslim so therefore they deserve to die and is that a legitimate concern and if so what can we do to counteract that that's a very good question it is a concern because right now we are feeding into ISIS's narrative we are feeding them on a civil platter what they want for people to take us and that's exactly what we are doing see for us most of us in this room this is home my kids were born here like I said we have a burial plot here we don't plan to move away but today we are living in fear can you imagine living in fear in your own home where you're afraid that somebody might tell you go back where you used to go back to we are afraid to pray at airports I remember back in time when I was traveling I would just go to a gate that was empty and I would go and pray in a corner I'm afraid to do that I'm afraid to carry a Quran or a book a religious book on the plane with me because I might be kicked out so we are in constant fear and this administration has made it very very easy for people to act on their hate like I said the guy who said he will slash my throat I've been living in America 38 years I've never ever heard something like this I mean two days ago there was a Hindu man who was killed so it's not about wearing a hijab or having a beard as a Muslim man or woman anybody who is a person of color except for blacks I would say because I think blacks are accepted like everybody else is a foreigner so we are I mean I think today for the first time in the recent weeks I started thinking that am I a second grade citizen do I even belong here but there's no answer because I have no other place to go so even if I don't belong here where do I go so this is a very very trying time for the Muslim community so what can we do to help so this is a prime example of what you are doing but as an ordinary person I would say if you see a Muslim give them a smile try to strike a conversation because when you talk you will find that people are very receptive they will talk to you you know whatever you have a nice voice or your kid is pretty or whatever any way you can try to strike a conversation make connections to get to know people because like today I mean if I tell people to go online there's plenty of online websites where you can get information in Islam but you don't know how authentic they are when I get questions asked sometimes I go home to research a lot of times this site comes up it's called Jihad Watch they make themselves sound like they are very authentic they are the most hate filled bigoted website so people, ordinary people do not know that Muslim people I won't say they are scholars but they are Muslims who say they are scholars they are very hate filled they are not they are not preaching Islam the way Prophet Muhammad taught us the way Quran taught us their Islam is very different it's completely on the opposite side but for an ordinary person it's hard to count unless you go deep and see what the site is authentic the writer is authentic the cause of the writer and all that stuff so it's best to have these kind of events where you can meet people you can face to face and have a personal interaction that's the most important thing so that's why I started doing these events just to go and humanize myself as a human being so people can see that I'm no different if I take up my job I'm the same I mean I'm still the same but appearance at least you people look at me as I'm a different person so this is all there is I mean just the ordinary level of human interaction to get to know your nature hi I just wanted to add that you know I'm a high schooler and I do face Islamophobia and all that but I do want to say that there are other communities like I actually think the black community is the most oppressed community in this country and like the Latino community is facing a lot of hate and you know we're facing a lot of hate but we're also getting a lot of support and I think we should be supporting other communities as well so I really appreciate as being invited here and all the support they're getting but some other communities aren't getting that much support as well so I just kind of want to add that we should support all communities as well definitely building coalitions and the good thing of this administration is I want to pay again for bringing all of us together I think people have reached out to me have sent me emails to my website I have never met from across the country asking what they can do they want to step up, they want to get out they have never been active in the community but now they want to get out and do some good and they want to bring people together so there's so much beauty in what's happening today and thank you for your comments I think just what you said and what you can do and I've been working with undocumented immigrants and my question is are there many undocumented Muslims who need support and what kind of support is out there for them so because Muslims fly into America for the most part they're not undocumented for the most part I think I would say majority of Muslims here seeing for our generation came here to get higher education like my husband came here he went to college so my generation, majority of people came to the US to get higher education and then there were refugees who came from Iraq and Afghanistan that came as refugees but they all flew in they didn't cross the borders from Canada or Mexico so for the vast majority of Muslims I think they're all documented here but that doesn't mean much today you know they are not being allowed to get into the country David for yesterday I heard that Muhammad Ali the big guy in our country you know the boss his son was detained at the airport for five hours or something and so people when the executive orders were signed then immediately people were starting detaining at the airport I mean me and my husband had plans until the end of this month I was thinking should we go or should we stay I mean we have been US citizens for the past 35 years but I was concerned because I think legally I cannot be stopped from coming back into the country but they can just give us a hard time they can detain us for hours on and you know if you're just going as a vacation or something I guess it can wait so I want to have a question David for that I travel quite a bit and one of the things that concerns me is I were to go to a predominantly Muslim country like Indonesia for example how would I be treated there would the fear that Muslims would be subjected to gear would that now be projected to be if I were to go there so as long as you don't go to a war straight in Muslim country you have your white privilege just like you have it here no seriously people look up to people who are from outside of the country who don't look the same and for the most part they know when you're white that you are coming from a western country America or Europe and they will respect you they have a good care of you they are very hospitable but I would not suggest going to any of the war straight in countries Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq all those parts of the world but everywhere else people look up see the way they say here that those people hate our freedoms that's the opposite we came here for the freedoms they love our freedoms they love this country what it is offering to people the life that we all have here so that is actually the opposite in the Muslim world they respected, they looked up to us today I don't know seriously after the elections I don't know what the mindset is in other parts of the world but for the most part people looked up to us I just wanted to respond also to the what can we do to counteract the ISIS narrative it's been a challenge for everybody one thing is if I was a Muslim overseas I think the generic Muslim overseas things probably wouldn't start shifting a little bit for me about what I think about America particularly as so many people have come to the US and then had difficulty here or even these Indians who were shot etc. but at the same time patriotic I would say Americans who came out to the airports and I think that images like that counteract the narrative that Muslims are being hated by Americans I mean my mom took me to some rally to stop nuclear war when I was a kid I was brought up with a tradition of being an activist and I do think this is a good opportunity for us to be very public about what we believe in but I also wanted to think that perhaps you would want to say something about your sentence yes so in regards to regards to a lot of Muslims I do feel that we do get a lot of support and when we went to the airport the travel ban hit a lot of people I personally had family that had visas had green cars that were revolts as soon as they came to the airport they said their visas are important these people have been waiting here for 10 years but the people that started the airports a lot of American people went to the airport and you would find all those people it was overwhelming for us as Muslims it was very warming to know that you would have that kind of support from these people so I do think that we did get a lot of support and actually I have a business in the Fruville district so I work in the very populated Latino area and so I'm having next week, Saturday everybody is welcome to come where we are going to invite the mayor and some other officials to come and support the Latino community so everybody is welcome where is it going to be? I'll give the address to Mary Mary I just want to thank you so much for being here and this is maybe an expansion on the question of what can we do my sense is there has been a concerted strategy by many people to criminalize all people of color and this has helped in some ways stir a new sense of community as you mentioned and we as a congregation really long for deepening relationships and we experienced some of that right after 9-11 when we had a wonderful relationship with the Islamic community center I mean Mubani came here with the congregation and read from the Quran in a worship service and we were together around our table and then we were invited to their prayers services and it started a journey for a while and that seemed to fade out and currently I think as a congregation there is tremendous interest in deepening relationships and where do we find that how do we do that and specifically when approaching Islamic cultural center they had a relationship with a synagogue and also the first Presbyterian and they said that was enough on their plate so even though we tried to put our foot in the door there was a feeling that there was enough going on in that particular community and I really hope we can find a community of Muslims that we can not just occasionally talk with but deepen relationships where we can really get to know each other and where do you see that as a possibility so there are a lot of interfaith circles everywhere in fact Oakland just started an interfaith council of Alameda County but it has started in Oakland and I can give you their information so joining those interfaith circles is good you get to meet people of all different faiths to deepen your relationships to get to know but for the last mosque see what happens is at these trying times like right now Muslims are feeling very stretched thin very overwhelmed because Muslims come and speak and talk and we want to it's not that we don't want to but there are so many of us and there are so many of you so like the question was asked what can we do again the thing is you are all ambassadors you have followed these past three in the series you are well versed now you are well educated on the topic of Islam so you go and spread the word you talk to your family and friends and I'm sure you all know people who are a bit conservative or a bit ignorant about Islam because we can only reach so many people we cannot reach everybody so you help us spread the word and I mean I know in three months where I come from we have been holding open house at the mosque for the past 12 years we just started we stopped doing it four years ago I was fair heading it there and then I realized that it's again the same people coming to every years open house no new faces, no new people so we stopped doing it I mean but we are always open for communities to come and visit the mosque if they want to so feel free to contact Brother Rajabali or myself or anybody in this community if you want to go and visit a mosque or have a relationship you know these this is how we build relationships thank you really one of the second what she just said and also I think it's vitally important that you take responsibility on yourself to educate yourself if you study the history of Islam during the middle ages when you know the Christian world wasn't what they called the dark ages it was the golden era of Islam you can find out about all kinds of things that will help you discuss with your communities you know what you've learned about Islam also I think it's really important and I didn't hear anybody say it I really want to say it ISIS is attacking Muslims ISIS is to Islam what the Spanish acquisition was to Christianity they are burning Muslims because they're not the exact ideology you could be Sunni and you could be killed by them because you are Sufi you are not exactly you don't accept their hot so there are people who are really the truth is that the Muslims are the ones who are being killed by ISIS and Loko Haram and Al-Qaeda so this is a huge misnomer it's a huge false presentation that other people the Muslims are the ones who have to worry about these groups it's really not their target isn't the Muslim it's the Muslim so it's really quite fascinating it's gotten flipped like that but anyway I just would invite all of you to sing to the choir to go out and find out about Islam for yourself in terms of the arguments that are being presented against it like we're backwards we're barbaric if you find out about the contribution that Muslims have made to science during our golden age it's unbelievable unfortunately for whatever reasons we have had a very dark period where there's been a lot of barbaricness coming into the Muslim world and that's our problem you know and some people say we brought this on ourselves I'm not I don't agree with that but I think that it's really important to look at the golden era and find out what Muslims do what they think what they say and what they've contributed to the world to act what she just said it's very important for people to understand that any time an act of terrorism happens anywhere in the western world it's 347 breaking news every day Muslims are getting killed in Muslim countries every single day and not in small numbers in big numbers hundreds we never hear about it so the media has a clear bias towards Muslims so when the general populace doesn't know about it they think that it's just that they are getting targeted we are all in this war together it's not them and us we are all together in this yeah I just wanted to add to what you were saying I really appreciate that because this year in school more than I have in the past I've been learning a lot about the history of Islam and I found it really interesting there was things I never knew and I kind of blamed that on American education focusing on a lot of the western accomplishments as opposed to other countries accomplishments and I just wanted to say that I've been talking to a lot of adults that I know and they have no idea in another way other than me all these things like optics and stuff and Islam has contributed and like it's really changed my mind and I really think I really encourage everyone to go and look at it it's just really interesting so I totally appreciate what you're saying and as Muslims I don't know a lot of my own people's accomplishments because again we were not taught history is few too so we have to make effort to learn of what our history is yeah I had just gotten back from India and I'm so impressed at like just seeing the mosques and you know the temples co-existing peacefully and then to stop over in Abu Dhabi at the Arab Emirates and going out and going to the White Mosque and it was just like I felt safer there than I felt in coming back to America in some ways you know people were so gracious my driver was from Pakistan and of course he wanted to come to the United States and I just kind of was like well this might not be the best time but it was like the the energy was so open and accepting and receiving and there was that graciousness that I just so appreciated and it made me very sad coming back here because I could suddenly see just the bubble that we live in and the media and how much they propagate that consciousness and the division and I really get how much it really is going to be our personal responsibility to and use as you travel as a political act as Rick Steve talks about because if we don't interface with other cultures and actually realize how much we are being programmed by our media and have some understanding of that it just you know it's that hatred within that gets projected out onto people that look different than us so it's our personal responsibilities and I think we can all be ambassadors for interfaith dialogue Thank you for your comments I mean if we look around in this room there are no identical twins here everybody's different we were not born into the hall by choice right I was born a Muslim, you were born a Christian or whatever so we need to look at it that we were not given the choice but yet we are all the same some people call some other name but we are all the same I wanted to respond to the questions about you know not not being able to meet with the Islamic cultural centers as much as ideally you know what do I want so I go to a pretty small mosque near Children's Hospital called the Lighthouse Mosque I think maybe this space is like half of this and you know it can be pretty tight it's hard for you to make it to Fremont and you know if you want to come somewhere a little closer to home I'm sure anybody who wants to come would be welcome there are few chairs mostly you sit in the floor you can always squeeze a few more people in and it's a beautiful experience it's a very inter-ethnic community it's probably some of the majority African-Americans people from all different backgrounds attend and the main service is the Friday service which is the 130 and the speakers tend to have a great sense of the humor but there's also there's different classes and things like that and people want to come it is true though that because we are a minority in this country and then I feel personally like suddenly it's like okay I really need to get out there more I need to be more public I need to talk to more people because there's so much misinformation about Islam I'm not by nature I'm a public speaker and I have a wife and I'm trying to live it but I think everybody that I know in the Muslim community is trying to make more effort to okay I gotta make it to at least one everything event but it does make it harder it would be a beautiful thing to have more ongoing regular things but I think this interfaith council that you're talking about is good because you could probably accept a large movement doesn't have to be exactly equal numbers of the different faiths but that is part of the challenge is trying to find time in our day when there's fewer Muslims to be out there as much as it feels like now we need to be. Thank you So it is 1 o'clock so we probably have time for one more question if anybody has one if you don't mind I just wanted to answer the last question about what we can do together Reverend you answer your question I think what we should do that I mean if we said that talking to the choir we need to get outside the choir I think what we can do to identify some projects that we can work together projects like homelessness projects like domestic violence projects like the environment projects like refugees settlement I think what we do to open your charity we open our charity whatever we can do but we are not working together for example how many of you know really honestly tell the ratio how many of you know that the Islamic religion sent their volunteers in sacrament to the minute the warning of evacuation was given how many of you know that I'm glad you know that only one but if we work together at the coalition if we work together at the coalition if we work together to work together on some common purpose and that's what it's all about we have our differences we respect our differences we have our values but we can work on some common projects identify some common projects forming our schools of only to go with the women whatever they want to go with the women so before anybody needs they are on the outside please feel free to take any of those so I want you to have a last word so again thank you so much for being here today I was able to answer some of your questions sometimes I feel that people have difficulty reconciling I can see some people are not in this is not what it is because here I am for an hour and a half or my brothers were here for another hour and a half or so but every day when you're watching the news every single day 24-7 you're seeing opposite of what we are talking about so it's hard to reconcile and I can understand if I put myself in your shoes I might have that difficulty two at times but again like most of us have said please try and research try and reach out you know us now some people in this room know several Muslims here some local from this community some from Fremont and other communities reach out to us we would love to have a conversation sit over a coffee or lunch or whatever and answer any questions that you might have or your friends like I said I'm going to people's homes feel free to contact me personally if you have a group of people that you think can benefit from this kind of a conversation because again not all come to this church and they're not here I mean people are not always open-minded but sometimes you just say okay let's meet this person I met her or I met him and they have answers to some of the questions that we discussed last week or whatever just get them together and we would love to come and have a conversation so thank you so much really appreciate it I'm also on Facebook if you want to like meet a Muslim page and get to know other events because I always post my events on my page so if they're more open you'd better bring your prompt if there are other events in February you can direct your friends to those events thank you