Islam Our Choice Summary

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Based on the story of Islam Our Choice: Portraits of Modern American Muslim Women edited by Debra L. Dirks and Stephanie Parlove, I learned that not all people are born as lucky as we are. In this book, there are six short stories which are written by six different American Muslim women on how they encounter Islam. Each of them has their own stories about their background, carrier and their perspectives towards Islam before they become a Muslim. Truthfully, I enjoyed reading this book as it is written by those women who completely understand the limited freedom that they feel. Moreover, I also observed different culture in different society and how they see those differences as a unity instead of barrier to get close with each other. Firstly, it starts with Carema’s story. She tells people on how she was born in a religious family and their families are those kinds of people who will always go to church during Sunday because they truly believe that it is what a Christian should do. She spend her teenage years to do charity work and serve the community because that is what she had been told what a good Christian did. But deep inside her never felt enough. She felt her soul never find a peace though she is doing charity work throughout her life. It seems like she is missing something in her life and that is when she started to discover Islam. At that time, Muslim’s community is very small and she never saw anyone who is wearing scarf and beard and she starts to wonder why their appearances is like that. She starts to learn more and more about Islam and she soon decided to become a Muslim. At first, her family are so surprised with her decision but then they respect her. Her mother also told her to do what she thought t... ... middle of paper ... ...not mean if I am wearing hijab and niqab I would have to just stay at home and does not mingle with other people. I realize that during Prophet Muhammad era, he encourages woman to go out of house and seek knowledge as seeking knowledge is compulsory in Islam. Prophet Muhammad also appreciates those women who come forward and ask question that making them feel confuse as the only references that they had is a men and those women does not feel shy to know the truth. In a nutshell, I strongly encourage people to read this book as it is based on a true story of American Muslims Women on how they encounter Islam. The fact that Islamic lifestyle has change their perspectives through the world is beyond amazing. Those are selected women that had been chosen by Allah to know more about Him. Their stories really inspires me to become a better muslimah in the future.

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