Islam, Women and Overcoming Adversity Essays

Islam, Women and Overcoming Adversity Essays Islam, Women and Overcoming Adversity Paper Islam, Women and Overcoming Adversity Paper Rida is a veil/covering from head to toe of Muslim women belonging to the dawoodi bohra, Shia sect of Islam. At adolescence, men and women have the opportunity to enter faith by giving an oath- also known as misaq- to the community’s spiritual head. Misaq is formally considered as religious birth. In simpler terms, it is a passage from childhood to adulthood. Agreeing to the covenants of misaq means that one will sincerely uphold the tenets of Islam, follow the community’s guidelines, as well as understand the duties as a Muslim. During the ceremony of misaq, both men and women vow to endorse the expectations of cover. Men must keep an untrimmed beard, and women must wear rida. At the age of thirteen, I was caught puffing on tobacco. My actions were considered impure, and since I hadn’t reached puberty all the sins were to be burdened by my parents. Being the youngest, yet most spoiled of four children, my parents and close relatives had lost all expectations of my decency. In the year of my fourteenth birthday, I decided to participate in oath taking ceremony. Although I didn’t give much affirmation to the ritual, I part-took only to fulfil the formality. My parents were already distressed bearing my unorthodox way of life, and now the move to America came closer. The idea of move brought a lot of responsibilities to my parents. They had to wrap-up decades-old business, and leave two older children. Relatives that I didn’t even know the relationship of, came in to urge caution to my parents on the exotic young adults’ culture of America. It seemed as though clouds of gloom had descended upon them. Stepping on the soil of United States, I literally felt a cool breeze through my face. Thinking now, it was probably the effect of breeze that made me question my actions and a way of life. I had left behind the past. It was now time to re-write the story from the beginning, a crisp page for a new life. After two years of resid