Areeb Salim Grade 7

It was my first day of school after the Eid holidays and I was just getting used to the rules and regulations of school again. When I entered my grade 7 classroom, my teacher introduced us to two new faces to our, already crammed classroom. The new students in our class were named Uthman and Mustafa. I sat through math class as idle as a statue, and I did not finish a single question. I continuously looked at the two new people, attempting to get an image of their character. Mustafa looked to me like he was from an Asian origin, and Uthman looked Middle-Eastern. I tried to find out more about their character, but I did not uncover anything. That was when the recess bell rang.

When we went outside, I sprinted to talk to each of the new kids in my class. First I met Mustafa. I found out that I was correct; he was from Asia. In fact he was from Pakistan, just like me. He mentioned that his father and he were very religious and they knew a lot about Islam. Then I found out that Uthman was from Saudi Arabia, and that he also came from a religious family. He claimed that he had learned from the most pious sheikhs in Mecca. As I was walking toward the soccer field with Mustafa and Uthman, the girls were playing soccer. Uthman exclaimed, “What are they doing? This is haram.” I inquired, “What is haram?” He stated that girls do not have the same rights as boys, and that the famous sheikhs in Saudi Arabia said that girls should not play sports. I said that the prophet said that girls have the same rights as boys, and that they should be treated equally. But he argued, until he convinced me that girls shouldn’t have the same rights as boys.

After school we had basketball practice, and Uthman and Mustafa decided they would join. I came to the practice wearing Adidas and they came in traditional Muslim clothes. When they saw everyone else and I wearing western clothes, they asked us what we were doing. We answered, “Playing basketball.” They told us that according to all the famous scholars in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia it is haram to wear western clothes. I couldn’t believe I was doing something haram, and I immediately went into the change room and put on some traditional clothes.

When Mustafa and I were walking down the sidewalk to get home, because we were new neighbors, we were chatting away about the Sunni and Shia war in Iraq. I mentioned that they should have peace and live in harmony, but Mustafa disagreed. He said that Sunni Muslims have to force their way of Islam upon Shias, and I tried to argue, but once again he said all the scholars said it. I couldn’t believe it, but, I said that if the scholars said it, it must be true.

Mustafa and Uthman wouldn’t stop telling me new rules about Islam, and if I argued they said that famous scholars say that it was true and I had to give in, because of this I lived a restricted life. One day, I was driving to the masjid with my father, and the English translation of the Quran was playing. One interesting ayah was the one that said that religion should not be forced upon anybody. Yet another fascinating ayah was the ayah stating that girls have equal rights as boys. These ayahs went in conflict with the rules that my new friends stated. This conflict kept me in a dilemma for the rest of the day. The next day I decided that the only way to solve my problem was to consult the teacher and read the Quran. I brought the Quran to my Islamic teacher, and I inquired about the rules that Mustafa and Uthman told me about. She explained to me that a lot of cultural practices are misinterpreted as Quranic teachings. She told me that Islam is not an unjust religion, and that Allah is fair and kind, and does not support unjust violence and war.