We Belong

So, last week was really interesting. I posted my letter to Hasbro Inc. here and a lead on BlogHer. Two of my friends who believed in my right to share my opinion, shared the link to my letter. Many people tweeted and re-tweeted. Soo many people read my letter. A handful agreed with me.  Many did not.

The point of posting the letter here was not to gather people to cheer me on.  It wasn’t even to see how many people agreed with me. The point of sharing the letter was to share with you a problem in my life that wouldn’t have been a problem if I wasn’t living Islamically. The point of sharing the letter was to share with you how I dealt with this problem. I could have done it all without sharing, yes. I could live my whole life without sharing what I do here…but then…

Hasbro Inc. has not responded. I don’t anticipate that they will. It is my hope that by sharing my views, maybe they will think more carefully before doing something like this again. Maybe someone who read my post will think twice about what it is that they are buying. Maybe not.

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Last month, we celebrated Eid ul Fitr.

After our family attended Eid prayers and celebrated with the community.

After Eid prayers, we went on a little vacation to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For the past 5-6 years, whenever we leave town on vacation we make a point to visit the local mosque for Jummah prayers. This time was no different. I had a list of mosques that were within 20 minutes from our hotel. The first one was closed, the second was open. 

We pulled into the parking lot and we saw men wearing clothes that ran the spectrum from a gallebaya and kufi to knee length shorts and a backwards baseball hat. We saw women wearing abaya and hijab to jeans and conservative length blouses. As we found a parking spot, the community members waved and smiled.

We asked where the women’s entrance was, and we were directed to the door on the right. Once inside, we made our way around to the washroom so Kate and Pea could refresh their wudu. There were children all around. Once inside the prayer room, we sat with women of all ages, colors and cultural backgrounds. The khutba was in Arabic, but there were headphones for translation.

After the sermon, we were taking photos and several nice women introduced themselves to us. We talked about our trip to the city and they shared with us the community plans for Eid celebrations. The invited us to join them. The gave us tips on where to go and what to do in the city. We were welcomed.

As we were leaving the mosque, one of the ladies went up to Mr. Fox and said, “You must be Kristina’s son!” He was quite surprised and found it amusing that we had been there one time and already we were known.

Then he said, “I’m glad we came here. It feels comfortable, like we belong.”

YES. We Belong.