I don’t get it.
Overseas they always brag about how their Muslims are so much better than those in the west. They preach about how disgusting living in America as a Muslim would be. They boast about being Muslims in the Middle East. They look down upon American Muslims as if we’re not even Muslims. I saw this firsthand when I went to Lebanon this summer. “Oh you’re American? Wow you wear hijab?” “You’re American? Do you even pray?” But the hypocrisy was astonishing. Muslim girls walking up and down the street right next to the masjid with clothes that barely can be identified as clothing. Hijabis wearing see through and clothes so tight it made me sick. What are you all boasting about again? Dating became normal to them too. You see Muslim couples clearly making it obvious that they’re together and flirting around with no shame. Muslim boys overseas aren’t even any better. I could not walk across the street without my brother because the second I did decide to walk to the beach alone or to my aunts house with my cousin, I got harassed by a bunch of Muslim guys asking for my number, for my place of living, calling me “sexy”. I was disgusted. All I wanted was a breath of salty air from the beach in peace and all I was getting was harassment. And no I was not dressed provocatively. I was dressed more modestly than ¾ of the hijabis there. Yet I still got harassed. Muslim boys barely going to jumuaa prayer too and choose to lay around in the hookah bars instead. So what are the middle eastern Muslims showing off again? The amount of hypocrisy in the community was nauseating. Let me tell you what it’s really like being an American Muslim. The masjid I go to actually has a separate entrance for woman and actually accommodates for us unlike the masjid only my grandpas uncles brothers and cousins could go to in Lebanon. I wear the hijab in America with modesty and self respect and I do not walk around scared that I’ll get sexually harassed. I do not have to worry about yelling at men to lower their gaze as my mom did for me at the Beirut airport. I do not have to be forced into the societal norm of dating or dressing like I’ve only been covered with cling wrap. Here in America I can go to youth group events with my fellow Muslims sisters and be part of the community. Here in America I can wear the hijab without being flirted with 24/7. Most of the women in my family in Lebanon don’t even wear hijab and actually were sad when I did decide to wear it. I went to a scouts event with my cousins and all I saw genders mixing and flirting. And they call that Islam. All I saw were Muslim girls in tight ass pants walking around begging for attention. And you know what happened? My brother looked at me and asked me “why aren’t there any hijabis around here?”. I was the only one there wearing hijab. Here in America, I can go merely grocery shopping and find so many hijabis. My brother was actually so disappointed that I’m the only one out of my cousins that wears hijab. My moms the only one out of her siblings that wears hijab. Yet they look at us Muslim Americans and think we’re less than them. Not only does it make me sick but it makes me sad. I pity their arrogance and ignorance. How can they be so blind? For gods sake I can walk around with a hijab in America and do whatever I want yet i got scared for my life walking around streets on my own overseas. I cried so much while I was overseas because I didn’t believe that even while dressed modestly I was getting harassed every time I left the house. Boys checking me out from top to bottom and FOLLOWING me places. Is that what they teach the Muslim boys overseas? Is that was you all are so damn proud about? Anyway I just had to rant about that. It was bothering me too much.
westmelanin