Ibrahim speaks about Islam, future challenges

With the current, frantic political climate, members of Temple Sinai in Cranston joined forces with the Rhode Island Council for Muslim Advancement to better understand one another and to create a space for open dialogue.

Wendy Manchester Ibrahim, vice president of RICMA, spoke to a crowd of around 25 Jewish worshippers last Sunday about the challenges facing Rhode Island Muslims, as well as the pillars of Islamic faith. RICMA’s purpose is to work within local communities to help build bridges amongst all of the different Muslim organizations and outreach with both interfaith and secular communities. The organization has an established relationship with LGBT and civil rights groups and the ACLU for communication on a statewide level and to combat the negative narrative that is often pushed on Muslims in American media.

Ibrahim herself grew up in a Christian household in Warwick. She became interested in Islam in her early 30’s after she taught management at a university in Egypt upon finishing her master’s degree. Ibrahim had never been to a Muslim country before, let alone heard someone speak Arabic, but she fell in love with the culture. She officially converted in 1998, almost a year to the day after she first decided to follow Islam. Today, she has two children with her husband who is originally from Egypt.

“Something about it really resonated in my heart and I really felt pulled to it,” she said. “I think of that as metaphysically the moment I converted. I took shahada, or made my declaration to the faith, almost a year to the day later.”

Though she was engrained in the culture her entire time in the Middle East, Ibrahim said it was when she came back to the United States and got involved with the Muslim community in Rhode Island that she really felt like she was a part of the community. Seeing strong leaders making an impact inspired her to get more involved and showed her that she was pursuing something she really believed in.

In 2006, eight years after her conversion to Islam, Ibrahim decided she wanted to take the next step in showing her devotion to God. During Ramadan, she prayed often and felt it was right to begin wearing a traditional hijab. She looks at it as a three-step process of accepting Islam in her heart, officially and in her everyday life.

“For me this is a very personal experience, but it’s an expression of my relationship with God. When I put [my hijab] on, I’m remembering that my priority is to live my life for God. That’s what this means to me. Nothing at all feels oppressive about this for me. This was a very personal choice; I wasn’t forced to wear it when I converted. I have chosen to do it willingly day after day for almost 12 years so it’s very much part of me.”

Ibrahim said that once she began wearing the hijab, some people in her family were concerned about anything from the scarf affecting her ability to hike, to the rise in the number of hate crimes against Muslims. Her mother reassured her that she was happy because she knew that God was in her daughter’s house and making an impact on her granddaughters.

Ibrahim stressed the importance of bridging the gap and understanding others, especially when, according to her research, 62 percent of Americans say they have never spoken to a Muslim before. About half of the attendees in the audience said they had ever spoken to a Muslim.

“Some members of my family 18 years into it just started asking the questions that some of you are asking right now,” she said. “I didn’t know what to make of it, but I think, in the current environment, people feel like they better ask now because they need to understand this, and I need to know how to deal with people’s questions.”

In Rhode Island there are six mosques, a full-time Islamic school, two different Sunday schools and Muslim Student Association chapters at all universities in the state. The Muslim population sits between 10,000 and 14,000. Some are converts like Ibrahim. There is also a large African American community and many Arab, Syrian, Pakistani and Indian Muslims. Ibrahim said that although there are some issues, such as converts not being taken as seriously as someone born into Islam, in general the Muslim community is very warm and welcoming.

Rabbi Jeffrey W. Goldwasser also spoke about similarities between Judaism and Islam and the importance in recognizing that. He said that Ibrahim was brought in by popular demand because people want to do more in supporting the Muslim community. After fake bomb threats were made against the Jewish community in Rhode Island, many Muslims showed their support at a rally in Providence just a couple weeks prior that was attended by almost the entire congressional delegation and Governor Gina Raimondo.

Ibrahim said that working together to support each other and having the support of interfaith allies has made a world of difference and will continue to make a positive impact as long as people continue the conversation.

“I love it,” she said. “I love interfaith dialogue and I feel like my life prepared me for this. I have to acknowledge that I have privilege in that I was born here and I’m a Caucasian female. Even though I’m wearing a scarf, I can always pull that card, where as an Arab woman that doesn’t speak the language well, it might not be as easy for her to navigate. I acknowledge my privilege and I’m trying to use that to my advantage to get the word out.”

More information about both the Rhode Island Council for Muslim Advancement and Temple Sinai can be found on their respective websites, RICMA.org and TempleSinaiRI.org.