December 2015


Muslim in America Yasin worked as a fashion model


FROM PAGE 4


in the 1990s in New York, Paris, and South Africa. It was while working in South Africa that he converted.


‘‘A lot of times conversion stories


are about hitting rock bottom, but I was doing quite well in South Africa, doing TV, and print, and runway,’’ he says. ‘‘But I was asking myself, ‘What does this all mean?’’’


After converting, Yasin


backpacked around the Muslim world and studied at an Islamic seminary in Damascus, eventually coming back to the United States, working as an Arabic teaching assistant at Yale and later studying at Dartmouth.


At Zaytuna, education he leads service trips with students, in


which they work with non-Muslims through organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and with state forestry departments. He also sets up volunteer experiences for students at places such as domestic violence shelters.


Some students traveled to


Ferguson, Missouri, last year after the death of Michael Brown, to work as community organizers.


Yasin’s focus with the students is


not a ‘‘feel-good Islam,’’ he says. Yasin wants students to think about their faith in the context of issues such as poverty and the environment.


‘‘How do I buy that pint of strawberries that I know is being picked by people who don’t have access to healthcare or education?’’ he asks students, when ‘‘the Koran is telling me to eat that which is pure.’’


‘‘The Koran talks to you through


the natural world,’’ Yasin says. ‘‘It’s talking about the mountains and the sky and the rivers and the stars.’’


He adds: ‘‘The Koran serves as a reminder to you to be mindful of your responsibility.’’


Iman Hamze Sophomore Iman Hamze is a


nineteen-year-old Bay Area native. A first-generation American, her mother is South African and her father is Lebanese. She was raised Muslim. Part of what attracted Hamze to Zaytuna was the chance


to study Arabic


intensively. She eventually wants to teach the language, ‘‘so that more people can know what the religion is really about. If you can read the Koran, you can figure out the religion for yourself, so it’s not just people feeding it to you.’’


Hamze has three older sisters,


but she’s the only one of the children in her family to wear the hijab, the head covering worn by some Muslim women, which is not required at Zaytuna. ‘‘My mom wore the hijab and really wanted me to,’’ she says. ‘‘And I never really cared what people thought.’’


For Hamze, wearing the hijab


hasn’t been isolating. On the contrary, it’s been a way for her to connect with non-Muslims. ‘‘I guess people have this idea of women in Islam, that they’re oppressed,’’ Hamze says. ‘‘For me the hijab is empowering. I like that it makes me stand out. People ask me about it. Or they ask me about the way I live my life. And I can talk to them and they can see that we’re just like everyone else.’’


Colleen Keyes


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com ‘‘Things are really bleak in the


Muslim world,’’ says Colleen Keyes, the dean of students at Zaytuna. ‘‘There’s so much suffering.’’


Keyes believes these


‘‘miserable conditions’’ draw people to extremist Islamic groups. But, she says, those radical views reflect ignorance of Muslim traditions, and ‘‘people around the world are hungry for solid scholarship and thought that makes sense.’’


Connecticut, Catholic. She converted to


Originally from New Haven, Keyes was raised Islam


in the late 1980s. She was teaching English at a community college and had several Muslim students. She wanted to learn more about Islam and in the process realized that the religion resonated with her in ways that Catholicism hadn’t.


Her family was taken aback,


especially when she began praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan. ‘‘My mom said, ‘Can’t you find an easier religion?’’’ says Keyes. ‘‘And my sister said, ‘I give her six months.’’’


university Emirates returning


Keyes taught at an Islamic in


the United United Arab


in the 1990s, before to the


States


to work in community college administration. Keyes is the first woman in administration at Zaytuna. ‘‘Some of the women wish there were more female


scholars,’’ she


says. ‘‘I tell them that when they get their Ph.D. they can come back and be those female scholars. We’re waiting.’’


She adds: ‘‘American Muslim women have high goals. As they pursue those goals, there will be change. Change has always been part of the Islamic tradition. Wherever it has gone, it has adapted to its environment. I don’t know how there could be anything but change.’’


Scholarship Watch


UNCF•Merck Science Research Scholarships and Fellowships


The UNCF•Merck Undergraduate


Science


Research Scholarship Awards are intended to help African American undergraduate students who are interested in science to further their science education and potentially pursue science careers. The UNCF•Merck awards provide tuition support and opportunities for research experience in a state-of-the-art research facility.


Each award provides up to $35,000, which includes up to $25,000 towards tuition, room and board, and billable fees. This award is not transferable.


Each UNCF•Merck Undergraduate Fellow will be mentored by a Merck scientist and will receive two Summer Research Internships with


stipends totaling at least $10,000. One internship will take place during the summer following the junior year and the other following graduation. The two 10-12 week summer internships will take place at a Merck research facility in Rahway, NJ, West Point,PA or San Diego, CA.


The recipient’s


depart ment may receive a Department Grant of up to $10,000. The actual amount of this grant is contingent upon funds remaining in the scholarship portion of the award after all tuition, room and board, and


billable fees are paid. Apply online:


umsi.uncf.org/applyonline


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


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