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ISLAAM'S FEMALE CONVERTS What draws some women to the religion - and its structured way of life By Priya Malhotra, Newsday (New York, NY), 2/16/2002
http://www.newsday.com/features/ny-feat-fcov0216.story
February 16, 2002
ÂALLAHU AKBAR [God is Great], Allahuakbar! called Muhammad Hannini as about 15 worshipers gathered Sunday in a mosque in the basement of a home in Richmond Hill, Queens. Instantly, they knelt and touched their heads to the floor, a gesture symbolizing submission to God in Islaam.
The eight women bent in prayer a few feet behind the men were dressed in scarves and long dresses or ankle-length skirts. "You should see my humanity, my compassion, my devotion to God coming through the surface, not my body, said Sunni Rumsey Amatullah, who became Muslim a quarter century ago.
The women say they consider the veil and modest dress symbols not of oppression but of liberation. They say the emphasis on the female body in the Western world, with all its manifestations in popular culture, has led to the sexual objectification of women. And, despite their own often problematic relationships with men, they say their religion treats each gender equally, though not identically.
Like Amatullah who was born Cheryl Rumsey in Jamaica, Queens, and raised Episcopalian these women are among the estimated 20,000 Americans a year who since the mid-'90s have adopted Islaam, a religion that has been receiving much attention since the Sept.11 terrorist attacks. | |
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