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Faith As We See It

"I think a lot of people have misconceptions about what it is to be a Muslim woman. I think that a lot of people don't really understand the dress. It's something that's very striking and very obvious. When you see someone that's dressed differently, you wonder why. I think that a lot of people have the tendency to interpret it as something that's negative, or that someone's forcing you to do this, or that you're submissive. I don't know; people have automatic reactions to it. It's important to talk to the people and find out why they do what they do. For me it's a personal choice that comes from the belief that there is a God that knows what's good for us. So it's not that I'm following what any man tells me to do, or any woman tells me to do, but this creator doesn't have a gender. In Santa Cruz that was a concern when I first came--here, that I would be the only person who does dress like this, and it would be very strange, and I'd feel sort of separate. But I've found it to be a very open community, which is really nice." ---Nameera Akhtar, UCSC Assistant Professor of Psychology, teaches the Quran to her son, Hamza El-Falah. Continue the photo essay. [ Santa Cruz | MetroActive Central | Archives ]