Muslim Women in Granada, Spain

one important aspect of our project journey into Europe was to meet and interview women we were delighted to meet the women of Granada and what was so special about them was that many were converts to Islam these Western women were bringing their optimism and dynamism to Islam and giving it a new Vigor in the land of Andalusia it's so nice to be here in your beautiful mosque with Alhambra Palace behind us can you all introduce yourselves please English man okay I was born and raised in California I was born in Switzerland I've lived in England born and raised in Cape Town South Africa I was born in Spain and I was born in England and I attracted you to Spain it's enchanting it has something about it you know it has a pool because you know we're Muslims we have um the process is a like a Heritage that we can't anything we can create nowadays um it's fantastic you know it's beautiful it's like the kind of the height of the Muslim uh rain here in Europe because I also live among lots of Muslim women I'm Muslim and they have their mothers and they study and they travel and they work and they have I find that also now easy to talk about about my religion now I live here among people who are the symptoms of me for lots of some friends and with some acquaintances and it's easier now to be able to reach out to people because I feel more confident about it now what is the role that women play in the mosque and in the community I mean without a woman there wouldn't be a community yeah the men are into politics or the women are doing the real stuff the real one the real the real work at home there's a great warmth between the sisters because when we said our prayers yesterday in the mosque everybody turned to each other and they kissed each other like the Thanos is that Spanish is that I think Gwen feels family no um yeah it helps yeah and I think I think it's a Spanish have it to between women to to kiss each other or is it La convivencia well well I don't know I mean I suppose it's still Essence in a way I think you know you know it's like in any small village we are like a village inside the Granada yeah so the competencies is something we love each other sometimes we fight like in every human group we are we are different personalities different backgrounds you know we are in the same place because we are Muslim you know and after 30 years you love the people who are around you have you converted to Islam or were you born into Islam what's what's your story I converted I'm one of the well I was born because my parents converted my parents are Malaysian Origins so my great grandparents are Muslim and I'm with him too because at that moment they were very very few Muslims in Spain it was like something very strange many years many people tell me that I speak very well in Spanish I'm going to try to say just a young Spanish I am from Bayada live the place where they speak the best Spanish the people don't understand no now start to know that there are many Spanish Muslims you know but before was something impossible as a Muslim I feel sometimes Foreigner in Spain and foreign are there many converts to Islam yes I think and in the in the last years here in the in the most every week is people who converted every week the government in Spain they say they tried to make that combivence between different communities what what when you hear the news in the in the TV or in the jewelry in the newspaper about Muslim is all all negative about terrorism and things like this so that made difficult you know but I can say that at the beginning of living here in Granada the people of the city they were very unconfident you know with we passed I couldn't stand it 30 years back they wouldn't they wouldn't let us if we were scarf they wouldn't rent houses there used to be what uh that I have had rocks thrown at me um there were writings on the wall there's a very distinctive word which is called mordo and Spanish saying like Mortals go home and they couldn't stand it they were they were terrified they thought we were going to take over the L by sin they thought we were going to take over Granada I think if has been created here and it's still there you know my my brother grew up in Spain and he the the history book started at 1492. they're full of guns to ask one more question about the hijab we have to ring it up so um what are your comments came for the Muslim women to be respected so this is the mission of the of the hijab so in the moment that supports any other thing you can this is up to to you the situation where you live you know and when we were the hijab we are always making a political statement and I sometimes don't have the strength that I don't feel strong enough to make that political statement I just want to go across the street and buy the bread hijab is a very sort of personal thing at the moment because as ramonita says you like making a statement especially in this year um if it's going to be a problem and if it's going to bring you problems the most important thing is to dress modestly because there's a lot of people that walk around in hijab the most important is the intention and the intention so you know it's a bit of a balancing well I started wearing a scarf when I was 18 19 and I really felt it and I felt empowered and strong and I came to Spain and I and it all fell apart it really did I had some terrible comments about with my older older generation Spanish older generation and Cordova and I remember feeling so awful thinking this is completely this is the opposite of what I wanted you know as it makes them feel bad it makes them reminds them something that they obviously don't understand and I stopped wearing it and I don't wear a scarf on a daily basis some people say that European identity and Islamic identity are incompatible what do you what do you think about that myself I mean for me Islam is like a filter you know it's a way to filter in the good of bad to to Filthy in the good and to keep out the bad I mean in every society there are good and bad things you know and Islam is just a photo of the good and the bad yeah and I think the term is European Muslims not Muslims in Europe yeah right it's like we are European and we are we're Muslims and we're European but we're not Muslims in Europe we're European Muslims

Channel: Akbar Ahmed

Views: 430,377

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Id: trVmPin0roE

Length: 8min 5sec (485 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 12 2014