What has raising children in the Islamic faith been like for you?. Valerie Shirley interview

What has raising children in the Islamic faith been like for you?. Valerie Shirley interview

Masjid An-Nur, Islam

I remember feeling like I had joined a family of millions.

Shantrice King

N/A

Religion Department (Carleton College)

6/5/2012

Sound

.mp3

MAN_RaisingChildren.mp3

Minneapolis, MN

1:59

I remember feeling like I had joined a family of millions. And growing up in Chicago, in the inner city, where it was a little bit dog eat dog, and you better bite or get bitten, it was really different for me to see people doing things for you, just for the sake of God. They don’t want anything in return. They’re doing it so they can get blessings from a higher power. That was pretty profound for me, to understand that. I mean I was on guard when I first became Muslim, because people - I mean, even just moving to Minnesota, ‘cause Minnesota Nice is a different kind of understanding the world, people come up to me and just start talking, and I remember throwing my purse across my shoulder, like, “what are they up to?” And I’d get in my ready stance, then they’d walk away and say “oh, have a nice day.” I’m like, “really? They just wanted to greet me?” It was hard for me to accept help sometimes - it’s like “oh, sister, you need money? Oh, you need food? Oh, you need me to babysit? Oh, you need us to help clean your house and fold your clothes?” And I’m like, “Um, you’re not touching my clothes, don’t you see how messy my house is. People come see your messy house, they talk about you.” It wasn’t like that at all, it was just like, “Okay, we want to help you.” That’s it? That was pretty amazing. So, having - and being a single mom now, being divorced, it’s really nice because it’s a social system that works. It’s such a wonderful support system. And I’m sure not everybody has had my experience, but I’m a very social person, so I get really connected, so people would know if I was in need, because I’m social, I’m not isolated, I don’t generally isolate myself. Raising kids in this community has been a wonderful thing cause it’s easy to try to keep them away from a lot of, um… social decay, that affects the world. So it’s really - it’s nice.