Islam, Equality, and the United States
By Anila Ali
Irvine, CA
“This nursery school has been closed.”
Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs
Eighteen years ago, one fine morning I was taking my five-year-old son to a private nursery in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When I arrived, I found the doors shut with the sign above pasted on the gate.
Days after closure, a few teachers reached out to me and informed me that the religious police raided the school and were appalled at the sight of young boys and girls studying together and have jailed the Australian principal and some of the teachers.
I had two choices: to send him to a local Saudi school and take a chance of him being bullied for being Pakistani (my son only spoke English) and then there was the additional danger that perhaps he may even turn into a women-hating minor, or I could send him to one of the best schools in Pakistan. I chose the latter.
As a result, I had to pack off my five-year-old child and send him to a school in Pakistan. That separation with my son made me realize that I never wanted to live in a country where people are judged by the color of their skin. My husband, an engineer, was paid a measly wage simply because of the color of his passport. Engineers of his caliber with a US or British passport were paid three times more and lived in better housing complexes than people from South Asia.
There is no compulsion in religion. Verse 256 from Surah Baqarah –Holy Qur'an.
Having lived in Orange County for 17 years, I think that the best place to practice your religion in the world is the United States. Muslims enjoy more freedoms and liberty guaranteed by the US Constitution than in Muslim countries. The Holy Qur'an and all the practices of the Prophet of Islam reflected Islam’s fundamental belief in equality. The purpose of the annual pilgrimage to Mekkah and all Muslims dressed in the same piece of white cloth, is to reinforce the concept of equality.
The only thing that distinguishes one human from another and one race from another is his goodness and deeds towards other fellow beings.
"O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female, and have made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Indeed the most honored of you in the sight of Allaah is the most righteous. Indeed, Allaah is Knowing and Acquainted" [Qur'an 49:13]
I thank Martin Luther King Jr. and all the human rights activist for their leadership, courage and determination. Their sacrifices have given so many of us equal opportunity to practice our religion freely and get equal opportunity to enjoy the bounties of this beautiful land. In America there is justice, in America there is equality, in America there is Godliness and goodliness and so God- Save –America.
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