Greek Life and the Muslim girl

[كونزيت]

When Imani Abdul-Haqq converted to Islam in November 1999, she knew her life as Muslim would make her an outsider. She decided that though she would have to give up some things, she would figure out a way live an American life within her faith.


Six years later her mettle was put to the test: As a Guilford (North Carolina) College student, Abdul-Haqq was unwilling to forgo one crucial element of college--a chance at experiencing Greek life.

Her determination to meld faith with sorority life led her to co-found the first ever Greek-Muslim sorority--Gamma Gamma Chi, a haven for young women looking for sorority sisterhood minus the co-ed parties and other haram (forbidden) activities.


That first Muslim-Greek sorority was the realization of a cherished goal for Abdul-Haqq. But the story doesn’t end there. As word continues to spread of Gamma Gamma Chi, Muslim sisters Kentucky, Maryland, Georgia, and other states are clamoring for chapters at their own universities.

Abdul-Haqq’s journey to Greek life is indicative of the modern Muslim-American woman--respectful of her faith and determined to partake in halal (permissible) aspects of American life. If there’s a way to make it work, then women like Abdul-Haqq will make it happen.

[كونزيت]

In the Beginning

After converting to Islam, Abdul-Haqq’s problems began immediately. At her first college, North Carolina’s Bennett College for Women, she tried to join an established, historically Black sorority and was rejected because of the image associated with her beliefs. “Even though these girls knew who I was, I was perceived as an outsider because of my obviously Muslim appearance,” says Abdul-Haqq, referring to her hijab (headscarf) and conservative clothes.

Like other Muslim women, she realized that becoming a sorority sister could mean compromising her beliefs. “In searching for the close bond of sisterhood that a sorority offers I felt that my beliefs and lifestyle conflicted with the activities and whole pledging process of most sororities,” she says.

[كونزيت]

But Abdul-Haqq was not one to give up. She left Bennett to start a family and then returned to Guilford College in 2005. It was there, with the help of her mother Althia Collins, that the now 34-year-old founded Gamma Gamma Chi.

Founding the sorority was a matter of getting involved in the total college experience, says Abdul-Haqq. Too many young Muslims today believe “being Muslim is not cool. Being Muslim is more or less looked at as being different and excluded from the crowd,” she explains.

Inspiration came in a Friday prayer sermon encouraging Muslims to become more active in the community. Determined to reinvigorate her peers’ zeal for Islam, she recruited her mother, a Delta Sigma Theta sorority member and former president of Bennett College, to help her create Gamma Gamma Chi.

Collins, president and executive director of Gamma Gamma Chi, recognized the importance of a sorority experience and wanted to save other Muslim women from facing the problems she had: Her 25-year career in higher education came to a “screeching halt,” Collins says, when her colleagues rejected her conversion to Islam in 1998.

“I firmly believe that a woman shouldn’t have to give up her career for her religion, or her religion for her career,” Collins says. So when her daughter came to her with the idea for a Muslim-friendly Greek sorority to make a comfortable niche for Muslim college girls, Collins was eager to help.

[كونزيت]

to be continued

[عربي سعودي]

she tried to join an established, historically Black sorority and was rejected because of the image associated with her beliefs. “Even though these girls knew who I was, I was perceived as an outsider because of my obviously Muslim appearance,” says Abdul-Haqq, referring to her hijab (headscarf) and conservative clothes.

i still do not understand some of those americans who keep bothering me and ask about women rights in other countries while women rights in their own country are been violated alot as in the story above .. the incident above is only a very small example on it .. !!

those who watch and give comments on other countries on women rights should take a look at their own country first

i only have one message for these people ..

"don't throw stones on others if your house is made of glass"



thank you Kunzite for this thread

looking forward to read the rest of the story

[كونزيت]

yeah my friend .....people aren't equal in America

Black people are not the same as white ones


Those whose ancestors were European are better than other ancestors

Every five minutes a woman is raped in America.

[كونزيت]

The campus Greek community is no stranger to the growth of non-traditional and religious sororities: Christian, Jewish, Black, Asian, Hispanic, multicultural, and lesbian sororities can be found on campuses nationwide. But before Gamma Gamma Chi, many Muslim women struggled to find sororities that would mesh with their beliefs. “I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to form such an underrepresented and needed organization,” says Abdul-Haqq, now vice president and assistant director of Gamma Gamma Chi.

Arwa Abualsoud, a prospective Gamma Gamma Chi member, says she also faced exclusion from sororities because of her hijab. She was also deterred from joining by the stereotype of the “sorority party girl” that she had picked up from movies. “Sorority life was a totally different lifestyle than the one I have,” she says. But she quickly changed her mind when she and friend Sundus Elghumati heard about Gamma Gamma Chi and its alternative approach to sorority life.

[عربي سعودي]

Every five minutes a woman is raped in America.

can you please give me a source on the internet for this important information ?

i want to use this info to proove my point in any arguements

thank you very much

[rainbow]

i like this subject....
i feel much better when i know how other moslims live...
how they are treated....or mistreated to be correct...
it is not a secret anymore that crimes...class discrimination..are basic marks in the western life....
....specially in the u.s
yet ..they believe that such things are common and normal in any civilization...comparing ofcourse with the roman and the greek in
thier history and not to mention the islamic one which is the greatest ever.......

Every five minutes a woman is raped in America

as far as i know is one case every minute all over the 51 states

...

[كونزيت]

عربي سعودي
My library should be grateful to you for being dusted tonight
Few years ago, I have read a book called Women Between Islam and Western Society by Wahiduddin Khan
He used western books and magazines to show the readers how they describe their own society
He has depended on articles from the Daily Express ,Reader's Digest or Time magazine and other books like Intimate Violence in
Families by Richard Gells
Until now I didn't find the specific information but let me write this

...
Reader's Digest gives many instances of wife beating by Americans in an article entiteled "Why Men Hurt the Women They Love " According to one survey,in America a woman is battered by a husband or boy friend every 18 seconds. And every year, it is estimated that more than a million need medical help. Every day , four die

I wish that you will find what you are searching for
May Allah bless you.