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- Aug 10, 2012
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Muslim Parents Wrestle With Passing On Islamic Values
With its restrictions on dating, alcohol and attire, Islam can seem stifling to some young Muslims, a feeling compounded by some parents who see the outside world as a gateway to vice. That leads some Muslim immigrants to limit their children's non-Muslim social contacts.
"Many of them just keep their children inside, only within the community," said Ayfer Abed Aljabar, who founded the Iraqi American Community Center last year in Lowell, Mass.
"When Muslim kids look at American kids, they often feel like they are being deprived," said Dr. Othman Mohammad, a volunteer youth coordinator at the Islamic Center of New England in Quincy, Mass. Yet excessive curbs on children's social lives can lead to duplicity and secrecy, said Mohammad, adding that many Muslim kids talk about having an "at-home personality" and "at-school personality."
Suzy Ismail, curriculum developer at the Center for Muslim Life in New Brunswick, N.J., worries that many Muslim immigrant parents also isolate themselves within the local community, often because they feel intimidated by the new environment.
"When we don't mingle with others, we don't hear what goes on in school from other kids' parents. And because we're still often seen as the other, people hesitate to include us in these talks," said Ismail.
Aljabar, who fled Iraq in 2007 with her husband and three young daughters, now 10, 8, and 5, encourages her daughters to get involved with school activities and get together with friends.
With its restrictions on dating, alcohol and attire, Islam can seem stifling to some young Muslims, a feeling compounded by some parents who see the outside world as a gateway to vice. That leads some Muslim immigrants to limit their children's non-Muslim social contacts.
"Many of them just keep their children inside, only within the community," said Ayfer Abed Aljabar, who founded the Iraqi American Community Center last year in Lowell, Mass.
"When Muslim kids look at American kids, they often feel like they are being deprived," said Dr. Othman Mohammad, a volunteer youth coordinator at the Islamic Center of New England in Quincy, Mass. Yet excessive curbs on children's social lives can lead to duplicity and secrecy, said Mohammad, adding that many Muslim kids talk about having an "at-home personality" and "at-school personality."
Suzy Ismail, curriculum developer at the Center for Muslim Life in New Brunswick, N.J., worries that many Muslim immigrant parents also isolate themselves within the local community, often because they feel intimidated by the new environment.
"When we don't mingle with others, we don't hear what goes on in school from other kids' parents. And because we're still often seen as the other, people hesitate to include us in these talks," said Ismail.
Aljabar, who fled Iraq in 2007 with her husband and three young daughters, now 10, 8, and 5, encourages her daughters to get involved with school activities and get together with friends.