Zoe Williams

Diversity Event reflection

I attended a Muslim mosque ritual at the Al Huda Islamic center of Athens. This
was the first time I have observed any Muslim ritual, because I have always grown up
around people who are skeptical of the Muslim culture. At first I did not realize that there
was an entrance for men and women separately. I choose to participate in the religious
ritual because it seemed to be the most respectful thing to do at that time. Once I had
entered the building in the womens entrance, we all took off our shoes and walked into
an empty room with all the women. I sat and observed the women in the room while we
waited for the service to start.
One of the first things I noticed was that all the older women
were wearing hijabs and traditional Muslim clothing that covered their
entire bodies. When the service began all eyes were on the speaker who was
speaking mostly in Arabic. I couldnt understand what he was saying, but as he spoke
people would agree. I definitely felt out of my element at this point because here I was 10
minutes down the road from where I live and I couldnt even understand the language
being spoken. I understood that not knowing a specific language or having speech
barriers, gives people who speak the native language privilege. Because of my language
barrier it was hard for me to understand what to do, or when to stand/sit/pray.
I would have definitely considered myself a minority here because I was one of
the only people there who appeared to not be from Middle Eastern decent. I grew up in a
southern Baptist area, and ever since 9/11 people from my hometown have become very
skeptical of Muslim people in general. I noticed while I was there that I had a lot of

implicit bias toward these people, but I was really shocked to find out these biases were
not true. All of the Muslim people there could definitely tell that I wasnt in my comfort
zone nor did I know how these rituals go. One elder Muslim woman came up to me and
during one of the prayers grabbed my hand and showed me how to do the prayer ritual. It
was a series of getting on your knees and touching your forehead to the ground. I was
shocked how welcoming and friendly everyone was to me during the service. I know that
a lot of times Muslim people have a bad reputation from where I am from, but a lot of my
bias is gone towards them after I realized that my bias was wrong.
Another thing I was shocked by was how welcoming they were to me when I am
sure that they have not always been welcomed into a lot of societies in the United States.
I understand to a small extent what they experience everyday in a predominantly
Christian society. When I was there multiple people would look at me or ask me why I
was here, but they were never intentionally meant in harmful ways. They tried to make
sure I understood the ritual, or at least the appropriate behavior.
When the service was over there was one other white woman in the room, who
came up to me and asked if I knew what they were talking about. I told her no, and she
told me the story of how she had recently converted to Islam. She summarized what was
taught in the service. She told me that the speaker talked about generosity and giving
money. She told me they also talked about prayer and how important it is to pray. I
realized that this sounded a lot like the things that would be taught at my own church at
home. Even though both religions have different beliefs, we still both have similar values
or life lessons. Even though I was out of my comfort zone at this event I still felt more at
home when I realized that they were teaching typical good morals and values. I dont

know exactly what I was expecting, but I guess my bias had made me think their ideas
would be much more radical. Overall, I thought visiting attending this Muslim service
was a very enlightening experience and it broke a lot to the bias and opinions I had
towards the Muslim faith.