It took Frances Mary Fischer 53 years to express herself and it cost her job, family and money. And it is still not complete. A transgender woman, Fischer now does odd jobs and lives on public assistance. But she has not lost hope.
“It has always been a struggle. It is a continuing fight,” she said as she opened the letter from New York State Human Rights Commission. And even as she sliced the envelope open, she said she knew it was not in her favor.
Fischer lost her job at Alliance Relocation Services in Oct. 2004. She complained to the HRC against the company for discriminating against her on the basis of her gender identity.
The letter, dated Oct. 26 and signed by Julia Day, Interim Regional Director, state division of human rights, dismissed her complaint and closed the case as they found no evidence against the respondent that it discriminated against her. According to the letter, Fischer has 60 days to appeal against the decision to the New York State Supreme Court, but in case of an adverse decision there, the complainant may lose his right to proceed subsequently in a federal court.
“They have cited Kremer vs. Chemical Construction Co. (1982). I am going to appeal against it,” she said. “It is good that I have not shot myself in the head. May be this is because of my background as a priest. Many transgender people do that. It is so difficult. It just pushes you to the extreme.”
Fischer’s parents prepared her for the church when they suspected he was not like other boys. But she gave up priesthood when she started questioning the Catholic beliefs.
She said he always felt like a woman, even as a child.
“I was scolded for playing with dolls. Once I traded my bicycle for a neighbor’s Barbie doll,” said Fischer, adding that in those days it was difficult to express one’s gender identity because the society was not very receptive.
“Gender identity refers to a person’s internal, deeply felt sense of being either male or female. Because it is internal and personally defined, it is not visible to others,” wrote Jaminson Green in Introduction to Transgender Issues in Gay Pride directory of 2005-2006.
Fischer was born in Iowa Falls, Iowa in 1952. She said she always felt she should express herself as a woman and wanted to wear a dress to her high school prom but ended up wearing a female tuxedo. She said she has been undergoing counseling since 1983 and has been on feminizing hormones since then.
“When I was 3 years old I had an accident and I asked my doctor why I did not have a vagina,” she said.
But coming out has not been easy for her. She has faced discrimination.
“The work environment became hostile when I started my transition. People would call me Fran and FM,” she said. Most people associate transgender people with drag queens, gays, lesbians and cross dressers.
“They think we are prostitutes and have diseases,” she said.
Besides discrimination, it also costs money to look like a woman. Surgeries are not covered by insurance and Fischer has already spent $18,000 on various treatments including augmentation mammaplasty. She said she went to Bangkok to get her surgery because it is cheaper there.
“It costs so much here,” she said. Fischer is transitioning in stages. “It is coming out well. I am excited. I would like to get a tummy tuck and other small things like that. I will keep doing them. It will take years,” she said pointing to her teeth that have just been shaped.
“They are working on the lower set. And when I can afford it, I would like to go for electrolysis. There is stubble,” she said feeling her chin with her hands that appear well-groomed with neutral polish to make her nails shine.
“My gynecologist said I could have boyfriends now,” she said. “It gets so lonely at times. It is depressing. Sometimes, I want to cuddle with someone on the couch and just watch television.”
Fischer’s voice is deep and she still sounds like a male. “It got messed up. But I will get it right,” she said.
Dressed in a powder blue turtle neck sweater and black pants, Fischer said she loves the woman’s body and regrets that she did not transition before. “It was for my children. My wife and I decided to keep it under cover till our children had grown up,” she said.
For Fischer it was like wearing the wrong shoe in the feet all these years. “When you wear the wrong shoe, you get blisters. It pains. It has been like that for me. Every morning I would look in the mirror and it would make me want to cry. You don’t like the skin you are in, you hate the image that you see,” she said. “Nobody understands.”
Fischer who has a son and a daughter, both married, is divorced now. She said she is very fond of her grand children but seldom gets to meet them. A picture showed her holding both her grandchildren in her arms.
“It felt so good. I always wanted to be a mother,” she said. “But it is difficult to explain how they have two grandmothers.”
Fischer was employed at Alliance Relocation Services in 2000. She said she was the MIS director at the company and in charge of billing and drafting job descriptions. Fischer started her official transition from male to female in August, 2001, when she applied for a name change at the Supreme Court for the County of Onondaga, according to the affidavit filed by her in June, 2003. It took her two-and-a-half years to change her name from Frank Mark Fischer to Frances Mary Fischer. When the judge refused, she approached Lambda Legal for help and then sued New York State. She finally won the case but the victory is just a beginning of many battles, legal and otherwise that she has to wage every moment in her life.
The latest in her trials is the loss of her job.
Erin Keenan, an employee in the accounts and the billing section in her company, said Fischer is very capable but the company did not have work for him.
“He was removed because there was lack of job. He never had a formal title and we have also removed the position that he had,” said Keenan.
She said the employees are very friendly and respected Fischer but when she got graphic about her transition, it became uncomfortable for people in the office. She said there were no bathroom issues at all. And everybody is shocked to see that Fischer decided to complain against the company.
“He started explaining the process. We were not very comfortable with it. His removal had nothing to do with his sex-change. People here are very open,” she said.
An article on Fischer in the Post-Standard on March 25, 2004, quoted her employer, Jim Walsh, saying that Fischer is a star employee, that she “carried the company single-handedly”. He also said he would not forget what Fischer has done for the company.
Under Title VII, it is forbidden to discriminate against an employee for failure to conform to gender stereotypes. (www.transgenderlaw.org)
The New York law provides a cause of action for gender identity-motivated discrimination, although there is no explicit mention of gender identity under the New York human rights law. (Maffei v. Kolaeton, 626 N.Y.S.2d 391 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. 1995) and Rentos v. OCE-Office Systems, 1996 U.S. Dist.)
Professor Janice McDonald, College of Law, Syracuse University, said, “She has a better chance in a federal court.” Fischer has already appealed in the state court and can’t go to federal court (Kremer V. Chemical Construction Co.).
Fischer said she told her employer about her transition and though he allowed earrings and rings, he did not allow dresses.
“He said what I was I trying to do. Win a beauty contest? And I said I was trying to be myself,” she said.
Now Fischer is without a job. She said she has sent around 1,100 applications for various jobs but has failed to get one.
The New York State Human Rights Law under Section 291 says right to “obtain employment without discrimination based on age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex or marital status is hereby recognized as and declared to be a civil right.”
“A couple of interviewers said though I was qualified, other employees might have problems like bathroom issues or religious beliefs and so I could not get the job. I can’t get a job because I am transgender and I am open about it,” said Fischer who has two doctorates and has been an adjunct professor at Onondaga Community College.
“Your qualifications go away in snap. They would not even give me a job of greeting people or cleaning tables. It is a hard life,” she said.
Fischer said she was suffering from gender dysphoria, and transition and use of drugs have led to anxiety and insomnia and therefore she is disabled, in her complaint to the HRC. She is blind in her left eye and wears lens in the right eye, she said.
The New York State Human Rights law says any diagnosable condition or impairment demonstrable by medically accepted techniques, is a disability. But Fischer’s claim to medical coverage has been denied by Social Security Administration.
She gets $170 every two weeks toward her expenses and food stamps in lieu of community service for 18 hours a week in addition to six hours that she has to devote to job-hunting. But that’s far from enough, she said.
Her rent is $400 for a small two-bedroom apartment on North Street.
“I have to look for a job everyday to pay my rent. I clean other people’s homes, and jobs like those,” she said.
“It has not got to the stage where I have to sell my body for money,” she said.
Green in his article on transgender issues said that often transgender people are driven to do things that are not socially acceptable.
“Antitrans discrimination forces many trans people into a deadly cycle of poverty and unemployment. It…often forces them into illegal activities in order to survive,” he said.
Fischer has around $4,000 in hospital bills from St’ Joseph’s Hospital Health Care Centre for food poisoning this August which her Medicaid has refused to cover. It is many battles on many fronts for Fischer, but she said she would continue.
“I may have to go to a shelter next year when I can’t pay my rent anymore or government may throw me in prison for unpaid bills and taxes. I have no money. But I will continue to fight”
Monday, August 28, 2006
Ridvan - the recreation of the holy garden
Twelve years ago Anne Gordon Perry took religion to the stage on the occasion of Ridvan. She recreated the garden of Najibiyyih in Baghdad where Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i faith, declared his station. She put up a tent, played the recordings of the sounds of birds, planted bouquets of red roses, painted a backdrop of Baghdad, dressed in period costumes and even had a cardboard horse to represent Baha’u’llah’s red roan stallion.
“We created a tent inside the Dallas Baha’i Center and had to take out the air conditioning vent to accommodate the height of the tent pole,” said Perry, an artist and professor of literature at the University of Texas at Arlington.
For Perry, Ridvan is the most important of all Baha’i festivals. “It is most profound Festival, celebrating the holiest being that ever lived--Baha'u'llah. His name means ‘The Glory of God’,” she said.
The 12-day Baha’i festival starts April 20 at sunset. Baha’is all over the world will commemorate Baha’u’llah’s declaration of his mission to the world in 1863. There are no set rules. Each does what he feels is the best way to remember their prophet.
Perry, who converted to the Baha’i faith when she was 19, said as an artist she chose to serve the faith through drama and other art forms. “The Baha’i writings state, ‘All art is a gift of the holy spirit,’ and ‘The stage will be the pulpit of the future.’ Hence I was inspired to use my gifts to uplift the community through holy day programs--Ridvan especially,” she said.
The scale of Perry’s pageants has varied from being held at someone’s garden for just a few people to being organized at Dallas Nature Center in 1998 where 700 people attended. This year Perry, a former liberal Presbyterian, is organizing a large scale program on April 29, the 9th day of Ridvan in addition to two programs on April 21.
The first drama took weeks to prepare. Around 80 people attended Perry’s first performance. “The Baha’is weren’t used to such elaborate holy days. But they were overcome with emotion when hearing the music and experiencing the sacred writings being read dramatically. Many people wept,” she said in an email.
Ridvan means paradise in Persian. Perry Productions’ Ridvan pageant has Perry and her husband Tim working together to turn their favorite festival into a passion play. Perry plays with symbols, fragrance and sounds to transport her audience to the garden in Baghdad where Baha’u’llah stayed for 12 days before leaving Iraq for Istanbul where he had been banished to.
The first, ninth and the twelfth days are most important and all Baha’is are directed to take off from work on these days to pray, get together and remember their prophet. On the first day, Baha’u’llah declared he was the chosen one to his family. On the ninth day, he announced his mission to his friends and the world and on the 12th day, he left Iraq because the authorities feared his growing influence.
Roses are of special significance as the prophet distributed them to the people who came to him to pass them to the Arabs and Muslims in the nearby villages. The gardeners used to pile the roses in front of Baha’u’llah’s tent in the morning, poet Nabil said in his account of the 12 days at the garden.
Perry uses rose-water scent to recreate the moments. “I embellish the holy day to the highest artistic expression possible. I want to spiritually intoxicate the people…to transport them to the time and place so that they feel it,” she said. “Art uses metaphor, symbolism, and tangible things such as color, light, props, and costumes. It enhances the spiritual experience.”
The story of the roses and the nightingale is the most important. The historian Nabil said Baha’u’llah walked in the garden and said how great was the love of the nightingales for the roses that the birds kept awake all night to commune with the object of their admiration. Both are symbols of majesty and of god, said Perry.
Ellen Price, assistant director at the office of communications, The Baha’i National Center, Evanston, IL, said she would decorate her house with roses. “This is a happy time for us. It is the time to get together with the community,” she said. Since the Baha’i House of Worship is located at Wilmette, IL, the community members will go to the temple and pray. “We don’t have any rituals. Each comes up with his own,” she said.
Ridvan is also a time for reflection for many. For Mano Timajchy, an Iranian who lives in Syracuse, Ridvan is a time to remember the Baha’is, who were and are persecuted in Iran for following the Baha’I faith. “I don’t anything special. I will think about them. They (Baha’is) are being persecuted. Baha’i youth can’t attend universities. They don’t know…they have no resources,” he said.
The faith, an offshoot of the Shia sect of Islam, sprang from the Babi movement in Persia that began in 1844 when Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab, proclaimed that a new prophet would soon appear to supersede Prophet Mohamed. The Bab was executed in 1850. Shiite Muslims, Iran’s dominant sect, have always denounced the Baha’i faith as a heresy. In 1863, a disciple of Bab, named Mirza Husayn Ali announced himself as the expected prophet and took the name Baha’u’llah. His followers became known as Bahai’s.
Ron Cher Hort-Fortin said the Baha’is are considered as apostate Muslims in Iran and have been persecuted for following Baha’u’llah. Many followers moved to India, United States and other countries to escape persecution.
Many Baha’is came as refugees to Syracuse and Central New York sponsored by the Catholic Church’s Refugee Resettlement Program. After Iran became an Islamic state, many Baha’is were persecuted and their shrines demolished. Many went to India, some came to United States. The largest population of Baha’is in United States is in Atlanta.
This is also a time when Baha’is elect their local assembly representatives. There is no clergy and followers are entrusted with responsibilities such as organizing meetings and celebrating festivals together so that everyone comes together. Where the community is small, members meet at someone’s house. It usually depends on the host to choose the prayers or the readings from the history.
In Syracuse, Marcia Owen will host a dinner for the community members on the first day of Ridvan. “We will spend the evening in devotion and reading from the faith,” she said. Owen will also distribute roses to the guests. “It is a joyous festival, a celebratory one,” she said.
If there are more than nine Baha’is in a city, they have a local assembly. Members volunteer to host Ridvan dinners and inform each other through emails. Ron Cher Hort-Fortin is one of them.
Hort-Fortin is excited. At 8 a.m., after a 12-hour shift at the Crouse Hospital, where he is a nurse, he is planning for the ninth day of Ridvan when he will host a meeting at his house. He marks out important dates and notes down little reminders in his red notebook.
He wants to make it a unique experience and like Anne Perry he wants to recreate moments from history. He will direct a small skit where nine children will chant, pray and enact certain scenes such as the crossing of the river by the prophet, which are important to the followers.
Blue sheets will become the river that the Baha’i prophet crossed in order to get to the Najibiyyih garden, a bouquet of roses the garden that he lived in for 12 days before leaving the country, and a fez, with a turban around it, will symbolize Baha’u’llah. The followers are prohibited to portray their prophet so they do it through symbols like the fez.
“The older children will do a reading accompanied by a spot light on the taj (the fez). Baha’u’llah began to wear the taj as a mark of his charge,” he said.
Hort-Fortin, who converted to the faith around 30 years ago, said he was attracted by the sense of security in the faith.
“Never at any time has the creator left the creation without any prophet,” he said.
Hort-Fortin, who lived in Atlanta before moving to Syracuse five years ago, said he missed the scale of the Baha’i community in Atlanta but liked the intimacy here. There are around 45 Baha’is in Syracuse and neighboring areas.
Hort-Fortin said at least 30 people will turn up at his house. He will make Baklavas, a dessert made of walnuts and honey or rose syrup, and some rice dish.
“I may do a lunch since it is a Saturday,” he said.
“We created a tent inside the Dallas Baha’i Center and had to take out the air conditioning vent to accommodate the height of the tent pole,” said Perry, an artist and professor of literature at the University of Texas at Arlington.
For Perry, Ridvan is the most important of all Baha’i festivals. “It is most profound Festival, celebrating the holiest being that ever lived--Baha'u'llah. His name means ‘The Glory of God’,” she said.
The 12-day Baha’i festival starts April 20 at sunset. Baha’is all over the world will commemorate Baha’u’llah’s declaration of his mission to the world in 1863. There are no set rules. Each does what he feels is the best way to remember their prophet.
Perry, who converted to the Baha’i faith when she was 19, said as an artist she chose to serve the faith through drama and other art forms. “The Baha’i writings state, ‘All art is a gift of the holy spirit,’ and ‘The stage will be the pulpit of the future.’ Hence I was inspired to use my gifts to uplift the community through holy day programs--Ridvan especially,” she said.
The scale of Perry’s pageants has varied from being held at someone’s garden for just a few people to being organized at Dallas Nature Center in 1998 where 700 people attended. This year Perry, a former liberal Presbyterian, is organizing a large scale program on April 29, the 9th day of Ridvan in addition to two programs on April 21.
The first drama took weeks to prepare. Around 80 people attended Perry’s first performance. “The Baha’is weren’t used to such elaborate holy days. But they were overcome with emotion when hearing the music and experiencing the sacred writings being read dramatically. Many people wept,” she said in an email.
Ridvan means paradise in Persian. Perry Productions’ Ridvan pageant has Perry and her husband Tim working together to turn their favorite festival into a passion play. Perry plays with symbols, fragrance and sounds to transport her audience to the garden in Baghdad where Baha’u’llah stayed for 12 days before leaving Iraq for Istanbul where he had been banished to.
The first, ninth and the twelfth days are most important and all Baha’is are directed to take off from work on these days to pray, get together and remember their prophet. On the first day, Baha’u’llah declared he was the chosen one to his family. On the ninth day, he announced his mission to his friends and the world and on the 12th day, he left Iraq because the authorities feared his growing influence.
Roses are of special significance as the prophet distributed them to the people who came to him to pass them to the Arabs and Muslims in the nearby villages. The gardeners used to pile the roses in front of Baha’u’llah’s tent in the morning, poet Nabil said in his account of the 12 days at the garden.
Perry uses rose-water scent to recreate the moments. “I embellish the holy day to the highest artistic expression possible. I want to spiritually intoxicate the people…to transport them to the time and place so that they feel it,” she said. “Art uses metaphor, symbolism, and tangible things such as color, light, props, and costumes. It enhances the spiritual experience.”
The story of the roses and the nightingale is the most important. The historian Nabil said Baha’u’llah walked in the garden and said how great was the love of the nightingales for the roses that the birds kept awake all night to commune with the object of their admiration. Both are symbols of majesty and of god, said Perry.
Ellen Price, assistant director at the office of communications, The Baha’i National Center, Evanston, IL, said she would decorate her house with roses. “This is a happy time for us. It is the time to get together with the community,” she said. Since the Baha’i House of Worship is located at Wilmette, IL, the community members will go to the temple and pray. “We don’t have any rituals. Each comes up with his own,” she said.
Ridvan is also a time for reflection for many. For Mano Timajchy, an Iranian who lives in Syracuse, Ridvan is a time to remember the Baha’is, who were and are persecuted in Iran for following the Baha’I faith. “I don’t anything special. I will think about them. They (Baha’is) are being persecuted. Baha’i youth can’t attend universities. They don’t know…they have no resources,” he said.
The faith, an offshoot of the Shia sect of Islam, sprang from the Babi movement in Persia that began in 1844 when Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab, proclaimed that a new prophet would soon appear to supersede Prophet Mohamed. The Bab was executed in 1850. Shiite Muslims, Iran’s dominant sect, have always denounced the Baha’i faith as a heresy. In 1863, a disciple of Bab, named Mirza Husayn Ali announced himself as the expected prophet and took the name Baha’u’llah. His followers became known as Bahai’s.
Ron Cher Hort-Fortin said the Baha’is are considered as apostate Muslims in Iran and have been persecuted for following Baha’u’llah. Many followers moved to India, United States and other countries to escape persecution.
Many Baha’is came as refugees to Syracuse and Central New York sponsored by the Catholic Church’s Refugee Resettlement Program. After Iran became an Islamic state, many Baha’is were persecuted and their shrines demolished. Many went to India, some came to United States. The largest population of Baha’is in United States is in Atlanta.
This is also a time when Baha’is elect their local assembly representatives. There is no clergy and followers are entrusted with responsibilities such as organizing meetings and celebrating festivals together so that everyone comes together. Where the community is small, members meet at someone’s house. It usually depends on the host to choose the prayers or the readings from the history.
In Syracuse, Marcia Owen will host a dinner for the community members on the first day of Ridvan. “We will spend the evening in devotion and reading from the faith,” she said. Owen will also distribute roses to the guests. “It is a joyous festival, a celebratory one,” she said.
If there are more than nine Baha’is in a city, they have a local assembly. Members volunteer to host Ridvan dinners and inform each other through emails. Ron Cher Hort-Fortin is one of them.
Hort-Fortin is excited. At 8 a.m., after a 12-hour shift at the Crouse Hospital, where he is a nurse, he is planning for the ninth day of Ridvan when he will host a meeting at his house. He marks out important dates and notes down little reminders in his red notebook.
He wants to make it a unique experience and like Anne Perry he wants to recreate moments from history. He will direct a small skit where nine children will chant, pray and enact certain scenes such as the crossing of the river by the prophet, which are important to the followers.
Blue sheets will become the river that the Baha’i prophet crossed in order to get to the Najibiyyih garden, a bouquet of roses the garden that he lived in for 12 days before leaving the country, and a fez, with a turban around it, will symbolize Baha’u’llah. The followers are prohibited to portray their prophet so they do it through symbols like the fez.
“The older children will do a reading accompanied by a spot light on the taj (the fez). Baha’u’llah began to wear the taj as a mark of his charge,” he said.
Hort-Fortin, who converted to the faith around 30 years ago, said he was attracted by the sense of security in the faith.
“Never at any time has the creator left the creation without any prophet,” he said.
Hort-Fortin, who lived in Atlanta before moving to Syracuse five years ago, said he missed the scale of the Baha’i community in Atlanta but liked the intimacy here. There are around 45 Baha’is in Syracuse and neighboring areas.
Hort-Fortin said at least 30 people will turn up at his house. He will make Baklavas, a dessert made of walnuts and honey or rose syrup, and some rice dish.
“I may do a lunch since it is a Saturday,” he said.
Sunday school at a local mosque
Samina Masood is trying to teach a distracted group of 11 girls about the Five Pillars of Islam at the Sunday school. It is difficult to make the girls focus, who are busy chatting away.
“Do you know what the Five Pillars are?” asked Masood.
“Not exactly,” answered a girl.
So, for the third time this winter, Masood lists the pillars, the very essence of Islam, to a group that can seem less than attentive.
Masood repeats the five tenets - Sahadah or belief in the oneness of God, Salah or prayer, Sawm or fasting during Ramadan, Zakah or financial obligation of giving 2.5 percent of one’s savings to the needy, and Hajj or pilgrimage that a Muslim has to undertake to Mecca if his resources allow.
The girls continue to giggle. A few take notes. The teacher continues. “We should not worship anybody but Allah. We should believe in Prophet. Peace be upon him,” said Masood, who volunteers to teach the level 3 girls at the Sunday school held at Islamic Society of Central New York, 925 Comstock Ave. There are four levels at the school. Students start with memorizing Quranic verses and graduate to learning the Prophet’s teachings.
Fifteen teachers teach children various courses ranging from memorization of Quranic verses to Islamic studies where the students are taught about Prophet Mohamed’s life and teachings. The students pay $200 a year to attend the school and this covers the cost of books.
The girls are not convinced. Masood tells them Allah loves children and grants their wishes if they pray.
“Last year I wanted something real bad and I prayed. Allah did not give it to me,” said a student.
Masood explains to the students that her wish must not have been a good one.
“Allah cares for us. He will not give us something that is not good for us in the long-term,” she said.
Another student said her brother had been hit by a car and could not speak because the accident had rendered him mute. He was not at fault. Why did Allah do this to him?, she asked.
“Sometimes, He examines our faith,” Masood said, implying that one should not lode faith under any circumstance.
There are around 120 students at the school, 60 of which are girls. The school starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends at 12:30 with Duhr, the afternoon prayer, where the young girls and the boys pray separately under the supervision of their teachers.
The school started around 15 years ago in order to teach Muslim children the concepts of Islam in order to lead a life befitting a Muslim.
In this country, parents are busy. There is no time. So it is left to the mosques to teach the children about Islam, said Mir Hussaini, secretary of the Islamic Society.
“As a Muslim, they need to pray when they are seven or eight. If they need to pray, then they must know how to pray. The prayers are in Arabic and I read out the suras and they recite after me,” said Mohammed Azad, who teaches the level 2 students.
The English translation of the Arabic verses is available to the students, who are taught the Arabic letters and grammar over a period of time so that they can read the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims.
The Muslims pray in Arabic, the language of the Mohamed. The translations, which are available in various languages, are not considered sacred. Therefore, it is necessary for kids to learn a few suras in Arabic so that they can offer namaz, the prayer, said Taqiuddin Ahmed, the Imam and director of the Islamic Society.
“Not a single word in the Quran has changed over the centuries. The words are the words of Allah as spoken to Prophet. The memorization of the Quran is a way of preserving those words,” he said.
During the break at 11:15 a.m., the children run around, chase each other and eat their lunch, which they bring from home. The Masjid authorities distribute wafers, soft drinks and coffee. While the younger ones play, the slightly older ones like Anika Azad, 13, sit quietly on the stone steps and wait for the class to resume. Another bunch of girls chat way excitedly. A few older boys seem impatient. The Super Bowl XL is today and they would rather be at home watching TV than be here.
Ali Etman, 14, is one of them. A level 4 student, he has been coming here since he was seven. He said he knew most of the course already and enjoys if there is something new. The older girls and boys are not allowed to mix. However, the students in level 1 and 2 sit in the same class. This was introduced last week in order to accommodate all the students. Previously, the Sunday classes were held at T. Aaron Levy Middle School. But the Levy school was demanded too much money, more than what the mosque could afford. So, the mosque authorities decided to hold the classes in the mosque, said Ramla Shaikh, the co-principal of the school.
The mosque used to pay the Levy Middle School $200 a day for the use of its classrooms on Sundays. When the new school superintendent came, the school raised the fee to $1,600, she said.
“The books are expensive and all the money from the tuition is spent toward books,” said Shaikh, who introduced the idea of mixing the girls and the boys in the lower levels in order to make the best use of available space.
“I convinced them. The boys behave well when they are with girls and it is easier to control them. The religion allows it at this level. When they reach puberty at 12 or 13, we are not allowed to mix them,” she said.
Shaikh’s idea was not welcome by all. Runa Hasan, 18, who teaches the level 1 students at the school, said this was against the religion. The religion warns against attraction to women other than one’s spouse.
“The boys and the girls must know that they need to be separated,” she said.
But inside the mosque the boys hang out together and the girls keep to themselves. The girls, including the younger ones, wear the head scarf. However, most of them wear the hijab in the Sunday school only.
“It looks cool. I wore it to my regular school one day and everybody stared at me. I felt weird,” said Samila Alemic, a level 3 student.
Muslim women are to cover their heads while praying. The tradition of covering oneself comes from the old Arab tradition where women from wealthy families covered themselves with chador, a sheet. It was a mark of their status in the society and ensured respect and safety. Since Islam does not believe in class distinctions, all women were required to cover themselves in order to bridge class differences, explained Masood.
Most of the older girls are in jeans. The teachers are dressed in salwar-kameez and head scarves. A few wear the burqa or the long-flowing gowns.
“Normally, I wear pants and skirts. But on Sundays I wear our traditional dress,” said Masood, who is from Pakistan. She is a physics professor at Le Moyne College.
She does not think that Muslim girls should wear hijab outside. But they must not wear very tight clothes as they are provocative, she said.
At 12:30, it is time for the afternoon prayer and the girls gather together in the Musalla, an open space, on the first floor to pray. The boys assemble in the prayer room downstairs with their teachers. The room is plain with no idols or decorations of any sort. Islam prohibits idol-worship and worships a formless God.
A young boy leads the prayer with an older man. All of them face toward Mecca, the holy city that houses the Kaaba. Muslims believe that Kaaba, a stone cube, was erected by Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail long ago in order to preach the idea of monotheism.
The girls stand in three straight lines. At the sound of Allah Hu Akbar or God is greatest, they bend down, prostrate themselves and stand in turns in submission to Allah’s supreme authority.
The prayer lasts for 15 minutes. The girls are in a hurry to get out.
“We have been here since 10,” said Samila Alemic.
Masood gets her bag and calls her daughter on the cell phone. Her daughter and son attend the school.
“It is difficult to get the girls interested in religious studies. In today’s age, it is impossible to preserve a religion in its pure form. We can only try,” she said.
“Do you know what the Five Pillars are?” asked Masood.
“Not exactly,” answered a girl.
So, for the third time this winter, Masood lists the pillars, the very essence of Islam, to a group that can seem less than attentive.
Masood repeats the five tenets - Sahadah or belief in the oneness of God, Salah or prayer, Sawm or fasting during Ramadan, Zakah or financial obligation of giving 2.5 percent of one’s savings to the needy, and Hajj or pilgrimage that a Muslim has to undertake to Mecca if his resources allow.
The girls continue to giggle. A few take notes. The teacher continues. “We should not worship anybody but Allah. We should believe in Prophet. Peace be upon him,” said Masood, who volunteers to teach the level 3 girls at the Sunday school held at Islamic Society of Central New York, 925 Comstock Ave. There are four levels at the school. Students start with memorizing Quranic verses and graduate to learning the Prophet’s teachings.
Fifteen teachers teach children various courses ranging from memorization of Quranic verses to Islamic studies where the students are taught about Prophet Mohamed’s life and teachings. The students pay $200 a year to attend the school and this covers the cost of books.
The girls are not convinced. Masood tells them Allah loves children and grants their wishes if they pray.
“Last year I wanted something real bad and I prayed. Allah did not give it to me,” said a student.
Masood explains to the students that her wish must not have been a good one.
“Allah cares for us. He will not give us something that is not good for us in the long-term,” she said.
Another student said her brother had been hit by a car and could not speak because the accident had rendered him mute. He was not at fault. Why did Allah do this to him?, she asked.
“Sometimes, He examines our faith,” Masood said, implying that one should not lode faith under any circumstance.
There are around 120 students at the school, 60 of which are girls. The school starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends at 12:30 with Duhr, the afternoon prayer, where the young girls and the boys pray separately under the supervision of their teachers.
The school started around 15 years ago in order to teach Muslim children the concepts of Islam in order to lead a life befitting a Muslim.
In this country, parents are busy. There is no time. So it is left to the mosques to teach the children about Islam, said Mir Hussaini, secretary of the Islamic Society.
“As a Muslim, they need to pray when they are seven or eight. If they need to pray, then they must know how to pray. The prayers are in Arabic and I read out the suras and they recite after me,” said Mohammed Azad, who teaches the level 2 students.
The English translation of the Arabic verses is available to the students, who are taught the Arabic letters and grammar over a period of time so that they can read the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims.
The Muslims pray in Arabic, the language of the Mohamed. The translations, which are available in various languages, are not considered sacred. Therefore, it is necessary for kids to learn a few suras in Arabic so that they can offer namaz, the prayer, said Taqiuddin Ahmed, the Imam and director of the Islamic Society.
“Not a single word in the Quran has changed over the centuries. The words are the words of Allah as spoken to Prophet. The memorization of the Quran is a way of preserving those words,” he said.
During the break at 11:15 a.m., the children run around, chase each other and eat their lunch, which they bring from home. The Masjid authorities distribute wafers, soft drinks and coffee. While the younger ones play, the slightly older ones like Anika Azad, 13, sit quietly on the stone steps and wait for the class to resume. Another bunch of girls chat way excitedly. A few older boys seem impatient. The Super Bowl XL is today and they would rather be at home watching TV than be here.
Ali Etman, 14, is one of them. A level 4 student, he has been coming here since he was seven. He said he knew most of the course already and enjoys if there is something new. The older girls and boys are not allowed to mix. However, the students in level 1 and 2 sit in the same class. This was introduced last week in order to accommodate all the students. Previously, the Sunday classes were held at T. Aaron Levy Middle School. But the Levy school was demanded too much money, more than what the mosque could afford. So, the mosque authorities decided to hold the classes in the mosque, said Ramla Shaikh, the co-principal of the school.
The mosque used to pay the Levy Middle School $200 a day for the use of its classrooms on Sundays. When the new school superintendent came, the school raised the fee to $1,600, she said.
“The books are expensive and all the money from the tuition is spent toward books,” said Shaikh, who introduced the idea of mixing the girls and the boys in the lower levels in order to make the best use of available space.
“I convinced them. The boys behave well when they are with girls and it is easier to control them. The religion allows it at this level. When they reach puberty at 12 or 13, we are not allowed to mix them,” she said.
Shaikh’s idea was not welcome by all. Runa Hasan, 18, who teaches the level 1 students at the school, said this was against the religion. The religion warns against attraction to women other than one’s spouse.
“The boys and the girls must know that they need to be separated,” she said.
But inside the mosque the boys hang out together and the girls keep to themselves. The girls, including the younger ones, wear the head scarf. However, most of them wear the hijab in the Sunday school only.
“It looks cool. I wore it to my regular school one day and everybody stared at me. I felt weird,” said Samila Alemic, a level 3 student.
Muslim women are to cover their heads while praying. The tradition of covering oneself comes from the old Arab tradition where women from wealthy families covered themselves with chador, a sheet. It was a mark of their status in the society and ensured respect and safety. Since Islam does not believe in class distinctions, all women were required to cover themselves in order to bridge class differences, explained Masood.
Most of the older girls are in jeans. The teachers are dressed in salwar-kameez and head scarves. A few wear the burqa or the long-flowing gowns.
“Normally, I wear pants and skirts. But on Sundays I wear our traditional dress,” said Masood, who is from Pakistan. She is a physics professor at Le Moyne College.
She does not think that Muslim girls should wear hijab outside. But they must not wear very tight clothes as they are provocative, she said.
At 12:30, it is time for the afternoon prayer and the girls gather together in the Musalla, an open space, on the first floor to pray. The boys assemble in the prayer room downstairs with their teachers. The room is plain with no idols or decorations of any sort. Islam prohibits idol-worship and worships a formless God.
A young boy leads the prayer with an older man. All of them face toward Mecca, the holy city that houses the Kaaba. Muslims believe that Kaaba, a stone cube, was erected by Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail long ago in order to preach the idea of monotheism.
The girls stand in three straight lines. At the sound of Allah Hu Akbar or God is greatest, they bend down, prostrate themselves and stand in turns in submission to Allah’s supreme authority.
The prayer lasts for 15 minutes. The girls are in a hurry to get out.
“We have been here since 10,” said Samila Alemic.
Masood gets her bag and calls her daughter on the cell phone. Her daughter and son attend the school.
“It is difficult to get the girls interested in religious studies. In today’s age, it is impossible to preserve a religion in its pure form. We can only try,” she said.
Sunday school at a local mosque
Samina Masood is trying to teach a distracted group of 11 girls about the Five Pillars of Islam at the Sunday school. It is difficult to make the girls focus, who are busy chatting away.
“Do you know what the Five Pillars are?” asked Masood.
“Not exactly,” answered a girl.
So, for the third time this winter, Masood lists the pillars, the very essence of Islam, to a group that can seem less than attentive.
Masood repeats the five tenets - Sahadah or belief in the oneness of God, Salah or prayer, Sawm or fasting during Ramadan, Zakah or financial obligation of giving 2.5 percent of one’s savings to the needy, and Hajj or pilgrimage that a Muslim has to undertake to Mecca if his resources allow.
The girls continue to giggle. A few take notes. The teacher continues. “We should not worship anybody but Allah. We should believe in Prophet. Peace be upon him,” said Masood, who volunteers to teach the level 3 girls at the Sunday school held at Islamic Society of Central New York, 925 Comstock Ave. There are four levels at the school. Students start with memorizing Quranic verses and graduate to learning the Prophet’s teachings.
Fifteen teachers teach children various courses ranging from memorization of Quranic verses to Islamic studies where the students are taught about Prophet Mohamed’s life and teachings. The students pay $200 a year to attend the school and this covers the cost of books.
The girls are not convinced. Masood tells them Allah loves children and grants their wishes if they pray.
“Last year I wanted something real bad and I prayed. Allah did not give it to me,” said a student.
Masood explains to the students that her wish must not have been a good one.
“Allah cares for us. He will not give us something that is not good for us in the long-term,” she said.
Another student said her brother had been hit by a car and could not speak because the accident had rendered him mute. He was not at fault. Why did Allah do this to him?, she asked.
“Sometimes, He examines our faith,” Masood said, implying that one should not lode faith under any circumstance.
There are around 120 students at the school, 60 of which are girls. The school starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends at 12:30 with Duhr, the afternoon prayer, where the young girls and the boys pray separately under the supervision of their teachers.
The school started around 15 years ago in order to teach Muslim children the concepts of Islam in order to lead a life befitting a Muslim.
In this country, parents are busy. There is no time. So it is left to the mosques to teach the children about Islam, said Mir Hussaini, secretary of the Islamic Society.
“As a Muslim, they need to pray when they are seven or eight. If they need to pray, then they must know how to pray. The prayers are in Arabic and I read out the suras and they recite after me,” said Mohammed Azad, who teaches the level 2 students.
The English translation of the Arabic verses is available to the students, who are taught the Arabic letters and grammar over a period of time so that they can read the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims.
The Muslims pray in Arabic, the language of the Mohamed. The translations, which are available in various languages, are not considered sacred. Therefore, it is necessary for kids to learn a few suras in Arabic so that they can offer namaz, the prayer, said Taqiuddin Ahmed, the Imam and director of the Islamic Society.
“Not a single word in the Quran has changed over the centuries. The words are the words of Allah as spoken to Prophet. The memorization of the Quran is a way of preserving those words,” he said.
During the break at 11:15 a.m., the children run around, chase each other and eat their lunch, which they bring from home. The Masjid authorities distribute wafers, soft drinks and coffee. While the younger ones play, the slightly older ones like Anika Azad, 13, sit quietly on the stone steps and wait for the class to resume. Another bunch of girls chat way excitedly. A few older boys seem impatient. The Super Bowl XL is today and they would rather be at home watching TV than be here.
Ali Etman, 14, is one of them. A level 4 student, he has been coming here since he was seven. He said he knew most of the course already and enjoys if there is something new. The older girls and boys are not allowed to mix. However, the students in level 1 and 2 sit in the same class. This was introduced last week in order to accommodate all the students. Previously, the Sunday classes were held at T. Aaron Levy Middle School. But the Levy school was demanded too much money, more than what the mosque could afford. So, the mosque authorities decided to hold the classes in the mosque, said Ramla Shaikh, the co-principal of the school.
The mosque used to pay the Levy Middle School $200 a day for the use of its classrooms on Sundays. When the new school superintendent came, the school raised the fee to $1,600, she said.
“The books are expensive and all the money from the tuition is spent toward books,” said Shaikh, who introduced the idea of mixing the girls and the boys in the lower levels in order to make the best use of available space.
“I convinced them. The boys behave well when they are with girls and it is easier to control them. The religion allows it at this level. When they reach puberty at 12 or 13, we are not allowed to mix them,” she said.
Shaikh’s idea was not welcome by all. Runa Hasan, 18, who teaches the level 1 students at the school, said this was against the religion. The religion warns against attraction to women other than one’s spouse.
“The boys and the girls must know that they need to be separated,” she said.
But inside the mosque the boys hang out together and the girls keep to themselves. The girls, including the younger ones, wear the head scarf. However, most of them wear the hijab in the Sunday school only.
“It looks cool. I wore it to my regular school one day and everybody stared at me. I felt weird,” said Samila Alemic, a level 3 student.
Muslim women are to cover their heads while praying. The tradition of covering oneself comes from the old Arab tradition where women from wealthy families covered themselves with chador, a sheet. It was a mark of their status in the society and ensured respect and safety. Since Islam does not believe in class distinctions, all women were required to cover themselves in order to bridge class differences, explained Masood.
Most of the older girls are in jeans. The teachers are dressed in salwar-kameez and head scarves. A few wear the burqa or the long-flowing gowns.
“Normally, I wear pants and skirts. But on Sundays I wear our traditional dress,” said Masood, who is from Pakistan. She is a physics professor at Le Moyne College.
She does not think that Muslim girls should wear hijab outside. But they must not wear very tight clothes as they are provocative, she said.
At 12:30, it is time for the afternoon prayer and the girls gather together in the Musalla, an open space, on the first floor to pray. The boys assemble in the prayer room downstairs with their teachers. The room is plain with no idols or decorations of any sort. Islam prohibits idol-worship and worships a formless God.
A young boy leads the prayer with an older man. All of them face toward Mecca, the holy city that houses the Kaaba. Muslims believe that Kaaba, a stone cube, was erected by Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail long ago in order to preach the idea of monotheism.
The girls stand in three straight lines. At the sound of Allah Hu Akbar or God is greatest, they bend down, prostrate themselves and stand in turns in submission to Allah’s supreme authority.
The prayer lasts for 15 minutes. The girls are in a hurry to get out.
“We have been here since 10,” said Samila Alemic.
Masood gets her bag and calls her daughter on the cell phone. Her daughter and son attend the school.
“It is difficult to get the girls interested in religious studies. In today’s age, it is impossible to preserve a religion in its pure form. We can only try,” she said.
“Do you know what the Five Pillars are?” asked Masood.
“Not exactly,” answered a girl.
So, for the third time this winter, Masood lists the pillars, the very essence of Islam, to a group that can seem less than attentive.
Masood repeats the five tenets - Sahadah or belief in the oneness of God, Salah or prayer, Sawm or fasting during Ramadan, Zakah or financial obligation of giving 2.5 percent of one’s savings to the needy, and Hajj or pilgrimage that a Muslim has to undertake to Mecca if his resources allow.
The girls continue to giggle. A few take notes. The teacher continues. “We should not worship anybody but Allah. We should believe in Prophet. Peace be upon him,” said Masood, who volunteers to teach the level 3 girls at the Sunday school held at Islamic Society of Central New York, 925 Comstock Ave. There are four levels at the school. Students start with memorizing Quranic verses and graduate to learning the Prophet’s teachings.
Fifteen teachers teach children various courses ranging from memorization of Quranic verses to Islamic studies where the students are taught about Prophet Mohamed’s life and teachings. The students pay $200 a year to attend the school and this covers the cost of books.
The girls are not convinced. Masood tells them Allah loves children and grants their wishes if they pray.
“Last year I wanted something real bad and I prayed. Allah did not give it to me,” said a student.
Masood explains to the students that her wish must not have been a good one.
“Allah cares for us. He will not give us something that is not good for us in the long-term,” she said.
Another student said her brother had been hit by a car and could not speak because the accident had rendered him mute. He was not at fault. Why did Allah do this to him?, she asked.
“Sometimes, He examines our faith,” Masood said, implying that one should not lode faith under any circumstance.
There are around 120 students at the school, 60 of which are girls. The school starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends at 12:30 with Duhr, the afternoon prayer, where the young girls and the boys pray separately under the supervision of their teachers.
The school started around 15 years ago in order to teach Muslim children the concepts of Islam in order to lead a life befitting a Muslim.
In this country, parents are busy. There is no time. So it is left to the mosques to teach the children about Islam, said Mir Hussaini, secretary of the Islamic Society.
“As a Muslim, they need to pray when they are seven or eight. If they need to pray, then they must know how to pray. The prayers are in Arabic and I read out the suras and they recite after me,” said Mohammed Azad, who teaches the level 2 students.
The English translation of the Arabic verses is available to the students, who are taught the Arabic letters and grammar over a period of time so that they can read the Quran, the holy book of the Muslims.
The Muslims pray in Arabic, the language of the Mohamed. The translations, which are available in various languages, are not considered sacred. Therefore, it is necessary for kids to learn a few suras in Arabic so that they can offer namaz, the prayer, said Taqiuddin Ahmed, the Imam and director of the Islamic Society.
“Not a single word in the Quran has changed over the centuries. The words are the words of Allah as spoken to Prophet. The memorization of the Quran is a way of preserving those words,” he said.
During the break at 11:15 a.m., the children run around, chase each other and eat their lunch, which they bring from home. The Masjid authorities distribute wafers, soft drinks and coffee. While the younger ones play, the slightly older ones like Anika Azad, 13, sit quietly on the stone steps and wait for the class to resume. Another bunch of girls chat way excitedly. A few older boys seem impatient. The Super Bowl XL is today and they would rather be at home watching TV than be here.
Ali Etman, 14, is one of them. A level 4 student, he has been coming here since he was seven. He said he knew most of the course already and enjoys if there is something new. The older girls and boys are not allowed to mix. However, the students in level 1 and 2 sit in the same class. This was introduced last week in order to accommodate all the students. Previously, the Sunday classes were held at T. Aaron Levy Middle School. But the Levy school was demanded too much money, more than what the mosque could afford. So, the mosque authorities decided to hold the classes in the mosque, said Ramla Shaikh, the co-principal of the school.
The mosque used to pay the Levy Middle School $200 a day for the use of its classrooms on Sundays. When the new school superintendent came, the school raised the fee to $1,600, she said.
“The books are expensive and all the money from the tuition is spent toward books,” said Shaikh, who introduced the idea of mixing the girls and the boys in the lower levels in order to make the best use of available space.
“I convinced them. The boys behave well when they are with girls and it is easier to control them. The religion allows it at this level. When they reach puberty at 12 or 13, we are not allowed to mix them,” she said.
Shaikh’s idea was not welcome by all. Runa Hasan, 18, who teaches the level 1 students at the school, said this was against the religion. The religion warns against attraction to women other than one’s spouse.
“The boys and the girls must know that they need to be separated,” she said.
But inside the mosque the boys hang out together and the girls keep to themselves. The girls, including the younger ones, wear the head scarf. However, most of them wear the hijab in the Sunday school only.
“It looks cool. I wore it to my regular school one day and everybody stared at me. I felt weird,” said Samila Alemic, a level 3 student.
Muslim women are to cover their heads while praying. The tradition of covering oneself comes from the old Arab tradition where women from wealthy families covered themselves with chador, a sheet. It was a mark of their status in the society and ensured respect and safety. Since Islam does not believe in class distinctions, all women were required to cover themselves in order to bridge class differences, explained Masood.
Most of the older girls are in jeans. The teachers are dressed in salwar-kameez and head scarves. A few wear the burqa or the long-flowing gowns.
“Normally, I wear pants and skirts. But on Sundays I wear our traditional dress,” said Masood, who is from Pakistan. She is a physics professor at Le Moyne College.
She does not think that Muslim girls should wear hijab outside. But they must not wear very tight clothes as they are provocative, she said.
At 12:30, it is time for the afternoon prayer and the girls gather together in the Musalla, an open space, on the first floor to pray. The boys assemble in the prayer room downstairs with their teachers. The room is plain with no idols or decorations of any sort. Islam prohibits idol-worship and worships a formless God.
A young boy leads the prayer with an older man. All of them face toward Mecca, the holy city that houses the Kaaba. Muslims believe that Kaaba, a stone cube, was erected by Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail long ago in order to preach the idea of monotheism.
The girls stand in three straight lines. At the sound of Allah Hu Akbar or God is greatest, they bend down, prostrate themselves and stand in turns in submission to Allah’s supreme authority.
The prayer lasts for 15 minutes. The girls are in a hurry to get out.
“We have been here since 10,” said Samila Alemic.
Masood gets her bag and calls her daughter on the cell phone. Her daughter and son attend the school.
“It is difficult to get the girls interested in religious studies. In today’s age, it is impossible to preserve a religion in its pure form. We can only try,” she said.
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