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Islamic Hinterland

by HijabMan :: posted 6 September 99

On September 3rd I departed on a ten hour car ride to Toronto Canada to attend the “Islamic Hinterland.” I think before I go on I should give you a little background in my “religious” activities. I was born “Sunni Muslim” and like any other little boy, I just did what my parents did. Up until the age of 13, I was a good boy. And then I exploded…. Testosterone (hair under my arms included) flew out of every fissure of my body. (
I was living a double life. In home, muslim, As soon as I stepped outside I was
that “damn hindu” as they said. At 14 I tried to commit suicide because of this total confusion. After my suicidal experience, I went on an outward bound trip. For those 14 days out in the wilderness, I grew more than I had grown in the past 5 years (observation: the more time you spend, and the farther away you are from your parents the more you grow). A year passed, and I was back to teaching rudimentary ABC arabic to little kids, until the woman told me my teaching methods werent “Islamic” Besides the fact that the kids I was teaching actually told their parents that I was the best teacher they had ever had. I decided to leave, and explore “Islam” on my own. Sat down and read volume 7 of bukhari, and have recently started reading the Quran, and in doing so have made the decision to not follow “hadith” and everytime I tried to talk to someone about my beliefs, and what I got out of the Quran I was put down, “ you are a lowly little pre pubescent piece of trash. Jahilyat Garbage… The Islamic Hinterland was an open forum where we could discuss issues in an environment where you won’t get shot for expressing your beliefs.
In general, it was just a great eye opening experience. This is the first place where I felt comfortable…openminded people around, and i loved every minute of it. The thing Im
hating myself for is not opening up, I think I was too shy, I tried to psyche myself up to ya know… go out there and say “Assalamu alaikum, My names HijabMan!” but sadly I couldnt. Yasmin, a woman who makes me think (yeah, good description, huh?) finally came up to me and asked where my Hijab was. (referring to the website I own) You don’t know how happy that made me feel… (I think its a psychological thing, I don’t feel comfortable unless people approach me first…

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