The Face Behind the Veil by Donna Gehrke-White

Author:Donna Gehrke-White [Gehrke-White, Donna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780806538785
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2006-03-15T04:00:00+00:00

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ZULY: A LATINA FINDS ISLAM

A LATINA TEXAN, Zulayka Y. Martinez (nicknamed Zuly), has discovered cultural differences at her mosque and a backlash after 9/11. In her own words, “Zuly” tells her story:

“In 2000, I converted to Islam during December, the month of Ramadan. You can say I am a typical Latina. As the child of a strictly religious family in Houston, I went to Catholic youth groups. I even dreamed of one day becoming a missionary nun.

“But as a young woman I converged on another fate and faith: Islam. My story begins with a group of friends that I went to middle and high school with. Back in those days, you never spoke about religion, and I had no idea that some of my close friends were Muslims.

“After high school, I kept in touch with a few of them, and one day I found out that a cousin of one of my best friends had arrived from Lebanon. I went to welcome him and to tell him that he would find in me a good friend—just as his cousin and I were friends.

“He simply smiled and said, ‘Thank you for your kindness but I don’t believe in friendship between a man and a woman.’

“That confused me. When I asked my friend (who was a guy, by the way) why his cousin said that he told me not to worry about it.

“Months passed by, and as I used to hang out with that group of friends, I bumped into the cousin again and asked him why he felt that men and women couldn’t be friends. That’s when he brought up Islam. To be honest, it was a religion that I had never thought or heard about.

“To make a long story short, I decided that he—and his religion—were wrong. I could not get it through my mind that there was a religion that didn’t believe in Jesus as the Son of God. I decided to prove to him that he was wrong.

“I began to research this religion and to find any fault with it that I could. One day, while at a Catholic retreat, I brought a Quran (which had been given to me). I read it during the times of silence and reflection. It spoke to my heart, which made me very confused about my faith and whether I was a Christian.

“Of course, as a good Catholic girl I went and confessed to my priest that night at the retreat. The memory is still vivid of how he responded. I remember him promptly telling me, ‘I’ve read the Quran. I’m not saying Muslims are bad people, but I assure you that our faith is correct and theirs is not.’

“When I tried to ask other questions, he looked at me and said, ‘Never doubt your faith nor question it.’

“His response only made me more curious. I began to ask my Muslim friends for more information. Meanwhile, I read any material I could find about Islam.

“After a few more years of studying, I took the plunge and followed in the footsteps of thousands of Latinas.

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