Fri, May 09, 2008
 Dilara Hafiz, left, Dilara poses with her children Imran, 15, and Yasmine, 17, in Paradise Valley, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 5, 2007. In August, they published "The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook." The family mixed humorous quizzes, colorful graphics and responses from other Muslim teens to produce the book, which they hope will help other young Muslims explain their faith to their peers. (AP Photo/East Valley Tribune, Laura Segall) ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.18.2007
MESA, Ariz. – Imran Hafiz was a fourth-grader when terrorists hijacked four airliners and wrought the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the East Coast.
At school, "some kid accused me of being a member of the Taliban for no other reason than being brown and Muslim," he said.
Even when Hafiz emphatically said he had nothing to do with the repressive group on the other side of the earth, the other boy insisted, "Well, you could be."
Now 15 and a sophomore at Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Hafiz asserts that the comment is not the boy's fault.
"It doesn't start from hate. It starts from ignorance," he said. "All they knew about my religion was that a fanatical group of people did this terrible thing, and somehow everybody must be connected with it."
The incident gave impetus for him, his sister, Yasmine, and their mother, Dilara, to collaborate to write and publish a book about their Islamic faith geared to young people.
In August, they published "The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook," a 132-page book broken into 15 chapters dealing with such topics as "Islam 101" and "The Quran,"
The Paradise Valley family mixed humorous quizzes, colorful graphics and responses from other Muslim teens to produce the book, which they hope will help other young Muslims explain their faith to their peers.
Yasmine, 17, a senior at Phoenix Xavier College Preparatory, where she is a National Merit Scholar semifinalist, recalls scanning the nonfiction sections of bookstores. She found religious guidebooks for teens of many faiths and beliefs.
"I asked my mom, 'Why isn't there anything for Muslims?'"
A longtime teacher at the Scottsdale Islamic Mosque, where she has overseen books and resources, Dilara searched the Web and found nothing about Muslims geared for teens.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, "we really couldn't recognize the way our faith was being portrayed," said Dilara, who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and educated at Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics. "There was a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions, and we felt the fanatical minority was getting all the attention."
She said that moderate Muslims in America quickly became a "silent majority," and their statements, calling for careful distinctions about all who call themselves Muslims, were lost in the discussion.
Imran, who as a freshman won Brophy's Committed to Justice Award, told his friends, "On 9/11, Osama (bin Laden) didn't just hijack those planes, he also hijacked my religion."
The book project began in 2003 with a survey that was sent to about 40 full-time and weekend Islamic schools across the U.S. Some 150 responses came back from Muslim teens.
Teens were asked about the faith and issues they face as young people. They were queried on whether they pray, and if they fast during Ramadan.
When the trio examined the surveys, they found a wealth of material showing Muslims live out their faith with individuality without compromising the tenets of Islam. Many Muslim teens revealed that they are inconsistent about praying five times a day. Some said they make up for it by doing good deeds.
The handbook, sprinkled throughout with passages from the Quran, also provides a step-by-step guide to Islamic prayer.
There is caution about eating doughnuts because they may have been fried in lard (pork fat). "Stick with cheese and vegetarian pizza to be on the safe side, or check to see if the pepperoni is made from beef or turkey," the book notes.
The teen guide "is being snapped up by libraries and schools because it is a resource," Dilara said.
They had a huge response at their first book signing, and more are planned.
Yasmine said the book emphasizes that being American and Muslim are compatible. They are not at odds at all. They hope the book dispels such myths that all Muslims are Arabs or speak Arabic, or worship a different God than Christians or Jews, or that Muslims believe that only they will go to heaven.
A goal, she said, was to dispel stereotypes, like all Muslim girls cover their hair.
"Our approach is to live out your life as a good person and don't stress out too much about the rituals," Yasmine said.
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