Samia "…I think it was easier without the scarf. But then, I said, 'No.' My daughter chose to wear it first, just before 9/11. When 9/11 came... we said 'You’re allowed to take it off if you feel that people are going to attack you.' And she said 'No, I made this conscious commitment that this is what I want to do.' And I thought about it…I’m doing this not for anybody’s sake. And my husband wasn’t forcing me...if he did I’d be out of here. I’m doing it for the pleasure of God. To be modest. If my daughter can do it...she can be brave at this time, why can’t I? I feel I’m being brave by not taking it off and standing up for who I am; for declaring I am a Muslim." |
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Samia was born in the mid 1950s in Madras, India and grew up the second oldest in a family of five children. She was 17 when her parents arranged her marriage to an Indian man studying dentistry in the United States. She came to Boston to support him through school and to do her own studies. She has two children in college.
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