Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Three years of conversations in a Muslim country distilled down to 13 minutes and 49 seconds

Moving to a Muslim country is a chance for an expat to confront one's own Islamophobia directly. It works too. I love living without fear. Instead of learning through American media what Muslim people are like, I'm learning from them directly and listening to them share with me how they see things.

If you want to know what it feels like to be an expat, this man's talk has distilled the kind of conversations I've had with my Muslim friends over the last three years down to 13 minutes and 49 seconds. I ask you to listen to Mehdi Hasan, speaking at the Oxford Union, with an open mind and heart, as otherwise there really isn't any point in listening. You would miss the whole experience of what it actually is like to be an expat.

To all my Muslim friends as you begin your celebration of Ramazan during what will be a very hot month, I say: "Ramazan Mubarak!"

3 comments:

@R3x68 said...

I would love a transcript of this speech, because he talks so fast(which is understandable due to debating time constraints)we tend to miss certain main points. Any chance of obtaining transcripts? Possibly of whole debate?

Isil Musluer said...

Dear Karen,

What an interesting talk. I liked it very much and I also wrote about it in my Curious Souls blog, of course, with a reference that you shared it with me. Thank you.

Have a nice day!
Isil

Karen said...

I'm glad you liked it Isil! Thanks for leaving me a comment and also passing it on.

 
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