Muslim in the USA: Double Pain

Dr. Mohammad Obiedat teaches math at Gallaudet University. He came to the U.S. to do research in topology. He is from Jordan, an Arabic country near Syria and Iraq. World Around You asked Obiedat to talk about being Arabic, deaf, and Muslim in the United States after the attacks of September 11.

WAY: When did you become deaf? Obiedat: I was in high school. It happened suddenly. WAY: Is anyone else in your family deaf? Obiedat: My grandfather also became deaf. WAY: Did being deaf change you? Obiedat: I think it helped me to be stronger. WAY: When did you learn sign language? Obiedat: When I came to the U.S., I had a deaf roommate and I learned American Sign Language. WAY: Did you ever see sign language in Jordan? Obiedat: Yes. There are sign language interpreters on TV. The weekly news and the services from the Mosque have sign language interpreters. WAY: Did you have an interpreter in high school or college? Obiedat: No. I can’t lipread English very well but I can lipread Arabic, the language that I grew up with. So I lipread the teachers—and I studied 10 hours a day. WAY: Can you explain about the Muslim religion? Obiedat: Muslims believe that Jesus and Moses were prophets of God. They believe that the Koran is the final word of God. They believe that Mohammed was the final prophet of God. WAY: Why do Muslim women cover their bodies from head to foot? Obiedat: Not all Muslim women do this. It de-pends on their interpretation of the Koran. People who interpret the Koran strictly say that women must cover every part
of their bodies except their faces and hands and that men must cover every part of their bodies except below their knees and above their waists. WAY: Is Jordan a Muslim nation? Obiedat: It depends on what you mean. In Jordan, more than 90 percent of the people are Muslim, but the government tries to keep religion and politics separate. A few Muslim countries think that religion should play a central role in politics, but most Muslim countries now try to keep religion and politics separate. WAY: What can Jordan and the U.S. learn from each other? Obiedat: In the U.S., people accept that each of us has a different opinion. Jordan can learn to respect that people have different opinions. In Jordan, family relations are very strong and people have warm relationships. The U.S. can learn from Jordan about that. WAY: How did you learn about the attacks of September 11? Obiedat: I saw students watching TV, but I didn’t believe what I was seeing. Later that night I started to realize the extent of the tragedy. WAY: Do people treat you differently now? Obiedat: Not usually, although some people are nicer to me now. They know that I have double pain.

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