Take It With You When You Go, A Fulbright Journey: Mutual Understanding Starts with Questions

Some of the most important things I have learned in my life so far, I have learned through asking myself and others questions. I believe questions are what make life so fascinating, and I believe asking questions continues to make life a really extraordinary adventure.

I learned today that this year I will be asking more questions than ever. In return, others will be asking me more questions than I have ever been asked before. People here will be asking me my age without any hesitation as well as questions such as where I come from, whether or not I like my home country and whether or not I like Malaysia. People also will be asking me about being a Caucasian American, as well as what religion I am and what my own culture is like. Needless to say, although I am asked my age by people every once in a while, I am not asked these other, more personal questions on a daily basis. However, I am going to be challenged to reflect on my own culture, beliefs, race, background and religion everyday during this upcoming year. The individuals here talk about these aspects of life very openly, and consequently, my students and future acquaintances will constantly be asking me questions as well.

Last Thursday, my group had its turn to go to the National Mosque and Islamic Arts Museum. It was my first experience going to a Mosque and to be honest, my first semi-submersion into the Islamic community. It was splendid to go on this particular day, because my orientation roommate, Nazeeha, and I had a fantastic conversation the night before about our religions. She was raised as a Muslim and I was raised Roman Catholic. It was a dynamic, inspiring and thought-provoking conversation. It allowed me to approach my trip to the Mosque with additional basic, background knowledge and some prior insight. I was also appreciative of this opportunity, because one of my favorite courses in college was Gender and Race Management, where we covered topics in regards to the Islamic community and Muslim women in America.

Fellow Fulbright women and I in our
conservative wear

During my trip to the National Mosque, I was allowed insight into the Islamic community and I am so glad I had the opportunity to do so. Although I came out of the experience with many questions, it ensures that my year in an Islamic community in rural Terengganu, Malaysia will be a tremendous learning experience and an amazing adventure.

Before we went to the Mosque, we were told to dress as conservatively as possible, although we were supposed to be doing that for the most part since we arrived here. (Although KL is far less conservative than the rest of Malaysia) The men in our group had to wear nice long sleeve shirts with long pants. Then, when we arrived at the Mosque the women in our group had to put on long, oversized purple gowns over their clothing. The gowns covered the entire arm, down to the feet and up to the neck. Then, the women put on tudungs, which are head coverings made with beautiful fabric that the Muslim women wear here. Once our conservative garments were on and everyone’s shoes were off, we entered the Mosque with our tour guide.

Me in my tudung

The first aspect of the Mosque that caught my eye was the fact that there were no statues. It was a beautiful building with access to the outdoors and beautiful gardens and flowers, as well as a large pond with soft fountains. The building was modeled in the shape of umbrellas, which symbolizes power. We were guided through the mosque and we were allowed access to the prayer rooms, which were large, simple, carpeted rooms. On Fridays, it is mandatory that Muslim men go to the Mosque to pray in the afternoon. The mosque brings in thousands of people on Fridays, and on those days, men pray shoulder to shoulder in those large prayer rooms. In addition, both Muslim men and women are required to pray five times a day facing Mecca. In fact, most buildings in Muslim countries, including Malaysia, put arrows in each room that designate which direction faces Mecca.

Walkway through the Mosque exposed to the outdoors

After our tour through the Mosque, we participated in a Q & A session with our tour guide who was a Muslim man himself. It was an opportunity that gave me insight into the backgrounds, community and families my own future students will be from. My responsibility as a Fulbrighter is to facilitate mutual understanding. The opportunity to tour a Mosque and participate in a Q & A session was a great opportunity to take a step in trying to establish simple background knowledge of the Islamic community I will be teaching in within the next two weeks.