Senior Zohah Beg is like most students at LZHS.  She studies, organizes Culinary Club, and spends time with friends.  Unlike most LZHS students though, she is not Christian; she is Muslim.

            Beg was born and raised in the U.S., and both of her parents emigrated here from Pakistan when they were teenagers.  She considers herself to be fairly devout in her faith, but she chooses not to wear a hijab, a traditional Muslim headdress.

            “There are other things that come first; a lot of people think it’s mandatory but it’s not,” Beg said.  “I feel like there are other things I should focus on first before covering my hair because it’s not the most important thing.”

            Instead of focusing on this tradition, Beg prefers to focus on the Islamic teaching of brotherhood.

            “Islam is all about finding ways to get along, it’s about faith and God and stuff, but it’s also about finding ways to help the people around you and to be as selfless as possible” Beg said.

            Being selfless can be challenging, but Beg says she always asks herself if her actions are selfish or selfless and whether or not she is putting others before herself.  While she tries to ensure that her actions are benefiting others, she recognizes the judgment her faith receives.

            Beg has never faced outright faced discrimination at LZHS, but she points out that she “is not white,” potentially causing others to stereotype her.  However, Beg condemns terrorists and has no anti-American feelings, because she is American.

            “There are a lot of people who are Muslim that are undereducated, and those are the people we hear about the most because they’re the most radical and extreme,” Beg said.  “We don’t like to consider them actually Muslim because it’s terrible what they do, obviously.  A lot of people like to place their judgments solely on that, and I think that’s wrong.”

            The images Americans see on TV generally display violence in the Middle East, and Beg believes that this limited coverage further fuels stereotypes of Muslims.

“The news has been doing a better job of showing different sides because before it was just ‘oh another bomb went off.’  Yeah, that happens all the time there, and it’s unfortunate, but that’s not what we want to represent us,” Beg said.

To combat the misconceptions about Islam, Beg tries to educate others about her faith and its teachings.

            “If I explain something about myself or my religion, I try to be as open as possible because I’ve grown up here.  I know people and I know what they think,” Beg said.  “People think that I sit home on Christmas and don’t watch Christmas specials, but I totally do!  People think that we live this sheltered life and we only see through what we think, but it’s not like that.”

            Although Islam, Christianity, and Judaism do not believe in the same prophets, they all pray to the same God.  “Allah” is the Arabic word for God, so even though the word is different, Christians, Jews, and Muslims still refer to the same almighty being.

            “I feel like if you looked more at the teachings of Islam, you’d realize that [Islam is] not anything different from Christianity or Judaism,” Beg said.  “It’s all of the same core principles, we just have different ways of acting upon it.”

            Although all three religions share similar values, Muslims do not believe that Jesus Christ is their savior, similar to Jews.  Unlike either Christians of Jews, Muslims consider Muhammad to be their prophet.

          Muslims believe the angel Gabriel told Muhammad that there was only one true God, and Muhammad spent his life spreading the angel’s words.  Muhammad is considered to embody the perfect believer and Muslims are taught to model his conduct.

            Each religion has its own way of expressing faith, and Beg believes that Americans should better embrace each other’s faiths. 

“I was born here, I was raised here, and it’s all the same.  We shouldn’t have to feel proud of our race or culture, it’s just about if you carry yourself as a good person, that’s what you should be proud of,” Beg said.  “You should be proud of the fact that you do what you can be a good person, or work hard, or whatever it is you like to be.”