As a Gen X teen growing up in L.A., religion was the furthest thing from Fathia Absie’s mind. Since then, the Somali-American writer and filmmaker has lived and traveled all over the United States. “I don’t remember ever feeling uneasy or uncomfortable,” she says. But when she started to wear hijab, “everything changed,” she says. “How people treat me now is so different.”
For 21-year-old Seattle native Ahlaam Ibraahim, who grew up in a post-9/11 reality, religion has always been at the forefront of her identity, but she was insulated from prejudice by her environment. Her parents sent her to Islamic elementary school (which, like Catholic school, includes religious studies in addition to academic requirements). “For me, it was a really nice Muslim bubble.” Ibraahim says she was in middle school before she even found out about Muslim stereotypes.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world (Islam is the religion; Muslim is the adherent), with 1.8 billion followers constituting roughly a quarter of the world’s population. About one-third of the students in Tukwila schools identify as Muslim, but in 2014, the Pew Research Center reported that Muslims make up less than 1 percent of the total population of King County.
The result is that most of us in the Puget Sound have very little first-hand knowledge of Islam.
Growing up Muslim in Seattle
Ibraahim has a lot of practice answering Google-able questions about her religion. As a student at Rainier Beach High School, she even won an award for organizing community events to counter Islamophobia. Now a student at the University of Washington, she has started a marketing company, Third Kid Culture, to connect brands with Muslim consumers and improve media representation of Muslims.
