美国国家公共电台 NPR I'm Converting: My First Ramadan

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Muslims all over the world will celebrate Eid al-Fitr this Tuesday to mark the end of Ramadan. Families and friends will come together for prayer, for food and community. But for many people who have converted to Islam and are struggling to find their faith family, this family-focused holiday can be isolating¹. Our producers, Hiba Ahmad and Sophia Boyd, went to an iftar dinner last week where Muslims break fast during the holy month. And they spoke² with some converts about what their first Ramadan was like.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: It sucked. Like, the first Eid, I showed up at the mosque³, and everybody was already going home, and I was just there all by myself.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: I really didn't have anyone to, like, teach me things. So I was learning off classes on the Internet. I learned to pray off videos. It was a little bit of a learning curve.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I've got one foot in the Muslim community and one foot in the American, non-Muslim community. Sometimes it can be lonely.

SIMON: Mounira Madison is trying to bridge that gap.

MOUNIRA MADISON: (Speaking Arabic) How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Good.

MADISON: Good.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Good to see you.

MADISON: You're coming to all our iftars.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I know.

MADISON: That's awesome⁴. I love it.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I missed yesterday's.

SIMON: She's the program director at MakeSpace, a community center where Muslims can pray, gather and worship.

MADISON: Our idea is that you would meet each other in these two iftars, connect, build friendships, and then we would plan together how we could celebrate Eid.

SIMON: As program director, she organizes events to welcome people who are new to the area, the religion or both. It took her a while to feel comfortable talking about her new faith, and she didn't even tell her family at first. At the iftar, she and Kelly El-Yacoubi bond over their tentative transitions into Islam.

KELLY EL-YACOUBI: Yeah. Yeah.

MADISON: I also fasted in secret and hid things. And, like - you know how like most moms would get upset if their daughter wasn't wearing an abaya or a headscarf.

EL-YACOUBI: Yeah.

MADISON: Yeah.

EL-YACOUBI: Yeah.

MADISON: I totally would, like, wait, get in the car and then right before the masjid, I would, like, put it on.

EL-YACOUBI: Yeah, I did that when I was in high school. Like, my older sister...

SIMON: Madison grew up in the United Methodist Church in Chester, Va. And as a child, the church was the center of her world.

MADISON: I was always loved. I was always cared for. I was always - I had so many aunts and uncles and grandparents because of that church family, who I still love and still hold dear.

SIMON: She got older. She left the church and her faith behind. She worked as a professional musician, playing the flute⁵ in overseas orchestras, including in Jordan, where she lived for more than six years. She immersed herself in the culture there, but her time in Jordan was only part of the process toward converting. It wasn't the turning point. That came in 2015. She returned to the United States to be with her mother who had just been diagnosed with cancer.

MADISON: I was catapulted into this nine-month period of deep self-reflection and trying to understand my own identity. And that was the catalyst⁶ for my conversion⁷ - that period of introspection and reflection that was sparked by my move back to America. And I realized, oh, well, I think I'm Muslim, but let me test myself. Because Ramadan was just around the corner. I said, OK, Ramadan, it's a whole month of fasting from sun up to sun down. Let me see if I can do this, like one of the seemingly hardest things to do as a Muslim when you're not from the faith.

SIMON: It was even harder for Madison because her new faith was a secret. She didn't tell anyone she was fasting or talk publicly about her decision to convert. She practiced her faith privately⁸, watching YouTube videos to learn how to pray.

MADISON: I would say that that Ramadan was a bit lonely, but there was a lot of calm in that solitude⁹. A lot of people, they experience Ramadan, they experience their faith because they're surrounded by friends or family or culture. And I am so grateful. Although it was lonely sometimes, I really am very grateful for how my experience has unfolded, how my journey has unfolded because it's helped me grow closer to God, grow stronger in my faith and know that what I'm doing is literally¹⁰ because I believe in it.

SIMON: This Ramadan, she's making certain that others who are new to Islam have a place to go to explore their religion with late-night prayers and potluck suppers. And that's how she's going to celebrate Eid at the close of the holy month - with her faith family at MakeSpace, helping¹¹ people find their place in the community.

MADISON: When I look back at my only three-year journey, it's come so full circle, and that I just have to say, like, (speaking Arabic), which is, like, something you say that's just like something is so good something, something is so great that, like, you can't even imagine it.

SIMON: Mounira Madison in Alexandria, Va.

1 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

4 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

5 flute   

n.长笛；v.吹笛

参考例句：

• He took out his flute, and blew at it.他拿出笛子吹了起来。
• There is an extensive repertoire of music written for the flute.有很多供长笛演奏的曲目。

6 catalyst   

n.催化剂，造成变化的人或事

参考例句：

• A catalyst is a substance which speeds up a chemical reaction.催化剂是一种能加速化学反应的物质。
• The workers'demand for better conditions was a catalyst for social change.工人们要求改善工作条件促进了社会变革。

7 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。