I often wish that Americans who, in a knee jerk reaction to world events, vilify Muslims, could meet my host family, and others who live a similar life here in Azerbaijan and in other mostly Muslim countries.
My host mom is “modern” as they say here. She teaches at a university, and at a local school, and she tutors more than 20 students preparing to take the very difficult University Entrance exam.
Like moms in the U.S. and around the world, she balances her work with organizing and overseeing the household, cooking and doing housework that’s needed. We often talk about the pressures of doing it all, as so many of us have.
But when the time comes, she slips away from our conversation, to put on her covering and do her prayer at the designated times in a corner of the kitchen. When we talk about the future, her conversation is laced with “Inshallah,”.. God willing. She is committed to her religious practice. Although her holy book may be different, her values are very similar to those held by Americans in most mainstream religions.
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