«Beyond Scarfs and Beards» is a multimedia documentary about the lives of 4 Muslim students at UMass. According to these students, their religion is the most important part of their lives. Islam, more than just a religion, is a way of life and it plays a vital role in everything they do.
But unlike what most people may think about them and their practices, these students aren’t so different from the rest of the population at UMass.
It is true that religion is present in every aspect of their lives, for example, the way they dress, what they eat, their daily schedule adjusted to their praying times, the way they talk- always making reference to God and the Prophet; but it is also true that they enjoy doing other things like going to the park, to the movies, to the mall, they like to make jokes, play basketball, eat a lot of candies, play videogames, spend time with the family and, most of all, they study hard!
So, for this project, I interviewed:
- Huda-Zaynab Abdul Rahim, who is a senior and an English major. Her parents are African American, but they converted to Islam when they were young so they raised all their kids in the Islamic religion. Huda will graduate this summer and she plans to move to Qatar to become an English teacher.
____________________________________________
2- Hamza Dawud Flanagan is 21 years old, History major. He converted to Islam a little over 2 years ago and he is the only Muslim member of his family.
____________________________________________
3-Batlah Abdul Rahim is Huda’s oldest sister. She is 25 and she is an English and Psychology major.
4- AbdAllah Mohsen is 19 years old and he is an Egyptian exchange student, Electrical Engineering major. He got a 4-year scholarship when he graduated from highschool and he is attending the American University in Cairo.
