Palestinian Resilience Invoke Curiosity In Young Americans’ Mind About Islam (image-pixabay)
Palestinian resilience amid the ongoing Israel aggression in Gaza has resulted in invoking wide interest towards the religion Islam and their Holy Book Quran. Many American youngsters have begun to explore the religion with curiosity and admiration, reports The Guardian.
Many have reported to embrace Islam while others found solace and inspiration in its teachings, the report said. The unbreakable spirit and deep-rooted devotion of Palestinians to their faith has been the source of inspiration for many amid the ongoing turmoil. Most of them began their journey when they decided to speak out for Gaza. American activist and TikToker Megan Rice decided to speak out for Gaza through her social media. She was completely mind blown by the unbreakable faith of Palestinians. She expressed her curiosity in an interview and said, “I wanted to talk about the faith of Palestinian people, how it’s so strong, and they still find room to make it a priority to thank God, even when they have everything taken away from them”, reports the Guardian.
She, later being interested to know more about the religion, organized a ‘World Religion Book Club’ on Discord, an instant messaging platform, where people with different background can come together and learn the Quran.
During her course of study, she recognized that the teachings of the Quran aligned with her core belief. She recognized that the Quran is anti-consumerist, anti-oppressive and feminist. Within a month, Rice embraced Islam and became a Muslim. The atrocities conducted by Israel has helped in creating a different narration in the west after 9/11. Rice is one among many who wanted to experience the Quran. On TikTok, the youngsters are seen reading the text of Quran to have a better understanding of the religion which was vilified by the west after 9/11.
Videos under the hashtag “quranbookclub” which has more than 1.9 million views on the app, shows users holding on to their newly purchased texts and reading verses for the first time.
An act of solidarity has resulted in life changing instance for Rice. She read Quran in a way to express her empathy for Palestinians but now has become the major element of her life. “I would say that it doesn’t matter what your religious background is,” she said. “You can grow empathy for someone by learning the most intimate parts of them, which includes their faith,” reports Guardian.
“The difference of the present moment is that the people are widely turning to Quran not to understand the attack on October 7 by Hamas but instead to understand the incredible resilience, faith, moral strength and character they see in Muslim Palestinians”, said Zareena Grewal, an associate professor at Yale who is working on a book about Islamic scripture and religious tolerance in American culture.
The more the deeper they dived each one of the them found the feministic aspect, saying all men and women are equal in the eyes of God and the verses covering the big bang and other theories and nature metaphorical aspects of Quran. “Usually, we’re so used to the religious community combating science,” Rice said. “Now I’m seeing a religion embrace science and use its holy texts to back it up.”
