Dr. Samira

Perhaps, in my last post I was a debbie downer about my little exposure to the more conservative communities in Jordan. I realized, however, that there is someone who opens her religious world to me every Monday and Wednesday for an hour and a half in my Islam class.

My professor, Dr. Samira Khawaldeh, is a soft spoken, opinionated, and well-versed Muslim, who carries the class through concepts of the Quran and the various interpretations that have gained popularity over the centuries.

This past Friday, Samira took the class all around northern Jordan, hopping from shrine to shrine in order to see the tombs of important figures of Islam.  She asked the ladies to bring a scarf along in case we entered a mosque, but as we were mostly seeing shrines, we didn't have to cover our hair as much. However, at one stop, a boy saw our uncovered hair and started protesting loudly, pointing at us and saying, "Haram!" - forbidden.  Samira, clearly annoyed, went over a gently talked to him. The boy rudely ignored her explanation and kept on complaining loudly until the sheik arrived.  After the sheik informed the boy that Samira was a professor at his university and held two PhD's, the boy quickly left and didn't reappear.

In the bus, Samira tsked at the boy's behavior, called him a hothead, and explained that these young students of shariah think they know something after just starting their studies, and then try to enforce every little thing without understanding the surrounding text or the other verses that provide exceptions.

neighborhood girlies on the class trip at the Hussein mosque

At our last stop, the royal al-Hussein mosque, Samira engaged in a conversation with the muezzin - the one who gives the call to prayer - about the passages concerning marriage and the number of wives a man is allowed.  Afterward, she turned to us and translated the argument, finishing with, "at first he tried to defend the legality of having four wives, but after a little while, he started to see it my way."

This is how she is.  Her religion poses no conflict for her. She only sees people take it and misconstrue it to fit their own agendas.  She simply says that they do not choose to read the Quran fully, but take what they want from it.  If they were true scholars of Islam, she says, they will not try to make these claims about the religion. From issues such as the veil (which she wears), to Islamists, marriage, science, and history, she has confidence in her answers and smiles at the confusion of others before humbly "showing" them the truth.