Detroit Free Press
August 13, 2016
By Asha Noor
Growing up as a Somali American woman, I had few role models that looked or dressed like me. Definitely no one like U.S. saber fencer and first-time Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad.
I consider how my younger self would have felt seeing a star athlete she could truly identify with. What impact would that have had, seeing a woman who embraced her race, religion and nationality proudly and at the same time? Ibtihaj, representing the entire United States at the Olympic Games, tells me that I don't need to hide parts of my identity to be American.
When I see Ibtihaj compete and win at the Olympic level against all odds, I think of my ambitious, kickboxing nieces. Marwa, 6, and Maha, 9, have favorite athletes they look up to, but it’s different to have a role model, a source of inspiration in whom they can see themselves. When most depictions of Muslims in the media are negative, it’s incredibly heartening to Muslim Americans to see Ibtihaj heroically and unapologetically representing her faith and her country.
Ibtihaj competes in a headscarf, as part of her religious covering or hijab. Through this public display of her faith, she is not only representing black Muslim women like her, but all Muslim Americans as citizens worthy of representing our nation at the highest levels. I couldn’t help but feel proud watching the Olympics’ opening ceremony as the camera panned across Team USA and Ibtihaj’s smiling face. Pride for my country, pride for the 554 Olympians representing us and pride for the first hijabi Muslim American woman to serve on Team USA. Wearing hijab and being a visibly Muslim woman myself, it is empowering to see someone like Ibtihaj who does not let hateful, anti-Muslim rhetoric hold her back from achieving her goals.
As she sports her hijab as a U.S. Olympian, no one can deny Ibtihaj’s American identity. She is showing the world what it truly means to be American — not hiding her religion or culture, but displaying it proudly while representing the United States. She is shaping history not only for Muslim women, but for all Americans.