Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age

Al-Khatahtbeh. Amani. Muslim Girl: A Coming of Age. 2016. 134p. ISBN 9781501159503.

Born in the United States of a Jordanian father and a Palestinian mother, Amani was only 9 years old when planes flown by Al-Qaeda operatives crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. Suddenly she found her faith thrown into the spotlight in a negative way, with people reacting with fear and incomprehension that 1.6 billion Muslims were not supporters of the terror inspired by Al-Qaeda. Overnight, Amani's family life changed. Dirty looks, insults, assaults, and government spying and arrests made it clear that Muslims were not welcomed in the United States. 

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 added fuel to the fire, which forced her family to leave for Jordan for a year. While in Jordan Amani was first exposed to the brilliant culture that is Islam, which is neither the Al-Qaeda trope, nor the Western parody. Motivated by what she saw in Jordan, Amani resolved to live her life as a full-faith Muslim. When the family returned to New Jersey, Amani quickly become involved in discussing the views of Muslim women, who were often marginalized in the media. She created a website, https://muslimgirl.com/, that presents issues of importance to Muslim girls without the usual stereotypes perpetrated by Western society.

Now engaged in fighting for the rights of Muslim girls to follow their faith in the United States, Amani stood up against prejudices in her high school, then continued her support of Muslim girls in college. She continued working with her website, and developed ties in other areas such as fashion. Energized in reaction to Donald Trump's candidacy announcement against Muslims, Amina continued to stand up for the values of her faith and her rights to be a citizen of the United States.