00:00My name is Linda Sarsour.
00:02I am born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.
00:06I consider myself to be a feminist, and maybe not the traditional sense of the word feminist
00:11or what people think when they think feminist.
00:16My parents instilled in me that I am the voice of the second, third generation of Palestinian
00:21Americans.
00:24One thing that has come up a lot for me as a Muslim woman is this idea of humility.
00:30I have been told numerous occasions, you're too visible, you're too loud, you're too outspoken.
00:37I'm not going to be humble to the point where I'm quiet.
00:43The idea behind modesty in Islam is for people to be able to judge me by my character, not
00:49by the way that I look.
00:52I'm very proud to wear a hijab.
00:54I don't think that wearing my hijab takes away from anything that I can do or be.
00:59Islam is very clear about the encouragement of the education of women.
01:04I mean, there's just so many clear examples of the leadership roles that women have held.
01:09When there has been oppressive behavior against Muslim women worldwide, most often that has
01:15come from political reasons or even cultural reasons, oppression of women is absolutely shunned
01:21in the Islamic faith.
01:22I don't like to go to mosques where men and women are in different floors or if women are
01:27in a smaller space.
01:29If we're following the footsteps of our prophet, our prophet never did that.
01:32It's not an Islamic principle, like dividers between people praying, like that just wasn't
01:36something that existed in the founding of Islam.
01:39When people see me, they think that I'm an anomaly, that there's only one or two or three
01:43of me, when in fact there are millions of Muslim women across the world, and particularly here
01:48in the United States, who are strong, who are confident, who are educated, and who are making
01:52a difference in our society.
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