My Three-Fold Utopian Dream
Friday, August 04, 2006
Zidane the man
I don't know the story behind this picture but I love it. I think it shows what a true champ Zidane is! ¶ 5:46 pm 0 comments
I don't know the story behind this picture but I love it. I think it shows what a true champ Zidane is! ¶ 5:46 pm 0 comments
Muslim vs non-Muslim
As a hijab wearing muslim woman living in the United Kingdom I feel constantly under the spot light. In recent years this has only gotten worse due to the political status of Islam, 9/11 and 7/7. There is always the need to prove yourself, to show people that Muslims are normal and fun and not terrorists. Having left the UK for a few years and living in Saudi Arabia I took for granted the Islamic environment I was living in and practising Islam was easy. Moving back opened my eyes to what Islam really is and made me want to know more and ask about aspects of the religion I had never thought about or questioned before. Being a Muslim in the west it is VITAL to know your religion. You are constantly stopped in the street, at the supermarket, at university or on the train and are asked 'why do you wear a head scarf?', 'is it true that Muslim wome have to cover their face?' or a rude question 'aren't you hot wearing that towel on your head?' or even a snide remark 'all Muslims are terrorists and you kill poeple!'. How embaressig would it be not to know the answer to a simple question that defines who you are? How shameful would it be not to be able to defend myself when hearing such ignorant and ridiculous comments and remarks? And then there is the case of abuse. I know many Muslim men and women that have been faced with verbal and physical abse for practising their religion. I thankfuly, have never been subjected to such hatred but it happens.
This brings me to the purpose of this post. Are Muslims particularly stressed? Do they have higher stress levels than non-Muslim? This is the subject of my MSc research. The exact title is: The relationship between dietary intake and percieved stress levels in Muslim and non-Muslim women living in the UK. I have collected a 7 day food diary for 100 participants (50 Muslim and 50 non-Muslim). I am going to be comparing the two groups in terms of their percieved stress level questionnanire results, the different amounts of certain nutrients (vitamin C, thiamin, magnesium etc). All in all I think it makes for an interesting peice of research and I'm really eager to get my results..unfortunately that can only be done by inputting my data into SPSS, which is the bane of my existance. Those of you that are familliar with the program will sympathise with me... wish me luck!
¶ 3:30 pm 0 comments
