Muslims and Jobs

On my way home last week from summer school (which rocks, btw; new love: Economics), I was listening to NPR’s Talk of the Nation. The topic was about the current job market and recent grads. I have a while until I graduate, and I have a bunch of friends who have graduated college or are even just graduating high school and are trying to decide on a major. I think as Muslims, we need to expand, greatly. Of course we do…but How? and Why?

MashaAllah, as we alll know there are many many Muslims in the health and human services field. There is also your share of engineers, lawyers, and businessmen as well. So in all honesty, these days, many times its all about the prestige and the money. Of course it is, and its valid as well, people need money to live, sure. But to grow culturally within the context of Islam and American, we need to leave our comfort zones. We can’t just keep talking about that, and keep sending our kids to med school.

Some amazing examples of Muslim Americans, of which I had the chance to see at a MYNA Youth day in my city of Toledo on May 17 (Shoutout to Linda!), Singer/Songwriter Dawud Wharnsby Ali and Pianist Idris Phillips, Comedian/Filmmaker Baba Ali and Nasheed group Native Deen and Spoken Word artist Mark Gonzalez (not Muslim, but an honorary one were all present. They all gave workshops (with the exception of Baba Ali) about what they do and shared with the audience how they too, can express themselves. Let me tell you though, it was an amazing group of individuals, mashaAllah, that know exactly what they are doing, why they are doing it and excel greatly at what they do. They all encouraged the youth to go out and express themselves, as Muslims and as Americans, and to be proud of being Muslim American. And as Imam Johari Abdulmalik pointed out, there is no clash between the two but rather, they compliment each other. We just have both in us, and we’re cool with that.

Although all these youth loved all the speakers and the workshops, I wondered how many would actually go home to their parents and tell them they want a degree in the liberal arts…or, music, art or history. Or something that is culturally accepted for their gender (education for men and law for women) Or God forbid, just not in the medical field, but rather something they have a passion for.

One of the guests on the Talk of the Nation was author David J. Rosen. He wrote a book titled “What’s That Job and How the Hell Do I Get It?: The Inside Scoop on More Than 50 Cool Jobs from People Who Actually Have Them”.  I haven’t read the book yet but I plan on checking it out soon inshaAllah.

Rosen works at an advertising agency, I believe, and noticed how people always asked him what he did to get where he is, and what he does all day. So he took the initiative to interview 100 people in over 50 different jobs and detailed how to get there, and what they do all day, for a living. People called in with their Dream Jobs, and Rosen would give them an idea of what they have to do to get there. One of his main points was networking. Network, Network, Network. Meet people that know some people that know some people. He mentioned that thanks to the internet, social networking is easier than ever, aka Facebook. Although the show was aimed at recent grads, it led me to thinking how this can be applied to Muslims, all around the world.

What areas can muslim kids who are graduating from high school consider? The Arts. Liberal Arts, such as History, Communication, Journalism, Fine Arts, Visual Communiation, Film, among many others! And Business! (of course, no bias there We need more women in business. There is a total of 4 girls in my summer microeconomics class, out of about 24 people. As a friend said, there must not be enough women who want to take over the world!

There are many ways you can make a living, and as Imam Zaid Shakir once mentioned at the Zaytuna Minara Program in Dayton, Ohio, said: We don’t need more doctors or lawyers, we need people who are good at what they do (paraphrased).

If anyone needs any advice about any of the non-traditional careers I listed, please feel free to contact me(nora@muslimtees.com) where I will do my best to help or at least hook you up with someone who can.

 

-nora