:sl:
Fishman, you found my post :D Anyways thanks for posting up it up here.
format_quote Originally Posted by
QuranStudy
Thank you brother Fishland and steve, I will seriously consider the UK and Belgium now.
Things are getting a bit scary here. My mother is forcing me to change my name (Mohammed). I am discouraged to attend a mosque. I try my best not to tell other I am Muslim. The discrimination is making life difficult.
Brother Quranstudy, you know, despite all of american's problems, american muslims are much better off socially and economically, compared to european muslims. I mean there are certain things which is would say the u.k has better advanatges then america. We have social security, free national healthservice (not the best compared to france, germany, scandanavia), plus unlike america, where many americans tend to be isolated and only know about america and little about the world, theres less of that sort of ignorance amongst the average european from the city (not to say that we dont have our ignoramouses).
it's a case of thinking that the grass is greener on the other side. Having spoken to various americans (including my 2nd cousin in maryland), i would say its not all bad. The political climate has probabaly made things more diffcult for you and u.k is no execption in that case.
rather then moving over the other side of the atlantic, have you considered moving up north to canada? I have some relatives in ottwa and canada seems to be very simalar in many respects to england/u.k, socially that is and canadians seem to be more tolerant, world concious and open then americans. And being an american citzen, i imagine emigrating to there would be less of a hassle comapred to the u.k and you might find it much more simalar to the american system of schooling, employment, healthcare.
I would think very carefully though brother about this because its a big descion and whilst running far away might seem like a solution, it may end up to be a problem later on. Make sure, you throughly research any countries you are interested in going to (laws, the people, freedom to practise your faith etc...) and whether its the best place to have a family in the future. With the hijab ban in Belgium, you might want to think twice because if you have daughters, they wont be able to attend public schooling and that will be a major issue!
As for your name, i wouldnt change it. I know that their have been issues with employment and name. My 2nd cousin (who resides in maryland now), he was living in NY before and about 1 week after 9/11, he got sacked from his job. He worked for some major firm and everything had been great upto that point, but with his name being mohammed, well they sacked him. Anways, it was hard for him to get a job for about 6 months after 9/11, but alhmdualiah he later got another job in maryland, where he resides now.
At the end of the day, all rizq is from allah and changing your name to something european sounding like James, aint going to nesscarly mean you'll get a job, because if your still whats considered to be an ethnic minority, when you turn up to the interview, they'll see that, and if their prejidice enough to reject you on your name (which identifys your religion), then they're most likely capable of rejecting you on the grounds of race as well.
anyways take care bro.