Hi Meryem, do tell us about yourself!
I've been a Muslim since Oct 2013. I'm also a designer, and in my spare time (apart from work and The New Muslim) I love studying Turkish and Japanese and Quran Arabic, travelling to Japan, and baking healthy food (I have a weird penchant for baking during Ramadan.)What inspired you to start The New Muslim?
2013-2015: Between Faith- A personal journey In 2013, I started an online blog to document my personal journey to find God. The blog, known as Between Faith, started as an open-minded discovery into my birth religion, Catholicism, which gradually guided me to Islam. Along the way, I realised that the challenges I was facing could not be unique to me alone- there were many others like me out there, scattered far and wide across the globe. During the times I felt alone, I found comfort through reading similar stories online, and if I was blessed enough to cross paths with some of them. Mid 2015: Finding sisterhood in Japan Whilst in Tokyo for 3 months, I searched for a Muslim community, and found my second home in Tokyo Camii. I spent most of my weekends, including Ramadan at the mosque, forming a close bond with fellow sisters, many of whom were Japanese muslim reverts. I was greatly touched and inspired by their pureness and innocence of hearts whilst listening to their stories, and desired to tell their stories to everyone back home.Did anything interesting happen after you started The New Muslim?
[caption id="attachment_5068" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]If you could teleport to a place now, where would it be and why?
What are 3 of your favourite destinations and why?
Which country are you most excited to visit in 2016?
Nothing planned yet except for repeated visits to Japan, so maybe you don't need to post this question haha. (In my opinion, repeated visits to Japan is more than enough!!! - Suzana)What are some of the challenges you have faced while travelling and how did you overcome it?
Doing my ablutions before prayer, in a public washroom. But it's a funny challenge. First I mentally prepare myself for the weird stares when I take off my hijab- look Ma, that girl has hair!!! And then everything's okay until the part where I have to stick my foot into the sink (hey! No judging!). How else can you do it? Once I was at yoyogi park during an event, so the washroom had a massive queue and everyone was looking the whole time while I was trying to wash my feet. Japanese don't stare though, so I was thankful even though I felt super awkward.What are your travel must-haves?
My carry on duffel/ backpack. I'm a light traveller and I really dislike having to wait for check in luggage or travelling with baggage, so I usually try to stuff every thing in my carry on even if it's for a month's travel. And it happens that my longest travels usually happen during the winter/ early spring season. I spend hours figuring out what to bring and what to scrap. What I find really useful is my travel sejadah- it's a foldable material that doesn't take up much space in your bag. And in places where it's impossible to find an allocated place to pray (but Japan is awesome in that- most of their airports have a praying space!), anywhere is a place to pray! I've got a list of funny places where I've just took out my mat and prayed... But that's probably not relevant to the question ?If you could give one piece of advice to people who want to travel – what would it be?
Make friends with the locals. For us Muslims, it is VERY easy to do so because we have a home every where we go to- the local mosque. Pop in and say Assalamualaikum, and smile! Even if you don't speak their language, the bond is already there. We aren't strangers; we are family.What do you hope for the world in 2016?
Frankly, hoping for something won't work unless I try my best to achieve it while hoping. So one thing I would really hope for is for the openness of hearts- the openhearted-ness to understand and accept someone else's viewpoint even if it means admitting you're wrong; the openhearted-ness to go for what you believe in or what you've always dreamed about without thinking about what others think of you; the openhearted-ness to smile at that neighbour whom you've always met in the lift but never said hi to before; the openhearted-ness to accept that things can't always go along as how you want it to be and the willingness to let go. So many things in the world now are the way it is because of Ego, and so many more things can be changed if we are openhearted enough to realize that the world isn't just only about ourselves. And as I am writing this and others can read, it's more of a reminder to myself that I'm writing it. Have a hilarious/interesting/memorable travel story or any tips you would like to share with us? Drop us an email at [email protected]! [iframe seamless="seamless" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" height="450" width="100%" scrolling="no" src="https://pollbuzz.co/frame/514?type=poll"][/iframe]Tags:hhwt-explorers