Kōda Hideyuki, Power News/ Nippon.com
We Talk with another two Japanese women who converted to Islam after marrying Muslim men.
Step by Step
Inside the offices of the Japan Halal Association, an NPO based in Osaka’s Hirano Ward, Khadija Mari mans the phones alongside a woman clad in a hijab. Mari met her husband, Abdurahman, while visiting Indonesia in 2012—he worked at the hotel where she was staying—and the couple wed on New Year’s Day, 2014.
Mari explains that she has slowly come to embrace Islam. Becoming a Muslim has helped me come to terms with different aspects of my life. I am now able to accept life’s challenges as the will of God.”
Mari admits she had concerns about Islam early in her relationship with her husband, but that he helped put her mind at ease by urging her from the outset to just have faith in God. When the couple visited his home village, Mari struggled with local religious customs and manners.
Shortly after the wedding Mari started wearing a blue hijab, but to her surprise Abdurahman found it odd and asked her to stop. Islam is often portrayed in the mass media as a strict, uncompromising religion, but Mari hopes the open acceptance her husband has for differing cultural norms will help others overcome these stereotypes and make Japan more hospitable to Muslims.
Becoming Muslim
While Mari largely attributes this view to a general lack of understanding about Islam in Japan, she has also come to see it as astute advice for Muslims in the country. Such efforts can often leave him feeling emotionally drained, though.Now that more than three years have passed since Mari converted to Islam, she says her husband is finally starting to regard her as truly Muslim.
A Willing Conversion
At an Italian restaurant near Ekoda Station in Tokyo, Bangladeshi Jahangir Mujahed and his wife Chihiro are preparing to open for business. The couple met on the job at a different Italian eatery, managed by Jahangir, where Chihiro, then a university student, worked part-time. Despite their age difference—Jahangir is 22 years older—the pair fell in love. They married seven years ago.Chihiro claims she had no qualms about converting to Islam. “Many of the values it teaches are same that Japanese children hear growing up,” she says, “like respecting your parents and not lying. Converting was easy for me and has never been a barrier to my life in Japan.”
Chihiro divides her time between the restaurant and looking after the couple’s two small children. Her busy schedule means she is unable to pray some days and is usually unable to attend prayer gatherings on Fridays. “I would of course feel better as a Muslim if I prayed regularly,” she confesses. “But as my husband once told me, God in his greatness isn’t concerned about such trivial things.
Blending In
The couple admits that as members of a religious minority, they have some concerns about people’s views and how their children will be treated down the road. “There is no reason to broadcast the fact that we are Muslim,” states Jahangir. “Islam teaches that if you put your best face forward, people will accept you for who you are.”As parents, though, we believe it is better not to push our standards but rather to live in harmony with others as Islam teaches.
Building Better Understanding
Japan Halal Association head Remon Hitomi insists that Islam does not oppress women. “People who do not know about the religion tend to see it as strict and scary,” she explains. “But even the Prophet Muhammad did house chores, saying that ‘heaven lies under the feet of your mother.’”
The number of Muslims in Japan will continue to rise as more people come to the country to work and the government keeps up its efforts to attract foreign visitors. Remon says she will keep working to educate people and raise awareness of Islam to make it easier for Muslims to integrate into Japanese society.