You are Most Welcome<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You are Most Welcome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"My Islamic Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/files\/2011\/08\/islam-is-peace-burlap-1.jpg?w=225\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristina ElSayed\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kristina ElSayed\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/\",\"name\":\"You are Most Welcome\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/ac5e61894dc163e8181b856e37421aaf\"},\"description\":\"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"You are Most Welcome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/\",\"name\":\"My Islamic Life\",\"description\":\"Living Islam your own way.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/ac5e61894dc163e8181b856e37421aaf\",\"name\":\"Kristina ElSayed\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e0cb14d27ebaa81244882f8f9624ac2?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e0cb14d27ebaa81244882f8f9624ac2?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kristina ElSayed\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/author\/kelsayed\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"You are Most Welcome","description":"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"You are Most Welcome","og_description":"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/","og_site_name":"My Islamic Life","article_published_time":"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/files\/2011\/08\/islam-is-peace-burlap-1.jpg?w=225"}],"author":"Kristina ElSayed","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kristina ElSayed","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/","name":"You are Most Welcome","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00","dateModified":"2011-08-24T14:04:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/ac5e61894dc163e8181b856e37421aaf"},"description":"Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid. Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"You are Most Welcome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/","name":"My Islamic Life","description":"Living Islam your own way.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/ac5e61894dc163e8181b856e37421aaf","name":"Kristina ElSayed","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e0cb14d27ebaa81244882f8f9624ac2?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e0cb14d27ebaa81244882f8f9624ac2?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Kristina ElSayed"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/author\/kelsayed\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2860"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":443,"date":"2011-08-24T10:04:54","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T14:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myislamiclife.wordpress.com\/?p=443"},"modified":"2011-08-24T10:04:54","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T14:04:54","slug":"you-are-most-welcome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2011\/08\/24\/you-are-most-welcome\/","title":{"rendered":"You are Most Welcome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Yesterday I worked most of the morning on creating a necklace charm that was a special order for the Eid.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Last night, we attended an Iftar given by a lady who has been a mentor to me for many years now, and her husband, who has known Khaled for even longer.<\/p>\n

When we walked in, the girls and I took our dessert platter back to the \u2018sweets table\u2019 and found the hostess. \u00a0We were hugged, smooched and welcomed. \u00a0(Secret Handshake \u2013 Style) \u00a0Once we were suitably greeted, our hostess went back to her preparations but we found other ladies we knew right away. \u00a0Again, more Salaams and greetings! \u00a0Smiles all around.<\/p>\n

We met a new lady and her two young ladies. \u00a0My daughters were immediately swept off by their friends. \u00a0Next came in a family that we have known since my son was just 3 years old. \u00a0Their daughter is the same age as our son and they were often in the same classes for many years. \u00a0Now she attends a different school, but we see them often at the Masjid and we always take time to say hello and sometimes chat. \u00a0Then the mother of another one of my daughter\u2019s classmates arrived and there were more hugs and smiles and greetings.<\/p>\n

Did I mention yet that these women are all Muslim, Hijabi and wearing Abaya?<\/p>\n

I point this out because I wanted to make sure that you understood that these women were no less religious, \u00a0none of them were originally from the U.S., and all of them spoke in heavily accented English to me and in Arabic to each other. \u00a0This Iftar, this festive party like<\/em> atmosphere was sooo welcoming<\/span>!<\/p>\n

We all ate in the same room, we took food from the same buffet, and the men and women spoke to each other. \u00a0No, we did not sit intermingled at the same tables, but it wasn\u2019t so divisive. \u00a0Back when I was new to the community and didn\u2019t know that many people, I would have still felt a little uncomfortable even though I was in the same room as Khaled, but sitting separate.<\/p>\n

Last night, if I hadn\u2019t known as many of the women as I did, I might have felt uncomfortable during the meal, because my table mates all spoke Arabic to each other and didn\u2019t make any attempts to include me in their conversations. \u00a0(Still rude IMO) But because I have been around these ladies before (some for many years, others just sporadically) I started\u00a0conversations\u00a0with them. \u00a0I asked them about their children. \u00a0I talked recipes with them. \u00a0I have found that there are two things you can always talk about with another women; food and children. \u00a0If those are dead ends (because they are single, or not interested,) I usually ask them about their clothes or shoes.<\/p>\n

Speaking of clothes, I was wearing a sleeveless, ankle length dress with a long sleeve top underneath and a pair of sandals. \u00a0I wore my 5 pillars necklace<\/a>. \u00a0No one batted an eye. \u00a0I was dressed appropriately, end of story.<\/p>\n

When we are invited out somewhere in the community, I go with the assumption that all of the events will be as welcoming as this one. \u00a0I make this assumption, because when you gather together for any common reason, there should be that underlying belief that everyone who is there, belongs there. \u00a0If someone has found themselves in the wrong place, or not where they meant to be, they will either remove themselves, or ask for help.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t just stumble into an Iftar dinner, unaware of what is going on. \u00a0If you weren\u2019t invited somehow, you would never know it was going on. \u00a0So, if you are in attendance, you meant to be there. \u00a0If you meant to be there then you should be, as in this case,\u00a0most welcome.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"