Introduction
Our project is close to our heart since the targeted issue is a huge part of our lives, Islam. Growing up, weāve always heard phrases such as āgirls canāt ask for much,ā āyouāre not allowed to choose your partner, youāre not a man,ā āthis is what Islam says, are you going against it?ā Most of our friends had to distinguish between religion and toxic culture by themselves but many among our community are still stuck in between such nonsense.
We wished to investigate the misuse of religion in our culture. To say the least, the Desi community is vast, with people from many walks of life and from all over the world, but there are some challenges that many encounter, many of which are identical. Cultural misinterpretations and wrongful justifications in the name of religion.
We wanted to find out why these problems are so common in our community. Are they religiously motivated? Or is it simply a means for them to promote their propaganda in the guise of religion?
Our videos consisted of the topic at hand, the teachings of a certain religion, and whether there is a link between how these problems manifest in our society. We also interviewed people who have experienced and overcame similar challenges. All videos were uploaded to our YouTube channel called āChallenging Beliefsā.
Our communityās persona fluctuates. Individuals who are impressionable, naĆÆve, or willing to relearn these troublesome behaviours are all candidates. We treaded softly so that we do not say the incorrect thing, but not so lightly that we begin sugarcoating these behaviours. We were completely sensitive throughout our project. Our videos were a place for people to learn rather than load their heads with more nonsense.
We gave each member specific roles throughout this project, everyoneās role was given based on their capabilities and skill sets. Aksa was our video editor, creator and coordinator. Aisha and Sadia both conducted interviews and did most background research throughout the project.
Utility
Our main goal for the project was simple. We wanted to educate fellow community members of their rights in Islam.
Throughout the project, we have successfully reached our target in a small scale. Our intended audience are members of the community, both muslim and non-muslims. We wished to conduct research in the hope of educating members of the community who believe culture and religion can be used interchangeably, or who may feel lost in the constant battle of having to please the authorities, which may brew feelings of bitterness for their faith, or living comfortably while maintaining the balance between their culture and religion.
Through research, our group members also gained extra knowledge that was beneficial to their well-being. We didnāt want to hear negativity towards Islam due to our culture meddling in our beautiful religion. We wanted to make sure that through conveying verses and proper reasoning from Islam, muslims wonāt feel suppressed by their religion.
Islam is peaceful and very accepting, we wanted to let the people around us know that too. Through our videos, we have conveyed our messages and cleared different misconceptions such as marriage rights of women in Islam.
Methodology
When we first came up with this project, we thought it will be best if we write blogs on this topic. As blogs enable us to express our thoughts, we can also include images and videos in them. However, our professor advised us that since very few people are interested in reading blogs, and some people might even find it dull. So we changed our format from blogs to videos.
Our team also decided to organise a talk. We intended to invite some distinguished speakers who are knowledgeable about Islam and who can clarify any misunderstandings others may have about our religion and culture. We decided to also invite a revert muslim to share her journey and her first hand experience on this issue. We also made the decision to invite the owner of an Instagram account which posts content on Islam. We were confident that she would be able to assist us with this project because of her extensive knowledge of Islam. We chose to invite our professors, classmates, and friends as the audience. We had to confirm the date and location before sending out the invitations.
Unfortunately, the covid-19 laws prevented us from holding the event on campus despite our requests to the college to enable us to hold the presentation there. We didnāt have much time to ponder because of the time constraints, so we chose to create a podcast. Finally, we made the choice to record a podcast with Inayat Noor, a revert. We appreciate Ms. Inayat taking time out of her busy schedule to record the podcast with our group.
Our current uploads are as follows:
- Introducing CHALLENGING BELIEFS: A short trailer video
- āCONSENTā: A 10 ā min video on consent within Islamic marriage
- EP. 1: A Revert Looking In: An 8 ā min podcast episode on a revert and how Islam may seem like to outsiders
Research
In order to learn as much as we could about our issue, we read various articles and watched documentaries for our research. We also had to keep in mind that all the information came from reputable sources because this was a sensitive topic.
In addition to forced marriages, we also investigated abortions in Pakistan and how women are compelled to terminate baby girls. According to the research and policy NGO GuttMacher Institute, around 2.4 million unplanned pregnancies occurred among Pakistani women in 2002, with nearly 900,000 of those pregnancies ending in induced abortions. The majority of abortions are motivated by culture, as most Pakistanis prefer to have boys so they may raise their future generation. If a woman is pregnant and carrying a girl, she needs to have the baby aborted.
Diaa Hadid, a journalist working in Pakistan, said that Mehnaz, a 19-year-old woman, became pregnant for the fifth time and was terrified because she already had four daughters and her husband had threatened to leave her if she had any more. As a result, she had to have an abortion to preserve her marriage. Mehnaaz had previously undergone two abortions out of fear that the child would be a daughter, thus this wasnāt her first time.
These abortions are illegal in Pakistan since the country upholds Islamic abortion law. Women will therefore have unsafe abortions, which may cause complications or even death in some cases. We also looked at what Islam has to say regarding abortion. Islamic law permits women to abort if they have medical problems, were the victim of a rape, and many other reasons. However, if the unborn child is a girl, abortion is never permitted. Baby girls are seen as a blessing from God in Islam.
Findings
Since Challenging Beliefs is primarily focused on YouTube, we were forced to rely on the analytics and comment sections for feedback.
We presently have 139 views on the video about consent in marriage, 100 of which came within a day of its upload, according to statistics. The video with the most views on our channel is also the one on consent. We received 12 comments and 19 likes on that particular video. Many of the comments expressed anticipation for our next uploads and expressed great appreciation for what we are attempting to do with this initiative.
A podcast that we recently uploaded discussed how outsiders can see Islam based on these ideas. We conducted a brief interview with Inayat Noor, a recent convert, about her impressions of the religion before studying it for our podcast. She also discussed how some people could misinterpret the true meaning of Islam depending on their interpretations. We gained a deeper understanding of how people can view Islam and the reasons it is important to educate our community.
We were successful in reaching our target audience according to the analytics. 20.6 percent of our viewers were from Pakistan, while 52.6 percent of our viewers were from Hong Kong. All of the viewers of our videos were between the ages of 18 and 24. Keeping our audience retention steady was something we did battle with. Only 31% of viewers had stayed tuned in for the entire 30 seconds of our consent video, according to a dramatic fall in viewership at that time. Our average view time was 1:17 minutes, and our average view percentage was 12.8%.
Key Learning Moments
- Aisha
Research on this project was worthwhile because it has impacts on all of us. People frequently mix up our religion with culture. Itās crucial to clarify this so we may dispel misconceptions about our faith and demonstrate how peaceful Islam is. After conducting the study for this project, I discovered that our culture has ruined many girlsā lives by pressuring them into marriage. Some of the girls who are married in these marriages even experience domestic violence. Through this project, we was able to understand more about my religion and how women in Islam are treated like queens, with the freedom to select their own life partners, pursue education, and exercise independence. However, itās also upsetting to observe how these rights are being abused by many cultural groups. Iām hoping that by bringing this topic to peopleās attention, we will raise awareness of its importance.
- Aksa
I was able to sharpen my editing and coordination skills with this project. Even though there were some challenges in all of the projectās activities, the fact that the talkshow could not be held on the college grounds was a significant setback. It wasnāt even that we couldnāt host an event; rather, we could have saved a ton of time and added a lot more to our small project if the school officials had provided us with clear instructions on organizing events from the beginning. Despite this, we managed to accomplish a lot in such a short amount of time. I discovered that if we want to make an initiative successful, everything needs to be finished on time so that we donāt have to stress about getting everything done at the last minute. Despite our busy schedules, Iām delighted we were all able to take some time apart to collaborate and make this idea a reality.
- Sadia
There were quite a few challenges throughout this project that I had faced, nonetheless, I have learnt a lot more than I expected and Iām grateful for that. Throughout researching, I realised that a lot of information on Google is quite redundant. You really cant trust everything that you see. I had to verify whatsoever that I would read with my Quran (Holy Book) and direct translation. There are a lot of pages that try to mislead people and create misassumptions. I had to constantly avoid falling into those traps and verifying each and every information. That was very time consuming, although worth it all.
REFERENCES
https://www.guttmacher.org/report/abortion-pakistan#
https://www.wbur.org/npr/661763318/why-the-abortion-rate-in-pakistan-is-one-of-the-worlds-highest
Introduction
Our project is close to our heart since the targeted issue is a huge part of our lives, Islam. Growing up, weāve always heard phrases such as āgirls canāt ask for much,ā āyouāre not allowed to choose your partner, youāre not a man,ā āthis is what Islam says, are you going against it?ā Most of our friends had to distinguish between religion and toxic culture by themselves but many among our community are still stuck in between such nonsense.
We wished to investigate the misuse of religion in our culture. To say the least, the Desi community is vast, with people from many walks of life and from all over the world, but there are some challenges that many encounter, many of which are identical. Cultural misinterpretations and wrongful justifications in the name of religion.
We wanted to find out why these problems are so common in our community. Are they religiously motivated? Or is it simply a means for them to promote their propaganda in the guise of religion?
Our videos consisted of the topic at hand, the teachings of a certain religion, and whether there is a link between how these problems manifest in our society. We also interviewed people who have experienced and overcame similar challenges. All videos were uploaded to our YouTube channel called āChallenging Beliefsā.
Our communityās persona fluctuates. Individuals who are impressionable, naĆÆve, or willing to relearn these troublesome behaviours are all candidates. We treaded softly so that we do not say the incorrect thing, but not so lightly that we begin sugarcoating these behaviours. We were completely sensitive throughout our project. Our videos were a place for people to learn rather than load their heads with more nonsense.
We gave each member specific roles throughout this project, everyoneās role was given based on their capabilities and skill sets. Aksa was our video editor, creator and coordinator. Aisha and Sadia both conducted interviews and did most background research throughout the project.
Utility
Our main goal for the project was simple. We wanted to educate fellow community members of their rights in Islam.
Throughout the project, we have successfully reached our target in a small scale. Our intended audience are members of the community, both muslim and non-muslims. We wished to conduct research in the hope of educating members of the community who believe culture and religion can be used interchangeably, or who may feel lost in the constant battle of having to please the authorities, which may brew feelings of bitterness for their faith, or living comfortably while maintaining the balance between their culture and religion.
Through research, our group members also gained extra knowledge that was beneficial to their well-being. We didnāt want to hear negativity towards Islam due to our culture meddling in our beautiful religion. We wanted to make sure that through conveying verses and proper reasoning from Islam, muslims wonāt feel suppressed by their religion.
Islam is peaceful and very accepting, we wanted to let the people around us know that too. Through our videos, we have conveyed our messages and cleared different misconceptions such as marriage rights of women in Islam.
Methodology
When we first came up with this project, we thought it will be best if we write blogs on this topic. As blogs enable us to express our thoughts, we can also include images and videos in them. However, our professor advised us that since very few people are interested in reading blogs, and some people might even find it dull. So we changed our format from blogs to videos.
Our team also decided to organise a talk. We intended to invite some distinguished speakers who are knowledgeable about Islam and who can clarify any misunderstandings others may have about our religion and culture. We decided to also invite a revert muslim to share her journey and her first hand experience on this issue. We also made the decision to invite the owner of an Instagram account which posts content on Islam. We were confident that she would be able to assist us with this project because of her extensive knowledge of Islam. We chose to invite our professors, classmates, and friends as the audience. We had to confirm the date and location before sending out the invitations.
Unfortunately, the covid-19 laws prevented us from holding the event on campus despite our requests to the college to enable us to hold the presentation there. We didnāt have much time to ponder because of the time constraints, so we chose to create a podcast. Finally, we made the choice to record a podcast with Inayat Noor, a revert. We appreciate Ms. Inayat taking time out of her busy schedule to record the podcast with our group.
Our current uploads are as follows:
- Introducing CHALLENGING BELIEFS: A short trailer video
- āCONSENTā: A 10 ā min video on consent within Islamic marriage
- EP. 1: A Revert Looking In: An 8 ā min podcast episode on a revert and how Islam may seem like to outsiders
Research
In order to learn as much as we could about our issue, we read various articles and watched documentaries for our research. We also had to keep in mind that all the information came from reputable sources because this was a sensitive topic.
In addition to forced marriages, we also investigated abortions in Pakistan and how women are compelled to terminate baby girls. According to the research and policy NGO GuttMacher Institute, around 2.4 million unplanned pregnancies occurred among Pakistani women in 2002, with nearly 900,000 of those pregnancies ending in induced abortions. The majority of abortions are motivated by culture, as most Pakistanis prefer to have boys so they may raise their future generation. If a woman is pregnant and carrying a girl, she needs to have the baby aborted.
Diaa Hadid, a journalist working in Pakistan, said that Mehnaz, a 19-year-old woman, became pregnant for the fifth time and was terrified because she already had four daughters and her husband had threatened to leave her if she had any more. As a result, she had to have an abortion to preserve her marriage. Mehnaaz had previously undergone two abortions out of fear that the child would be a daughter, thus this wasnāt her first time.
These abortions are illegal in Pakistan since the country upholds Islamic abortion law. Women will therefore have unsafe abortions, which may cause complications or even death in some cases. We also looked at what Islam has to say regarding abortion. Islamic law permits women to abort if they have medical problems, were the victim of a rape, and many other reasons. However, if the unborn child is a girl, abortion is never permitted. Baby girls are seen as a blessing from God in Islam.
Findings
Since Challenging Beliefs is primarily focused on YouTube, we were forced to rely on the analytics and comment sections for feedback.
We presently have 139 views on the video about consent in marriage, 100 of which came within a day of its upload, according to statistics. The video with the most views on our channel is also the one on consent. We received 12 comments and 19 likes on that particular video. Many of the comments expressed anticipation for our next uploads and expressed great appreciation for what we are attempting to do with this initiative.
A podcast that we recently uploaded discussed how outsiders can see Islam based on these ideas. We conducted a brief interview with Inayat Noor, a recent convert, about her impressions of the religion before studying it for our podcast. She also discussed how some people could misinterpret the true meaning of Islam depending on their interpretations. We gained a deeper understanding of how people can view Islam and the reasons it is important to educate our community.
We were successful in reaching our target audience according to the analytics. 20.6 percent of our viewers were from Pakistan, while 52.6 percent of our viewers were from Hong Kong. All of the viewers of our videos were between the ages of 18 and 24. Keeping our audience retention steady was something we did battle with. Only 31% of viewers had stayed tuned in for the entire 30 seconds of our consent video, according to a dramatic fall in viewership at that time. Our average view time was 1:17 minutes, and our average view percentage was 12.8%.
Key Learning Moments
- Aisha
Research on this project was worthwhile because it has impacts on all of us. People frequently mix up our religion with culture. Itās crucial to clarify this so we may dispel misconceptions about our faith and demonstrate how peaceful Islam is. After conducting the study for this project, I discovered that our culture has ruined many girlsā lives by pressuring them into marriage. Some of the girls who are married in these marriages even experience domestic violence. Through this project, we was able to understand more about my religion and how women in Islam are treated like queens, with the freedom to select their own life partners, pursue education, and exercise independence. However, itās also upsetting to observe how these rights are being abused by many cultural groups. Iām hoping that by bringing this topic to peopleās attention, we will raise awareness of its importance.
- Aksa
I was able to sharpen my editing and coordination skills with this project. Even though there were some challenges in all of the projectās activities, the fact that the talkshow could not be held on the college grounds was a significant setback. It wasnāt even that we couldnāt host an event; rather, we could have saved a ton of time and added a lot more to our small project if the school officials had provided us with clear instructions on organizing events from the beginning. Despite this, we managed to accomplish a lot in such a short amount of time. I discovered that if we want to make an initiative successful, everything needs to be finished on time so that we donāt have to stress about getting everything done at the last minute. Despite our busy schedules, Iām delighted we were all able to take some time apart to collaborate and make this idea a reality.
- Sadia
There were quite a few challenges throughout this project that I had faced, nonetheless, I have learnt a lot more than I expected and Iām grateful for that. Throughout researching, I realised that a lot of information on Google is quite redundant. You really cant trust everything that you see. I had to verify whatsoever that I would read with my Quran (Holy Book) and direct translation. There are a lot of pages that try to mislead people and create misassumptions. I had to constantly avoid falling into those traps and verifying each and every information. That was very time consuming, although worth it all.
REFERENCES
https://www.guttmacher.org/report/abortion-pakistan#
https://www.wbur.org/npr/661763318/why-the-abortion-rate-in-pakistan-is-one-of-the-worlds-highest
All my love š„° 
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