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The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder

“I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to memorize the Quran — the holy book of Islam. It has 604 pages and 114 chapters. Memorizing the holy book has a strong significance in my religion and it is very rewarding. I recite it to this day to make sure I don’t forget it. I’m the co-founder and vice president of the Muslim Student Association [at our school]. It is a club formed to create a community for Muslim students here at West. I [moved] to West from an Islamic private school and homeschooling program, so I naturally yearned for that consolidated Muslim community at West when I joined in-person [school]. I got to know many Muslims at the school, but they were scattered. In Islam, forming an ummah (a muslim community) is very significant. However, when I first came to West, I saw that there was a population of Muslim [students], but they didn’t form one solid group. So, along with one of the new senior Muslim friends that I made, we took it upon ourselves to create a club forming a solid Muslim community, and it has been great. We’ve done volunteer opportunities, projects and even Islamic board games. It really has been such a fun experience that I want to keep up next year.” – Zahraa Sajid, 12

Zahraa Sajid

Sakenah Lajkem, Staff Writer August 25, 2023

Sophomore Rand Al-Hachami poses for a picture at school, donning her hijab and Zulfiqar sword necklace. Even though Islamophobia is very present, Al-Hachami says she has met a lot of positive reactions concerning her decision to start wearing hijab. “[Hijab symbolizes] positive character traits that Islam promotes, like dependability and honesty,” Al-Hachami said. “Wearing it has made me feel closer to my Muslim friends as well as to my religion in general.”

“I’m stronger than anything anybody could try to do to me”

Katie Wallace, Features Editor May 23, 2022

Ramadan: a time of fasting, prayer and focusing on your faith. Ramadan is sophomore Rand Al-Hachami’s favorite time of the year and, this year, it is the time she decided to start wearing hijab.  Hijab...

After the French National Assembly proposed a ban on religious symbols for minors in public schools, young Muslim women in france started the hashtag “HANDS OFF MY HIJAB.” This hashtag has emassed over 70,000,000 retweets, and can be seen all over protest posters in France. It was started by Muslim model Rawdah Mohamed, which she has encouraged others to post in solidarity with Muslim women in France.

France targets the hijab: how does this affect us?

Sara Albarcha, staff writer April 26, 2021

When three middle school girls refused to remove their headdresses in France in 1989 while at school, the government intervened, banning hijabs in public school. After three decades, France has continued...

Sophomore Waleed Abdulla reads passages of the Qur’an before prayer.

Muslim students share unique aspects of religion

Ridwan Oyebamiji, Features Editor November 12, 2019

When the word ‘prayer’ is mentioned, many people think of raising your hands together while you pray for what you want. However, Muslims’ five daily prayers are quite different from other religions'...

Senior Bama Nanić poses with her colored ttdeye contacts and green diamante scarves hijab. In 20 hours, the picture gained 3,460 likes. “Middle school was when I fell in love with makeup, and in high school, I just really felt like stepping my game up,” Nanić said.

Highlights of senior Bama Nanić’s instagram influence

Nayeon Ryu, Convergent Media Writer October 27, 2017

With cheekbones sharper than a knife and a hijab placed delicately on her head, senior Bama Nanić kills the Instagram game with her following of 29.3k. Nanić has a public Instagram account where...

Michele Mordica, an art teacher at Parkway Central Middle, and her husband stand in solidarity with the local Muslim community at the Daar-Ui-Islam Masjid.

Senior Meamuna Paracha’s video goes viral

Sydney Kinzy, Productions Editor-in-Chief February 2, 2017

“My name is Meamuna Paracha and we are going live from Daar-Ul-Islam Masjid in St. Louis, MO,” Paracha said in a live video she posted to IlmFeed, which has then since gathered over half a million...

Sophomore Meamuna Paracha designs a henna tattoo.

Under cover for God’s commandment

Claire Martin, Staff Writer December 16, 2014
Three girls explain what it is like to wear the hijab.
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