Who is The Stranger

My whole life I have been a bit of an outsider. Growing up, I spent the first 17 years of my life at a Quaker private school. Even before I was born, my mother was a teacher there, so in true honesty, I was implanted there at conception. The school had only a sprinkling of people of color and even though it was a Quaker school the majority of student were Jewish. The school was located in the down town part of the city and I lived 30 mins away, up town with the trees and the crickets. I never got to see my school friends on the weekend, until the 7th grade, when a more kids from my part of town started to infiltrate the halls. Among the other African American kids, I was a bit of a pariah. To them, I didn't fit the mold. I looked different, I couldn't speak slang, I didn't take the public buses or the Sub. So, since they officially ruled in some secret middle school court of color that I was an "oreo," I was an instant outsider. Often, I was told that I act so white and talk so white. To counter the the influence of private school my mother join Jack and Jill. Some of you may be aquanted with this organization. It is a national association of Black women and their children to socialize and perform community service. In the past, the club was exclusive to those families who were lighter than the paper bag. If you were darker, you could joing Twigs, the less up-scale, browner counter part. Most of my peers came from upper-middle class families - black bourgeoisie. The sons and daughters of lawyers, doctors, judges, politicians and city officials. Essentially these were Uber African American kids-the ones that tried the hardest to be Black. They had enough money to wear it, rap it and move to it. Again, I was too white, hey I liked U2 and Sting.
I wonder how much of this influenced my decisions to major in Africana studies in college, play a major role in the BSU, SOAR (students organized against racism) and the campus UNITY House and travel/live in Africa.
Even as a muslim, I have experienced the same kind of isolation. I think people are always trying to figure you out so that they make assumptions. Humm, what is she? So now, I am not white, but I must be Arab (or as Zaynab's neighbor put it) A-Rab. Usually Egyptian. And some how because of my lightness/likeness I must know more Quran or I speak arabic - I hate to break it to you, I don't, but I wish I did. Or even, I was told by a friend that she thought I was mean. What? Me? Why?
As a sister who ascribes to Salafiyah, the feeling of being an outcast persists amongst the masses, sometimes feeling like a stranger even among the muslims. Wrapped in black, face, hands covered wanting to close the gaps for salaat . . .
So no matter whether I am an African American Meherrin Indian Caucasion former Quaker Episcopalean now muslim niqabi ummie salafi - I will always be strange.

“Many times in many situations the people that follow the religion of Allâh feel a sense of not belonging, of being out of place, of not fitting in, and, in other words, of being strange. This feeling could occur in a gathering of non-Muslims, but, unfortunately, this feeling sometimes also occurs when one is with his fellow Muslims.” Strangeness and the Strangers,Imâm Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah
“The third category of strangeness is, in essence, neither praiseworthy or blameworthy. It is the strangeness that a traveler experiences when he travels to a different country, like a person who lives in a place for a short period of time, knowing that he has to move on. One aspect of this strangeness is that all of us, whether we realize it or not, are strangers in this world, for we will all go one day to our permanent abode in the Hereafter. This is the meaning of the hadîth of the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he told Abdullah ibn Umar, “Live in this world as though you are a stranger or a wayfarer.” Thus, this category of strangeness has the potential to become a praiseworthy strangeness if we realize the meaning of this statement of Allâh’s Messenger (peace be upon him). ” Strangeness and the Strangers,Imâm Ibn Qayyim al Jawziyyah

Islam began as something strange, and it shall return as something strange as it began, so give glad tidings to the ghurabaa (the strangers). It was asked who are the strangers, O Messenger of Allah He replied "Those that correct the people when they currupt." [Reported Abu Amr Al-Dani and authenticated by Al-Bani.]