Faith and Friendship: How the Young Muslim Sisters Connect Girls in Their Community | Ahella Bedir

On a Saturday night in October, about twenty teenage girls filed into the Omar Islamic Center in Middletown, Connecticut. Their hijabs fell from their shoulders as their laughs echoed through the Masjid entrance. They slipped off their shoes and loafers, leaving them in a messy pile in front of the shoe rack, before being reminded to put them away neatly. They walked past the prayer area and into the lounge to set their dish for the potluck, while their mothers remained there for their own gathering. One by one the girls slipped into a circle on the patterned carpet of the prayer hall, sharing stories of their school adventures, and catching up on last week. They’re here for their weekly Young Muslim Sisters meeting.

“YM is not just a youth group. It’s like a movement. It’s a really big, important movement.”

Young Muslims, known as YM, is an organization run by the youth for the youth for the past twenty-five years. It is the youth division of the Islamic Circle of North America. According to their website, “Young Muslims consists of a Brothers and Sisters wing. Each of these wings functions independently of each other.” YM Sisters has Neighbornets, as they call them, established in twenty-six states, with over one hundred locations across the nation. In Connecticut, YM Sisters have five participating Neighbornets: Berlin, Windsor Locks, Middletown, Stamford, and New Haven. As coordinator of the Middletown chapter, I can say that YM plays a huge role in my life. I’ve been involved in YM since 2024, and it has made me more confident in big groups and meeting new people. It even helped me connect with people I would have never interacted with. Being involved in this community comes with great responsibility, but at the same time brings great joy. 

“Okay, girls, quiet down,” I called, and the girls slowly wrapped up their conversations to face the lecturer. The evening started with a lecture followed by food and yoga. Nur Belica, a community member, and a nursing student at Southern Connecticut State University, sits on the carpet with the rest of the girls. This was her first YM lecture.  She giggled nervously, repeating the word, “okay” over and over.  She wore a black abaya, paired with a brownish-orange hijab. A laptop holding her notes sat in front of her. Tonight’s topic was sleep. 

“Allah Glory be to Him, the Exalted, says in the holy Qur’an: ‘And made your sleep for rest, and made the night as a cover,and made the day for livelihood.’” She explained the need for a good sleep schedule in order to have energy for the day. She told the girls about the importance of a good night’s sleep, and offered them tips on how to sleep properly.

The lecture wrapped up, and the girls hopped up and ran towards the food table. Their voices bubbled with excitement as their eyes took in all the options laid out in front of them: rice pudding, honeycomb pastry, salads, pastas, and more. Serving spoons were handed along the line of girls, waiting their turn to choose. Nothing connects a community better than food.

Nur came back with a plate of pasta salad to talk with me about her involvement in the community. We sat with our plates in our laps on the carpet. Nur recalled how it was for her before YM. “I was really lonely. I just felt I lacked connection, real connection.” YM Sisters programming has made her into a more attentive listener, and a more organized person overall. She became more confident dressing differently than most others in college and out in public. She picked at her pasta, smiling, and said, “Sweet, sour. Yum. Delicious.” Nur grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut, until she moved back to Malaysia for four years. She recounts the time she came back from this Muslim-majority country and discovered a lack of community in her hometown. She isn’t the only one who lacks community. Many girls who attend weekly YM meetings deal with isolation, loneliness, alienation, and lack of support before entering the sisterhood community. Everyone is welcome at YM. She said that leadership “didn’t make it very obvious that they are different. YM makes everyone feel comfortable. Nobody is shamed for their lack of knowledge. Everybody is equal.”

A week later, I met Yaqeen El-Mazraawi, the sub-regional coordinator of YM Sisters in Connecticut. She sat across from me in a coffee shop, her black hijab wrapped neatly around her head. She smiled warmly as she spoke. “YM is a space to learn about your religion in a formal yet informal way,” she said. “It’s a place of growth, it’s a place of learning, and it’s genuinely a place of fun.” Which is exactly what the girls in Middletown were doing. Having fun, and learning.

“YM is not just a learning environment, so it doesn’t become boring… It’s very beneficial, and it’s so beautiful.”

Across from me, Yaqeen picked at her pastry. “YM is my way of giving back to the youth in the way that helped me when I was a youth and in the way that I would have liked as a youth because of what I had in my youth and then also what I didn’t.” She took a sip of her tiramisu latte. “I feel like I have a responsibility to give back because now I’m an adult.” She does exactly that. She works on everything behind the scenes, ensuring all the Neighbornets are doing well and helping out when needed. Before we left the coffee shop, Yaqeen lifted her plate slightly, as if making a point. “YM is not just a youth group. It’s like a movement. It’s a really big, important movement.” 

Back at the Omar Islamic Center, the girls were waiting for the yoga activity to be set up, while they laughed and shared stories. A woman in a purple blouse and grey hijab ducked in from the lounge with a gentle shush. She was sent by the group of moms having their own lecture in the room next door. The girls hold their mouths with their hands to suppress their laughter, as they smile at each other. Aishah, a seventeen-year-old community member, sat with a group of girls on the carpet in a criss-cross position, waiting for the next pose. She’s been in YM for two years now. She mentioned how YM is different from other organizations. “YM is not just a learning environment, so it doesn’t become boring. You’re also learning. It’s very beneficial, and it’s so beautiful.”

A laptop was placed on a short table facing the girls with a slideshow of yoga poses, the girls joined together to show off their yoga skills, or lack thereof. The girls spread out on the carpet, trying their best to mimic the poses on the screen, but found themselves tumbling over each other. Some lasted a few seconds, but most toppled over almost instantly. The girls tried pose after pose, failing hilariously every time. They can do this, and not feel a sense of embarrassment or judgment, because here, they are home. They try the happy baby pose, a tangle of legs flying in the air. Even the chaos of yoga serves a purpose. It was joyful, loud, and chaotic, exactly the kind of release Yaqeen talked to me about. Having a safe space that allows these girls to have fun, relax, learn, and unwind is important, especially when they feel like strangers in school, shopping malls, and even on coffee dates. Their hijabs and abayas are not mainstream, the way they interact with people is not the same way others interact. They feel as though every little thing around them is a reminder that they aren’t the same. 

As yoga wrapped up, the girls laughed, out of breath, but happy. Their high-pitched conversations remained just as enthusiastic as when they walked in. They adjusted their hijabs, ready to head home. Nur stretched her arms over her head. “I know every Saturday I’m going to be with my people, you know, I feel better. If I have a bad week, Saturdays will be better for me.” The girls exchanged their farewells, knowing that they will return the following Saturday. For them, this isn’t goodbye, it’s see you next time.

Featured Image: YM Doing Yoga / Photo Credit Ahella Bedir