{"id":3994,"date":"2015-03-09T12:27:33","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T12:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=3994"},"modified":"2015-03-09T16:31:54","modified_gmt":"2015-03-09T16:31:54","slug":"first-female-muslim-pilot-inspires-indians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/first-female-muslim-pilot-inspires-indians\/","title":{"rendered":"First Female Muslim Pilot Inspires Indians"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah\"<\/a>Breaking stereotypes about Muslim women, a young Indian Muslim is taking pride in working as India\u2019s only woman Muslim pilot, achieving the dream of many girls worldwide.
\n\u201cPeople initially think I\u2019m Christian and then gawk when I tell them my full name,\u201d Saarah Hameed Ahmed told Hindustan Times on Sunday, March 8.
\n\u201cI just love the look on people\u2019s faces when they discover I am Muslim.\u201d
\nGrowing in Bengaluru, in India\u2019s south west state of Karnataka, Saarah succeeded in breaking stereotypes.
\nThough the majority of residents say women are useful as mothers and housewives only, the 25-year-old girl managed to win people over with a combination of humour and tact.
\n\u201cInitially none of us encouraged her. In our community girls don\u2019t usually take up professions where they have to stay away from home and live in hotels without an escort,\u201d confesses her father Hameed Hussain Ahmed, a professional photographer.
\nAs his daughter was determined on pursuing her dream, the father spoke to his friend Atif Fareed, who is a senior pilot in the US.
\n\u201cFareed told me that I should consider myself lucky because most Muslim girls don\u2019t even dream of flying. If he hadn\u2019t convinced me, I might have made the blunder of killing Saarah\u2019s dreams,\u201d he says.
\nIn 2007, when she was just 18, Saarah enrolled with a flying school in the US.
\n\u201cThose days most Muslim students were being denied US Visas. When she got the Visa without any trouble I saw it as a final message from God,\u201d says the deeply religious Ahmed.
\nSaarah\u2019s mother, Naseema Ahmed, says she never had any doubts about sending her to the US.
\nHer proudest moment, she says, was when a group of Muslim girls surrounded Saarah at a wedding and started asking her for tips to become a pilot.
\n New Dreams<\/strong>
\nAchieving her life dream to be a pilot, Saarah has other dreams about marriage and children too.
\n\u201cI really want to get married and have children,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t understand people who just look at my photo and want to get their sons married to me. Don\u2019t they want to know what I have studied or where I work?\u201d
\nSome of her suitors wanted her to quit her job.
\n\u201cMy father has shooed away people asking them to get their sons to quit his job and move cities,\u201d Saarah said.
\nOn International Women\u2019s Day, the young Muslim encouraged other Muslim girls to pursue their dreams.
\n\u201cDon\u2019t fret over what the community thinks of you. And don\u2019t let them kill your dreams.\u201d And what is she planning on women\u2019s day?
\n\u201cFly, of course! My airline is very keen that I fly on Women\u2019s Day.\u201d
\nFor almost a century, women have found more and more reasons to celebrate March 8th as International Women’s Day (IWD).
\nInitially staged to protest women demanding better working conditions and better pay, IWD today is used to recognize the role of women in everything from fighting oppression to being mothers and wives.<\/p>\n

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