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Narrative Summary Interview with LesSandra Franklin by Joy Beseth

My interview with Mrs. Franklin was extremely insightful and interesting. Over the course of forty minutes, she shared multiple experiences in her life that transformed her thinking and religious lifestyle. What stood out to me most about Mrs. Franklin was that she had the courage and will to do what she needed to do in order to understand her faith and believe in her practice. For example, throughout her live she pursued different sects of Islam in order to find what she was looking for and fully understand the truth. She never stopped searching for that understanding or truth until she found it. People like her are respectable and should be looked up to because not many can say they would choose a different lifestyle that meant sacrificing friendships to uphold what he/she thought was right.

LesSandra Franklin was born in Manhattan, New York and lived a difficult childhood without opportunity and privilege. As a child, she had the option of choosing her own religion without any pressure influence from family. During her high school years, she tried going to church and figuring out what Christianity was about. What got her interested in Islam was the

Islamic Student Association at her university, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She got married and had one child while in school and lost all her friends when she switched to Sunni Islam and started covering. After practicing Sunni, her husband and her became interested in Salafiism.

After living abroad for several years, having more children and continuing to understand Islam,

Mrs. Franklin and her husband moved back to the states and joined the Nation of Islam. Mrs.

Franklin still was trying to perfect her Arabic in order to read and understand the Qur’an, or what she would refer to as the book, or the Holy Book.

Years of searching and seeking to understand what religion was and how it played into life brought Mrs. Franklin to an understanding and truth that is logically conclusive. She believes whole-heartedly that she is one who is submitted to God, therefore, not a practitioner of

Islam or any other religion. Her views on the Qur’an are unique in that most people who believe Missouri State University Semester 2014 Religious Lives of Ozarks Women 2 in the Qur’an would call it that, and accept the Hadith and other literature as credible and very important to the Muslim faith. However, Mrs. Franklin would say that these additional teachings and views from scholars are not credible at all. They are just names and ideas that man has thought up and given to things. When we as humans begin to identify things, like the Qur’an, or ideas by their name and not what they really are about or say, we have missed the whole big picture. Giving things names and labels has caused people to misunderstand the true message.

After Mrs. Franklin came to this realization, she rejected the idea of calling the Qur’an by that name. To her, religion is meant to be very simple and shouldn’t be something that you need scholars for. She is the follower of the Holy Book and finds peace and understanding in God through reading that book and spending time with God.

Currently, she has no doubts about her position on her beliefs. The fact that she has the boldness and integrity to seek out truth is honorable and quite intriguing. Not many people have the courage to pursue the truth when it’s not favorable to the majority. In the future, Mrs.

Franklin wants to continue to learn and understand as well as share her knowledge with friends and the community. Her views are unique, valuable, and can have a great impact on the community.