This Teen Boxer Wants A Chance to Compete Wearing Her Hijab | National Geographic

2m read

·Nov 11, 2024

There's a prayer that we do that says, "If this is good for me, give it to me, and if it's not good for me, then keep it away from me." Every time I make that prayer, I'm like, "But what if God takes it from me?"

My name is Amaya Zafar. I'm 16 years old and I'm a Muslim boxer from Minnesota. I love boxing, but I love my religion, and I want to be able to do both without compromising another. I'm not allowed to fight with my hijab because, in the rule book, it says you can only fight with the like sanctioned uniform, which is the trunks and the jersey.

All right, you ready? Yeah. I cover to show my faith and my self-respect. I think it's ignorance when people say, "Just take it off." To me, it's like, "Would you fight with no clothes?"

People in the Muslim community—not people that I know, but online—will be like, "This is not Islamic. Girls shouldn't be doing this." To say that I can't because I'm a girl? It says nowhere that I can't do anything a guy can do. Before boxing, I was just a girl, you know? Then boxing showed me that being a girl means that you're strong. I can push harder than most guys because I have discipline. I have the strength that a lot of people told me I didn't have.

So, I've talked to local officials and the officials with USA Boxing, and they've been helpful. The executive director has asked internationally for a waiver, so I'm just waiting to hear back from that. I've worked so hard for it, and I keep working hard every single day. For them to tell me, "You can't fight," it's like, "What do you mean? Of course, I know how to, and I'm good at it."

Maybe the rules say I can't, but I think the rules will change. I want to fight with my hijab and Under Armour in the 2020 Olympics. Eventually, it's my dream. I will be able to fight someday soon, hopefully, but if not, I don't care how old I am. I'm going to train until then. [Music] [Music] [Music]

Ask Sal Anything! Homeroom Wednesday, June 24

Lasting Lessons from Charlie Munger.

View All

Affirmative action | Civil liberties and civil rights | US government and civics | Khan Academy

What we’re going to do in this video is discuss affirmative action, and it can be a sensitive topic. So, I encourage folks to engage on the message boards, but to do so respectfully. So the first question is: what is affirmative action? Generally speakin…

Sums and products of irrational numbers

Let’s say that we have some number A and to that we are going to add some number B, and that sum is going to be equal to C. Let’s say that we’re also told that both A and B are irrational. So based on the information that I’ve given you, A and B are both…

Labor-leisure tradeoff | Microeconomics | Khan Academy

So let’s keep talking about labor as a factor of production. In particular, we’re going to think about the supply curve of labor. When you’re thinking about the supply or the demand curve for elite labor, when you think about quantity, you could just vie…

15 Ways to Get Ahead of 98% of People

98% of people aren’t living up to their full potential. They form their opinions based on superficial things that they hear. They can’t manage themselves, but they also don’t think enough about themselves, what they want, and what makes them happy. All of…

More on Newton's third law | Forces and Newton's laws of motion | Physics | Khan Academy

We should talk a little more about Newton’s third law because there are some deep misconceptions that many people have about this law. It seems simple, but it’s not nearly as simple as you might think. So, people often phrase it as, “For every action, th…

The Best Aperture Videos of 2023

You wake up to the sound of the alarm on your iPhone, and annoyed that you couldn’t get more sleep, you grudgingly unlock your phone to see what’s going on in the world. There’s an email from Amazon telling you that your package has been delivered, so you…

This Teen Boxer Wants A Chance to Compete Wearing Her Hijab | National Geographic

More Articles