Yousuf Chaudry raced across the court and shot the basketball through the hoop in the gymnasium of Al-Rahmah mosque in Woodlawn.
An hour earlier on a recent Friday, the 15-year-old son of Pakistani parents was saying his weekly prayers on a rug spread across the same floor, with dozens of other area Muslims.
The two activities suggest the challenge many young Muslims face in the United States - asserting their religious identity while assimilating in society. Learning an American sport, Yousuf found, was easier than adjusting to public school life.
"As a Muslim, I really had tough times at high school," said the tall, slender youth, who will enter 11th grade at Polytechnic Institute this year. "The other kids were not sure I had the same interests they had. I felt different and left out of the crowd. I did not interact a lot with them."
Differences in customs and values can set Muslims apart. Many come from countries where women and girls wear long skirts and cover their heads with the "hijab," a veil or scarf, for modesty. What's considered acceptable behavior for an American youth might be strictly prohibited by Islam.
A Muslim's daily life is guided by the Koran, the holy book of Islam, and the "Sunnah," the sayings and deeds of Prophet Mohammed. Muslims have to perform Five Pillars as stated in the Koran, which include uttering the "shahadah," testimony that Allah, God, is the only God worthy of worship and that Mohammed is his prophet; saying daily prayers; paying "zakah," funding for the needy; fasting during the holy month of Ramadan; and making a pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able.
In addition, Muslims separate certain activities into "haram," or forbidden, and "halal," which means an act permissible by God.
To encourage their children's religious training, many Muslim parents send their children to Islamic schools, like the one at Al-Rahmah mosque.
"I sent my second-grade daughter to Al-Rahmah school to get her used to prayers, fasting and wearing the veil," said Mohammed Abu Rayya, an Egyptian Muslim who has been in the United States for 18 years.
Yousuf also attended the school, which offers grades one through eight, and visits regularly.
"Al-Rahmah Islamic School played a major role in my life. It helped me characterize my identity as a Muslim," he said.
The school, established in 1987 to strengthen Islamic values among Muslim children, has 235 students. It is one of two Islamic schools in the Baltimore area, where the Muslim population has grown to about 50,000, according to an estimate by the Islamic Society of Baltimore. The other is the Islamic Community Day School at Saffat mosque in Baltimore, which offers grades one through 12.
But the protective environment created at Islamic schools might not be available at American public schools. Abu Rayya said his two older daughters encountered several problems. "Some students did not understand what Islam is. They used to pull my daughter's scarf and make fun of her," said the Catonsville resident.
Many Muslim parents coming from abroad said that in raising children in the United States they tend to be more observant of Islam than in their home countries. They also take pains to distinguish their religion from others "as a way to protect their kids against the non-Islamic traditions in the American society," said Yvonne Haddad, professor of Islamic history at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Shahnez Patel, a Pakistani American who has been in the United States for 29 years, took special care with her children.
"I worked with my children from Day One on teaching them the differences between Islam and other religions. It is because of our everyday talking with them that they know how far they can go and how far they cannot go," said Patel, who lives in Catonsville.
Out of fear that their children might deviate from the Islamic path, Muslim parents may set some restrictions on their children's activities. Some activities considered to be "haram" in Islam are also forbidden by other religions, such as taking drugs.
But Islam also forbids intermingling of the sexes, especially during teen-age years. That can pose problems for children and parents trying to adjust to American life.
"I used to go to my girls' schools and tell their teachers that I didn't want my girls to sit near boys," said Fatma el-Sheikh, a Sudanese teacher at Al-Rahmah School and wife of the Al-Rahmah mosque's Imam, or prayer leader.
Yousuf has limited his social life for that reason.
"I always tried to avoid going to parties and stuff with the other kids. It was all about the issue of being around girls," he said. "I did not want to mingle with girls a lot because of my religion."
