Michigan Muslim runner featured on magazine cover, internet goes wild

posted on: Oct 7, 2016

By Jared Purcell
MLive.com

Not too long ago, Rahaf Khatib was just another face in the land of American suburbia. The 33-year-old running enthusiast and mother of three was happily living out her life in the northern Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills.

Now, Khatib is a cover girl.

Her face is everywhere and her name is traveling the globe. She gets tagged in photos on Facebook with her posing right next to Hollywood starlet Jessica Alba — on opposite magazine covers, to be specific.

Khatib’s bright smile on the cover of the October issue of Women’s Running. The cover has created a stir because she’s was a cover girl before she was on a cover. According to the magazine, Khatib is the first Muslim Hijabi runner to appear on a fitness magazine.

A hijab, the modest head covering of a Muslim woman’s head, is part of a practice that involves making sure the body, except the face, is modestly covered. Hijabs have not been seen much in the world of fitness and athletics.

Since the cover of Khatib wearing her hijab was released in late September, the impact has been far-reaching.

“It’s been awesome,” Khatib said. “I feel honored and humbled with all of the positive messages I’ve been getting, the feedback from both the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. I feel like everyone has been reaching out to me saying, ‘Oh, hey, I can relate to her. I’m a covered runner too.’ Or, ‘Hey, that’s awesome. I’m a mommy runner as well. I’m just getting so many amazing, amazing messages from across the globe.”

Khaitb says she has gotten messages of support from Malaysia, Africa, Australia and Europe. Basically, Khatib is the current “It Girl” in both the running and Muslim communities and her life has turned into a whirlwind of various interviews.

The New York Times has picked up the story and Khatib recently did an interview with ESPN.

“It’s still slowly sinking in,” Khatib said. “Yeah, you need to get used to it. I’m not used to getting that much attention at all. It is, like I’ve said, welcomed attention. I welcome it with open arms.”

Having only started her journey into the sport of running as recent as 2012, Khatib got into running simply because she “wanted to get out there more.” Now, she’s completed six marathons — all while wearing a hijab and covering her body.

Our October issue, featuring @rkh2002, is out tomorrow! Look for it on newsstands. pic.twitter.com/BFnyvXPT5g

— Women’s Running (@WomensRunning) September 26, 2016

HOOKED FROM THE FIRST FINISH LINE

Khatib was born in Damascus, Syria, but grew up in Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb that is home to a large population of Arab Americans. She went to Dearborn Fordson High School, where she “hated running” and could not run more than two miles.

Yet, after marrying while in college at Wayne State and eventually embracing motherhood, she was trying to find a way to stay active and, hopefully, find some brief moments of alone time. Khatib’s husband found a gym that had daycare and, although Khatib appreciated the alone time, she did not feel like she was challenging herself enough.

Then, Khatib heard of the “Martian Invasion of Races” in Dearborn that was connected to her son’s school. With distances ranging from a 5-kilometer race to a full marathon, Khatib signed up for the 10-kilometer race.

Instead of paying for just a 5K race, Khatib thought she would get her money’s worth and pay for a 10K.

“I didn’t know at the time but 5Ks are pretty serious,” Khatib said. “You’ve really got to train for that really hard, but at the time I didn’t know. I was just like, ‘OK, I will just pay to run six miles instead of three. So, I did that and I trained as much as I could with no training plan.”

As much of a novice that Khatib was, she made it to the finish line. When she crossed the line, Khatib realized that she enjoyed herself more than she expected to.

“I’ve never felt more like I was on top of the world than ever before,” she said. “Just going out there for a run and crossing the first finish line for the first race of my life — I felt euphoric. I felt like I just won the race.”

After that, Khatib could not stop. By the time 2014 came around, Khatib had graduated to the marathon distance for races, 26.2 miles. Why? Khatib loves to challenge herself.

“I just love to kick my own behind,” Khatib said with a laugh. “I love that feeling that I accomplished something after working so hard for it.”

With her six marathons and two triathlons under her belt, Khatib has gotten in plenty of traveling as well. For marathons, she has competed in Chicago, Indianapolis, Paris, Berlin and, of course, Detroit.

MAKING THE WARDROBE WORK

The sport of competitive running isn’t easy with Khatib’s choice of wardrobe. “Less is more” is a common theme when it comes to race clothing so runners can stay cool enough.

“Don’t you get hot? That’s the number one question that I get,” Khatib said. “I also get, ‘How do you run in all of that?”

Although Khatib does get hot, especially when her outfit gives her no choice to layer, all of the shopping and experimenting to get the most comfortable outfit can be more difficult to deal with than the heat.

“You really have to dig deep,” Khatib said, referring to her clothes shopping adventures. “You have to do a lot of shopping. You have to see what fits and what is long enough to cover my behind and what is one sleeved. Sometimes, you have to layer and I hate layering. I absolutely despise layering but sometimes you have to if you need that extra coverage. You need something that’s light and thin, which you can find easily, especially with long sleeves.

In terms of the length, you don’t find that a lot. You have to always cover and look for things that could make up for that.

Khatib has found websites to order athletic hijabs from. The company called Captsers sells athletic hijab wear to women across the world, including Khatib. Made from more breathable material, Khatib does not have to worry about wearing cotton or other heavier, heat-trapping materials. As she says, “cotton is rotten” when it comes to running.

AN ICON TO AN IMAGE

Khatib’s cover shoot process got started when Khatib was on Facebook and saw that the July cover runner for Women’s Running was a transgender woman. Khatib had noticed that the magazine had past covers featuring Latina runners, plus-sized runners and, now, a transgender runner. However, she was hoping the magazine would include one group that she did not notice.

“I just wrote a comment under the picture — just a comment — saying that it was amazing and I’m so happy for all of these cover runners,” Khatib said. “They represent diversity but you’re missing one community who is an essential part of this American society as a whole.”

Of course, Khatib was referring to Muslim Americans. Almost immediately, the publication responded and, suddenly, Khatib was chosen to be one of the magazines’s feature called “20 Women Who Are Changing The Sport Of Running (And The World)”.

Soon after that, she was given the cover.

Yet, despite the outpouring of support that Khatib has received since the Women’s Running cover was released, she has seen her share of negative remarks aimed toward her.

“I just woke up one day and my Twitter was just blasting with comments directed at me and Women’s Running magazine,” Khatib said. “They were just negative, insults and, really, stuff I can’t even repeat. Some things had to be reported even and deleted by Twitter.”

Then, there are those who try to defend her when she does not need it, saying that she wears her hijab because she is oppressed and that it is too bad that she has to cover herself because her husband makes her.

For Khatib, wearing a hijab because of oppression is something that could not be further from the truth.

“It’s my choice to wear it,” Khatib said. “How is it that I’m oppressed? If it’s your choice to wear whatever you want to wear, how does that make you oppressed? Don’t think I’m wearing it for my husband or whatnot.

“Ultimately, I’m wearing it for modesty. It’s not just about a piece of fabric on my head. It’s about the outward — my attitude, the way I carry myself, the way I guard my speech. It’s about the outward as well as the inward.”

Khatib does not like to dwell on the negativity.

“I feel like love trumps hate,” Khatib said. “People recognize that. People want that. They know that there is love and that there is humanity. We have been getting more positive messages than negative.”

Khatib’s magazine cover is more than just an image; it is becoming an icon. Khatib hopes that others get more out of her magazine cover than she did. In fact, her motives are two-fold.

“My whole message is that, if I can do it, anyone can,” Khatib said. “Sign up for a race and go out there and do it for yourself and make time for yourself, especially if you’re a stay-at-home mom like I am for 12 years now. You need that boost in your self confidence. You need to go out there and meet fellow runners and bond and feel like you’re a part of a community.

“My other message is for those who see people who look like me, who dress like me. To them, I just say smile and offer them a nice word. Or, if you’re really curious, ask. Just simply ask. Do not rely on stereotypes that you’ve heard from the media or certain political candidates and whatnot. Just ask a question and we would love to answer.”