The Quest for a Sustainable Prayer Rug

When I am overwhelmed by the realities of the world, I often go to pray. I rest my head on my mat as I kneel down in prayer. As a Muslim American woman, I am often trying to reconcile jarring contradictions, requiring that I ask myself a series of questions: How do I consciously or unconsciously participate in an exploitative system? How can I ensure that I align to the values systems that guide my faith? How can I find ways to do better, be better, in pursuit of care? In prayer, I come face to face with these thoughts -- and it's hard to avoid the glaring contradictions of it all. Contradictions that begin with the mat.