my name is ibtihaj muhammad. thank you so much for congresswoman coming. i -- thank you so much for coming. very appreciative of this moment, and i'm happy to share it with everyone today. i'm going to read a few paragraphs from my book. muhammad? her voice trail off. the substitute teacher, ms. winter, squinted and brought the list of names on the attendance sheet closer to her face. she was stuck, and i could guess why. she was looking at the seven letters in my first name and wondering how to pronounce it. is your last name muhammad, she asked. her eyes fixed on me, the only fourth grader in the classroom wearing a hijab who happened to be sitting in the front row. yes, i nodded. my eyes stayed glued in front of me. and how do you pronounce your first name, young lady, she asked? be it's ibtihaj, i said, pronouncing each syllable as slowly as possible. it's pronounced just as it's written, i added. that usually helped people understand how to say my name. but it didn't help ms. winter. she made another face. oh, that's too hard, she said, shaking her he