Elana

Elana is a Spanish business owner based in Hungary. We’ve prepared an interview with her path to embracing Islam, being an entrepreneur, exploring the Pakistani culture, and experiences living in Hungary as a Muslim convert.

Q: How did you end up in Hungary?

I was doing my PhD by the time I met my husband, and that was 2017 when I came to Budapest for a conference with my department that I was working with in Spain. We (me and my husband) met at that conference and we remained in touch and it was a coincidence that I had to travel to Austria and work there for a few months and in that way we could meet more frequently and soon after that we got married. As soon as I finished my duties in Austria I moved here with my husband and we got married.

Q: Is your husband Hungarian?

No, he is from Pakistan and he is living in Hungary for 10 years.

Q: How did you become a Muslim?

It was because of my husband and this new Muslim social environment that I experienced for the first time. The Muslim communities in Spain according to me are very segregated that is why I never got a chance to experience this over there but here I got a chance to have this experience specially the Pakistani Muslim community and I found it very beautiful. I wanted to know more, and my husband gave me the Holy Quran and I started reading it very slowly. I started reading it very slowly and because me and my husband love philosophy and theology, so we used to have a lot of discussions and I used to argue a lot but Alhamdolilah after almost 5 months I embraced Islam.

I was not a Muslim when we got married but after all the knowledge and information about Islam and truly getting to know the story of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) I was convinced.

Q: What were your first impressions after being introduced to a Muslim society?

I would say it was more specifically a Pakistani Muslim community that I was introduced to because there is a very strong Pakistani culture that you see in the community. For me the most important this was the overwhelming hospitality. I felt like a princess the way I was treated by the community. I felt very protected as a woman, and I was very impressed to see how committed they are to their religion and religious teachings. Whenever I walked outside with my Pakistani friends, I felt like I was with my big brothers.

Q: How was the experience of being a Christian wife of a Muslim Husband?

We used to argue a lot and mostly it was about women rights and the prejudice that we have for Muslim men.

Q: Being a Muslim convert living in Hungary, do you feel any pressure from the society?

It was for the first time that I experienced living in a foreign country after embracing Islam and I had a few bad experiences, and I did not know the language so at the beginning I thought it was because of my Muslim identity but slowly I realised that it would be the same if I was not a Muslim because it was how a normal Hungarian personality is because we are foreigners. When I go out, most of the people think I am Arab or Turkish so they do not expect me to say I am Spanish and they get very confused to know that I am a Spanish married to a Pakistani Muslim and running a business here in Hungary.

There are some racist experiences but I think my husband has faced it more than me because of his brown skin, I think I will only face it if I wear the orthodox proper hijab because it has happened a few times that I was wearing an Abaya and the customers just saw me and ran away. But I think because Hungary and more specifically Budapest has Muslim community where a good number has a high standard of living and they came here for work and business, so the Hungarians are used to see both sides not only the Muslim refugees.

Q: How did the idea of running a business came to your mind? Not a lot of Muslim women have their own business like this here

I would disagree that Muslim women do not run businesses, there are a lot of them doing business through Instagram but I think they do not have their own shops because it is difficult to afford and there are some who are helping the family business and running some food shops in Pest side with their husbands.

The idea of Mimbre (a Drogéria) came when I could not find a job, I also became a mother, and it was during covid. I had some savings and some business ideas because my husband is an entrepreneur, he was always telling me to move my money, So I really started thinking about this business because I previously worked for someone, and I knew the other side, so it was not that difficult.

The idea of this business was purely a result of my own experiences because I love to recycle, and I love to reuse everything I also love the natural cleaning and natural cosmetics. I see a lot of empty plastic bottles and perfume bottles that we just throw away and I thought it would be very practical if like the old times people could just bring the empty bottles and only pay for refilling. I wanted to offer people a place to do that and then I looked for a shop that too during covid and that is why we had lots of options because a lot of businesses were closed during covid.

Q: What is Mimbre?

Mimbre is a Drogéria in Hungarian or Droguería is Spanish. This is a model that used to exist for centuries and somehow disappeared in the 80’s and 90’s but the idea has always been around to bring your own container or bottle and get it refilled as much as they wanted.

I wanted to make something that is classic but offering new range of products that are vegan and organic and I wanted a model that would support local farmers and producers that is why most of the products I have are European ranging from perfumes, soaps, oils, and many more.

📸 Photos by Qasid Saleh Ahmed

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