The Beauty of the Islam Religion
Published By Keedies Corner
written by Bruce Walton Jr
[picture above Saodat Rustimy]
One of the most controversial and debated subjects around the world is religion. Religious beliefs were set well before our modern times, though, archeologist are still finding proofs to back theory that may surface through ancient sculptures, ruins and art. A lot of the passion is based on pure faith and belief. To non-believers, it may be far fetched to believe in life after death or being produced from a higher being. They often use scientific theory to debate religion such as Darwin’s Law of Evolotion or The Big Bang Theory. Some even go as far to say that religion may be used to control the people of society. And to add insult to injury, some believe that most of the wars between our countries are religiously driven.
In America, it may be assumed that the Islamic religion may be the most misunderstood. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks and other conflicts of interest, people often coincide jilbabs, hijabs, abayas etc with terrorist. The ignorance almost drowns out the stunning realization that approximately 20,000 Americans convert to Islam annually.
Through all of this, we found some Americans who stayed true and found the beauty in embracing their religion, regardless of the scrutiny and downplay they could have faced. But what kept these people so faithful to this religion? What made these people turn to this religion? Lets look inside for further analysis so we can kill the noise once and for all.
Our first story is about Saodat Rustimy. A young lady originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, her father saw a flyer which allowed you to win a Green Card. Something like the lottery. Though, his entire family told him he would be wasting his time and money, he tried his luck anyway….AND WON! Soon after, Her father and the family sold all of their belongings and moved to America in search for a better life. Saodat was only 7 at the time and in her original country her uncle used to read her The Quran and keep her in tune with the religion. After moving to Florida, Saodat found it hard to keep up with the religion being so young and not having the focus towards religion for a reminder. She was going to an Islamic based school but that was when her and her family lived in the Northern part of the United States. In her public school in Florida (4th grade), Saodat attempted to practice her faith by wearing her scarfs. But the kids used to tease her and would even snatch her scarf from her head. This discouraged her and soon she was reluctant to show representation of her religion. As She got older, her core family sort of fell off on their practice. Even though they sent Saodat to Sunday school, she would soon forget what was taught to her by Monday morning. Going into her High School experience, She really started to lose track and fall into the wrong crowd. It seemed as though pleasing God was forgotten as being a priority in her life. It was more about survival and socialism. When trouble started to lerk, she started to get a glimpse of what she really wanted to represent. “Is this how I repay my parents? All the hard work they have done to get me in this country? The things they have sold?”. She knew she needed a break through. She felt like the Devil was taking control. This past summer, her mother took her on a trip back to her original country. This was the perfect opportunity to get back in touch with her origins. This is when she felt herself driving towards her rejuvenation.
On her trip, She found herself kind of out of place and bored. Though she was with her family, she was frankly unfamiliar with them. She felt herself wanting to spice up her stay, in other words, the devil was still lingering. She was fortunate that her placement prevented her from getting critical steps backwards. With Ramadan approaching, Saodat decided to pick up her Quran and brush up on some things. It just felt right, besides she had nothing better to do with her spare time while she was away. Unfortunately, the last thing on her mind was that she could be saved. She often felt like her prayers wouldn’t be answered because she indulged in sinful activity on an excessive basis. After she submerged herself into the depth of the Quran she suddenly felt an awakening of her spirit. Once she saw the mercifulness of the Lord she realized it wasn’t about her sins, but more about her realization of what’s wrong and right and her humbling herself to the realization that he was the all-mighty. Soon after she became obsessed and built up a thirst for more knowledge. Her new found love was never missing, it was just awakened within herself. When Ramadan came around she participated in its practices. She realized that it wasn’t just about not eating, it was also about being able to control the resistance of evil while cleansing your mind, body, and soul. During her Ramadan stint, she would stay up all day and night reading. She seemed to be in a trans for more enlightenment. Yet, the most comforting knowledge that came to Saodat was the understanding that the Lord knows that we may get weak along the way.
“From there my love for Islam kept increasing but spirituality isn’t something that will always be consistent. You will have “faith lows” where you will need a little push. Like when you wake up in the morning for Fajr (dawn prayer) and you feel like you just want to sleep. We will be tested some days. Our entire life is a test. We just have to win the battles over the demons and keep going”.
Saodat’s journey to recovery and discovery was definitely enlightening and inspirational. Someone who was lost and then found. Even though she was slightly deterred when she went through scrutiny from this misunderstanding of her religious practices, she was drawn back by the inner spirit that stayed true within. The next individual, however, had a very different conflict of interest. First, being an African American in the religion and second having family conflictions between the religion. We look inside the life of Natioshia Bright. Natioshia has been wanting to tell her story for some time now and now she has finally been given the opportunity to get it off her chest.
Natioshia Bright is an African American Muslim born and raised in the US. Her family turned to Islam in great respects to their grandfather, Harrison Wilder. He was known to have ties with Malcolm X and his revolutionary uprising. Her family raised her and her two siblings in a Muslim community inside of Daytona Beach,Fl. Natioshia was always a believer since the day one and she has been completely indulged in the religion since she could remember. Not until she became a young teen did she start to explore other religions to decipher, herself, what she felt was right. After careful study, Islam was chosn to be where she what religious path she wanted to take.
Soon after, Natioshia was presented with the pressures of being a female who follows this religion. It was more expected for them to be pure, humble, knowledgeable and submissive to her family and/or husband. At the age of 12, she was already blasted with pressure to be received as a wife. Men would ask her father for her hand in marriage. This continued until she was approximately 17 years old, but subsequently, she never actually married. Now, with her new found knowledge, she feels as if she should have done so, back then. In the Islam religion, being married is almost an expected ritual you have to through in order to be fully accepted and/or to be without sin. Now, Natioshia is very proud to represent her religion. But it wasn’t always easy for her to be a full representative and also feel proud inside.
Growing up, Ms.Bright was naive of her differences within her peers. Her assumption was everyone lived the way she did inside their house hold. When it came to attire, children looked at her strangely but from her point of view, she wondered why they dressed “irregularly”. She only wore t-shirts and pants, so everything she saw the children wearing looked to be excessive or revealing. On the contrary, she wasn’t treated any differently, besides a couple awkward stares in which she also returned. The transition in her life occurred immediately after the “9/11” attacks. Natioshia’s father kept her out of school for a couple days. Looking back on it, she realized it was for her protection. Her return to school was a very unearthly experience. The alienation and detachment from society was thick in the air. One piece of cloth (her hijab), all of a sudden was more than just a representation for holiness. In her mind, it seemed that what she may have seen as regular fashion or “some thing” that her family represents, has become an resemblance of terror, outkast, and the new target for racial profiling. She spent many days in the school’s front office for protection from her relentless torment and confliction over her clothing. The school board wasn’t sure if they wanted to allow her to freely represent her religion because of the disruption it caused with other kids and also fear of what other parents would think knowing that their kids were around a religion, on a daily basis, that they didn’t want to brush off on their kids. Sad enough, some of the torment even came from inside the schools staff.
When her high school years came along, a more mature sense of the resentment was brought to light. Her first 2 weeks of high school were spent in the front office because the school’s council wanted her parents to provide proof that what she wore was part of a religious practice. In addition, her friends from middle school started to differentiate themselves to prevent alienation inside the new found peers. As the hatred and ignorance spread to the staff members, Ms. Bright started to feel out of place and scared at the one of the few places she thought she should have felt the utmost protection. Also, high school students started to openly date, and of course, they started to build temptation inside of her. Yet, her religion practices that you can’t befriend or be intimate with a male unless you are married. The year Natioshia decided to wear her Hijab permanently, is the year that weighed the most pressure on her. From the social detachment, to the ridicule, to even lack of intimacy finally broke her. The pressure of being a Muslim in an immature and ignorant place left few options for her. She went on hiatus from her open representation for her religion.
All of this made her a very strong and knowledgeable person. She had to learn that acceptance of society may not always come with freely representing something everyone may not believe in, on top of that belief of having such a negative connotation. Everyone has to face their own judgment. But Natioshia has become much more involved in her religion. She hasn’t yet broken back into the dress code, but through prayers to ALLAH (swat) she prays for the strength to gain that courage back.
[the video below is called “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. An African American man amazes a Muslim store owner who didn’t expect him to know a prayer from the Quran]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRjyOrDkW0&feature=youtube_gdata_player
We all know that communication is the key source that runs the world. Just imagine a world where you couldn’t share your thoughts to teach others. There would probably be chaos. Yet, the second most crucial functioning tool is socialism. The only problem is, people now a days want so much control and are so strict that they don’t let you chose freely on what you should follow. They most likely would call you “weird” or tell you that your are learning or being taught wrong. As a believer of a certain religion you have to say this way is wrong in order to fully believe that your religion is right. But who are we to tell you that you are wrong if it all is built off of faith? Besides small evidences, no one really knows what happened before they were born. It’s something you have to really feel in your spirit as if you have lived that life in the past. Think about when your parents or grandparents sat back and told you stories about their prior occurrences. You really have no proof of what they are saying, unless they were showing you photos, but you feel it in your spirit because your have faith in the provider of the information, on top of the way it moves you personally, if you are mature enough for it to make sense to you. A Christian probably couldn’t tell you that they wouldn’t be practicing a different religion if they were raised in Tokyo, Japan, yet, they can tell you that the feeling they get inside themselves makes them believe that it feels right. The belief in a higher power shouldn’t be judged on the way you get to him, as long as you believe that the higher power is there and you go about representing him correctly. Not to say that any religion represents the higher power incorrectly, but who are we, as regular human beings, to tell someone that they are wrong? As people who pray to a higher power and ask for forgiveness, mercy and guidance to the right path, how can we judge someone who is following a belief that they feel is right? If you believe in a higher power, they know every one faces their own judgment. Though some believe we should be disciples and shepherds that lead others to the promise land, at the end of the day, we all have free will and free will is what America is all about. Free will can be as much harmful as it is helpful, but thats another topic of discussion…..
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