Million Miles

My ventilator. Read, comment and judge me not.

Monday, May 16, 2005

Reply...explanation

I was pleasantly shocked to read this.

"I happened to come across this blog (http://niqabified.blogspot.com/). It is about a girl who is unashamedly Muslim and writes interesting articles. Her life is not a glorious story of how wonderful it is to be a Muslim in today’s world. In fact, her story would resonate with a lot of young women of a similar age. Her post (12th May 2005) concerning her conversation with her mother made me think how lucky/blessed I am to have my parents so I decided to post a comment.

I glanced at the rest of her blog and was confounded by my reaction to it. I actually decided not to post a comment because I felt utterly unqualified to offer my white, male, Christian perspective to this girl. What could I possibly say that would cheer this girl up? What possible difference could it make? Would I just be told to PFO?

When I engage in conversation with Marwan, it is always about issues that concern us both. Marwan believes as do I that Christians and Muslims should work on issues of mutual concern to one another. Issues such as marriage and abortion where we can present a united front and hopefully benefit one another. But our conversations rarely extend outside that. We are not friends as such, merely acquaintances.

There is something wrong with that. I was disgusted by my reaction to million miles. I went back and thought about what I could post and did a few lines that I hope may help Niqabi. I hope to continue reading her blog and first develop some form of blogship with this girl and secondly gain some insight into the perspective of a Muslim person.

As a Christian I am called not to judge other people. I am called to have respect for other beliefs. But it goes deeper than that. As an ordinary human being I should not be afraid to engage with people who are different. The day I become afraid to talk to people who are different is the day I lose an essential part of who I am."

................................................................................

So this post is dedicated to MaxiSmeg. I'm very grateful for the post he wrote (above) and the time he must have spent in reading my blog and in tryin to make sense of what I'm actually like. I know, alot of times I have exaggerated my feelings and thoughts, which I realise now is not a very good thing to do on a public blog. Yes, I agree that it is HARD and very hard again to 'practise' Islam fully in today's world. Being a practising Muslim (or atleast striving to become one) and simply being a Muslim, occasionally doing something that pleases you, is different. The most important thing, in my view is to practise islam 100 %, not parts of the religion you like or which suit you more, taking short-cuts and moulding it according to your ideas, but following it to the last detail. That is the hardest thing and thats what I'm trying to do. Alot of times my environment isn't exactly encouraging. Outside house, its simply a struggle to be what I am, and alot of people cannot relate to that because they're going with the flow. Even if people don't voice their innermost feelings on seeing me completley clad in an abaya (cloak kinda thing) with my face AND body covered, I can feel their judgement on me. I know there are questions and puzzled looks and whispers and pre-conceived notions about me. Not everyone thinks that way, but most of the people tend to judge people by their appearance. Its not something very pleasant or something that I look forward to.
So my point is that because my enviroment isnt 100 % islamic, as it should have been, sometimes I find it difficult to practise islam and that frustrates me. I'm whining like a baby, I know but to give you a 'clearer' picture I had to write this. All of this has got little to do with Islam and ALOT to do with families. You must have a supportive and an understanding mother to cope with everything. I'm just not the person I wanted to be and hence all the whining, anger and frustration. Insha'Allah I hope one day I have the strength and obviously the support to do what I want.

(f)YA ALLAH!!(f) says:
sis man i cn tell u nyfin
(f)YA ALLAH!!(f) says:
love u soooooooooooo much
(f)YA ALLAH!!(f) says:
mmwwaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh

I was having a conversation with my friend while writing this post and the above words made my day. I'm on top of the world!

posted by Niqabi at 7:02 AM

Monday, May 16, 2005

Reply...explanation

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