Islam is a lifestyle

At the core of my faith is the acceptance of God’s existence and His presence in my daily life

In Islam identity is fluid and can be acquired simply by learning the local language. In fact Islam requires of the Muslims that they learn the local language. Once someone asked the blessed Prophet “who is an Arab?” and he replied “anyone who speaks Arabic is an Arab”. While Islam transcends ethnic and national barriers no matter what I do, it seems as a Muslim I am never accepted as a local and native.

Islam and Muslims are often portrayed as abnormal and not compatible to the modern Western world. Muslims are shown in a negative way in today’s media; they are labelled as enemies within and out to destroy the West. My fear is that this has created the perfect environment for young people to feel excluded, increase community disarray and it is creating destructive popular cultures. There was a time when Jewish, Irish and Black people were part of the popular culture’s sick jokes, racist caricatures and hostility but now Muslims are on the receiving end of it all. This is a slippery slope and if we are not careful this may wreak havoc in our society.

My faith, Islam, teaches me to be colour and culture blind. I try my best to be a devout Muslim and at the same time to be a loyal citizen. I take my Bangladeshi ethnic background as an enriching feature and very proud of all layers of my identity. My religious duties and social responsibilities are two sides of the same coin. My faith is very important to me but not just as a set of rituals and “do’s and don’ts”. It defines me as a person and shapes my worldview; it helps me develop deeper and more meaningful relationships with my surrounding and most importantly enables me to balance between material life and spirituality.

I have always had a very inquisitive mind and never accepted matters of faith without reason. I used to question every aspect of my faith and was never satisfied with emotional links to faith. Islam for me is a lifestyle, one that I have chosen as a result of conscious search, knowledge, faith and conviction. This lifestyle makes me conscious of my relationship with God.

At the core of my faith is the acceptance of God’s existence and His presence in my daily life. My relationship with God is direct and encompasses my private and public life.

My daily prayer is “O God please give me success of this world and the success of the Hereafter, strengthen me in my faith and help me to be content with what I have. Bless me with energy to be active and relieve me from laziness, help me to be generous with the richness that you give and relieve me of miserliness; help me to be just and save me from oppression.”