Finding your Muslim Identity - How? When? Why?

Your Muslim Identity.

    What do these words mean??? Is it referring to how you dress and act or is it in relation to something more?? And how do we manage our Muslim identity? How does it define who we are?

     Being a Muslim can sometimes be tough, especially whilst living in a western society where Haraam acts are the norm and in many cases considered ‘cool’. Many kids see being Muslim as a curse, a constant sign over their head declaring them as lame and no fun. Some Muslim kids and even Muslim adults will put on a disguise of sorts around non-Muslims; acting more like the people with which they are interacting.

   So how can we feel comfortable around all people, of all faiths, as a Muslim? How can we pull on our Muslim ’skin’ and keep it on with no disguises? How can we be the Muslim we ought to be but still be the person we want to be?

     So many kids nowadays will look at others and think, ’I wish I could do that’ or ’I  wish I could wear those clothes’ and maybe even more commonly, I wish I looked pretty like that; sometimes thinking this without realising that whatever they are missing out on isn’t actually that great a deal and that they look stunning just the way they are, even in their ‘Muslim wraps.’

     How many times have you looked out at the world and wished yourself someone else? How many times have you lain awake at night day-dreaming about being a stranger? However, why would you want to be a stranger, someone who is as strange to you as living on the bottom of the sea is? What is the popular saying? Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence? But it’s not really. Everything seems better as something else, someone else, someday else; it’s human nature to never be satisfied.

     Yet it is our obligation to be satisfied. Allah (swt) has given us so much and yet we are always ungrateful, trying to get more. Why? What is the purpose? Sure, we should always try our best in life but we should try for the sake of Allah, for the sake of ourselves. How will indulging ourselves in the Dunya serve us? How will shedding our Muslim skins help us in the Hereafter?

     So it’s time to take off the masks and put on the shining shroud of Islam. No more hanging around people who just don’t want to know about the truth. No more acting like a Western delinquent. It’s time to embrace the inner Muslim and show it to the world.

     How though? It can be scary to fully show yourself to the world. How can we be a Muslim without cutting ourselves off from everything? Easy!

* Keep a reminder with you, either mental or written down and whenever you find yourself longing over things from the Dunya, things which are anti-Islam or just some small thing which isn't necessary, take your reminder and cleanse your heart.

* Read a lot. Islamic books are extremely useful for expanding knowledge and growing inside. With knowledge comes wisdom and with wisdom comes faith. But don't stop with just Islamic books! There are many, many books out there which are beneficial, you just need to find them and keep an open mind.   

* Be yourself. Most importantly you need to be yourself. Don’t do something drastically Islamic as such if you yourself don’t feel it in your heart. Life is short, yet it is full of time. Use your time to grow, to learn and to embrace the inner Muslim that is there in everyone of us. 

Because then, you’ll be ready to show yourself to the world.