Muxajabah Posted June 26, 2003 Asalamu alaikum wr wb, appoligies for this post being long... but this is what i've been suffering from for a long time now and i just cant settle in.... we all agree that we have way too many problems with today's youth then there was with other generations, in terms of the free world, the temptations, the west.. etc etc.. but we dont make as much effort towards issues that are less practical and come from within, that require hardship and attention... we dont make much effort towards controlling our speech and language that we use... and that is pretty sad... Personally i try to control my words and try to resist the slang coz as a Muslim, we are supposed to keep our language clean because we use the same tongue to recite the name of Allah and then we go about using it for swearing and cursing ppl and using bad language... words like "s***" "hell", "****" are ordinary words.... and we dont get offended when we hear ppl using it... please forgive me for demonstrating to u, but then again, these words have become part of our speech and we dont find it very offensive, but yes, coming from a "sister" - different thing.... why not set up a programme to help our youth control their lanuage? we might not realise but these ppl i.e. non-Muslims know more about duty of a muslim than we think.. a person came upto me and once "expressed" their feelings about how they felt when they heard a Muslim using those "simple" words that i have used to demonstrate...and it was very embarrasing for me coz that person had been at school with me for 5 years and i spent that time telling them about Muslims and what Islam is coz when i was at school, the hamilton community was very very tinny and we used to get teased and hassled by some people for wearing hijab etc etc.. It was hard for them to accept that there are ppl out there who are diffrent.. there are other religions besides hinduism and christiniaty...i used to tell off ppl whenever i could: please dont litter, plz dont waste food it is against my religion... they use to laugh, but do i care? then i would tell them plz dont swear.. ok this was a big ask from a non-Muslim but u know what? they have more respect for us than our own people.... there was this guy in my class who was very popular for his bad language, one day i got fed up, i got up and told him off- plz dont swear, everyone started staring at me.. and he replied smartly: what you gona do about it? and i didnt know what to say, but i just said "well it is against my religion, i find it offensive"... and i walked off... that day and today, been almost 7 years, whenever i'm around, havent heard him use bad language... I'm not trying to show off my greatness or anything, i did it because that was what i was taught, that's what my mum use to tell us: stand up for your beliefs.... i left my high school with respect and i got the honour from the teachers, teh principal and the fellow students that i dont think i wouldn't have got it anywhere else, not even if it was a Muslim school, and i'm thankful to Allah... by my 7th form year, the whole school knew: muslims donnot smoke, they dont use bad language, women have to cover themselves coz they are not for display, muslim women dont wear mini skirts (tell u, my friends stopped wearing mini skirts coz they felt shy as i never wore it), muslim dont eat pork or meat that is not prepared in special way (my friends stopped eating meat, especially pork when i was around, they would go away and eat it somewhere else), Muslims dont date, they dont party around, they dont paint the town red (coz there is a hadith that Allah detests the ppl in the market, meaning those who just go there for passing time, that's where the shatan lives), they dont spend nights out of home coz family is central to the religion (along with community), women deserve respect, places like school ball and social nights are no place for a Muslim, and cinema is shatan's home... so whenever my friends would go out for shopping, they didnt bother asking me after the first time i told them that i cant go shopping w/o my mum or my dad or my brother, or movies... they didnt ask me coz they were anoyyed or anything, they didnt ask me coz they understood... I never had a Muslim friend at high school, or all through my teens, until i entered uni and i always wanted muslim friends and i'm thankful to Allah that i got good circle of friends first time around.... but when i entered uni, i was shocked, i hadnt seen the world.. i spent 5 yrs of high school telling my friend about all the above, but this is not reality, in reality Muslims DO smoke, they do date, they do have girlfriends, they do use bad language.... i'm hurt and i still cant get over it, how wrong i was, and what wrongs i've been preaching to my friends and teachers and class mates, it's soo embarrasing.. when i see a Muslim guy surrounding gals, first thought comes to my mind "plz let there be no one from my school around"... and then a person coming upto me and telling me that i was wrong telling htem that muslim dont use bad language.... i felt like killing myself.... pracitcal stuff is very easy, easy to attend a lecture by a scholar who's come all the way from australia or america to tell the youth of how bad today's world is.. it is easy to set up rallies and all that, but how much are we doing about our character to fix our image? nothing much, coz that requires effort and hardship that we dont have to waste on ourselves or others.. and parents are to blame as well... if we dont use such words as '****' and 'piss off' we wont be the "modern youth" we wont fit in the circle...... You're hearing this from a Muslim, now try to imagine if you have any capacity left how non-muslims feel when they see a "muslim brother" sitting at a restaurant with another gal? or seeing Muslim "sisters" in hijab shopping with their friends? or in cinema???.. and tell me how wrong i've been for past 7 years tryin to make respect in the hearts of these non-Muslims.. dont bother with any compliments or appreciating comments, i dont need it and that is not at all my intention of puttin this post up... i'm just upset an perhaps something could be done... we blame the west and the media and these non-muslims for minipulating our image, why??? coz it's easy to point fingers? we are what we are coz of ourselves, no one is responsible.... and no i'm not perfect, surely, i do bad things...even i've changed, i wish i could still have the same strong faith i had during my high school when i didnt have a single Muslim friend.. i had no one to turn to.. it's quite ironic, today my friends are all Muslims, yet i'm not the same.. jazakAllah.. may Allah guide us' Ameen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
