Feeling Islam
Musings of an Indian Muslim teenager
By Aiman Salmaan Ahmed

I am seventeen, but I must be older. No grey hairs. Just a bubble of wisdom. I didn't know Islam even though I was born a Muslim. I judged my religion by personal appearances and acts of a few rather than by its beauty. Nothing against my parents; it was all my fault. Yet, I have been fortunate enough to discover Islam by the grace of God, the Lord of all Being, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, the Master of the Day of Judgement.

I had somehow always been a lonely child, but at around fourteen I became melancholic. Now I know that we're never alone. The Qu'ran says God is closer to us than 'the jugular vein'. I had read 'Acts of Faith' by Erich Segal. If not that, something else was bound to change me. Soon, I was staring at my life on a seemingly scroll. It was the end of term; I acquired an uncharacteristic shyness toward my classmates. I felt the heat. Most of the boys in our class fostered a prejudice that gave way to malignant intolerance toward the Muslims. Even the children with a good heart rotted when their company sowed anti-Muslim seeds in their senses. We were two Muslims in our class, with no passion or self-belief.  Why do they hate us?

Some of the reasons I heard and overheard:

1. Muslim males are circumcised.
2a. Muslims eat a lot of meat.
2b. Muslims eat beef. Recently, there has been a cow slaughter ban (the cow is holy to the Hindus). Why not a pig slaughter ban? (the pig is unholy to the Muslims)? India is 'supposed' to be secular.
2c. Muslims eat kosher.
3. Some Muslim men grow beards.
4. Muslims are found in Pakistan.
5. What are Muslims doing in India?
6. Muslims are a bunch of terrorists.
7. Muslims multiply like rabbits.
8. Muslims have four wives.
9. Muslims treat their women worse than oxen.

I won't give examples of situations.  But, what I am saying is - Why the hate? I've seen the best of friends momentarily turn their backs to me.  Islam is the most synchritistic faith on the face of the Earth. It calls for universal brotherhood. When I knew not Him I was an ordinary person; when I put the pen to paper I wrote prose poems I could've never imagined otherwise. My mind wandered. I learned to be more kind day by day. I started writing stories. The English teacher thought I was doing plagiarism in my compositions, when actually, I was simply coining my own sentences.

Thank you, God: for everything. I have been through a load of arrogance, not treating my mother with dignity. Islam brought me closer to my mother.

Islam encompasses life itself. But I'm not a theologian. I'm an ordinary Muslim.  I'm going for medical. As a student of science I cannot equate God and science. But as a Muslim, I have no doubts. According to Islam, life is God's creation - regardless of whether life was specially created or resulted from evolution. According to a 'Hadith' (tradition of the Prophet Mohammad, upon whom be peace) God said: "I was a hidden treasure. Then I wanted to be known and I created human beings."

Once, my friend and I had a discussion on Islam.  At the end of it, I asked, "Do you think I'm a fanatic?"

"No," he replied. "I think you are just conscious about your faith."

 I smiled.