What Is Religion?

“Why do I have to go to the masjid? people don't care about us Muslims. Things are hard these days.”

I knew once I stated what I just said to my parents, I would get right into trouble. I tried to explain to my parents why I thought that way, but they did not want to hear it.

"You are Muslim Adil!!!" my Mom yelled at me.“There is no reason why you should second guess your religion Religion is something that keeps you in  Place.”

She told me that sometimes people in the world are going to dislike things that the person believed in or maybe even represent. My mom is a religious type, she always wants to tell me what God Said and why I should always take time and read the Quran about 1 hour a day.  She started reciting  Surah Al - Kafirun This Surah was very powerful  I knew the reason why she resided this world to me it was because she wanted my eyes to open why and for the words that she's singing to touch my heart. “قل "يا كفار، أنا لا العبادة ما تعبد ولا أنت المصلين ما عبادة.ولن أكون عبادة لما تعبده. كما أنك لن” تكون عبادة ما لي هو ديني.”( Say, "O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship. Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship. For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.")

        I knew this was very important because she would never use this deep of Surah.  I was just staring At her, listening to every single word she was saying. I didn't know what to say or what to do. I could tell that she knew I was scared and confused because of the way the world treats us Muslims. She said that there is no reason why I should hide my religion and I should be proud of why I am Muslims, but she does not understand how many terrorist attacks were blamed on us Muslims.

         I went upstairs to go take off my hot blouse/over garment because I honestly did not feel like going to the masjid, but I knew deep down that I was making a really bad mistake. All I kept thinking about it if people don't like Muslims, why do I have to be proud of being one. We are blamed for everything.  We have censured "The assailants were Islamic psychological oppressors from Saudi Arabia and a few other Middle Eastern Countries. Supposedly financed by the al-Qaeda fear monger association of Saudi outlaw Osama container Loaded, they were professedly acting in striking back for America's help of Israel, its contribution in the Persian Inlet War and its proceeded with military nearness in the Center East". We Muslims are blamed for a lot of stuff and I'm still supposed to be proud of being Muslim

“.تعال هنا الآن ” ( Come here now!) My Mom shouted, I knew that she was going to try and persuade me to come with her, but this time I was really serious. I started to listen all she was saying was Islam means peace, so why should I be scared to let people know I was Muslim? I told her some serious current events that had occurred during the past few years, and they all were blamed on us. I tried not to shout because I knew that if my dad heard me yelling, he would come straight downstairs to confront me.

       “Did you not understand anything that I just told you” my mom has shouted,  she does not really speak very good English, so she usually tends to use Arabic if she wants to chew me out. “I did understand what you said”,  “I just really did not care about what you said”.  I know that I was out of line for saying that, I don't mean to be mean to my mom, but sometimes I feel as though that's the only way she'll understand how I really feel. I overheard my father coming down the steps, the stairs were squeaking like an old stairway my heart was pumping faster than you can ever imagine. We were already late to the Masjid,  and if he would have seen me with my blouse off there would have been bigger problems. I knew that there were problems from the start because whenever my dad is upset about something he usually makes a disgusted face and pretends to look away when he's actually looking straight into your eyes.  Adil “what's all the yelling about”  my dad shouted. “Now we are already late to the Masjid, and to be honest, I don't even think I really want to go anymore”.  

           I started to speak, but I know it wasn't my turn to speak, my voice cracks, saying “she wants me to go to the Masjid, she wants me to tell everybody I'm Muslim, she wants me to do this you want me to do that”. I was talking faster than my heart was pumping.  sweat was coming down my face,  I stop talking for about 10 seconds, realizing that the more I talk the more trouble I will get myself into. My dad looked at me as if I was stupid, he quietly said “man this is stupid see now kids back in my day knew they could not talk to their parents the way that you are talking to them now.

“If a joker talks to his parents like that his father would smack him beside the head”. “See now you got it easy” My dad said,  what it is is your mom treat you like her baby even though you damn near 15 years old she still sees you as a 3-year-old. My mom always hated when he said that,  it's not that she treats me like a baby It's that she wants me to be happy. I started to doze off daydreaming about things that I found interesting about,  pretending that I'm listening but I'm really not.  I seen my dad mouth move over and over again, I knew that he was angry but I just did not want to hear anything he had to say.

         I'm not sure he had noticed that I was not paying attention because I saw his mouth stop moving.  he took a deep breath and said: “what does religion mean to you”? I stared at him confused because 90% of me was still daydreaming.  then he shouted again what does religion mean to you!?  I jumped it's like the words or trying to come out my mouth before I had a chance to open my mouth.  religion means something someone believes in.  “it means something or someone that they worship”. so now what was that hard to say? My dad asks. “I don't know”?  doesn't look right I reply, “you don't know”?  my dad asks that ask, That's the thing Kids these days never know.

   “Why is that PlayStation of yours so important”? Why is that laptop of yours so important, why is basketball so important? He just kept asking questions that I knew the answers to but did not want to say. You're right I announced, religion is something that you should be proud of not disappointed or Ashamed in. I apologized to my parents because I knew I was in the wrong. I want to help people that are just like me, afraid or ashamed who they really are, but at the end of the day, everyone's the same in a way.