I am a Muslim male living in the United States, and have found it rather difficult to practice my faith. Particularly, the requirement of modesty. To me appearance is of utmost importance, as it can be an indication of what type of person you are. Living in the United States, I have observed the cultural customs and the way citizens of the country dress. What I can infer is that people have become immoral, or rather partake in a haram lifestyle.
Progressing through school, I have made it a responsibility to be modest in my appearance. I wear long clothing that covers all of my body (from neck to toe), and would cover my hair (head) with a Koofi when praying. With growing up, comes higher levels of testosterone and the stage of reaching puberty. For now, I have a beard and other areas of facial hair.
Currently, I am in high school and facing these upcoming challenges based on my appearance.
The main problem for me, has been the fact that because I am Middle Eastern and have the features, has resulted in unnecessary stereotypes. Ever since 9/11, Americans have had doubts about Muslims and have developed animosity and other negative feelings towards us. However, we are not what they portray us to be. In fact, I am doing extremely well in school by obtaining excellent marks and keeping up with my grades. Also, I am intelligent, kind, and caring. It makes me quite sad that Americans seem to have this image of us Muslims being barbaric or uncivilized, when actually we are just normal human beings, who have goals and ambitions in life just like everyone else.
Back to my problem in school; I have faced minor discrimination based on my appearance. I would receive rude remarks, and slurs based on my faith. One day, while walking to my class, I was verbally abused by another student who came behind me and shouted, " ISIS supporter, you better not try to do anything wrong to this school." This cut the straw to the camels back for me, as it broke my strength to continue my day. But I haven't let these incidences stop me from learning and succeeding in school, by being positive and keeping a good image.
It also got bad with my family, as my family would react negatively to my appearance, and insist that I shave my beard and facial hair(s). My mother would often say, "I know we are Muslims, but this is America, so you have to look like an American." This has negatively impacted me, as I would suffer situation-al depression as a result of this challenge.
To conclude, being a Muslim isn't going to be easy. However, the only thing we can do is to have our utmost faith in Allah(SAWS) and strive to help the Ummah move forward in a positive light.
JazakAllah Khair for taking the time to read, and contribute to the the discussion.
My mother would often say, "I know we are Muslims, but this is America, so you have to look like an American."
So true brother. Your mother is so right (to an extent) tell her a British bearded Muslim sends her and the family salaams, then ask her to describe THE symbol of American justice, law, order, victory and so on which is on the $5 bill and the penny. He was American, and an American symbol.
So brother, continue to listen to your mother and look like an American when in America and at the same time, fulfill the Sunnah of the Ambiya (as).
once upon a time , my thobe/kurta would vanish. My mother used to hide it somewhere. Now she stopped to stop me wearing sunnah attire.
Keep following sunnah, be steadfast - Allah's help is there.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
We apologise but you have been denied access to report posts in this thread. This could be due to excessively reporting posts and not understanding our forum rules. For assistance or information, please use the forum help thread to request more information. Jazakallah
