This is a story about Islam that I know. This is the truth
about what actually happens in my country, in my surrounding and I am a living
witness to testify it. I was born as a Moslem as both of my parents are Moslems. Nevertheless, I was given freedom to choose what I wanted to be or to believe
in. By this privilege, I tried my best to know what is best for me. I read Al
Qur’an and its meaning, Bible, and in my elementary school, we were given a
chance to study other religion other than ours, so I got a glimpse of the core
of Buddhism and Hindu also. But after those researches, I found that I fall in love
with Islam and its teaching. I had some wonderful Islamic teachers in my
elementary and junior high school. Both of them like to tell us stories about
prophet and any Islamic stories that always made us burst in laughter then cry
like little babies in the classroom. Those stories linger most in my heart up
to now. From all of the stories I got from my teachers and my parents, there is no
way Islam is trying to make people be radical or full of hatred. I read The
Holy Qur’an and all i found in it, is the act of kindness, when I read hadits it
teaches me to love all people and nature equally. This is also what i found in my
surrounding. People are helping one another regardless their religion or
background. I have once read that the closest relatives of someone after their
family is their neighbour. So we treat our neighbour even better than our
distance family. I have also heard a story that even if a man is pious enough,
he could not get into heaven if he lets his neighbours suffer in hunger. In
Indonesia, we have 5 different religions (Islam, Christian, Catholic, Buddhism,
and Hindu) and 1 believe (Confucius). I have went to Java and Kalimantan to
prove that we all can live happily in peace. I my self have plenty of friends
with different religions. We respect each other, they help me and I do my best
to help them and make them happy. I know best, that if there is a problem occurred, the problem itself need to be fixed, and no need to bring it along
their gender, race or religion.
Islam
for me is not something that restricts me to improve myself. I often feel
encouraged by some verses in The Al Qur’an and Hadits. This is a verse about
studying I love most: “And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your
mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and
intellect that perhaps you would be grateful.” (16:78). There are also
many Hadits about the benefit of learning. Some of them say that Allah make it
easier to enter heaven for people who study and for people who are on the way
to study can have the same reward as those who are on the way to sacrifice for
Allah. Those teachings make me have more spirit to study. And it makes me sad,
that my friend from Turkey told me that in Turkey, people who wear veil are
considered stupid. Some people also think that women in Islam have a very small
chance to develop themselves. Not with any intention of boasting what I got,
but I just want to tell the world that any women can achieve what they want and
put aside any thought of others who said that she couldn’t. I graduated from my
undergraduate program in 3,5 year with a cumlaude. I also managed to finish my
graduate degree even though I took different major from my undergraduate
program in a reputable university in 1,5 year with a satisfactory GPA. I learn
three foreign languages because I enjoy it. I do what I want to improve my
knowledge. This is my way to thank Allah for the brain, the health, the
time and chances that Allah has given to me.
The way
I improve my self does not only stop in those studies activity. I also enjoy
doing physical activities. I love exploring nature to find Allah’s greatness in
every inch of them. I did rafting, snorkeling, mountain climbing and many more
exciting activities. It makes me realize how close the relation between human
and nature. That we as human depends much to nature and how small we are
compared to all these beautiful nature that Allah has made. I live my life to
the fullest.
I am a Moslem girl. I am an Indonesian. You want me to raise a
voice about Islam, so please do not look away, and look how happy I can be.