ISLAM IN INDONESIA

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.