Labels

Can you think of the first time you realised that there is something that exists called religion? Was it when you had a crush on your neighbour (who has a different religion than yours) and your mom told you can’t like that guy but without explaining why? Or was it when you saw a small cross tattooed on your best friend’s hand, and you asked your parents if you can have a similar one because it looks ‘cool’ and you want to look like your friend?

I never thought of these details until someone asked me about my label. I mean my religion. You have so many labels that you can pick from: Sufi, Sunni, Shi'a, Wahabi, Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Durzi, Marouni, and the list goes on. For some, this label is their identity, but for me it is just a tag. A tag that I don’t want to be defined by. Perhaps that is the main reason I choose not to wear Hijab. I don’t want to be seen and the first thing that comes to the person’s mind is a label with all the preconceived ideas that are associated with that label. I want them to know me as a human being.

I usually don’t answer people who ask me about my religion, but for the sake of this topic I will declare it. I was born into Islam (like the majority of people around me who didn’t get to choose their religion). That was totally fine for me; I never thought about other options or even questioned my own faith until last year when I met someone who invited me to read the Bible. We arranged weekly sessions where we would read about a prophet from both books (the Quran and the Bible) and compare the similarities and differences of each story. I don’t know what made me agree to that, maybe curiosity, maybe seeking knowledge, but we did it.

I was surprised about the stories. I didn’t expect so many similarities between the two books. Even though in theory I know that all religious books are based on the same values (e.g. stealing is bad, etc.), I never really thought about it in practice. I felt that we focus so much on the religion’s teachings themselves that we forget why we follow them. We forget that God knows what is in our heart. We forget the beauty that God feels us all day every day. That I don’t need to be in the Masjid or in the Church for God to hear from me. We focus on the symbols and forget their meaning. We care to display the rosary hanging in our car or the cross around our neck to show our faith, but we forget that faith is in the heart, and we don’t need to show it.

Maybe I am just still looking for answers that satisfy me, that will make me more convinced. But I think as long as we are looking for answers, it means that we have faith, that we want to get one step closer to God. We refuse to accept religious teachings just the way they are without asking for a reason, not because we doubt God, but because we want to appreciate His wisdom and reasoning. We are seeking the truth in God’s path, regardless of the way that we get there. Maybe the route is the specific religion that you follow, but at the end we are all seeking the same destination: God’s Kingdom.