Since I can remember, I was frequently told and taught to follow the practices of Islam… “don’t steal” you’ll go to hell, “don’t kill” you’ll go to hell, “don’t break your fast in Ramadan” or you’ll go to hell. I don’t deny that a lot of the Islamic teachings are beautiful, educational, and even provide you with a proper guidance to follow through a better life quality of self satisfaction even if you were a Non-Muslim, but for Muslims in general its all about the pursuit of gaining heaven in the after life, and for someone who believes in “the after life” regardless of my personal practices to stay connected to god spiritually, and even had strong beliefs about my religion up until recently “and I am not doubting Islam”, but I have a lot of unanswered questions about the message of Islam, which I am hoping “someone, someday” will give me an answer to.
Growing up in Jordan, I was submitted in a private Islamic school for “males only”, from kinder-garden till high-school I’ve only known this school, not just because its a 2 minutes walk away from home, but it was and still is considered one of the best schools in the country “if not the region”, and to the people who don’t know this school, would at least figure out by themselves that, since the school is an Islamic labeled one, and the name of the school indicates it clearly “its strictly for Muslims” and probably even think that all the graduates of this school, would become carriers of the Islamic message “at the least”. But all I got out with is 12 years of “somewhat” proper practical education, and the “Do & Don’t” of the Islamic practices, and “the consequences of not following” not to mention the nightmares I had from all the drawn pictures by “my Islamic subject teachers” throughout the years about “Hell”, as well as the promises of rivers filled with honey and yoghourt with mermaids of “Heaven”.
As a student who’s mind was still fresh and takes a mental picture of every “unknown descriptions”, all of them throughout the years had successfully achieved to either “scare me” from the consequences of not following, and “I am just saying” since I know “no thanks to the education systems” that Islam has countless inspirational stories filled with so many “role-models” that a lot would actually benefit from for as human beings regardless of their religious or racial backgrounds. The only way our education system presented Islam to us comes in the form of “threats”, the whole education system was set to scare us from the “unknown” and all that they successfully achieved is to intimidate us from our “own religion” and so either becoming a “strict follower” or an “extreme renegade” since the bar has been set high for those who are going to heaven.
All “Nowadays” Islamic figures follow the same way in spreading the teachings of Islam, and all they do is “talk”, and some are even extreme “hypocrites” forcing the public to shut down “business and life” to go and pray during prayer time all over Saudi, while they shoot up heroin and rape women on their spare times. All I learned from “their Islam” is how to hate, and how to see “anyone” who’s a non-Muslim swimming in those “Mental hell” pictures they created in my mind “This is not Islam” the message was long lost, people and groups started creating their own versions of Islam, and everybody is claiming to have the “right teachings and followers” of Islam. and if we cannot spread the message of Islam properly in our own countries, and where God promised to keep the message of Islam through out all generations till the after life! how will this “message of peace” keep on going, if we already forgot what the message is all about. We still kill, steal, rape, steal again, kill again and then pray to God for forgiveness “are you kidding me”.
Only when I started living in Thailand, I learned about forgiveness, positive thinking, and appreciation of life, and the nature God created for us and to care for, so it can provide back to us, alongside all the amazing wonders that we should be “thankful for” and respect all God’s “Creatures”. what about all those human beings who are thankful to God “in their own ways” for all the simple blessings of their lives, some even didn’t hear about the message of Islam, nor any Muslims bothered themselves to show the beautiful images of Islam, we only show them killings, lying, rape, and extreme slavery, so why should they even consider following Us, they are already “in peace” with themselves and their creator as “believers”, so are they going to the same hell “I am scared of”, even though they never heard of it, aren’t they the same believers God mentioned in “Qur’an”, or we just want them in “Hell” with a little push by our hands!
