My Outspoken Neighbour
One of my neighbors is very vocal with her opinions. I've been slightly irritated by her comments on different aspects of my religious expression. For instance, when I left the house one day in an abaya, she exclaimed,
"What on earth are you wearing?!" I laughed and told her it was laundry day, to which she replied,
"I'm sure glad I dont have to dress like that; it's 95 degrees out!"
Now, deep down I want to say things like, "I dont HAVE to dress like this, I choose to."
But I think what I actually said was, "Yah well I'm completely nude under this, so I get a little current." (I was in fact not nude, I just wanted to lighten up the situation) And she laughed and moved on. Today while I was decorating for Ramadan, she stopped and asked what I was doing. I told her that I'll be fasting from sun-up to sun-down for the next thirty days. The rest went a lil something like this:
"What?!?!", she leaned forward to emphasize her disbelief, "Why??"
"Its like a spiritual retreat kind of thing. The body gets used to it after about 3 days and I can function completely as normal."
"So, but why would you do that to yourself?"
"Its just about closeness to God..."
"It's unhealthy."
"I mean, there are 1.6 billion muslims who will be fasting along with me, so its pretty normal. I like it."
"Well I always say that if I had to live in one of those countries and dress like them, I'd be in jail in an hour."
"You and me both."
The end.
Now... here's the thing. At one point in the past few years, I would've been all indignent and offended by the fact that our EVERY interaction ends up being about how backward my way of life is. And I'm sure she assumes I married into it or that I'm somehow brain-washed... but now I've come to realize that it's not even about me or my religion, so I've no reason to be upset.
It's about her. Her individual personality is what makes her so outspoken, I'm sure Islam is not the only topic she gets all flustered over, and I'm sure more folks than just myself have quietly wondered why she's so forward with her opinions.
So I'm done taking things personally. Some people are going to like Islam and treat me with kindness, some people are going to be genuinely curious, some will mumble their spiteful curses behind my back, and others will be blatantly dumbfounded or cruel.
Either way, I'm not doing it for them. I know that Islam is what wakes me up every morning, it cleans my body, it kindles my thoughts and it covers me like a blanket. I know why I'm a Muslim, and frankly I have nothing to prove otherwise.