I am a Muslim for the past 36 years of my life. I represent no one but me. I have been raised in a Muslim-majority country – Pakistan, and now trying to build my startup company in the US.
When people see me, they think of Muslims and Islam. I just want to tell the world that somehow I have become so more complex than that. Islam gave me the spiritual identity on birth, Pakistan gave me the cultural norms and family traditions in last three decades of my life, and US provided me Masters and PhD through Fulbright scholarship, and then raised my expectations from life and to this world through Eisenhower fellowship. I learned English watching SitComs – “Friends” and “Sex and the City” to be specific and grew my beard in the US after going through Identity Loss in a melting pot.
Who I am today is the result of my surroundings, the choices I’ve made, the education that I’ve received, and the opportunities that I’ve been exposed to and a little bit of luck. I have learned Islam in a strange way – after getting numerous questions and comments from my non-Muslim friends during my international travels. I am more Muslim not because I born in Pakistan; it’s only because I got educated in the US.
I am not here to defend anything. We as Muslims have traveled so far from Islam that we have forgotten why we were here in the first place. We forget our values, our vision, our ethics, our principles, likes and dislikes, the way to live and the way to die, the way to lead, and the way to follow. No wonder we get all that negative feedback, criticism, racism and stereotyping all over the world. Somehow, we have managed to allow the world to do this to us. One suggestion for my friends – if you want to study Islam then study Islam and not Muslims.
I don’t mind anymore when someone takes me out for “special screening” at the airports as the probability of picking me “Randomly” is 100%. I don’t mind offensive comments or questions, and I forget when was the last time when I felt sorry for being stereotyped. I know, I have a long way to go, I have a long way to prove myself, I have a long way to earn my lost respect, and I have a long way to regain the trust, and show the world how beneficial I can be, and what the world would look like without Muslims.
I just want to tell you, that I am working on it, slow or fast, better or worse, I am on it, day and night, during the weekends, during holidays, Christmas or Eid, I am on it, and we will get there sooner or later. And then we would look good on responding to all of the questions that the world has posted to us.
Be patient; give us some time; a second chance; to reflect upon what we have done, who was at fault, how we got manipulated, what we have missed, and how to improve. Once we learn that, we all have a better world for us, for you and for everyone.
I dream of a world where we don’t have to write a blog like this to explain who we are, what we do, and how we can help.
