I was born a Muslim in a Muslim family in a 94% Muslim country. I truly started to appreciate Islam when I began to get in touch with people of other cultures when I was as young as 8 years old. Since then, my intrigue and fascination with my religion has been constantly rising.
Islam is captivating to a person studying it both for its simplicity and comprehensiveness.
Islam is simple, you believe in God, you worship God, all your deeds are between you and your God, you are responsible for everything you do before God and not responsible for anything anyone else does. God is perfect and unlike anything we know, he is the most powerful, but he is also the most wise, most just and most merciful.
But in the same time, Islam is very comprehensive, it covers all aspects of life. Islam is not just worship and meditation, it also governs one's daily life, what to eat, what not to eat, how to dress, how to behave among others, how to treat your parents, how to treat your customers.
Islam encompasses 1.3 billion people in the world right now.. They cover most races and ethnicities in the world ranging from the Ashante in West Africa to the Malayo in South East Asia to the Uzbek in Central Asia to the good people of Seatle. White, black, yellow, red, brown and tan.. They can all pray with each other, they can all attend the same mosques and the same congregations and worship in the same universal way to the same God. They dress in jeans, gowns, jilbabs, turbans, hats, caps, scarves, shawls, sneakers and Nikes. One out of 5 people who live in this world is a Muslim.