I'm a very private person in regards to my religion. I don't talk about it / discuss it, etc. I feel that religion is private and between me and God, so I don't really feel comfortable publicizing it.

Perhaps this is kind of wrong, because recently I have been getting involved with more religious / spiritual people and talking to them about shared experiences, and I feel like this has helped me in strengthening my own faith alhamdullilah.

But I don't know .. I still feel like religion for me is private, and I'll keep it that way. I suppose I don't want to get into debates (with non-believers as well as Muslims following different madhabs, etc.) as for me it would take from the actual religion itself. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against knowledge. In fact I think we need to increase our knowledge, and in certain circumstances that is only possible when we participate in discussion for greater understanding. But I feel like I don't have the know how to truly get into things. I'm all for reading up about things and asking questions, as for the constant questioning / finger pointing / point proving / evidence, etc .. its just not my cup of tea.

I'm not ashamed of my religion of course! Like I can go on and on about Allah, Islam and how its helped me get greater peace, etc, etc. Praises yay, criticisms, nay. Does that make me weak? I don't know .. I just know that I believe what I believe, and if someone has different believes than me that's fine too .. as long as they let me do my believing in peace.

I don't wear hijab yet .. though really, it can be argued that hijab = modest dressing and I think I dress pretty modestly .. but thats a discussion for another time. Anyway so when people first meet me, they can't automatically place me into little boxes of ethnicity / religion, etc. If someone asks, I'll tell them I'm Muslim, but people generally know that I'm spiritual once they talk to me a bit. I won't tell them I'm Muslim unless they ask. Idk why .. but I've experienced that when they finally do find out, almost all of them are like WOW really? But you don't have a turban and aren't violent! Lolol, okay so they stopped at the WOW really bit .. but they probably think that.

But its good yaknow .. they are getting to know REAL Muslims, not just the ones they show on TV. Muslims are 'normal' too .. whatever that is. And I think thats why they get so shocked because I'm normal (relatively) but also a Muslim. Like the two are somehow mutually exclusive :/

Anyway so I guess what I'm trying to say is, by keeping my religion private, I'm letting people know me before making baseless assumptions based on my religion. And hopefully I'm changing their perceptions of Muslims and the breaking the assumptions that they make :)

Two of my good friends, one is an Atheist and the other is .. well he doesn't really care. Anyway they got really interested in Islam and were asking me questions about it and I got really excited. Okay so I haven't quite gotten them to convert levels (one day haha .. girl can dream?) but at least they want to learn about the real Islam :) its all good in the hood .. except I get really worried that I'm not conveying the correct Islamic message (lack of knowledge and all) so am not utilizing their interests :(

All in good time .. I can only talk passionately about what I believe in, and why I do what I do .. and hopefully from that, they can learn something real about our wonderful religion :)