I am not very religious when it comes to practicing. I eat non halal food, I wear skirts all the time, and I usually don’t pray 5 times a day. I have always been more spiritual, and I’ll be honest, the times I do feel closest to god is when I pray and when I fast, and I feel bad that I don’t always do it, and one day I do hope to do them regularly.

So that being said, here is what irks me about Muslim people in general, or at least in my culture…especially elders.

I keep noticing a pattern of associating Islam with threats.
For example, I went over to my moms house, and I was wearing a skirt, a knee length pencil skirt. I am by no means a skanky dresser, I believe in sexy not sleazy. My boobs never hang out, nor will u ever see me in hot pants at your local grocery store. Nonetheless I wear a lot of skirts, capris etc. My mom starts lecturing me on the wraths of hell I will face and that god is watching, and how being shameless will take me to hell etc.

And this is not the case with just me, I constantly hear similar arguments about everything, if you don’t do this in Islam you will burn in hell, and then people go into descriptions of the punishment you will receive.

See I’m an optimist. I don’t like hearing these things and scare tactics often do the opposite for me. Because I end up saying, if I am a good person and don’t hurt people, but I wear skirts, is that worse than someone who is covered up yet purposely causes people harm with gossip, lies and hurtful words?
I’d like to believe that my god sees everything, he knows how I think, how I feel about things, and that he understands me on a deeper level than anyone else, and that he will forgive my smaller sins by looking at the good things I have done, is that wrong?
Is it wrong to want to have a relationship with god that is not rooted with fear? I want the main reason for me to believe in god is because I love him and believe in him than do it out of fear. On the note of fear, I do fear god, when I am on a plane, I pray to him and I say that I know he has the power to crash the plane but I also say that I know he won’t do it because there are good people on that plane.

I would much rather prefer people preaching things on a more positive note, like saying, yes it is against our religion to do this, think it through, if you feel you have done something wrong, ask for forgiveness, and god will forgive you.
Or hearing more about being a good person is worth something in our religion, rather than hearing about how god will punish a man for wearing gold by burning his neck with rings of fire.

Has scare tactics really become the only way people now educate each other in Islam?