Too difficult?

What I don’t get is when people say religion is too difficult.

“There are too many rules.”

People say that there is a long list of what is permissible and what is impermissible and they are afraid to step into this life as they cannot live such a difficult life.

Why can I not relate? It makes me laugh. It was opposite for me, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t I enslaved before and Islam freed me?

Am I not freed from all the chains and shackles?

I sat and thought today, and I shuddered to think of all the things I would be enslaved to right now if it wasn’t for religion in my life.

I would be miserable because I would be a failure in so many people’s eyes.

I would listen to the voices that said “you don’t have a job, you aren’t making any money.” And I would believe it.

I would believe the voices that said. “an ideal girl should stay quiet, not voice her opinions, and she should spend all her free time cooking, cleaning and scrubbing. A clean kitchen and a clean house is a mark of a successful woman.”

I would believe the voices that said, “you aren’t good looking enough, you need layers of makeup, uncomfortable clothes and shoes to look acceptable.”

These are just a few of the multiple voices in everyone’s life aren’t they?

I would believe that I should follow some herd or the other, that I must fit into some standard of society, be it traditional or modern.

What is freedom anyways? Isn’t everyone enslaved to something or the other? Even if it is just to our own desires.

To movies, netflix, games, their phones, their career, pleasing parents, pleasing in laws, pleasing your spouse, needing appreciation from people, having a fit body, eating healthy, following the latest fashion etc.

While all these can be positive things, they have the potential to turn toxic too, if not done for the right reasons.

Doesn’t everyone have standards in their lives that they HAVE to follow, and if this obsession of theirs falls apart their life falls apart? Irrespective of whether these standards are set by themselves or the people around them. We all are trying to fulfil some expectation or the other, and when we fail, we have nothing left to live for.

Religion came and freed me from all expectations, all obsessions, all shackles and chains.

I learnt how to be free from all enslavements and enslave to One alone, and fulfil my purpose of life.

So no, its not difficult. It is the easiest most simple and liberating way to live life.