When we make the move to our new college or university, it often feels like Islam has to make the move too. When entering the university environment, we are forced to adapt to the workaholic university life style as well as the “modern” attitude that university often brings with our degree; therefore, the willpower and courage needed to be a strong Muslim doesn’t get any more challenging.
As we make the transition from high school to university, there are many things that come to our mind: classes, dorms, laptops, and the numerous other little things that we just have to get or buy before we make our move to the “fast-paced life” that a university can often demand. When buying our new laptops, or making sure we are all ready with the latest gizmos for university life, how often do we consider the thing that has shaped us all – our religion? When we make the move to our new college or university, it often feels like Islam has to make the move too. When entering the university environment, we are forced to adapt to the workaholic university life style as well as the “modern” attitude that university often brings with our degree; therefore, the willpower and courage needed to be a strong Muslim doesn’t get any more challenging.
The day we first arrive – call it frosh – the activities, ideas, and events lined up for us can range from extremely exciting to being utmost ridiculous. Do we partake in the signing and dancing and de-value Islamic principles just so we can fit in to this new atmosphere or do we stand up as a strong and proud Muslim ready to fight for our values and beliefs?
With our workload steadily intensifying over our educational careers, does our weekly mosque attendance slowly transitions into a monthly outing? As work continues to build up and “crunch time” makes its way, do we slowly fit mosque into our schedule or do we let our schedule work around mosque?
When school starts, and we bury our heads in our books, we often think that studying alone will lead us to success. Keeping aside our religion, our faith, and the fundamentals that have made us who we are, we are often quick to put Islam on the bench. Our religion, our faith, our Islam often has a lot to do with how we act, how we behave, and the way we study.
As our university life progresses, we are often faced with situations we once could not imagine. Attending a recruitment session, we are surprisingly faced with alcohol all around us – a sight that otherwise we would not be accustomed to. At a table we are dining at, someone walks over with a glass of wine. How do we react? What do we say? Do we say anything?
Although hard to believe, it is at these points in our lives where our faith needs to be the strongest. Challenges in our lives come in every way, at times when we least want and least expect them to be at our doorstep. Do we sacrifice a job or an A+ for our religion? Or do we sacrifice our religion for that A+ or that job? The answer is obvious.
Life continuously throws curveballs at us. Challenges keep coming our way, and the ability to say “I am sorry; my religion doesn’t allow” becomes all the more important. Defending Islam and being a proud Muslim is definitely what will truly lead us to success. Being confident about our faith and being able to resist being shy is the key to standing out. Being able to have something to hold on to, something to guide us in our life, something to trust when life is rough is truly what gives us that courage.
University is a part of our life, is a phase of our life, and an aspect of life that comes with eagerness and goes with fondness. Whether we spend four years in school or fourteen, the lures and desires associated with the university life remain.
Islam is more than our religion, more than our faith. It’s a way of life which treads beyond the prayer mat and echoes outside the walls of our mosque. University remains a part of our life. Islam is our life.
