Hi friends, Today is the first day of Ramadan in Morocco. For those of you who don't know, Ramadan is the most sacred month for Muslims, it is observed worldwide as a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. This annual observance is regarded as one of the five pillars of Islam. During this month Muslims do not only refrain from eating, drinking and engaging in sexual relations, everyday from dusk to dawn; But are also instructed to refrain from sinful behavior such as false speech (insulting, cursing, lying) and fighting. Because Ramadan is such a religious month it made me reflect on my relationship with religion and spirituality and how it changed and developed throughout the years. See, I have always been a very spiritual person, I believe in God and have, since forever, identified as Muslim. But I always had a little problem with praying regularly; And for the past year-ish I haven't necessarily prayed as much as I should have, I prayed when I needed something, I prayed when I was unsure about the future, I prayed when I was scared, I prayed when I was hopeless, I prayed when I was miserable. But I never prayed to thank God or to worship God (even though God almighty does not need me thanking or worshiping him). Which lead to me taking myself on a major guilt trip and shaming myself for being such a selfish asshole. Weirdly enough that didn't help me with anything, it didn't make me pray. Simply because I am a person who never accepts things for what they are and just goes with them, I constantly need to know and understand more and more in order to form my own opinion about practically everything. This might sound very Cartesian of me, but that's how I was raised. After I have gotten back from the United States and having had conversations with people with different beliefs, I realized that me being born Muslim isn't enough, I needed to know more about this religion I belong to. And, finally, the reason why I wasn't so keen on practicing Islam became clear to me, I did not know enough about it. So I started reading and the more I read the more things made sense to me. Now I, at least, understand the basics and that definitely helped me with my praying problem and made life a little bit easier. Of course I don't have it all figured out. I am your typical lost young adult, trying to figure out who I am, what I stand for and what I believe in. But if there is one advice I would give to young adults out there it would be : try to learn more about things that confuse or puzzle you, be it religion or anything else in life, you will definitely not regret it.
Your introverted friend
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