the tiredness of being a muslim woman today
As-salamu alaykum. I keep circling back to this idea that Islam itself warns us: the numbers of believers might grow while sincerity fades, and sadly that feels true. We have huge mosques and loud displays of piety, yet the compassion, learning, and balance that once marked Islamic societies seem to be slipping away. Women are bearing a lot of that strain. Historically, Muslim women lived with cultural variety, education, and dignity within modesty, but now it often feels like one narrow picture - like the black burqa - has been treated as the only proper way, even though it’s not obligatory, and anything different is labeled wrong. If this narrowness is what we’ve become, how can we claim we’re practicing the faith perfectly? Look at places like Afghanistan: many of the actions there are far from the morals Islam teaches, yet some people praise it as a pure model of religion. Meanwhile it feels like we’re losing intellectual life. Curiosity, study, and peaceful coexistence are getting pushed aside by anger and control, and what used to seem like a loud minority now appears dominant. I’m from South Asia and I won’t pretend it’s easy - living here can make someone bitter toward religion when so many men only use Islam to police women while doing other clearly forbidden things themselves. This isn’t just an idea to me; it’s my experience. Still, alhamdulillah I’m Muslim, imperfect but sincere. I love Allah and I try to separate divine guidance from human corruption and ideology. Even so, I’m exhausted. Being a Muslim woman now is draining in ways I struggle to explain, and sometimes I wish I’d lived in the golden age of Islam when faith, knowledge, mercy, and strength seemed to go together instead of being at odds.