How am I Brave?

My entry for January 2, 2023, for the bloganuary contest is describing the fact of how am I brave.

First, I would like to tell you that in my past life, I wasn’t brave enough. I didn’t have the courage to say what was right and what was wrong. I was always kind of a shy and cowardly kind of person, always in search of pleasing people. So that I get registered and get accepted by the people around me. But later on, I realized that this is not my purpose or goal in life. To please people, only to get accepted. It’s such an inferior kind of thinking.

Later on, as a Muslim, when I started reading the Quran and Hadees(Actions and sayings of the last Prophet, Muhammad (S. A. W)(Peace be upon Him), I realized that pleasing people is not my nature. Allah has created me only to please Him and call right and wrong. The process was very slow. IT took so many years to create courage in oneself to tell people around you, that what Allah and His Prophet commanded is right. The rest of the actions and norms are culture only. I have produced enough courage and bravery in my life that I told my family that I would abide by the rules of the Hijab/ Niqaab according to the Quran. It was so difficult for them to understand all the situations. They told me you won’t be able to do it in the long run. But to date, by the grace of Allah Almighty, I am observing the rules of the veil in front of Non-Mehrams (The ones who can marry a Muslim woman at any stage of life).

By far, I consider this my biggest achievement on the road of bravery. The destination hasn’t been achieved yet. It’s a lifelong process.