i grew up in a pretty religious family and have rules and beleifs grounded into me. as a child i was sent to the mosque on weekends to learn to read the Quran and to learn about my religion. pretty much all the little bengali kiddies went to the mosque on weekends and they came from all the way down in the letter avenues and project buildings. back in those days, i prayed often, and that was about it. i didn't follow much of anything else. i didn't wear a hijab or anything like that. as i got older i stopped praying and didn't care much about my religion and did many things that isn't allowed. not horible things, just little things u know, like not wearing the most modest clothing, flirting with guys, experimenting with drugs (only experimenting...im not a druggie or anything) using bad language. when i stopped praying my parents told me i should pray otherwise i would go to hell. i should wear a hijab other wise i would go to hell. my father didn't like me listening to music or watch movies but i continuded to do those things too. it was then that i realized the countless number of sins we make a day according to our religion. watching tv is not allowed, listening to music is not allowed, dating is not allowed, and many other things. the thing that most bothered me was the fact that dating wasn't allowed. how can u get married if its not allowed? god gave us the ability to love and is it a sin to love someone? my cousin always told me not to date and was very strict about not getting close to a guy. she made me promise i would not date. un known to her, i didn't intend to keep this promise. on the other hand i didn't intend to become some crazy teen slut that has a new bf evry other month...that makes out evrywhere...or anything of that manner. i just thought if i really liked someone, whats the big problem.

you see, i stopped following all the little rules of islam that everyone seems to think are such big sins. but whats the harm of loving someone if u r able to love? whats wrong with being together if u can be together and be happy? so i stopped following many things in my religion but mainly this one seemed the strangest to me. you know, do you really think god will send u to hell for dating? do u think it will count so much against u listen to some music, to not pray all the prayers, to not do all the things that we seem to make such a big deal out of. on the day of jugment i think god will judge us on more important things like our character, our morals, how pure our heart is, how pure our intentions are. if we are kindhearted, if we help others, if we are thankful. if i go to hell it will be because i have a bad heart, if i have no morals or if im a horrible person, not just if i dont pray. think of all the good christians or people of other religions that have helped so many people. will they all go to hell? i think if u can wear a hijab, pray 5 times a day, do all the small things right, it will help u to stay on the right path and not be tempted to do the wrong things. maybe this is why god set these rules. but if you are a person with bad intentions and an un pure heart, do u think the fact that u prayed is going to save u? maybe all things arent so black and white, maybe there are grey areas which u have to decide with ur own thinking