Understanding Religion: My Journey as a Black Muslim Woman

I should have taken the time to introduce myself as a blogger, but I dived right into my content. I am the Misunderstood Afro Muslimah, navigating through my 20s and making lifelong memories.

I am a young black woman in America and genuinely am bicultural. For a long time, I struggled with my identity and beliefs. I was raised to believe I was Muslim first and then black, but I learned quickly society sees my skin color first. Sadly, so do most of my Muslim brothers and sisters. I also questioned a lot of things in my religion. Especially regarding wearing hijab, modesty, male/female relationships, and just religion, period, no one answered me satisfactorily.

I honestly knew nothing about Christianity and felt utterly lost! Especially during my first semester in college, attending an HBCU. I saw a church service at the start of any significant week event. Everything around me was founded on Christian values. As a result, I started leaning toward my black culture but learned Christianity is embedded in Black American culture.

I realized it was time to educate myself and cultivate my faith and values. I learned and studied different world religions, not just the 3 monolithic religions. I concluded that all religions have the same goal, to be a good human being. They’re all just different guidelines and rules to achieve that end goal. Although I still prefer Islam the best,

I have respect for all of them. I have grown and learned to embrace being an Afro Muslimah, who is often misunderstood. I live my life the way I want to, and often not according to the Sunnah or hadiths, but my goal is to be a good person and make a difference in the world.