{"id":3365,"date":"2025-10-19T12:50:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/?p=3365"},"modified":"2025-10-19T12:50:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T12:50:49","slug":"from-misunderstanding-to-mercy-a-muslims-journey-in-burma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/2025\/10\/19\/from-misunderstanding-to-mercy-a-muslims-journey-in-burma\/","title":{"rendered":"From Misunderstanding to Mercy: A Muslim\u2019s Journey in Burma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note: One of my friend (he wished to be anonymous) sent me this post to me. I was even shocked to know about his earlier condition but thanks Allah swt for guiding him to become a pois person later in life.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam is one of the most misunderstood religions in Burma. I say this not as an outsider, but as someone who was born Muslim\u2014yet misunderstood Islam for much of my early life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a child and teenager, I often felt ashamed of my Muslim identity. In Burmese society, Muslims are frequently seen as lower-class, uneducated, and poor. Many Burmese Muslims are of Indian descent, with darker skin and limited access to education. Though many excel in business, the social stigma was strong. I dreaded being called \u201cKalar,\u201d a derogatory term used to belittle Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid that label, I distanced myself from the Muslim community and spent most of my time with Buddhist and Christian friends. Christianity, in particular, seemed more respected and culturally appealing. I loved playing the hollow guitar, and Christian friends\u2014often musically inclined through church choirs\u2014made it easy to connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite my lack of Islamic knowledge, I always believed in a Creator. My curiosity about religion stopped at the simple conviction: \u201cThere is a God who created us.\u201d That was the extent of my spiritual understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After earning my degree, I was posted to a major city in Burma. My house stood directly across from a mosque. I would wake up to the Azan (call to prayer), but I didn\u2019t join the prayers\u2014I didn\u2019t know how. At the time, Islamic literature in Burmese was scarce and poorly written. Many mosque leaders were of Indian descent and struggled with the Burmese language, making religious guidance inaccessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Allah guided me. I met Burmese Muslim colleagues at work who, though not deeply religious, never missed Friday prayers. I began attending with them and slowly learned how to pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One pivotal influence was my father. He always gave thoughtful answers to my questions about Islam and was deeply concerned that I might become an atheist. During my teenage years\u2014especially under Burma\u2019s Socialist regime\u2014religion was neglected across all communities. I had refused the religious lessons my father arranged, and he worried about my spiritual path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I understand that Islam is a religion of peace\u2014not of terror. It teaches submission to the Creator of mankind, Allah (SWT), and promotes compassion, justice, and mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam respects the rights of other religions. In fact, it is a duty for Muslims to protect places of worship belonging to other faiths within Islamic states. That\u2019s why Christians and Jews have lived peacefully in Muslim-majority countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Turkey\u2014and even in Palestine. For centuries, Muslims have safeguarded churches and synagogues, including those of Orthodox Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Qur\u2019an teaches: Allah is Great, Allah is Most Merciful, and Allah forgives all\u2014except those who defiantly disobey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I know that Islam sees all of humanity as equal\u2014regardless of race, skin color, education, or wealth. Those who believe in Allah, His Prophets, His Angels, His Books, and the Day of Judgment are united as Muslims. We are one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May Allah bless my parents, my teachers, my family, my friends, my relatives, my people, my country, and all of mankind\u2014for He is Al-Rahman, the Most Merciful.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Note: One of my friend (he wished to be anonymous) sent me this post to me. I was even shocked to know about his earlier condition but thanks Allah swt for guiding him to become a pois person later in life. Islam is one of the most misunderstood religions in Burma. I say this not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,16,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-history","category-opinion","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3365"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3367,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365\/revisions\/3367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myanmarmuslim.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}