Maslow’s Muslims: How I Get Out Of A Spiritual Slump

Alternative title: Abraham Maslow Saves Me From Being a Small, Fat, Hairy Monster.

I often ask people about their approach to Islam, and they always seem to have trouble responding to it. Their hesitation is understood though. It is, afterall, a heavy question.

As we all know, each of our lives are subject to infinite conditions, hence their exist a variety of ways in which to break Islam down. That’s where my question comes in: How do we break Islam down into bite-size morsels that we can easily digest? Sure, we take into consideration the whole Qur’an, but what does that mean?

Listen, It’s like visualizing 10,000 ducks. Or 100,000 ducks. How are they different in your head? There is a certain point where such a huge number is just, “lots” of friggin’ ducks. Or just one big quacking blog. Sounds cute, doesn’t it?

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Social Anxiety And Shirk

I have an issue with social anxiety/shyness. Sometimes that anxiety helps to keep me home at night. In my college years, I made a conscious effort to “fix” things with some social situation work-arounds. I should give you context though, so….

I was privileged enough to attend an Outward Bound trip immediately after turning 15 before starting the 10th grade. That was when I wrote this, and flew to Maine to spend 14 days with 11 strangers hiking, canoeing, and rockclimbing on and around the Appalachian trail. Being forced to communicate and work with people my own age was quite frightening for me. One of the things that always bothered me was pronouncing my name: Javed. No one ever got it, so I used an easy, well-known name. Apu. [Rudimentary] Method One: Create a character, Use an accent, Mimic someone else.
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