Highly religious families appear happier and more involved with life and maintaining positive social relationships. Majority of them say that they pray every day and live their lives based on what their faith requires them to do. Religion influences not only how people live but also how institutions establish policies for people to follow. However, religion has insignificant influences on the lives of some individuals. The below interview will focus on understanding how religion affects individuals with different faiths. The participant was a 20-year-old Muslim student who was willing to participate in the survey process.
Interview Questions
How does your belief in God Play a Role in your Daily Life?
What is your belief of the afterlife?
Do you are your parents practice the same faith?
Does your religion determine a person’s identity?
What are the basic essentials of your faith?
Is your religion strongly associated with actions?
How does your faith describe morality in a person?
Do you turn to your faith for guidance on making major decisions?
Is religion important to you?
What are your interactions with people who have different faiths?
Recapping the Interview
From the Interview, the student explained that Islam plays a critical role in her everyday life. It determines almost everything that she does on a daily basis. The strictness of the religion dictates her dressing, her interactions with people from the opposite sex, what she eats, and how she prays among others. She admits that she prays three times a day at a local mosque and does not eat pork. She also said that her interactions with her male friends should be decent and she is required to wear appropriate Islamic dressing.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
According to her religion, she believes that the afterlife exists where death involves the separation of the soul from the body. The righteous will live with peace and comfort while sinners and unbelievers would be punished. This knowledge deters her from sin while striving to be righteous as per her faith. After all, the afterlife is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith and important for believers to understand.
She also asserts that her parents are also Muslims and significantly influenced her faith. She had a very strict upbringing in the faith and was introduced to the religion from a young age by attending Madras. Her whole family is Muslim and does not believe in deterring from her faith. Given the involvement of her family in the religion, her faith has become stronger.
Islam dictates her personal identity given the significant influence it has on her dressing and interactions. People would not have to ask whether she was Muslim as it would be noticed from the first visualization. She has an identity that is strongly dictated by her faith and culture.
She further explains that her faith is built on five essentials that require every believer to adhere to. Al Muslims are required to declare their faith by acknowledging only one God. Even though she prays only 3 times a day, Islam requires its members to pray five times a day while kneeling towards Mecca. Fasting should also be done during Ramadhan and they should give at least 2.5% of their savings to charity on an annual basis. They are also required to go for pilgrimage in Mecca before they die.
Her faith is, therefore, significantly associated with actions. In other words, she argues that she would be recognized as a righteous Muslim by how she conducts herself in the world. Violations of pillars of Islam alongside other rules would indicate sinning and unrighteousness. As a result, she is careful in aligning her behaviors and actions to the requirements of her faith.
The Islamic faith views morality as being righteous, having good character, and qualities as dictated to by religious texts. The underlying idea is that morality should demonstrate love for God and his creatures. People are, therefore, required to treat each other well in order to please God. Some of the moral virtues include being charitable, forgiving others, helping people, fulfilling promises, and respecting the elderly among others.
She often turns to religion for guidance but may occasionally make prompt decisions that are not based on her faith. Due to the nature of her religion where actions determine a person’s faith, she is required to relate her religious texts to the actions to be undertaken. For instance, she would have to refer to religious texts about dressing up for an occasion. This is because she understands how her identity should not be distorted by Western cultures.
Religion is important to her and occupies a significant part of her life. It is not just about keeping her faith but also living according to the Quran dictates. She also embraces diversity and respects other religions since Islam should spread peace and not conflicts. She believes that through her actions, non-believers would likely become Muslims as well. In the same respect, people should respect different faiths while striving to be righteous.
