The person I never was

I believe and live under a giant microscope,
I have been stereotyped black and white,
I suffer serious identity crises,
What I believe in has been redefined to suit the times,
To suit the powers that be, a herculean task indeed,
I am forced to bear labels from fanatic down to extremist,
Should they define and redefine my faith to suit the times,
Like an old Arabian rug the holy scripts remain intact,
To say I have a faith, an ideology and a personality has become taboo,
To believe that each individual is a projection of the whole is wrong,
To believe that acts of a few can benchmark us all as savages and blood thirsty is wrong,
In this life there are two sides to a human being, who you are and who others think you are,
In this quest for identity survival I am an individual with a personality,
My faith like any other has individual differences,
My faith like any other is plagued by individuals with a lame perception and extreme tendencies,
All I said is that I believe.
I believe in a one supreme God with no strings attached,
All I said is that I have faith,
I believe my neighbor is as important as myself,
I believe that spreading a cover over my sister only protects her from men’s predatory overtures and not oppresses her,
All I ever said is that I have faith,
All you want is for me to give up my ways for your ways,
I believe that secularism opens the door to all hardships in life,
I believe socialism. Communism and the latest fad of democracy were and are all social experiments,
All I ever said was that I believe,
I believe labels used to intimidate me will only make me wax stronger in faith,
If they think I am then I am, what I am I know I am and I believe,
I refuse to compromise my faith for fear of being labeled,
All I said is that I believe in only one supreme God and a noble messenger,
I believe in the only religion that brought forth an economic and a social order,
Is it a crime to I say I believe?
I am a Muslim for life and today I am the person I never was.
Muhammad Tijjani Nakande, a freelance writer, is a neo panafrican , you can reach him online at www.muhammadnakandesworld.blogspot.com or email him at memzycool@yahoo.com