God and I - by Nafisa Ali (from DC)

God is the guiding force and inner strength God & I

by Nafisa Ali

I see God as the strength within us as well as an external force that guides and protect us. God, to me, is all-inclusive. He is there without any barriers and boundaries of religion, caste or creed. It would be silly to typecast God. I like to visit all spiritual places without giving a thought to what my religion is. More than finding peace, I find it is about humbling of the self. But at the same time, I don’t think one needs to go to religious places to pray because when we pray we shut our eyes anyway, the place of worship doesn’t matter to me.

If I were to define God, I would say He is the inner strength, He is the power of nature. He is all-pervasive and a guiding force that tells us what is right and what is not. Though I cannot say I am a regular worshipper, I believe in the power of God that shows itself from time to time in forms of natural disasters and the likes. It is a reminder that He is present around us. It is ironical that when nature strikes, it strikes all alike. Humans are stupid to have given birth to discrimination in the name of God. I don’t understand the philosophy of religious radicals at all.

Though I practise no religion, I believe in all of them. I also believe in being a karmayogi and in the philosophy of karma. Sometimes when things go wrong, God reminds us that we are vulnerable and human. I feel the need of Allah around me all the time. When I sleep I take His name and once I get up in the morning I take His name. More often than not, I pray to God to thank Him for all that He has given me, but yes, at times I do say to Him, “Come on, you have to help me now!”

— Nafisa Ali is a social activist