It all happened on exam day. I noted that perhaps I was the only one in the examination hall who didn’t look that tense. Well, I was a little nervous but of course, I tried not to show that. I sat with both my hands at the back of my head and watched the panicking girls around me. It was fun. My fun didn’t last long though, as the invigilator started distributing our exam papers. However, even that didn’t put off my mood. I was more amused at the sight of the extraordinary reactions of my classmates but it all soon changed when the invigilator gave the paper to a girl next to me. She looked at me and smiled. I could tell that she had a few things to talk to me about but before she came to me, a voice boomed into the hall.

When non-Muslims swear while I am around, they’ll sometimes notice me and apologize while I smile on and say, “It’s okay.” It touches me when they apologize and adjust their language while conversing with me or around me. It is funny, though. They think that a hijabi will be offended if she hears swear words. If only they knew that I have witnessed people from my own Ummah doing the same, from three-year olds to other hijabi friends.

I was flipping through my blue Physics text book, which had exactly 796 pages. “Oh God,” I whispered to myself. Will I really be asked to read 796 pages worth of Physics? And then will I be expected to understand the information, and later apply it? I most certainly did do all that and more in my university years, as I incessantly solved past papers and did random exercises to pass my exam.

With the culture and traditions of the generations before us on one side, and the modern, into-the-latest-everything generation on the other – where do we fit in?

Don’t act upon the anger – think. Remember Him. This is a test and nothing is worth disobeying your Lord, nothing at all. So do the right thing however hard it is, however many tears may fall, however many snide comments you may receive. Because you are more important than the anger. You’re truly worth more.