There is a thick layer of grime that encrusts the walls of my heart. I know this isn’t a great way to start an article, but for this piece I couldn’t come up with anything that was more apt. To be sure I’m a hijabi and I mostly offer salah with punctuality, but my inner self is an unfortunate combination of doubts, sins, ego, self-love and love of dunya.

Whether it’s cruising down I-90 past the billboards, flipping through Vogue or Seventeen while waiting at the dentist’s office, or simply browsing through the Internet for a research project – there is one thing we have no problem denying: we live in a very provocative, shameless society.

The dunya is always calling us towards something. Watch this show. Listen to this song. Buy these clothes. Wear this makeup. Talk like her. Walk like him. Sometimes it feels so compelling and disheartening. Which way do you turn? Who do you listen to? What is to do?