A Path of Light

Rant on Low Self Esteem

This will be a rant. Title's self explanatory.

Self esteem, you're like nothing because I imagine you as your own thing. I've got friends, who have friends, who have friends, and I can bet you that each of their levels of self esteem vary- yes, for both genders, thank you very much.

BEAUTY
[that thing everyone wants]

For some reason, society made standards in outer appearance. Sometimes if you don't meet them, a demented voice in the back of your mind suggests vomiting that amazing lasagna out or sufferfasting [which is different from fasting] from eating that amazing lasagna.

It makes people sad. But I guess lasagna's chill with it [lasagna: I was made to be eaten and loved!]. Or not.

But yeah. It makes me sad when I hear people talk about their weight- like being over 50 pounds is suddenly haram. IT'S NOT GUYS, I DIDN'T SEE NO FATWAS ABOUT WEIGHING SOMETHING BEING HARAM. So yeah, if your weight is over 100 pounds, congratulations, I don't care.

Another thing.

The sad fact about this is that, it's not even about being healthy anymore. It's just about being skinny. And for the guys, it can be about having muscles or whatever.

Let me explain sufferfasting. It's just me simplifying anorexia. Fasting for Ramadan is different because that actually has benefits. Sufferfasting means not eating food for long periods of time, and when you do eat, it's half a cracker or an apple if you're feeling really generous.

That's. Suffering.

So to boil this all down.

society's standards of beauty amount to:
Skinny, but not too skinny, big eyes, but not too big, smart, but not too smart, tall, but not too tall, and skimpy clothing perhaps. Oh yeah. And light skin.

So basically "perfect" if that was too much to follow.

Oh! Thigh gaps aren't required, but a plus [80% of some people: what's a thigh gap?]

Rich is good too!

But also for the guys, if you have muscles, that'd be tres fabuloso.

WHAT IS THIS GUYS, WHAT IS THIS

I'm about to bring up something else. In China, there's this thing called ba fu mei [白富美] which translates to white, rich and beautiful. It's a term to describe the ideal Chinese wife- and yes, there's one for guys, too. It goes like gao fu shuai [高富帅] which translates to tall, rich and handsome. If you're none of those things, guy or girl, then oops.

With some families of Mexico, light skin is admired over those with darker complexions.

^ THIS DOESN'T MEAN ALL PEOPLE FROM THESE PLACES ARE SHALLOW SO CHILL.

I'm just saying all over the world, standards have been made for beauty. And it affects us more than we think.

And when we can't achieve these impossible standards that we set for ourselves, we feel ugly, and we don't feel proud of ourselves. And the low self esteem kicks in.

I remember my friend not wanting to eat lunch at school for a few days because someone called her fat [trust me, she's actually really skinny]. Since when was being fat a bad thing? Did you know that a few hundred years ago, people who were fat were considered rich or royalty because they had plenty to eat?

So...what's God's standard of beauty?

Allah's standard of beauty:
[Sahih International]
He created the heavens and earth in truth and formed you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the [final] destination.

Wait, hold up. Did you catch that? If not, let me try it again.

He created the heavens and earth in truth and formed you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the [final] destination.

Still don't see it?

He CREATED the heavens and the earth in truth and FORMED YOU and PERFECTED YOUR FORMS.

Still don't get it? Ah, well. It's fine because I'll explain it anyway [i did in Winter Trains, which, is unfortunately on hold]

Basically, in terms of outer beauty, we already met Allah's standards, because He pretty much made us. Look at that ayah [yes, even in Arabic]. If it's not easily understood to you, it's okay. I'll translate it.

[A SkyCastles translation]
Allah created the heavens and the earth. He created them. But when it came to you, He formed you and perfected you and made you all fabulous looking. Whether you like how you are or not, it all goes back to Him in the end anyway.

Basically Allah is really proud of how He made you.

Who cares if societal standards say, "child, u luk so ratchet".

Allah said He made you beautiful and it doesn't matter what anyone else really thinks.

In Islam, if you try to be the best person you can be and work for the pleasure of Allah and for the benefit of the world around you, you are beautiful inside and out.

If you aren't doing that, then there's still time.

C O N C L U S I O N

Yes, I sounded like a dork perhaps.

No, I do not care.

The funny thing is that I planned on deleting this because the first two poems made me feel silly but then I published other stuff on here. So I'm like why not.

Anyway.

Is there anyone out there who wants to see more of the HABIBTI stories? Let me know because I left out a big cliché, but I feel like I'll be overdoing it.

Salam
Peace
SALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM