I may not be the best adviser when it comes to friendship cause I really suck at that.
Like seriously. To be honest with you, I have less than 20 good and best friends. But as a person who has been walking on this earth for about 30 years, I've made new friends and lose some old friends. Hey, who doesn't right?
Well, as you grow old, you only want to keep quality friends. Not just keep the fun ones only but also friends who will actually be there for you when you're in trouble. Some will just turn their back on you the moment they know you're in deep s***. Well, I've known than bunch.
In case you miss this out (A CLOTH OVER MY HEAD Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and final part), I did mentioned a small part where I expect to lose some friends along my journey of change. For a person who has more non-Muslim friends, the approach of revealing a new you can be a little different. The way you explain your change and why you do it has to be simple and subtle so that you do no offend them.
Wearing the scarf does not mean you need to change friends too. No you don't. It's more of not making an impression that you're changing yourself into an ustazah. That will scare anyone too, you know.
I was at my close friend's birthday party last weekend. A question was thrown at me from another close friend. 'So what's hard for you after you wear the tudung?'. I answered' Nothing actually. Tudung is just a choice I made and my way of life. Other than that, my friends are still the same like you guys. So nothing changed who I really am'.
When you changed (like my case), don't ever throw judgement to your friends that you're better than them. Just because you have a piece of cloth over your head doesn't mean that you have to choose who you wanna be friends with. Be yourself and don't be a hypocrite. Be honest and be the original you.
The true Muslim tries to understand people but does not make judgments on them, and he may call them to what is good and right, but he does not impose his opinion upon them. As for reckoning and taking people to account, that solely belongs to God.
~Dr. Mustafa Mahmud
