My two cents

Bismillahir rahman nir rahim

 In the name of Allah , the most compassionate and merciful

Twas scrolling twitter and saw this pic

 Something was wrong. Tak nak masuk neraka ? Of course , yes it's true, it's part of our teaching but. Why teach kids to be afraid of hell instead of striving for paradise ? Call me liberal and petty but i simply cannot accept it. It's like "if you dont do this, you'll go to hell" . I hate it. It's not the islam i fell in love with. Islam is peace, it's kind and it's simple. Just how i imagine our Prophet p.b.u.h. To be ! It's the way of life , how we should live. This makes islam seem like an oppression. Islam isnt just about hellfire, it's about the beauty of being Allah's servant. And to be His true servant, we have to strive to be be the definition of a Muslim.

And in reference of being a definition of a Muslim, the few descriptions of Malaysian Muslims typically viewed my non-muslims are; doesnt eat pork, are afraid of dogs and wears tudung. Oh and fast during ramadhan. That is how Malaysian muslims portray themselves. But the more i learn, the more i realize that there's more to being a Muslims than being a Malay, which is completely different. Apparently now there's an indistinguishable line between those two, and is becoming one of the top factors of hindrance towards islam. My point is, this shouldnt be our identity. Nampak sangat tak portray the true meaning of being a Muslim.

okay, back to topic, for example, if i were to tell you either of two things,

(A) If you pluck a leaf, i would reward you with RM100

(B) If you don't pluck a leaf, you would have to pay RM100

Which sounds more inviting? Yes, both will motivate you to pluck a leaf, but (B) cast me in a darker light does it not? There's always a softer and gentler alternative to commands and instructions. So why choose the harsher option? Is this how you portray Islam ? Just my 2 cents.