In the following essay I want to share a religious autobiography of mine in 1,000 words. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Islam is a religion that is often misinterpreted as a male-dominated religion where personal rights are routinely ignored or abused. However, this is a false stigma that has been perpetuated in Western culture and it is important to understand the reality of the situation. Growing up with first-generation immigrant parents and being the eldest of four siblings allowed me to be a leader in what some consider a strict religion. Living in the United States brought Western culture to influence our Muslim family, which gave me the freedom to develop my own opinions and choose which aspects of Islam I wanted to follow. Growing up I was the eldest of four brothers and therefore had a lot of responsibilities. I was a role model for them, and similar to the saying; “Monkey sees, monkey does” was their sense of direction. This applied to all aspects of life, but the most important thing was how I approached our Sabbath religious school. I quickly realized that if I rarely wanted to participate, or if I acted like it was a chore, I would pass those behaviors on to my siblings. Every Saturday my parents loaded us into the van and took us to our neighborhood mosque. We spent the next few hours reciting verses from the Quran, learning how to be an ideal Muslim, and reading and writing in Arabic. It was a Saturday ritual until I turned twelve when I decided it wasn't for me anymore. My parents resisted, but I assured them that it was best for them to save the money. What I had gleaned from the lessons was similar to what I had learned in middle school. We had just finished learning about the “golden rule” and ways to help our community, and I felt that sitting in class for hours on the weekend instead of acting on those words was a waste of time. I became more involved in my community and felt a sense of good. I strongly believed in “taking care of others” and helping those less fortunate. Islam addresses the importance of caring for one another and I wanted to put these words into practice. My choice was to join the Girl Scouts of America, and from that point on, community service became a part of my life. As I grew up, I developed my own views on religion. There were some of my friends from school who had worn hijab after going through puberty. There is a double standard with women in Islam that we should not distract guys with our developed bodies. Luckily, my parents didn't force this on me. They let me wear whatever I wanted, including my high school volleyball uniform. It was only when I was in the company of my brothers and father that I was asked to cover up. This frustrated me because it would require me to wear layers of clothing, summers included, while my brothers could walk around in their boxers unharmed in my parents' opinion. It was then that I had the revelation that, although we attended the same religious classes, followed the same prayer and fasting times, I had more restrictions because of my gender. I questioned my faith because I felt like a second-class citizen. Women had many more rules such as covering themselves, no sex before marriage, and in some parts of the world no access to basic education. Even though on the surface it seems that religion oppresses women; I discovered that this really isn't the case..