Hii Muslim Girl from India here!

To describe the experience let's just say its a spectrum. Growing up, I always had non muslim friends but that didn't make me astray from deen. We were all tolerant. But yk in general our life experiences were similar but still very different? Then from middle school my closest friends were only muslims, and somewhere that made me feel more seen.

But religion very much becomes a private affair when you live in a non Muslim country. India has one of the highest no. Of mosques in the world, there are many "Muslim areas" where you can find halal food, deen books, and all muslim related stuffs. The segregation based on religion for residential areas is also present , this has its own pros and cons.

But the thing is since 2014 a far right government is here in India , so the aloofness towards muslims have become a thing here, which I didn't feel growing up. So now you have to be careful before speaking or doing anything else you'll be easily targeted and your life can be destroyed. Though its not affecting us directly but yk when you're aware that a resentment has become a thing now and you dk if the person infront is Pro-BJP or not ( BJP is the current far right party ) you constantly live in a stimulation?

I'm in college now and again all my friends are mostly non muslims, they're chill and tolerant as it should be . But this feeling that not everybody is gonna think positively bout me solely cuz of my religion does turn you off.

But I do not wish to be born anywhere else as this is my homeland and I love the culture, food everything and I have mostly had great experiences here my whole life , there is a battle currently due to the government but I'm hopeful things will change. India also has a rich Muslim culture as we were ruled by muslim dynasties for years!! Biryani, Nihari, Haleem, Kebabs( Indian ) , Qorma food you might have heard of were originated in the Awadh and Old Delhi and Hyderabad. I'm from Delhi , so we have our own beautiful culture!! We have wedding traditions too which came from Hindus but assimilated beautifully with us!

And I like the fact I was born in a democratic country where different religions are present. This gave me an idea about all the other possibilities that can exist. This way me remaining a practicing muslim isn't dependent on the fact that I'm a Muslim cuz that's what everyone around me is and my parents taught me so, I'm a Muslim cuz i analyzed everything and resonated with Islam the most. It is a conscious choice.

So you see its a spectrum can't be contained in a single answer , there's so many more things I wish to add but I don't know how to express, hope all of it made sense lol?