By Zainab Shahid
When I started secondary school, I found it all very daunting. There were a lot more students, and the ones in year eleven seemed like giants! I felt tiny amongst all of these other students. I also remember thinking that the students in years ten and eleven would be very mature and grown-up.
But I was in for a big shock the day I went into the toilets and saw a few girls smoking. I never once imagined that school students would smoke! Was this all part of growing up, or was it something completely different?
As time went by, I found that they all smoked for different reasons. Some wanted to rebel, some had family problems or friend problems and smoked because they thought it helped calmed them down, whilst others were pressured into it by their so-called friends.
If you ever feel that you are being forced into doing something that you don’t want to do, or something that you know is wrong by your ‘friends,’ then remember that they aren’t really your friends. Good friends never tell you do anything wrong.
People can come up with many excuses to fool you into doing something that isn’t right. “Don’t worry, nobody will know!” or “Your parents aren’t here so they can’t see you.” Unfortunately, some people do fall into this trap, but as Muslims we should remember that Allah is always watching us – even if our parents aren’t.
Never let people pressure you into doing something. You must always stand your ground. Allah will never give you a problem that you cannot deal with. Being Muslim, we have to trust Allah more than we trust ourselves – He will never want anything bad to happen to us.