COMMENT | For so many who grew up in strict obedience of the elders in our society, the idea of challenging the ideals that we grew up with is an incredible feat - one that some might go as far as careful, casual chatting with very close friends, but few would publicly raise questions about culture and morality.

Islam tells us that the first jihad must begin within ourselves. So even if these answers never see the light of day, I wonder how many of us explored inwardly to find out how much of our truth we have accepted brings real peace to our realities, and how many are simply constructs that we have adopted as our own without any further interrogation or thought.

How far has this seeped into the very identity of who we are? How much of ourselves have we given and how much more do we owe?

Take for example, the upbringing of children. From a very young age, some parents have instilled into the psyche of their children the notion of God's wrath. "Kalau nakal nanti Allah marah!" - and versions of such threats have been used to ingrain fear using the name of God, disconnecting the actual feelings of the parents from the equation, and elevating them as guardians of God's feelings.

The child grows up and is distilled with more visions of God's wrath...