I see the beauty of Islam in South Korea

Solidarity, Identity, and Peace will summarize my unexpected spiritual journey in South Korea.

Back in March 2023 when I was having a spring exchange program in South Korea. The first Ramadhan came on March 22, a month after I arrived in the ginseng country. It was still cold and the cherry blossoms were blooming. I came to Mosque to do taraweeh with my friends. Walking for about 2–4 km from the dormitory to the mosque. It was the first time, I came and prayed in a mosque in South Korea. I didn’t see a lot of women at that time, if I could percentage maybe 90% men and 10% women. Different from Indonesia, after Isya’, they would directly do taraweeh but here they spare an hour to do taraweeh. Perhaps, they knew that there would be someone who needed time to walk to the mosque like us. The first I heard“Allahu Akbar” from the Imam and all the people from different countries united in one place and did Salat together. SubhanAllah. Not gonna lie, it was the first peaceful night after I arrived in South Korea.

In the mosque, I met Malaysian friends and accidentally we made a group called “Remaja Masjid” lol consisted of exchange students from Indo & Malay who actively came to the mosque. I also met Kak Sari, an Indonesian who works in Korea and lives near the mosque. She lives with her husband and her son. If I can tell, OMG she’s really kind and fun! I think she’s one of the reasons I didn’t get homesick in here because she’s like our mom! Since I knew her, I also joined her community ya maybe just helping her community called Rumaisa (Rumah Muslimah Indonesia di Korea Selatan). This was the start from just came to taraweeh into a remarkable spiritual journey that I would tell you guys.

I would say having a supportive environment in Ramadhan, especially in a minority country is a privilege. Not many people could get the same bond with Allah as me. After we went through it, my friend told me it was totally hard to be fully Muslim in the minority. But not for me, I felt I really made a good connection even more with Allah. Alhamdulillah. So, it was true that “hidayah comes anytime, anywhere, at the right time which we might not expect.”

Yeah I had zero expectations, I was just a normal exchange program student who wanted to study, experience culture, and travel. Even a spiritual journey wasn’t on my bucket list. During Ramadhan, every weekend, the mosque is open for iftaar gatherings. Every country had its timeline to contribute to providing their local foods for Iftaar. At that time, we had Korea, Uzbekistan, India, Indo&Malay, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Egypt&Nigeria&Algeria. It was fun we could try their handmade halal local foods from all over the countries. And for sure, me as an Indonesian, I was also in charge of cooking Indonesian food along with Malaysian friends.

At that time, the women cooked for takjil, and we made pastel. It was my first time cooking pastel and God, it’s hard!! I will never judge someone who cooks pastel from scratch again because I know it’s hard. But no worries, I cooked together with Indo & Malay fellow. Imagine, we were from different backgrounds, but we came voluntarily to cook together because of the same goal. How peaceful was that to enjoy that process? The feeling I got was when I heard the adzan and saw people eating my food, it was undoubtedly making me wanna cry. I couldn't imagine how happy I was when I saw people enjoy our food, knowing that people had been fasting all day, our hard work paid off just seeing that. I felt peace.

Living outside my home country, outside my comfort zone, is sometimes really tiring. In Indonesia, is so easy to find halal food. Sadly, I didn’t have a kitchen in my dormitory. What a nightmare as a Muslim, right? As usual day, we were eating iftaar in the mosque, a group of girls in front of me saying “Hi!” to me and my friends. They are from Bangladesh. OMG they’re adorable and very very friendly! They even invited us to come to their home. After arranging our time, we came to their apartment. I didn’t know why I felt like we already became sisters. It was so easy for us to connect, chit-chat, and share each other struggles. They even cooked us dinner! and of course, it’s halal! They even gave us recommended places for halal food here. So it’s true that “He’ll guide your path when you lose your way as long as you keep turning towards Him.” Never doubt Him, as long as we really want in the right path, Allah will help us.

All good things were approaching me that much. Maybe “thank God” wasn’t enough. Day by day I lived as a happy Muslim in this country. I always know that everything could be a sign from Allah. But, I don’t know, I felt something missing. It was a rainy night, in the middle of Ramadhan month, I was having a student club meeting with Korean friends. I was a new member of the cooking club at my university. We went to the small restaurant where many students eat there, and of course, it’s not a halal restaurant. I’m an easy-going person, I allow myself to mingle with Koreans as long as I’m not eating/drinking that are prohibited as Muslim. When it came to order, they just ordered food and drink. I was just silent cause I didn’t know what they’re ordering. In the first sentence I said to them “Oh sorry, I don’t drink.” Okay, it’s a normal thing. Then, when the food came, they asked me to eat, but then I asked “Is it pork?” They looked at each other and were confused because they didn’t know what I was trying to say due to the language barrier but someone understood English and then explained to others. “Oh yeah, it’s pork.” said my Korean friend. Then I answered “Oh sorry, I can’t eat pork” Then they asked me, “Sorry, what’s your religion?” I said Muslim, then they started to like, “AAhhh, sorry we didn’t know.” At that moment, I didn’t realize anything until someone just asked me “So you’re Muslim, why you don’t wear Hijab?”

Here’s what the epic moment was, It’s so rare for me, someone from my home country to ask this kind of question and we sometimes just ignore it because Hijab is not our culture. But then, we asked by someone who’s not Muslim and he’s trying to understand our religion. It was so frustrating because I didn’t know how to answer whether I need to answer as an Indonesian or as a Muslim. It’s just complicated to explain at that time. And it’s not the first time I got this question from a non-Muslim, It’s my second time in here. Also, think about it, when you want to obey His commands, but you don’t represent yourself as Muslim. It’s funny, right? From that, I just realized, that Allah gave me a simple meaning in how I need to define Hijab. The first time I realized that the hijab is our identity as Muslims that could prevent us from the bad things. This would be a strong sentence because I put the word “Identity” in the first. So, hijab is not just a tool or a fashion. It’s our identity. Would it be different and easy? if I was wearing hijab at that time, they wouldn’t order pork or even do haram things without the need to ask. They also would be curious about hijab, about Islam, right?

What Allah commands is for the sake of humans. We sometimes never realize it until Allah allows us to experience it by ourselves. Even though, I experienced it when I was 21 years old, better late than never. I hope you guys can find hidayah as early as possible because it will make your life easier. I know we can’t make people understand what the Quran says. A lot of tafsir can be made from it. But one thing is for sure, we pray for the same God, Allah. And it’s all we need.

Maybe what I wrote wasn’t enough to explain to you guys my spiritual journey. It took 4 months of the exchange program to arrange all the pieces of a puzzle into a picture that I can describe to you guys and it was a glimpse, a recap of all stories that I had. Hopefully, this short writing can give you a reflection or inspiration for you.