What is true freedom?

I had often wondered in my past life, living in a Western society, why religion oppressed people. I had this preconceived notion that religion was only for people who were oppressed and had no sense of direction in life. Often I made such ludicrous judgments and never really bothered to do my research. I thought that religion had way too many rules and regulations and that learning the playbook of football or the NBA would be easier than to learn the teachings of a religion, hence why I was never religious for the right reasons.

But enter Islam.

For some reason, which only Allah knows, I began to see things in a different light. I actually wanted to RESEARCH Islam and the different "rules and regulations" such a religion had in store for me. Something triggered my interest and I wanted to find out more. Perhaps it was because I was sick of the Western world, where a simple greet and smile was almost as hard to find as a diamond in the red sea, where globalization and consumerism was the primary focus in everybody's life, and where sex, drugs, partying was the only known pastimes.

Money made and will always make the world go round and I never really thought this was how I wanted to live my life. Women dressing like men or with barely nothing on is considered a movement of freedom for the women's revolution.

Women dating women, men dating men are becoming more popular in the world. The crime rate is skyrocketing and more economic depression is sweeping the world by storm. Perhaps all these things were making me sick and disgusted and I wanted nothing to do with this. The ironic thing is that this revolution of the 21 st century is supposed to be the century of opportunity, growth, technology, and more freedom. But is this really considered freedom? When all you see is violence and casualties , free sex everywhere, economic oppression of slave wages, high divorce rates, pornography in many homes, women dressing like "whores" on television, people using vulgar language, and many mistreating their parents and elders. The women we see walking around in malls, on television half naked, these women are mothers, wives, and daughters of yours!!!

Is that really freedom? Who is really oppressed ? Is it really us Muslims?

Are we, Muslims, oppressed just because we, women, cover up our adornment from strange men we don't know because our beauty is only for our Lord and for our husband? Are we oppressed because we cover up properly and we are actually respected instead of being looked at as sex objects ? Are we oppressed because we remember our Lord, our Creator five times a day ? Because we prostrate before our Creator and submit to Him? Are we oppressed because we are treated like a delicate flower from our husbands instead of a woman who is easily disposable at any moment ? Are we oppressed because we greet and smile at every Muslim out of respect for one another? Are we oppressed because we stay away from violence and crime because in the Qur'an it STRICTLY prohibits such acts ? Are we oppressed because we know the destruction that the media and music have on people? Are we oppressed because we have a book that teaches us how to live our lives as decent, well mannered, loving human beings?

If all these things ( and they are just a few of the many) seem to you to be why Muslims are oppressed, than by all means continue living in your Western world "bubble" as I, amongst millions of born Muslims and reverts want to live their life with true freedom and that's why we choose Islam any day over all the other religions, and especially the religion of the consumer society.