“Islam requires community and I am an introvert, what do I do?”
I received this question recently.
A great question.
I think we all tend to have some mix of introversion and extroversion – no one is all introvert or all extrovert. You will find that when someone you consider an “introvert” is talking about their favorite topic, they light up and become the life of the party.
The Quran teaches us balance:
On the one hand:
We should reflect on our own about the Quran.
The Prophet pbuh would spend days and weeks in the cave of Hira meditating until Jibreel came to him.
The night prayer alone with Allah is the best kind of prayer.
Yet…
We should pray and fast together.
Give charity to others.
Make Hajj together.
We a nation of believers
So my answer to this question is to not consider yourself as introverted or extroverted – simply realize there are strengths you have and weaknesses you have and work on balancing yourself.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “The believer who is with people and is patient is better than the one who isolates themself”.
So there we have it.
What do you think? Share your reflections below!
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I’m on the autism spectrum. I have trouble understanding what other people mean, so I find it very difficult to be extroverted. I never know how what I say will be interpreted. I say what I mean and there is no hidden meaning to it. I’m no good at conversing like that. However, sometimes what I say is interpreted as if I meant something that I didn’t say. I’ve also had trouble when someone says something and really means something else and I didn’t get the “meaning” of it. I find it very frustrating when people don’t just say what they actually mean.
Nice answer dear brother/sister. However I’d like you to know that introverts have no problem helping others (indeed it is said they love to do so) and pray together. Introverts love human connection. The reason why spending time in a group exhausts them is because of their observational nature. They subconciously observe things and sounds around them, which gets them overstimulated over time. I’m talking about noises of people talking, loud music (even if they like it and even if they’re dancing to it), the sounds of cars passing by, looking at what are others doing etc. Extroverts, however, are energized by these sounds. Introvert is not just a personality trait, but something that we can’t change at all, because there is a tiny difference between introvert’s and extrovert’s brain structure and the difference in the way of it’s functioning. I say this because you said we should find a balance. What we should really do, is learn more about ourself (I’d suggest learning about both introversion and extroversion, because then we’ll improve our communication with different people) and learn how to use that to maintain our communication, productivity and mental health. You can communicate with others without being any less of an Introvert 😀 just by being close to your friends and smiling and saying something now and then. I know you weren’t hating on either side, but I’m just letting you and readers know because I feel like people must know that 🙂 May Allah bless you and all readers.
As an introvert myself, I feel you!
Can i get a reference for the hadith,
“The believer who is with people and is patient is better than the one who isolates themself”?
I would like to look it up in a book of hadith. JazakAllah hu Khayrun.
Sure. Here you go: https://hadithanswers.com/the-believer-who-mixes-with-people-is-better-than-those-who-remain-aloof/
In this world of materialism it’s difficult to follow religion seriously!!!
You are right. Thanks for your good suggestion.
Macha Allah. We’re always best when alone with Allah (swt), but He (swt) requires us to help others and stand up for justice and to do those, it requires others, at least from time to time.
What an amazing Deen we have from our Amazing Rab Subhan’Allah.
May Allah bless you for all your wisdom that you share with us.
Beautiful response
Awesome advice. Jazakallahu khair for this.