Muslims' Worst Enemies

Ever since I converted to Islam, it has been abundantly clear to me who the strongest enemies are to Muslims: other Muslims. Because I have opinions and viewpoints on Islam that differ from the mainstream hadith-followers, Sunnis, Shias, etc, I, for some reason, come off as offensive to other Muslims. 


I wonder why that is? I wonder why Muslims feel the need to regulate my religion and my beliefs, as if I asked them to, or as if that is their duty. Au contraire, it is a Muslim's duty NOT to interfere with my beliefs and religion:


Quran 109:6 "To you be your Way, and to me mine." 


Quran 2:256 "Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from Error: whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things."


I must say that it does slightly annoy me, because who are other Muslims to judge my connection and belief in Allah, and my own personal truth? Many Muslims believe that there is only one path to Allah, but if they were to read the Qur'an clearly, they would understand that the only things one must do (as stated over and over in the Qur'an) is to 

• Believe in Allah & only worship Allah.
• Believe in the day of judgement.
• Establish regular prayer.
• Establish regular charity. 

Maybe Muslims get defensive because they know that my points are valid and their beliefs are ones they have embraced because of Islam the culture, not Islam the religion. (I'll write another blog entry about Islam culture vs. Islam religion.) I really have no other reason I can think of that Muslims get so. . . indignant. 

It's sad that I have to refer even Muslims to my post about regulators. If my beliefs offend you, I am sorry you cannot see my point of view, but I will not be changing my outlook for your comfort. You can believe that I am a Muslims or not - either way, it doesn't concern you and you should focus your efforts on other things. If I need advice on religion, I will definitely keep in mind that you are available for me to ask your perspective. 

Pork

I'm almost afraid to write this. I'm sure that some Muslims will claim that I'm not Muslim, just by writing this blog entry, but I don't care. I am not on this planet to please Muslims; I'm on this planet to please Allah. In my opinion, it is beyond important for religious people to question things that do not make sense to them. If they don't, they are mindless and unintelligent.

It is a well-known custom among many Muslims to avoid pork their diet:

16:115 He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. . . 

Here's a small history of the Qur'an: It was revealed to the prophet Mohammed over more than 20 years. Qur'an was not written down on paper until years after Mohammed's death. The surahs were memorized by companions of Mohammed, then written down later when the companions were noticing other people taking these surahs and putting their own little twist on them, to put the words of the Qur'an in line with their own beliefs. 

Because the Qur'an was revealed at the time it was, it addresses many things that were current issues of the time. It states that each prophet before was addressing the times and people of that period. Of course, each message had many obvious parts that carry over to the current times. 

Now, why do you think pork is forbidden in the Qur'an? Could it be one of those things that is addressing the specific times when the Qur'an was revealed? One reason people tend to say that pork is forbidden is because it is dirty. The pig in the slaughterhouse is fed and treated the SAME way the cows and chickens and turkeys and lambs are treated: POORLY. They are fed the SAME type of food and given the same type of living arrangement. 

There is no legitimate reason that one should avoid pork if they do not avoid beef and every other animal. In Mohammed's times, there was not a safe way to prepare pork, AND pork was not a type of animal that was easy to raise in a desert climate. It was incredibly inconvenient, therefore pork was not something the people of that area ate. 

Yes, the Qur'an says to avoid pork, but then again, the Qur'an was revealed to a specific peoples in a specific location at a specific time. And again, as we know, different prophets brought specific messages and miracles (from Allah) to specific times and people.

We MUST remember this. If you are a Muslim who avoids pork, but feels comfortable eating beef and chicken, then maybe you should reevaluate this. Ask why! Never just take something that doesn't make sense and accept it blindly. 

Why Muslims SHOULD Celebrate Christmas

If you are Muslim, you should know to respect all prophets and messengers of Allah. ALL of them. Equally, might I add. That includes Moses, Noah, Jesus, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, David, etc etc etc. According to the Qur'an, Islam was taught by all of these prophets. Islam being, of course, the belief in the one god & belief in the Day of Judgement, and of course, submission to Allah.

2:136 We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac,

Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all)

prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them . . 

Why then, may I ask, is Christmas not celebrated among the Muslim community? Mawlid is a public holiday in many Muslim countries (Mawlid being Mohammed's birthday). When you celebrate someone's birthday, are you worshiping that person? NO. You are celebrating the day that person was brought into this world because you love & value him/her. This really isn't a difficult concept.

3:45 O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ

Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the

company of) those nearest to Allah.

As the Qur'an states, Jesus was an important prophet; this isn't argued. Why not celebrate his birth? Was he not an extremely important figure at his time, and even now? Did he do amazing things and deliver Allah's message with love and acceptance? Why would you celebrate a relative or friend's birthday, while excluding a revolutionary religious figure (if you are a religious person)? The only reason to neglect this holiday is because you don't recognize the validity or impact of Jesus on humanity. In that case, one cannot legitimately say that he/she follows Islam & the holy Qur'an.

There are countless (and I mean countless) songs in the Muslim world praising Mohammed past appropriate, but how many songs are of any other prophet? I shall direct you again to the about ayah stating, "We make no different between one and another of them." What should this mean to Muslims? This should mean WE should make no difference between one and another of them, period. They were all divinely inspired and given the holy spirit of Allah.

You can guarantee that I'll be celebrating Christmas with my Christian brothers & sister. No doubt about that. Jesus was an amazing prophet with love and compassion and a wonderful message from Allah. I will PROUDLY celebrate Christmas and sing songs about how great he was. Allah made no mistake in choosing Jesus or any other prophet and messenger. I will respect the message that Allah relayed through Jesus and the prophet Jesus himself.

Good Quotes!

I love these. Got them from islamic-quotes.tumblr.com

People Who Turn Away

Top reason why people turn away from religion: Unsavory followers.

Obviously, there are members of every group that are embarrassing. People in your family, people on your team at work, people in your classroom, people in your city/state, people in your political party, people in your country, people in your gender, and of course and most of all, people in your religion.

People who turn away from religion and/or faith are not repulsed by how courageous and admirable Moses was, or offended about how loving and amazing Jesus was, or disgusted about how respectable and gentle Mohammed was. Not at all! How could they be? That is not what people who turn away are worried about.

They are worried about how repulsive it is for people who claim to be religious kill innocent people in the direct name of God. They are offended by how judgmental many religious leaders and followers are to everyone. These people are disgusted how hypocritical and harmful religious speakers' words are to many others.

It is not hard at all to see why people turn away from religion and faith. Although, I don't find this to be an excuse.

For me personally, if I do not like something or find something a little off, I do research on the subject. If you grow up around a family who claims to be Christian, and you see nothing but negativity and bad influences, why not research exactly what being Christian means, instead of taking your family's bad example as truth? Why not read the Bible yourself? You can NEVER take anothers' opinion & word as your own if you don't look into exactly what it means for you.

Every American on television reality shows are an embarrassment to me as an American citizen, but I definitely wouldn't want a non-American person to watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians and think all Americans are like that family. That is most definitely a FALLACIOUS hasty generalization.

You cannot accurately judge an entire faith based on the limited followers you run into in your life. You cannot judge it based on the people you know + the people you see on TV & in the news. You must find things out on your OWN, because if you don't, aren't you just a clueless follower yourself?

For me, it's difficult to know that others connect me to the type of Muslim that I definitely don't agree with on most levels. That is why I try to avoid the label Muslim if possible, and prefer saying that I practice Islam, or follow Islam. Unfortunately, others connect bad things to the word "Muslim" (and "Christian," etc) and that really is a shame, because it's very far from facts. When people do their OWN research about faiths, they see it in a whole new light.

Why Muslims Use Arabic All The Time

I'm sure many non-Muslims wonder why Muslims use the word "Allah" instead of God when they are English speakers. Let me answer that question! Alright, so the word "god" means deity, right? Well, the name "God" has more than one meaning and can mean deity, as well as the name of the one true God. The reason Allah is used is because the name "Allah" is exactly that: a name. It is not another word for "god." "Allah" is the name for the one true god.

So, for example, when talking about the god of the Torah, "Allah" would be a correct term to use for God. When talking about the god of the Bible, "Allah" would be a correct term to use for God. When talking about the god of the Qur'an, "Allah" would be a correct term to use for God. Does this make sense? There is no exact word translation for "Allah" is English, although when the word "God" is used, it's the same idea. I hope this is making sense to everyone!

Let me try another example: Let's say you have a son. You call him "Son" sometimes because he is your son. The more direct, personal way to address him would be "Adam." Adam directly refers to your son alone, because the word son is a general term, and can mean anyone's son.

***

Now, let me delve into my problem with Muslims using Arabic terms all the time, even if they aren't Arab (which most Muslims are not) & even if their first language is not Arabic.

So, I'm sure everyone is familiar with the saying "Allahu akbar," which most Muslims use in prayer and everyday life. This means, "Allah is the greatest." Other terms used often are "alhumdulillah" which means "praise be to Allah," "subhanaallah" which means "glory be to Allah," and "inshaallah" which means "Allah willing."

So, why do you hear these terms from English-speaking Muslims in everyday life? Why do they find it necessary to speak these sayings in Arabic? Is it because the Qur'an was written in Arabic? If so, do these Muslims believe that Arabic is superior in any way?

Allah is closer to you than your jugular vein. If you pray in Arabic, and you have no idea what the f*ck you are saying, how can you appreciate your prayer? How can you genuinely MEAN your prayer if you don't know the meaning of the words you are saying? Even if you vaguely know the meaning, or the gist of your Arabic prayer, it is not even CLOSE to being as powerful as your prayer in your native language.

Back to the question: why do Muslims feel the need to use Arabic in their everyday language? Some answers to this could be that they want to keep the integrity of the Qur'an intact because there will be much less confusion and mistranslation if it stays in Arabic.

My reply would be, so if you say "Praise Allah" or "Praise be to Allah," are you misrepresenting Islam? Are you corrupting Islam? Are you defacing Allah? Things mean MUCH more to you personally when in your native tongue.

Now, if you are using Arabic words because you love Arabic and think it's beautiful and love the sound, etc, etc, etc, then there is no issue. But I do not feel that most Muslims use these Arabic terms because they love the language. I bet if I asked, a lot would say something about how the prophet Mohammed said this in Arabic, so they want to be like him. Or even, they might not know WHY they use Arabic!

Any thoughts???

Fasting Plan

You have no idea how badly I feel about failing.

The end of Day 2, I ate a meal. It's strange, though. . . After I ate, and prayed (for quite a while), while I was reading Qur'an, I felt like it was being spoken to me. I felt extremely close to Allah. It was as if Truth was being poured into my brain as I was reading. During my prayer, I asked for clarity in a situation, and right after prayer, the very first surah I read pertained exactly to what I prayed about.

I know I failed on a 7 day water fast, but I feel almost like I was being. . . comforted from my absolute guilt for only going 2 days. I think simply the fact I was doing something for Allah and only for Allah that I was rewarded by a STRONG, very stern presence.

I believe that one reason why I wasn't able to complete all 7 days is because my body is not used to fasting for that long. I don't count Ramadan as pure fasting, as you get to eat twice a day.

New game plan: I am going to do some intermittent fasting. That means, I am going to fast every other day. This fast will also be dedicated to God, but it will also be a primer to a longer fast, like 3 days, then 7 days. So I will fast tomorrow, Friday, then Sunday, then Tuesday, then Thursday, etc. My plan is to continue this through the month of October.

Also, there are endless health benefits to fasting as well. Of course, I am taking vitamins to accompany this fast.