CNN Unwelcome: Muslims Next Door Soledad O'Brien

I watched this video last night that aired on CNN this previous Sunday:



I'm amazed at how optimistic the Muslims remained. Personally, things like this make me believe that the average American Muslim has a higher risk of being attacked by an American non-Muslim than vice versa.

So often we hear that Muslims are trying to change the face of America, and "they" are working to make Shariah law into everyone's law. And by golly, we all know that Shariah law is all about cutting off appendages and stoning people to death! *shakes head* There's so much more to Shariah than that. I liked that they pointed out that Shariah is more of a way of life than just a list of punishments. InshaAllah, I would like to become much more knowledgeable in Shariah so I can confidently refute comments I hear, such as, "What about XYZ thing that happened in X country that I heard on the news?" There is so much garbage on the news, it is hard to come back with the specific cultural practice of every country that has an ocean between us.

It really is about "us" and "them", isn't it? This has been the fight throughout American history, and possibly history in other countries as well. First "they" were the Native Americans, then came those pesky Italians and Irish. After that, all the Europeans could band together to hate the blacks, Japanese, and most recently the Mexicans. Dang immigrants coming to "our" country! Do we forget our past? As much as people say that people need to learn English before coming here, I am pretty certain their original ancestors to this country didn't know perfect English before settling in the mighty U.S. of A. So many were fleeing persecution or poverty. What lazy dimwits they must have been for not stopping to take an English class before leaving their country! *sigh*

Now "they" are the Muslims. As I look through history, there has never really been an easy way to settle this. There are fights for equal rights, such as we see with Martin Luther King, Jr., and some things just take time for people to warm up to. Time will tell what will happen in the coming year. I know Muslims are watching the news, and this upcoming election seems pivotal for the outcome of Muslims in America.

Islam is on trial. We know the truth, but will it set us free, in America?

Worship and worries

Shannen Espelien (@Durriyyah1982) has shared a Tweet with you:

"Durriyyah1982: When a worshipper prostrates to his Lord, his worries fall off his shoulders and remain discarded on the ground as he rises back up."
--http://twitter.com/Durriyyah1982/status/51123155946840064

What do you think?

I find this so true, but only when I really concentrate on the worship. If I'm in prayer to worship, but thinking of my worries, there is no difference in my demeanor. I know I need to hand things to Allah and let the weight off my shoulders. Some things are out of my control; and alhamdulilah they are! The thoughts of "if I would have done X" melt away.

Thoughts?

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Polygamy

Oookay, I am taking a break from life and making myself sit down and think about something of importance, or relevance.

My husband and I started watching Sister Wives, and it is interesting how many discussions it brought up about polygamy. Now, understand that we have never had a knee-jerk reaction to polygamy while we have known each other, but this is something I witness from others quite often. People immediately say, "Oh, no, gross, I would NEVER!!" but it is amazing how quickly they open up a "maybe" when you start bring examples in which it would be beneficial. The hypothetical example I typically give is: What if I was injured and became paralyzed from the neck down?

So, given this example, let's think through some scenarios.

1) My husband has to take care of me 100%, whether that is paying for a home nurse, or doing the work himself; probably somewhere in between. He now has the rest of his life married to me in which I basically can hold a conversation with him. I no longer can meet his physical needs nor can I take care of him in any way. This is a one way street.
2) My husband divorces me so he can be with someone who is able to meet his needs.

I don't think either of these options really seem like a good solution to this problem. Simply, taking another wife would be beneficial for both the husband and the wife. The wife can still be taken care of by the husband financially, and he can have his physical needs met (food, care, sex, etc.) by his second wife.


This is only one example. Think further, and we can find many other examples of situations that would be beneficial to both parties. For instance if the wife is barren, the wife has a much lower sexual drive than the husband, or even if she is less "cuddly" than him, the husband wants more kids than the wife wants to have, etc.


I have heard so many people look at men who are in polygamous marriages as if they are sex fiends. Okay, so let's be blunt here... who cares if they are?!? They are acting out their desires in a committed, loving relationship! This is not some guy who is cheating on his wife, lying about his actions, etc. all to cover up this deep dark secret that *gasp* he wants to have sex! I can't count how many times I have heard wives say they want sex FAR less than their husband does. Some go as far as maybe only being intimate with their husband a dozen times a year. So let's say a guy has two wives and they both have this type of drive. He would have sex *oh my gosh!!!* 24 times a  year. Whoooooaaaaa!! He must be a maniac, right?

sigh

So let's get real. It is perfectly legal for a man to be intimate with as many women as he wants, so long as he doesn't marry them. If he wants to be committed and marry them, this is downright illegal. What a system we live in.

So, before we go on judging about how disgusting a man is to have more than one wife, let's first think about how brave, caring, generous, kind, thoughtful, and affectionate this man must be to have won over not one, but two or more women to be his life long partner.

Need Inspiration!

You know, in the past it has been conflict that has inspired many of my posts.

Well... there has been little to no conflict lately, alhamdulilah!! But now, what do I write?!

Any questions/suggestions/comments??

My Husband's Conversion Story

This was an email from my husband to an old friend of his from Youth Group (church) when they asked why he converted to Islam.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

The points I want to share are simple.

I've enjoyed doing things the way I think is right even when the main stream of like-minded, same faith individuals practice otherwise. A shorter way to say that is I like to do things the way I want even if most other people in the same category of belief as me do those things a different way. Hmph. That wasn't a shorter version at all. I know you get the point now, though.

A couple years ago, as a Christian, I decided not to pray or sing to Jesus anymore. I was still a Christian. But whenever a song at church was directed to praising or worshiping Jesus, my mouth was closed. Isn't this ant-Christian? No. It is pro-Christian. Worshiping God, our Father, alone, was Jesus' directive. He led us to worship the Father. Never did he direct praise upon himself nor instruct anyone to pray to him. Thus, how I came to the conclusion to only worship the Father.

Another point I looked into was when Jesus said people's sins were forgiven. I couldn't find any spot where Jesus said that he himself forgave anyone of their sins. Even John the Baptist told people when their sins were forgiven.

All my personal curiosities were satisfied by looking only in the Bible at this point. But as you can imagine, my view of Jesus' role was already drastically different than most Christians by only coming to those two points so far.

Here is the part where people seem to doubt the genuineness of my conversion. I worked with *Durriyyah* before we got married. Once she started wearing hijab (the covering most Muslim women wear), I got curious. I got curious because I knew it had to have been a hardship for her to do that in a leadership role in the IT field where most co-workers are men. I thought she must have been serious. I started asking questions. We talked about Islam and Christianity for a period of time. Eventually, I ordered a Qur'an from amazon.com to read it. I wanted to know more about this religion. I also thought, "How much faith do I have in my beliefs if I'm afraid to read about someone else's beliefs?"

In reading the Qur'an, I found the same message in the Old Testament and of Jesus. The simplest way to put it is: There is no god but the One God; you need to worship Him. I kept thinking, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One." I began to think, "Why would God stick to this simple principle and then later introduce a theology of a trinity that reduces His glory (since it's now shared), doesn't make sense, and conforms to pagan theories?"

Islam does not count Paul as a prophet of God. This means that though he very likely wrote some inspired things, he did not have the authority to change any doctrines. This was hard for me to do, but if you take Paul's strange concepts out, the New Testament makes more sense with the Old. It makes more sense that God is the same God and is calling the same people. Islam was needed to bring "the people of the Book" back to the original doctrine of God and away from the pagan contaminated ideologies of multiple gods in one or multiple gods period. Think of the christmas tree. Why does it exist as a Christian practice?

After I was 2/3 through the Qur'an, I read a book on the origination of the trinity doctrine. Now, I already knew some of the details as to how it became accepted into the formal church. But reading this book made it silly. It was after reading that that I knew Islam was the same old message that God has always been giving and that Christians of today are not like the Christians of Jesus' time. And I mean so different that Jesus would say to Christians of today, "I know you not."

That is my story. I hope very much that my words are not too upsetting. You know I was a strong Christian. Converting was wrenching. Now, I am a submissive follower (Muslim) of the one and only God, Who has no partners and no equal.

Why Do I Believe the Qur'an is the Word of God?

I suppose I could also say "How Do I Know the Qur'an is the Word of God?" but, really, I think people who have the idea that it is a belief and can not be founded by knowledge will read it the other way regardless.

Whenever I think of this question, I remember an old friend/coworker of mine. He was quite an abrupt person; one that you would never think had a religious bone in his body. After I got to know him a little bit better, I found out that he used to be a Muslim. He went to prison for a few years, and in prison he said he had time to think and he found Islam. Now, he is a white guy... so this isn't going to fit into the Nation of Islam stereotype. He learned Arabic and was the imam (pastor/preacher/leader) at the prison. I asked him why he didn't follow Islam any longer and his answer was basically that he got distracted with his old ways when he got out. Anyway... when I told him I was thinking of reading the Qur'an, he told me "You're going to be a Muslim. You'll see the science in it and know it is the truth." He knew me pretty well, I guess, to know what things would stick out to me.

At first, I didn't much care for what the Qur'an had to say. I felt jabs at my own lifestyle, and kept thinking to myself "Hey, what did I do to you?" but the fact is, some of it started sinking in. I started asking myself if I was really following the best lifestyle, or the most convenient?

I noticed the logic and reason the Qur'an calls to all people. We are told to think, reflect, ponder, and come to conclusions about the most basic things around us. We are encouraged to ask questions and wonder why this world is crafted in the way it is. Think about how complex this world is, and how it could have become such a way. It is very hard for me to imagine pure evolution coming to this result. I also realized that Muslims weren't required to give up all science when believing the story of creation and that one of God's names is The Evolver. We do not need to throw away science in order to believe in God!

There are numerous scientific proofs in the Qur'an that point to the fact that the Creator of the Universe sent this revelation, to an illiterate person in a time of poetry and linguistics, but yet still marvels people today in our time of science and technology.

There are many places where one can find a listing of this verses that point to science, so I will save myself the effort of compiling them myself.

The Qur'an demands that one use logic and reason to come to the conclusion and not simply following what their ancestors worshiped, or what is "easier" or more convenient. We are told to find proof for what we believe. Feeling good about it isn't good enough! After all, don't you think Satan is going to make you feel great about following the wrong path?

I learned Islam from books, lectures by scholars, etc. I didn't learn from the Muslims I knew, which I'm very glad and fortunate because if I considered Muslim people as the authority on Islam, I have big questions on where I would be today.

Along with the scientific proofs, I found that historically, stories in the Qur'an are generally accurate. I take our historical science we have today with a grain of salt just because we see a few mistakes still from time to time.

Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

Do they not ponder on the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy. [4:82]

And thus far, I have not been able to find any contradictions or discrepancies when comparing one area of the text to another!! Now, I'm aware that contradictions in the Bible (10,000 people vs. 1,000, or the like) are chalked up to the authors getting something wrong, but over all the message is the same. I don't have to come to terms with anything like this, because there is only one author.

I am not told to "just believe" or that there is a "mystery" of God that I can't untangle. I know that if God created us with intellect and reason... something other species in this world do not have... then He must have created me in such a way that I can understand Him.

The "rules" just make sense. When we look at the general society, it makes sense to have such things in place. I think we have become a society of making rules on exceptions, which will entangle us more than we think.

Now, this didn't hit me as hard as it has since my faith has been questioned by others and I've been asked to read Christian literature numerous times, but the fact that the doctrine of Islam is explicitly stated in the Qur'an has kept me a Muslim and proven the message. God is not shy in how we are to worship Him and understand Him. We are told over and over and over and over and over (get it?) that we are to worship Him alone. There is no implicit statements about it. You are basically being hit over the head with a brick on this one item. Never should we construct a doctrine that we place the destiny of our souls in, with implicit statements.

I never wanted to be a Muslim. I never thought I would find an absolute truth that I could feel so confident with. The fact is though, after I finished reading the Qur'an, I could not think of how this book could have been written by a human being and thus the only logical thing for me to do was to be a Muslim.

Question

I would like to know what the proofs are that the Bible is the Word of God and not something man created to fulfill his own desires and will.

Also, what proofs are there that Paul was inspired and had the authority to make amendments to Jesus's teachings (removing the law from the people), other than his own word that he heard it in a vision.

These questions have remained unanswered to me to this day.