Impression That I Get

I found the “Alchemy of Happiness” readings to be very insightful. There was some some things that I agreed with and other things I found difficult to understand. For example, the description of how to explain why we should be moral, saying that if the non-believer “is right, then neither of us will be any worse off; but if we are right, then we shall escape and you shall suffer.” It shows how reasonable it is to believe in such things as religion and God. However, I found it confusing about knowing one’s self in order to know God. This type of thing typically doesn’t happen until one is much older and has had more experience. My question wold be that if someone young were to die before they found themselves, would they be automatically condemned?

My first thoughts…

The readings from Hamid al-Ghazali have been pretty interesting so far. I am not sure if this is a text that is accepted by Islam as a whole, or rather a small section of believers. What I have found striking thusfar is how closely the doctrines compare to the major doctrines of the Christian faith. There were some major differences that seperated the two religions, a major one was the exclusion of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, but some major threads that would connect the two included the idea that we were created in the image of God and that sin or ‘the world’ seeks to focus our attention on the present and immediate, rather than on the future and eternal. This was previously unknown to me and I find it terribly interesting…

Who is more credible?

I am not a particularly religious person so I do not know much about Islam or Christianity (besides what I listened to while in church with my parents). I looked up “Islam” on the incredibly reliable source, Wikipedia, to see what it was all about. One of the first things I read was this:

Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur’an to Muhammad, God’s final prophet, and regard the Qur’an and the Sunnah (words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam.^[5] They do not regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith ofAbraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Islamic tradition holds that Jews and Christians distorted the revelations God gave to these prophets by either altering the text, introducing a false interpretation, or both.^{[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam)}

Then to compare, I looked up what Wikipedia had to say about the Bible and it said:

Many Christians, Muslims, and Jews regard the Bible as inspired by God yet written by a variety of imperfect men over thousands of years. Many others, who identify themselves as Bible-believing Christians, regard both the New and Old Testament as the undiluted Word of God, spoken by God and written down in its perfect form by humans. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_bible)

So, my question is, who is to say that Muhammad got it all down verbatim? I am not trying to dispute The Qur’an and God’s message according to Muhammad but how can one believe that Muhammad didn’t distort or reinterpret at least part of the message. According to the Wikipedia quote about the Bible, some people believe that the Bible is the “undiluted word of God” while other Christians agree that a few things may be a little “off” from the original message. So, is the Wikipedia quote regarding Muhammad’s ability to write God’s message generalizing the belief of Muslims (that the Qur’an is undiluted) or do some accept the fact that some of it may be Muhammad’s interpretation?

A Question to My Classmates

I am not a Muslim nor do I pretend to be an expert on Islamic practices and traditions.  This in mind, I would like to utilize this blog not to offer my own uninformed views, but to ask my Muslim classmates about what they feel defines Islam as a religion and the traditions and sacraments that go along with it.  I believe a suitable beginning to such an exploration of one of the world’s fastest growing religions is quite simply: What about the Islamic faith makes you proud to self-identify as such?  And the obvious follow up question: If you could, what about the Islamic faith and its practices would you change?

Muslim Friend

I want to share a story with everyone that involves me not knowing that someone in my life was Muslim. My manager at works name is Fatimah and before I started reading our class book Muhammad, I had no idea that this was a Muslim name. The name appears several times in the book and is the name of one of Muhammad’s daughter. So anyways I went up to her and I was like Fatimah weird question but are you Muslim? She answered with a yes and then went on to tell me that she also works at a Hookah Bar. So anyways I’d like to add a name to our list of Muslim friends. Fatimah.

Response to Granwash

Ramadan is, indeed, a blessed month for Muslims, however it does not intrinsically symbolize the unity of all the Muslims.  Ramadan is a month where Muslims give up not only food and water for the sake of God, they give up other worldly desires which take them away from the remembrance of God.  The reason that Ramadan starts on two days is because some people believe that any sighting of the moon from anywhere in the world is sufficient to declare the start of Ramadan, whereas others go according to the hadith which says that “Allah’s Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said: Whenever you sight the new moon (of the month of Ramadan) observe fast, and when you sight it (the new moon of Shawwal) break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then observe fast for thirty days.” [http://www.ummah.net/ramadhan/hadith/index.html].  Who is to say that starting Ramadan on the same day across the world represents the TRUE meaning of Islam? Why not all the Muslims acting in accordance with Shariah and following the Sunnah and Quran should represent the true meaning of Islam?

blessed month

Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. It is this month that Allah (God) showers unlimited blessings to each Muslim. It is this month when all the Muslims around the world gather to pray together and celebrate this sacred month of sacrifice.  This month of fasting symbolizes the unity of all the Muslims. Then how is it that living in one country even in the same state, some Muslims are fasting a day earlier and some a day after? Are we not looking at the same moon to decide if the holy month of Ramadan has begun or not? Why are we not representing the true meaning of Islam?