This is confusing…

auronx-  In response the portrayal of God.  In Islam God is seen as all merciful, beneficent, benevolent, etc.  This is true for all monotheist religions.  However, all of these religions have the same argument, “the argument of theodecy”.  The argument is namely what you have just mentioned, “If God is all merciful and all beneficent, then why does Evil still occur?”  This argument is part of various arguments (ontological, cosmological, etc.)  Basically, ever since these various religions started, the existence of God has been questioned.  These arguments were therefore established in order to prove or disprove God’s existence through logical argumentation.  “If God does exist, then why does evil still occur?”  Therefore, it is simple.  Muslims have to deal with the same contradictions which have been raised in the other two monotheistic religions.  Islam, is not excluded from this pitfall.  If you look at for example, at chapter one and two from the old testament, you will see two completely different depictions of God.  In the second chapter God walks through the Garden and this therefore proves that humans are created in his likeness.  In the first chapter, God is presented as a mythical deity which talks to humans differently.  In addition, why is Moses talked to from a bush (as God).  This just comes to show that God is whatever (He/She/It) wants to be at any given time.  By the way, the way that the argument about “why does evil stills occur if God is all of those things mentioned,” is because (counterargument), we (humans) will never fully understand all of God’s intentions, trials, etc. 

When it comes to Muhammad however, I leave that up to the teacher, otherwise it would take up another page lol

Response to taqwacore

After reading this entry I searched the word “taqwacore” on wikipedia and read the few things it had about them. I was surprised to see that there wasn’t that much about it, but still, I had never heard about it. It was interesting to me to click on the few bands it had links to and see that none of them were based in the Middle East or even in the “Arab” world. There’s British, Americans, and Canadians. Michael Muhammad Knight is an American who is considered by most people as the leader of this movement. He spent time in Pakistan studying at a mosque. I think it would be super interesting to read his book The Taqwacores about this musical scene. It also says on Wikipedia that this book has been taught at universities such as Vassar, Trinity College, and Indiana University. I haven’t heard much Islamic music and being a little bit critical about one’s own religion makes me even a little more interested. Thanks to ohthereslegwork, I want to look more into this!

Response to “My family’s interpretation of Islam annoys me”

I can definitely relate to both people who wrote about their families and their ignorance regarding Islam. I haven’t even told my parents that I am taking an Islam class; I only mentioned that it is a religion class, and even thinking that I’m taking a general religion class, both of my parents have been warning me about how professors “feed the students crap” and that I should be careful about what I hear in class. If they knew it was an ISLAM class they would surely try to make me drop it because it “might make me convert”. My parents and my whole family are strict Polish Catholics and pretty much disagree with everything I believe in and want to learn about. I simply want to broaden my own knowledge of religions and meanwhile, they continue to tell me not to hang out with Muslims, Jews, Mexicans, African Americans, Indians, and pretty much anyone who is not a white Christian. I would hate to hear what they would say if I told them that 99% of my friends are everything they hate. My parents drive me crazy.

Response… My Family’s Interpretation of Islam Annoys Me.

Although I don’t have an exact story to mention, or even direct statements that were made about my enrollment in Intro to Islam, I don’t think that my parents really understand why I am in the course. My parents are divorced and come from two different religious backgrounds…and thus throughout my theology core at Loyola I decided to stray away from either religion that my parents belong to and have taken Intro to Hinduism and now Intro to Islam. I think that my parents see it as me in a way turning my back on “my religion” even though they both like to consider me a different religion or perhaps don’t understand why I wouldn’t rather further educate myself in one of their religions instead of getting an understanding of a new one. I feel like both of my parents had a chance to educate me about religion and now it is up to me to find out about others on my own. Learning about different cultures and backgrounds will only help to understand different people and I really enjoy it…especially since one of my good friends is Muslim, and I really don’t know much about his religion and feel that I should know more than I do so – no better time than now.

islam, palestine, judiasm, israel?

During class, the discussion of Palestine and Israel was quickly followed by a somewhat heated argument. One classmate stated Muslims are extremely angered over the issue. Another disagreed, saying its actually not a big issue in the Muslim world. However, during past conversations regarding why Islamic extremist hate Americans, the issue of US support in Israel is always said to be a major factor. However, I am wondering if it is truly the case. The media does help to portray the long lasting battle between Israel and Palestine as a war between Muslims and Jews. How much of the what the media portrays is true? I can’t help but agree the conflict is an issue among the Muslim and Jewish populations and causes animosity between the two religions. Any thoughts?

Ummm… My Family’s Interpretation of Islam Annoys Me.

Over the weekend I was back in the “burbs” of the North Shore and I started to get really annoyed at my mom and grandma for several reasons. First of all, when I told my grandma that I was taking an “Intro to Islam” course, she started screaming at me in Italian. She practically condemned me to hell and couldn’t believe that I was going against my “roman catholic roots” by joining a “terrorist-cult.” Part of me was angry, but the other part of me just felt sorry for her and of how ignorant she is about Islam and other religions, even at the supposedly “mature” age of 74. My mom continued to enrage me as she commented on how “messed up” she thought it was for me to choose a class specializing in “terrorism” and that I should be careful when posting things on “that internet thing” because the CIA may interrogate me or something. I’m sorry if this is offensive to anyone, but I just wanted to share how ignorant people can be, even if it directly applies to my very “special” family. Can anyone else relate? I feel like I was seriously raised by a bunch of crazies… just kidding, they’re great, but they are in SERIOUS need of a paradigm shift.

Taqwacore

I took this class because I thought it would be a good idea to get a theological viewpoint which was not from my friends or family. Since I’ve been young, I found my family to be very liberal, not really pushing me to have a religious faith. Now that I’m in my early twenties, I have found it to have it’s pros and cons, not having a religion that is. I think the thing that frightened me was the idea of having an overbearing religion telling me what to do, even if I did not want to. As did my own google “research” at home, I found a Pakistani Muslim punk band called “The Kominas”. The genre of music that was listed was “taqwacore”. This fascinated me. After listening to their music, I wanted to learn more about the genre, and i found a book called Taqwacore written by a convert named Michael Muhammad Knight. It followed a rag tag team of “punk” individuals who considered themselves Muslim, but still did non-Muslim things. They would pray 5 times a day, but they would have a woman lead the Juma namaaz, standing next to a table full of alcohol. Or, they would believe in God and yet say things which are unheard of about the prophet or other religious figures. This is something that interests me; the evolution, if you will, of a religion. How religion can change to the times, and how the times can change to the religion.

Somewhat of a Response to Peace…

As much as I would love for there to be peace across the world, I am beginning to believe it is impossible. In my Middle East Politics class we were discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amongst other conflicts between “Islam and the West” and we came to a conclusion that no matter what is resolved, there will always be conflict between people. If the Israeli-Palestinian issue is resolved, something else will come up.

In the “Clash of Civilizations?” Samuel Huntington believes the West and Islam are in battle with one another and that the West must win because it is better. But what defines ‘better’? Otherwise, what’s the point if one wins over the other? What would it cause other than chaos and insanity?

Side comment: Barack…Buraq is the creature the Prophet mounts when he travels to the Heavens…page 104 of Lings.