Life

I thought today’s lecture was absolutely fascinating. For instance, when we were discussing the Battle of Badr and how the Quraysh thought that there were 2000 Muslims fighting because there was a possibility that the angels were fighting with them, I was completely in awe. Faith was their guide. We watch movies all the time regarding two sides in battle, whether that is one country against another or the good against the evil. Nevertheless, it is always amazing to me that reality is far more story-like than actual stories…(I don’t know if that makes any sense). In other words, I am just a character in the chapter of a book. This life is just a small, short step towards the Hereafter. And to read about the life of the Prophet and the lives of others is fascinating. I completely agree with the person who wrote about the time machine. Everything is simply AMAZING!

Getting to the violence

At the end of class today we started to get into the more violent aspect of Islam. I don’t really have a background of any religion and I was wondering if God gave the Jews and Christians this same revelations at to when they could use violence. I always thought that Jesus never led a battle or anything and that at the beginning of Christianity it was all about turning the other cheek. In any other Abrahamic religion did God give the ok to fight?

And just to make it clear I’m not talking about fighting in the name of God like in the Crusades or anything, I’m talking about God giving orders to use “active violence” if needed.

Muhammad in other countries?

I was music shopping today, and one of my favorite artist, Lupe Fiasco, came onto my screen. I clicked on his biography and noticed something right away. Lupe’s name isn’t Lupe at all, it’s Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. I notcied the Muhammad part right away. I wondered if he was Muslim, so I dug a little deeper and found he isn’t Muslim, but that Muhammad can also refer to African decent.
This is where I got a little confused. Can other cultures that don’t practice Islam use that name and not receive any kind of persecution from Muslims? I know, I know, it’s like naming someone Stephanie or Daniel; it spans all cultures, but I thought Muhammad was sacred to Muslims. Are the offended when others use his name?

Response to Religious Perceptions

“Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad. “

This is an interesting quote that I think carries some deep implications. ‘Good’ is a very vague word, and it begs for the question to be asked, what is good? Is good to be found in the Hindu Veda’s, Greek mythology, or perhaps Islamic terrorism. You see, good is a subjective term that deals more with current state of culture than with religion in my opinion. What is transcendant of culture and creates the ‘good’ that seems to be spoken of by Paine are morality and truth. I am ill equiped to take this too much further, but if any of you are interested in a brilliant mind explaining this thought I would suggest taking a look at some of C.S. Lewis’s writings, in particular Mere Christianity.

Religious perceptions

I will lead off this post with another Thomas Paine quote dealing with religion:

“Every religion is good that teaches man to be good; and I know of none that instructs him to be bad. “

It is true that many people, especially in Europe and the US, see Islam as being a scourge upon humanity.  All these people are no doubt confused and lack knowledge of Islam.  The scriptures and writings of any particular group define their religion.  However, in American society, religion seems to be based on ritual ceremonies and symbols that are void of any spiritual merit.  Therefor, when Bin Laden was accused of being responsible for the destruction of the twin towers it was easy for politicians and the US media to demonize people of the Muslim faith.  Bin Laden dressed and spoke like many people I know who are Muslim, and Americans (who historically are not culturally sensitive) identify their actions that they see in everyday life and identify them with what they hear and see in the media.  Anybody can take a line of scripture from any religous background and use it as a pretense to commit devious acts.  It is our duty as human beings to seperate human action from sacred scripture.

Religous Revelations

Thomas paine once said, “Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.”  I found this quote to have much wisdom and truth in it.  While Mohhammad was dining with his guests and finally brought up his grievances with what Musilims were doing they all laughed at him except for a little child.  His little cousin, Ali, was the only one to accept his revelations. 

Children are many times used as ymbols of purity and sanctity.  It was these virtues in Ali that allowed him to see the injustice in the currrent practice of Islam.  Just as the other main religions of the world are looked at as being mutations of Islam (looking through the Islamic paradigm), so were the paganistic and tribal worshipers of Mohammad’s time.  Ali represented the capacity for humans to acknowledge truth when they see it.  All other guests in the party had been inundated with theories of idol worship and other forms of paganism had lived too long to see what Mohamad was showing them.

Comedy, Religion, and Satire

Disagreeing with a previous response, I see a difference between the comedy of Jeff Dunham and that found in Allah Made me funny. It raises alot of sensitive issues when people decide to base comedy on issues like religion, race, gender, or sexuality. Many people get offended when something they take very seriously is treated in a lighthearted manner, and many may feel that they are being personally attacked. I think that the line between what is funny and what is offensive, which is often a very thin line, comes from the way that the issues are discussed. Parading out a list of sterotypes to get a few laughs (this, in my opinion, is what people like Carlos Mencia do) is not funny, it is offensive. However, comedians can joke about these issues without being offensive when their jokes get people thinking about the real issues that are at hand, and promote dialouge about these problems. This second type is what I see so far in Allah Made me funny, and I found it to be mostly lacking from the humor of Jeff Dunham.

response: women in islam

it’s really interesting that you brought up how men in Islam are allowed to marry up to four wives, however none of the women seemed to have more than one husband. there’s a good reason for this – women aren’t allowed to have more than one husband at a time, and if she becomes divorced/widowed there is a time frame during which she is not allowed to remarry, i believe 4 months. obviously, within a 4 month time frame, a woman would come to know if she is pregnant and would therefore know by whom. similarly, if she were married to more than one husband, it would be nearly impossible to know (especially in those days).  as for men, the reason that 4 is the maximum is because that is what God has allowed them. It’s not that 4 is better than 5, but with increasing number of wives there is increased responsibility, and any man who keeps more than 1 wife must treat them equally and fairly.  it is very difficult to do this, and is a relatively discouraged practice on account of this.  Before the revelation, men of arabia had many more wives than 4, and after the revelation came to Muhammad (S) they were forced to divorce all but four.  The ONLY exception to this rule was Muhammad (S) who was allowed to have more than four wives, him being the most righteous, upright Muslim and was able to fulfill his duties towards each.

An example of following the guidlines

Some previous blogs are about the fact that Muslims follow their religion very closely and take into account the do’s and the do not’s. Well, when I have to study for my physics exams or write a paper for some writing intensive course, I look at the rubric given by the professor. I closely pay attention to what the teacher says in class about the material being covered on the exam or what the professor will be grading for on the paper. Once I know exactly what to study for to get an A on the exam or what to write and how to write to get a decent grade on my paper, I ignore all the rest and just focus on those specific guidelines or a study sheet given by the teacher. This same case applies to religion. Allah and our Prophet has told us, the Muslim followers, to do certain things to reach to heaven and what to avoid in order to be in heaven. And if we do not follow those guidelines then we simply are acting like bunch of illiterates and ignorant people . It is like begging our professors not to tell us few questions from the exam. Who does that?