To all our Islamic friends. Why Islam? Why do you like it? What made you convert to Islam. What's the draw. Do you actually practice Islam? Or are you Islamic in name only? Draw me a picture. If you practice Islam what is your life like?
Like most religions, I assume most people were born into it, although I've always been fascinated by Westerners in Western countries converting to Islam. I assumed they were lost and dysfunctional and were looking for some place to belong.
I agree. I'm not sure I could fly a commercial airliner straight into a building without flinching or trying to miss it at the last minute. Obviously a well disciplined Muslim can.
I lived in the UK, had a good job, loads of mates and did all the stuff DJ's do. I fornicated (a lot), got smashed out of my brain and had a pee in shop doorways. I stopped drinking for a variety of reason, one nasty and several issues including I was working a lot and needed to drive. I was always a bit on the religious side but never went to church and broke as many commandments as I could; I managed nine. Adultery was my favourite and most often broken. Anyway, as with most people who knew crap all about Islam, I assumed Muslims were mad suicide bombers with the specific intention of blowing softer, more important bits off my body. Anyway, as I was getting older, I found more and more better looking lasses were saying, "sod off" as I chatted them up with the intention of a shag that evening. I'd split up with a girlfriend of many years and wanted some serious, non serious sex with as many girls as my penis could take on each week. The "sod off" problem persisted but, as luck/fate/divine intervention had it, I pulled a lass who worked in a Chinese take away. That somewhat energetic relationship only lasted about two months but it gave me a fetish for Chinese girls and, handy as it was, most were from abroad and lonely to the point they'd let me take them home and have my filthy way with their bodies. I got really into it, even learning how to use chopsticks and speak Mandarin. Yep, I got all multi lingual in my very successful attempts to get cunnilingus. Well, that went on for a couple of years, two or three girlfriends on the go at any one time. Some turned out to be from Malaysia and suggested I visit them there. I googled. 60% Muslim - no way - I don't want to die. Well, on the promise of even more filth, I took the risk. The first thing that happened was, an evil Muslim offered me a cup of coffee and refused to allow me to pay. He ended up the best man at my wedding a couple of years later. The more Muslims I met, the more I asked questions and, because no one had tried to murder me, realised the British press talked crap. I read the koran ((*)(*)(*)(*)ty English version of the word) and realised it was pretty much all about being nice to people. Took be a couple of years and a lot of questions before I realised it was the right path. Sadly, some of my more stupid mates and people I knew didn't agree with me. The worst being my idiot next door neighbour who told me he was going to burn my house down. What a moron. Islam, isn't what a lot of people (Including some of the dafter Muslims) think it is.
Did you seriously just say that? I can't believe there are actually people like you in the world. You're disgusting.
Indofred: You shared your life. But I am interested in knowing they why? Why does Islam sounds so true to you? What questions were answered? Also, are you hard core Islamic? Do you pray 5 times a day? Do you were a beard and were traditional Islamic clothes?
I was always into that "God" thing but could never cope with Jesus as the lad is painted in the bible. I visited churches often but never went to a service, mostly because I love history but they're calm sort of places. Much of C of E history put me right off Christianity and Catholic were were too odd. They still used Latin when I was a kid. A visit to Thailand (yuk, never again), saw me wandering into Buddhist temples. I wasn't interested in Buddhism or even looking for religion but I was interested in meditation as I was very involved in martial arts for a long time and was very interested in improving technique of mind over body. Success - I can control my heart rate a blood pressure at will. Really handy for confusing doctors. The questions answered - None, but faith regained. That's what it's about, not actual gain but spiritual gain. Islam was waiting for me. I pretty much believed everything in the Koran, just didn't know it until I started reading. As for the way I behave, big changes. I'm not a total bar steward any more. Now for the details. Praying - Never 5 times a day, I don't consider myself to be a good Muslim in many respects. The beard and wearing Arabic dress strikes me as way too much like a kid dressing up like his/her favourite pop star. Respect for Mohammad (PBUH), absolutely, wanting to look like him, no thanks, I'm not Arabic and Indonesia's climate doesn't support wearing that kit. I hang around in shorts and a singlet. Beard - My wife won't kiss me if I have two days growth, no way would she allow me to wear a beard. Some say I turned to Islam in order to get married but I converted long before then and before I asked my wife to marry me. Bombs and guns. I'm well trained in hand to hand combat, light weapons and field communications but I like people far too much to get involved in anything that would hurt anyone. Family history - Christian for a hundred years or so, Jewish family before that. We came to England with Bill the basher but well after he did the arrow in the eye thing, so we're immigrants. We don't know the year but we weren't part of the invasion. I still have 'the nose'. Any more questions?
Hmmm... It seems to have a lot to do with attitudes about sex, marriage, and sexual morality.. Especially in regard to raising children in a society among others whose sexual attitudes may be far different. The one clear difference between Islam and the West concern attitudes and behavior relating to the sexual mores. It even seems impliit to call the West a more matriarchical society while the muslims are Patriarchies.
I have this one, concening you intellectual inclintions. You do submit to what is True, once the truth becomes clear to you, do you not? I find that most rational intellectually honest people practice (religiously?) this rather sane disposition. I then accuse them of really worshipping Truth in spite of what they might contend about the things they read in the bible or Koran. This of course was what Christ claimed of himself, that he personified the truth and the way and the life. Christians can understand how God is the Father of Truth since all real things wer created by this father. But Islam has the catch 22. If Muslims accept Truth as Allah, then Allah is not one, but has a father. If Allah is the creator of what is reality, then he has a son whose image is called Truth. This observation accuses muslims of being pretty good, sexually prudent, christians, once they admit the Truth, that Allah is NOT one.
Morality is taken far more seriously in Islam. Sadly, some take it way too far. However, Islamic countries have a far lower AIDS problem than any non Muslim country and that's for good reason. A lot less shagging around. I' for one at least, won't be claiming all Muslims are really good people who never bonk outside marriage, that would be silly. However, the vast majority of men stick to one wife for life. The women rarely have affairs and are mostly virgins up to the wedding night, same goes for most men because the ladies won't let them have their naughty way. That means STDs and so on are mostly the domain of prostitutes and homosexuals who tend to stick to a 'tight circle of friends'. It also means a very low 'born out of wedlock' rate so none of the social problems that tends to bring. Very little alcohol means no drunken fights and drugs are generally accepted as a really stupid idea. Again, that means crime is very low. I recall a chat with a very upset looking head of police intel in a Central Java town. He was shocked and horrified because there had been 22 reported crimes that month. His area was about 1,000 KM2, or roughly three times the area occupied by New York, just not as many people.
I don't think I would call the West a matriarchal society. Like almost all societies, it's traditionally been a patriarchal one. Right now feminism, as a dominant ideology, is throwing a stop stick into that, but I see feminism as a temporary cultural condition. Since the logical outcome of feminism is women having fewer to no children, I don't think it has a long term future.
Salam wa'alykum, (Peace be upon you) The thing I love about Islam is its teachings. Despite what some people may say or do - Muslim and non-Muslim alike - Islam as a religion teaches peace. It's also a religion of justice. A religion where the only legitimate reason for violence is as a means of self-defense, and even then, there is a limit to how far one can go. It recognizes all the Prophets from Judaism and Christianity, from Adam (PBUH) to Jesus (PBUH). In Islam, the Torah and Gospel are divine relegation from God, however the men of those times tampered with the Messages. Islam is a continuation of those religions. Islam is a religion that puts heavy importance on the aspect of charity and generosity. Charity (Zakat) is an obligation for Muslims who can afford to give it. Like most religions, it attempts to eliminate greed and materialism in society. My life as a Muslim is simple. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I don't party. I'm in University right now, alhamdulillah, and so I try to find time in between school and work to pray. Other than that, my life isn't anything special. Besides being a Muslim of course Hope this answered your questions.
One cannot be a Muslim unless they believe la illaha ilallah. Translated, this literally means, there is no God but God. One God. I'm not sure how you came to such a conclusion here. Allah (which means, The God) is also The Truth (in Arabic, al-Haqq, one of Allah's 99 Names). There is no reason for Allah to have a "father". Allah is the Father in Christianity. The same God Jesus (PBUH) calls to and worships himself.
When people yammer on about the sexual mores of the Muslim... I have to ask.. What do you think they are doing during those hot, lazy afternoons when everything shuts down from 2 PM until 7 PM?
The Italian men brag too based on the same hours, and they even close down in August taking the whole day off. But the birth rate in Italy is 1.9, not enough to duplicate the same number of people in the population of the next generations to come. It does sound reasonable, though. The records show that for the Western men, 3 minutes twicw a week is the average. If the muslim men were comparable to that they'd embarrassing statistic they would be wondering if their sexual prudence had gone too far. Probably the truth is that muslims are more sexually active with their wives than the Western men who have such demanding feminist bosses running every show that they tend to avoid contact to an extent that over time they are part of the sexless marriages: so, what we may be seeing in the bedroom is a stark difference between the patriarch type societies and the liberalized feminist virtual matriarchies of the West, a difference that ought be very sobering to the men who now are being called girlie-men,].
