Islam is taking a huge beating in the press. Huge. From the email that I get from conservatives, it seems that most of them think that your everyday Muslim is a sexist evil person with a bomb laden vest under their robes. My aunt asked me what my Muslim friends would do if they saw Salman Rushdie on the street. The answer, of course, is ‘Nothing’. But she probably believes they would pull out a machete and hack the man to death.
Coming out and saying that you’re considering converting to Islam is difficult when your family is made up almost entirely of dyed-in-the-wool Republicans and conservatives. Yet I am considering doing just that. Right now I am in the research process and I am withholding my judgment about Islam, either negative or positive, until I feel that I know enough about it.
The Mackistani is what he calls a ‘Quranic’ Muslim. What he means by that is that he goes by what is actually in the Quran. For that reason, he does not believe in the degradation and 2nd class citizenhood of women. He does not believe in women being covered from head to toe. He does not believe that the Quran says husbands can beat their wives. He thinks Sharia law is BS and made up ‘by the priesthood’ whom he considers to be evil. Stoning of women who commit adultery, he says, is a contaminant from Judaism and is not endorsed in the Quran anywhere. Jihad is what you do when your state is being attacked, not what you do to people who simply do not believe in Islam. Forced conversions are not endorsed by either God or the Prophet. And the wars on infidels mentioned in the Quran? Those directives were given to Muhammed back when he was trying to establish the first Muslim state and was being attacked without provocation. The Mackistani has told me many times that when Muslims have taken over a state, they did not force anyone to convert, and that forcing people to convert is directly opposed to what God said in the Quran, which was to leave those alone who don’t wish to convert.
So you can see why I have a different view of Islam than many other people. The Muslims I have met are just average, every day people who are just trying to live their lives in peace. Some of the women I have met cover themselves, some do not. It depends on what flavor of Muslim you are. And it’s a personal choice.
So Islam is undergoing this hatchet job in the press and mainstream Muslims are going to suffer if they don’t start doing something about it. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and there is a reason for that. The word Islam means ‘peace’ and the word Muslim means one who submits to God’s will. Anyone in a 12-step program will tell you that peace and serenity is what you get when you stay open to and obey God’s will instead of your own.
The Mackistani has told me many times that the Quran describes a system of life. It describes how to run a Muslim state, what rules to follow, etc. Islam as described in the Quran is good and peaceful. Islam as extremists and what the Mackistani considers to be the ‘evil’ priesthood interpret it is anything but.
These days, it is my person opinion that you can never again have a Medina (the first Islamic state). And why is that? Because of things like Sharia law, things that class women around the same level as farm animals, things that make life so rigid as to be virtually not worth living. When Islam first started, women had as equal of rights as they could have for that era. Women were allowed to own property, consent to marriage or not, equal rights in marriage, you name it. That was far more progressive than Christianity and a whole lot more progressive than Europe. It’s very unfortunate that the states where Islam has flourished the most are the states that are full of unemployed, illiterate men who are from a desert culture where things like FGM, beating of women and children, and things of that nature are culturally ok.
A lot of people like to say that FGM is an Islamic creation. Wrong-o. FGM was around way before Islam was. These misguided people just integrated it into their newfound faith. There’s no way in h*ll that any sane person would sign up for a religion containing that! Many people also think that stoning a woman for infidelity was an Islamic creation. Nope, the Jews were doing that way before Muhammed went to his cave. What about binding a woman’s legs together when she is giving birth to her child born out of wedlock? Uh-uh. Not created by Islam; that is a product of desert culture in Africa. That kind of BS cannot be found ANYWHERE in the Quran. Permission to beat your wife? Not in the Quran my friend. The Quran says to ‘go away from’ her. IE Leave her alone then.
How about the way that the Saudis treat their women? Nope, Muhammed would not be on board with that. Remember, women can own property per the Quran. Women were running businesses in the first Islamic state. In fact, Muhammed’s first wife owned and ran her own business, successfully. Do you think that she was confined to her house? I think not.
I just feel so sad when I hear about Muslims running fairs and stuff in England and giving floor space to the murderous regime of Sudan, whose president is up for charges of crimes against humanity, genocide, and 2 counts of murder. I feel really sad when I hear about Muslims in public life who think that suicide bombing is ok and refer to it as ‘martyrdom’. I feel sad when I hear the haterade coming out of intelligent Muslims who are complaining about ‘infiltration’ of their religion by homosexuals. Your average Muslim is probably not a fan of gays, but they’re not about to go stoning them either. They’re advocates of letting people live their own lives and their own choices, not forcing their views on others. The whole things just really saddens me.
I will close with one final thought. I am considering converting to Islam. But I don’t ever want to see an Islamic state established in America. I don’t ever want to live in a theocracy. Ever. I plan to start donating to the ACLU. We ought to be thankful to them because separation of church and state is our first-line defense against ever living in a theocracy. Theocracies just make it too easy for the nutcases to start running the nuthouse. No thanks.
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