Ask Your Favorite Muslim

[pocaracas]

First question: How do you manage to always look so cheerful in your photos?

Well, we know that question is sarcastic, so let's move on.

Aw come on, man.... it was pure lighthearted fun!
Why did you assume there was some sort of malice associated with it?
You could just go along with it and reply something along the happiness that fills your soul, or something like that... Like a "favorite Muslim" would... Son, I am disappoint!

Second: (I think Rob already touched it a bit) why are you a Muslim? (it's okay to say "indoctrination"...)

Refer to my answer to Rob.

Yes, well.... not quite what I was going for...
You mention that you spent some 2 years as an atheist of sorts and then went back to being a Muslim... my question, and that is why I mentioned indoctrination, is about prior to those years as an "atheist". Did you identify yourself as a Muslim, then? If yes, why?
Why, do you think, you first became a believer?

Third: Why do Muslims (most remarkably, non-Arabic ones) often speak with Arabic words?

Because there are certain Arabic words that carry more blessings if you say them (especially words like "masha'Allah," "insha'Allah," "subhan'Allah," etc). On the other hand, I think some Muslims say Arabic words in front of non-Arabic people just because they want to show off that they know how to speak Arabic, or maybe they think that it's cool or something.

For me, the usage of Arabic words depends on who I speak to. I almost never use them when I'm speaking to an audience like you guys. But, when I speak to a group of Muslims, I do use Arabic words a little bit because they understand me.

I like this answer! Thanks!

Fourth: Why do Muslims so often quote from the Qur'an or some Hadith? Feels like the Evangelicals learned from Muslims... or vice-versa...

Because those are the texts that they adhere to?

I feel like you're just trying to bait me with such a self-explanatory question. Maybe I should stop responding to you. 

There you go on the defense again...

I'm from Portugal, a traditionally Catholic country... and you know what?... outside of church, people don't use any quotes from the holy texts. For the most part, when speaking about religion, they talk about feelings and stuff like that. (Which is also why I mentioned the Evangelicals... those guys are nuts about their texts)

Fifth: How does it feel to belong to the last religion to sprout from the Middle-East? I mean... the last! not the first... not the one that set it off... the last... the one most contaminated by human folly.

I'm not going to answer if you keep inserting your own loaded opinions into the questions (e.g. "the one most contaminated by human folly").

Defense, defense, defense... -.-'
Sorry about the imprecision, the most contaminated would be Scientology, or maybe the cargo cult. But I did restrict it to the Middle-East. so it wasn't imprecise at all.... hmmm...

Why do you say it's a loaded question? Are you wanting to make me think that the youngest cult in a particular region is not the most influenced by humanity?
I'm not saying that all other cults aren't influenced by humanity (oooOOO double negative!), but that Islam, at the moment of conception, would have been influenced by all other prior religions and have some extra layer of regional culture.
I guess what I'm asking can be rendered less "loaded" as:
Do you think Islam is more in touch with the creator god than the previous religions in the region?

Sixth: What was wrong with the Sumerian religion? It is, as far as we can tell, the oldest Middle-Eastern religion... shouldn't it be the one closest to the source?

I don't believe in multiple gods. And there are other reasons as well.

Why?
Think about it - at the dawn of mankind, if some god (or gods) contacted Man, and Man passed the message down the generations, shouldn't the oldest beliefs be those closest to that original message?

New question, a bit related to the previous one!
Seventh: What is a god that renders its multiplicity unlikely?
I say unlikely, because it's clear you don't know anything about the god... you merely believe. So you have somehow convinced yourself (or someone else convinced you) that it's likely that a single god exists.



Eighth: Why do you think people become and/or remain atheist?