Ask Your Favorite Muslim

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Sorry for not participating, Rayaan, but you aren't my favourite Muslim. I'm sure you're a perfectly nice person, though.

Boru

[The Grand Nudger]

LOL< EP, he doesn't see it, you're having an outsider moment.  Those were examples of islamic forbearance and tolerance.........
(I'm giggling like a little girl right now....)

I'm not having any kind of moment. Don't insult my intelligence like that. Maybe you should look at those statements more carefully.

Hahaha, yes, they're horrid, we see that -as outsiders-....he doesn't, as an insider.  Happens all the time, particularly so with religious narratives. No one;s insulting your intelligence....at least not on purpose.

[Rayaan]

Do you think a quote from Koran such as 8:12 : "When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them” is influential in the bloody heinous murder of James Foley.

First of all, the verse mentioned something that God said or revealed to the angels ("When you Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you,  therefore ... strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"). So, this means that even though it was the Muslims who were seen fighting and killing their enemies in the battlefields, it was actually the angels who were doing it. And so this also shows us that this verse has a historical context to it.

But you asked me whether that verse was influential in the murder of James Foley. The short answer is, whether it was influential or not, the application of that verse by ISIS members is still grossly incorrect. And I don't approve of anything that ISIS does nor what they show in the media. To be blunt, there is nothing Islamic about their crimes.

[Rayaan]

What was your upbringing like?  What did your parents or teachers tell you about homosexuals, sex education, women and so on?  Were you ever hit?

My parents never taught me about homosexuals nor sex education. A little bit about women, but not too much. Maybe they felt that these topics were not relevant or important for me to know at a young age. But I learned about them later anyways.

Was I ever hit? Yes, but it wasn't frequent thing. I think the hardest one resulted in the formation of a small bump on one side of my face, and I went to school like that the next day. Another time I felt a brief 'ringing' sound in my ears.

Do you ever have doubts about all this?  Any doubts about God talking to some dust to get it to be alive, the stars being missiles to fight off devils, god telling people to write books and angels in general.

Around my high school years, yeah, I doubted, even to the point of becoming an atheist. But not anymore. I don't doubt my religion anymore.

Do you at least objectively see SOME similarities between other religious cults and Islam.  The messenger gives himself higher importance than his followers and different rules to follow. The way cults tend to expand, and split, and expand some more, and fight and so on.

If you look at Islam only from a historical point of view, then yes, of course you will find some some similarities between Islam and other religious cults. But I am not fixated on the historical part. I also read and study the message of the religion, what it is telling me, and I think about the things that the human heart yearns for in this chaotic world.

Why do you choose to be a Muslim?

I don't think it's really by "choice" that I am a Muslim. Rather, I believe that God alone has guided me to Islam.

Yes, maybe some of my conviction in Islam being the true religion came as result of my own study and my own reflection (and I do study and ponder a lot), but ultimately, the guidance and my ability to think and reflect came from God. So, it is obligated on me that I be thankful to Him at least.

[Rayaan]

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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").

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.

[Rayaan]

I don't see how requiring Muslims to register in a database isn't anti-Islamic.

Well, first I would need to know more details about that policy to decide if that's actually a good thing or a bad thing. So far, it seems that the idea behind that is mainly for vetting purposes. Maybe the only goal for this is to detect signs of radicalism amongst Muslims or them having links to ISIS or other extremist elements. But I wouldn't say that it is "anti-Islamic" yet because, again, so far I don't see how it undermines or restricts Muslims' freedom to practice their religion the way it is right now.

With the same logic you used, I could also argue that the US government is anti-American because the NSA has been storing Americans' emails and other personal information in a database without even telling them.

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't see how requiring Muslims to register in a database isn't anti-Islamic.

Well, first I would need to know more details about that policy to decide if that's actually a good thing or a bad thing. So far, it seems that the idea behind that is mainly for vetting purposes. Maybe the only goal for this is to detect signs of radicalism amongst Muslims or them having links to ISIS or other extremist elements. But I wouldn't say that it is "anti-Islamic" yet because, again, so far I don't see how it undermines or restricts Muslims' freedom to practice their religion the way it is right now.

With the same logic you used, I could also argue that the US government is anti-American because the NSA has been storing Americans' emails and other personal information in a database without even telling them.

When the US government puts brown people on a list..Rayaan, misery follows.  I;m not sure how you could have missed this...it;s the entire fabric of our history. 

You -could- make that argument...and you'd be fucking right, lol. The NSA -is- antiamerican, and so are all the laws and statutes that created and support it. However, and importantly, the NSA wasn;t created specifically to target americans...whereas this proposed legislation is specifically targeting muslims, it targets -nothing- else. It;s the very definition of anti-islamic policymaking. Whatever else it may be, it is inarguably -that-. You're sitting here, skipping entirely past being silent when they come for others, and simply being silent when they come for you.

The real irony, here, though....is that Trump isn't actually as threatening as his many retarded policy suggestions would be, if they were carried out - because they won't be, and often enough -can;t- be. He can;t build that wall. It's not going to happen. Government wouldn't let him if he -could-. The usual suspects in our government -already- want to put you on a list, though. That;s something they bandied around before he was even a thing. They won;t just allow him to do that, they'll help him..and if he wins...they'll be able to crow endlessly, in unison for once...about the public mandate to do so.

[The Valkyrie]

Haven't seen you forever.

How have you been? (That's the official question).

[Rayaan]

You -could- make that argument...and you'd be fucking right, lol.  The NSA -is- antiamerican, and so are all the laws and statutes that created and support it. However, and importantly, the NSA wasn;t created specifically to target americans...whereas this proposed legislation is specifically targeting muslims, it targets -nothing- else.  It;s the very definition of anti-islamic policymaking.  Whatever else it may be, it is inarguably -that-.  You're sitting here, skipping entirely past being silent when they come for others, and simply being silent when they come for you.

But again, simply being put on a list doesn't necessarily mean that the plan is anti-Islamic, because there is not enough information yet to think that this will somehow affect the majority of Muslims in the country who are moderate. I believe that the information-collection suggested by Trump is mainly for spotting dangerous and extremist ideologies, which, in my opinion, are un-Islamic.

How have you been?  (That's the official question).

Thank you, I'm fine.

[The Grand Nudger]

But again, simply being put on a list doesn't necessarily mean that the plan is anti-Islamic, because there is not enough information yet to think that this will somehow affect the majority of Muslims in the country who are moderate. I believe that the information-collection suggested by Trump is mainly for spotting dangerous and extremist ideologies, which, in my opinion, are un-Islamic.

b-mine

I'd be careful supporting or ignoring such a thing, even if you think that you have some aligned interest.  You don't.  You -are- the dangerous and extremist religious idealist.  You -are- the person they want to put on the list. It's not there to help you, it's not there to get rid of "un-islamic" things......

Harkening back to your earlier post..POTUS and the government arent the sort of things, as an american, that you can just politely turn away from due to "ignorance", when you do finally discover it. I want you to apply that line of thought, above, to any of the other famous moments in history when the members of a religious or ethnic group were required to be put on a watchlist. Were the "well they only want the bad muslims, I;m not one of those" -ever- right? Isn't this something that every voice in history that's every went through it has come down on the other side of the line to? Who says "hey, remember that time we got registered for a terror watchlist because we believe in allah, wasn;t that awesome..really helped our community out!"....?

You matter so very little, your life, as a human being, even -that- you're a human being..to the demographic of voters who this proposal is aimed at...that politicians feel confident openly stumping on the platform of an american anti-muslim reich. As to the bolded portion...you mean, how it will affect them -other- than being singled out for their religious beliefs and placed on a terror watchlist down to the last man, woman and child...other than that?