|
|
|
|
Jp1r
>To: <info@SecularIslam.org> Subject: questions from a practicing muslim Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 12:36:35 -0500 My fingers are shaking as I'm typing
this. I decided to email you after reading some (and not all) of the pages on
your website. I decided to create an email address just to be able to email you
anonymously. It is with a heavy heart that I've decided to contact you. I'm a PRACTICING Muslim who fasts,
prays daily 5 times (with some
sunnah rakaa also). I just recently decided to stop consuming non halal meat,
even though the imam in my town said that he buys his halal meat from 'Kroger',
encouraging us to do so too. I did so (stick with halal meat) purely because of
respect for life, including animal life. If all living things have a soul (rou'h)
which is instilled by God, then how can Man take it away without first asking
for his permission? Since the soul
is actually God's, then it is only he who can authorize us to take it away. However, September 11 was an
important date for me. I was mostly moved by Usama's laughter when he was
savagely bragging about the massacre he created. I had started asking questions
earlier when I was surrounded by acquaintances who applauded the Palestinian
suicide bombers. It was the site of a shredded stroller at the Pizzeria in
Jerusalem after the detonation of a human bomb that touched me, and I could not
understand how can anyone condone this. I'm quite confused. I've been a
rebellious Muslim ever since I was a teenager (many years ago), who insisted on
pursuing prayers in a non-practicing middle eastern household. I've moved to the US and became a citizen over 14 years ago. I have to
tell you that I was torn by my own hypocrisies, the strongest of which being my
persisting sexual curiosity. Sex has always captivated me and only caused me to
suffer this conflict tremendously. Marriage over 10 years ago helped somewhat
quell this 'sinful' curiosity, but never healed it. The more I tried to devout
my self to my religion, the more I hated myself for not taming my voyeurism (a
cable connected internet at home did not help, since the whole world now became
attainable-- at least visually). Nothing however compared to how I
felt after reading your intro page and some articles by T. Nasrin and Ibn Warraq.
You somehow connected the dots, but the conclusion you reached scares me beyond
belief. Could it be true? Could Islam be nothing but a mirage? How else do I
explain how unfair life is? How could a creator allow so much misery and not compensate those who suffered the most? How can I explain
3 million deaths in Rwanda? How can I explain their new misery brought on by a
newly erupting volcano? How can I explain how people can get slaughtered in
Afghanistan or on electric chairs here in the US? The hereafter was the only way
I can justify living in this life, among all the injustices of the world or
dunia? Will there be no God/ No justice? If I leave Islam (and possibly my 2
kids and wife , who is a devout Muslim--since she'll surely leave me), then what
is the alternative? How can I live securely and happily in this world knowing
that I can sleep with a full stomach while others starve to death? Another question comes to mind: Am I
allowing myself to read through to make it easier for me to live my double life
(I surf adult web site while claiming to pray?). Am I setting myself up to
renounce my Islam so that I can indulge comfortably in voyeurism? If not, then
why am I allowing myself to type on, while I did not read through and analyze
EVERYTHING you wrote? Am I waiting for an opportunity to blame Islam for my
ills? How can I, a Arab born Muslim, be contemplating this horrendous act, while
people in droves are converting to
Islam without even learning to speak Arabic? You attack Islam viciously on you
page http://www.secularislam.org/articles/call.htm,
yet I'm aware of hadiths that
assure us: Innama alddeen almuamalt (religion
is but how you treat each other). Culture , sciences and happiness were
flourishing when and where Islam was. It is what lighted the dark skies if
medieval Europe, who paid Islam back with their murderous crusades. But some of
what you're saying is correct: Islam asks us to always take the middle ground
when deciding between 2 or more options/decisions, yet the only 2 decision that
seem to present themselves in Islam can be summarized by: choosing what's right
vs. choosing what's wrong! What kind of a choice is this? (e.g. does a woman
wear hijab or not? if the answer is yes, you're going to heaven, otherwise
you'll be burning in hell...not much room left for a 3rd option, so how can I
pick the middle ground? The same questions holds true for Jihad/prayer/...etc.) I have many questions I need to
answer myself first, but I thought I'd share with you what's going on in my
head. Another person with a similar background can help ease my confusion and
would I like them to respond to me. I feel only a fellow Muslim with an Arab
heritage can understand me now since I can not explain my concerns any more (as
if someone is asking you to do a sex change operation).... Words can not explain
the confused state I'm in now, and I've stretched my limited English vocabulary
to its limit. Thank you.... Dear jp1r, Ibn Warraq passed your email to me for response, as he is
extremely busy. As for halal meat you should know a couple of things.
Killing animals the Islamic way, i.e. slitting their throat open and
letting them bleed to death is extremely cruel and inhumane. If you are really
concerned about hurting the animals you should not consume halal meat. The way
animals are slaughtered in the West is far less painful and shocking for them.
However the best diet in my opinion is vegetarian. The reason in Islam the
animal must bleed to death in order for its meet to become halal is a relic of
an interpretation of Judaism that considered the blood is the soul or the soul
is in the blood. Today the Jehowa witnessed have this belief and they refuse
transfusion of blood for this very reason. They want to avoid the mixing of
spirits. So halal meet has something to do with superstitions and not with
hygiene or health. You call yourself a "hypocrite" for "having
sexual curiosity". Let me assure you that there is nothing inherently
sinful in sex or sexual curiosity. This is very natural. If you did not have
sexual desires or curiosities I would have told you to see a doctor. The worst
thing you can do is to blame yourself for your natural feelings. This feeling of
guilt is the worst enemy of humans. Religions have antiquated moralities. They
do not have any solutions or answers to human needs but they only TELL you what
you SHOULD do and what you SHOULD NOT do. They induce in you the guilt and that
is what is devastating and demoralizing. There is nothing wrong in sexual curiosity. But if this
become an obsession in a way that it intervenes with your life and affect it
negatively then religions cannot help you, you need to see a psychologist and
get some help. Do not go to a mullah or a priest; visit a licensed psychologist. Also it is true that Muslim men are more obsessed with sex
than the westerners and it has to do with the sexually repressive environment in
which we grew up. The sexually charged atmosphere and the practice of sexual
ostracism has brain damaged most of us. We are all victims of Islam and its
pernicious sense of morality. Even Muhammad himself had this perverse sense of
sexuality. The fact that he desired every young woman at his advanced age, that
he lusted and had sex with a 9 year old child, that he refused to shake hand
with women who wanted to pay allegiance to him and his cause are all tell tales
of his inner trauma and his unsatisfied or suppressed sexual urges. He was
struggling between guilt and lust and his sever punishments for adulterers is
nothing but self reprimands. Unfortunately we have half a billion Muslim men
following the example of a sick man and all of us evince the same symptoms of
sexual deprivation, sexual deviation and sexual aberration. Sex is never a
healthy exercise for Muslim men. We are traumatized by it. We have our sexual
urges like any other animal but we are ashamed of it. We feel guilt for it and
this guilt is the most devastating blow on our self-confidence and self esteem. You asked about the hereafter. This topic is not easy to
answer. I personally do believe in the survival of soul. I have had personal
evidences that the reality does not end with matter. Other rationalists do not
believe in such thing. It really does not matter who is right and who isn't. As
human beings we have to live ethically. In other words we have to implement the
principles of fairness in all spheres of our life because this enhances our life
and makes us feel good. The joy of doing good is in doing it and not in the
rewards that we expect to receive from it. The only religion we need, the only
guidance we require is what is defined as the Golden Rule, "Do to others
what you expect them do it to you" You wrote that if you leave Islam your kids and wife will
surely leave you. In the first place I do not think it is a good idea to
announce your departure from Islam publicly. Today millions of Muslims do not
believe in Islam yet no one knows about that. May of my friends and relatives
have no idea that I am an "apostate" and I don't see any need to
volunteer this private information. So you can stop believing in the mumbo jumbo
of Islam without letting anyone in your secret world. Do you let people know
that you are voyeuristic? Leaving Islam would be another secret you would learn
to live with. Though you can announce it to the world through the Internet. You wrote, "How can I, a Arab
born Muslim, be contemplating this horrendous act, while people in droves are
converting to Islam without even learning to speak Arabic?" Firs of all let me clarify that the information that
"people in droves are converting to Islam" is a total lie fabricated
to deceive us. Recently the CAIR announced that since the mass murders committed
on 9/11 the number of the people
converted to Islam is tripled. Use a little bit of rational thinking and see how
ridiculous is this claim. Would really anyone say "Oh look Mulism have
killed so many people, it is clear that Islam is a religion of peace. Let me
join"? But in Islam lies are
permitted especially if they are for the expansion of the religion of Allah. The truth is that people are not converting to Islam in
droves but the Muslim intellectuals are leaving Islam in huge numbers. I urge
you to read the book of Quran and see for yourself how much nonsense is written
there. How can anyone remain a Muslim after reading the Quran? I was a believer
prior to reading the Quran. After I read it I had no choice but to leave Islam. Another myth that Muslims are made to believe is that
during the Middle ages "ISLAM" was the cause of much scientific
advance in the East. Nothing is further from the truth. The glory of the Islamic
countries during the Middle Ages was despite and not because of Islam. In those
day there was the separation of mosque from the state and the rulers were
moderate secularists. That is why science flourished. Most of those great
"Islamic" luminaries were not believers at all. Please see this
article. You mentioned about your state of mind and how confused you are. I suggest you read this article. Here I have described my own passage from belief to enlightenment. You may find yourself in the way. Dear Ali Sina, Thank you for writing back. I can not claim to have become an apostate yet. All I have is more and more questions. I started talking to my wife about my insecurities, and she responded by feeling appalled by my lack of certainty. She screamed "We were proud to be different than the rest of the family, to faithfully stick to our religion when those relatives around us have become 'americanizeird' and now you're
telling me you stopped praying?"...etc Needless to say I felt her attack
was childish and 'expected'. The whole episode occurred when she explained she'd
like our 7 yr old daughter to get into extra-curricular activities, which would,
unlike her cousins, exclude swimming (for religious reasons of course). She was
shocked when I told her I do not mind my daughter swimming in a public
place...and that I do not mind if she herself (the person with a hijab) went
swimming. I concluded by explaining that I also stopped praying, and that she
should not nag me into prayer anymore. Needless to say, I'm now getting the cold
shoulder treatment. I do however, have 3 questions for you: 1) Muhammad was known as al amin before the time of the Koran, and that he was well respected and he never lied (as we're told). How can you explain his departure from that after Koran? How and why did he change so drastically, and do you have any research or proof that he was not 'Al Amin', and that he always the narcissistic you describe him to be? How could he be so well respected then? and who am I to think otherwise? Are 1/3 billion Muslim wrong, and I'm right? 2) What do you think of the 'Rashad
Khalifa' movement here in the US (Tucson, AZ).? 3) Is there such a thing as modern Islam? Can Islam afford multiple interpretations that can also be humanistic? Do I have to renounce all of it? How can I do so when it is full of passages that can be interpreted as humanistic? Like Love thy neighbor, A true Muslim can not sleep with a full stomach while his neighbor is hungry?...etc? How about passages that encourage charity? (a hadith says): The prophet had a Jewish neighbor who used to dump garbage on his doorstep every day. The prophet one day decided to visit this neighbor when he noticed his doorstep clean for several days in a row. During this visit. the neighbor's son converted to Islam once the prophet explained the reason for the visit as his father laid sick in bed. Doesn't that draw a beautiful picture about Islam? How can I say no to that? How can reconcile between what you're saying and what this Hadith says? I mean this is what encourages people to actually join and not renounce Islam, right? Dear Jp1r. The reaction of your wife as you said is typical of most
devout Muslims. The more you argue with her the more she will close up and the
result could be estrangement and alienation. This is not desirable. Your wife
needs to discover the truth on her own. You may tactfully ask her to read few of
the articles for example those related to Muhammad’s wives in my site and
answer them. I promise to publish her response. But many people won’t be able
to find any satisfactory answers and instead start to think which is the
beginning of their enlightenment. As for your 7 year old daughter, you must understand that
her mother has as much right to bring her up with her own values as you have.
But since your values are now different it is much advisable that you let her
have her way for now. Peace and harmony in the family is worth more than the
swimming for your daughter. Your daughter is growing up in the West and she is
exposed to western values anyway. Eventually she will choose her own life and
that must be respected. Of course there is nothing you can do about it. In the
West children do not belong to their parents and do as they wish as soon as they
reach the age of adolescence. As for hijab, I believe you should respect your wife’s
decision. It is good that you have told her that you don’t mind if she decides
to take off the hijab. Now it is up to her and whatever she decides you should
support her. Unity of family is of utmost importance. Beliefs change and your
wife may also change in future but your relationship with her is for life. Your
beliefs or your wife’s may not be sacred but your marriage is. You can make
your wife listen to you ONLY if you support her and do not criticize her for her
choices and beliefs. Now I’ll try to answer your questions. 1- The claim that Muhammad was amin (honest) is made by
himself. To be certain of the truth of this claim we should read what his
opponents say. But as we know Muhammad massacred all his opponents and banished
them. The rest were conquered and forced into submission. No one dared to say a
word against him or he would have been killed. Thousands of people after the
death of Muhammad tried to get rid of Islam but they were all massacred (Al
Khawarej) so we do not have any independent source to the claim that Muhammad
was indeed honest. What we know and that too from Quran is that people called
him lunatic (Al Majnoon). We know that he was derided and ridiculed by the
people of Mekka and even Medina until he became powerful and silenced his
critics by assassination and terror. So any time you read Muhammad was amin,
take that with a grain of salt. He may not have been a thief. (that is before he
became a professional highway robber) but that does not mean that he was honest
in his words. Also you should know that schizophrenic people actually see ghosts
and other shadowing creatures that to them are real. So when Muhammad claimed
that he saw Jinns or angle Gabriel he probably was not lying, or at lease some
of those times he actually saw these creatures that haunted his sick mind. You also said “who am I to
think otherwise? Are 1/3 billion Muslim wrong, and I'm right?” First to all the truth cannot be determined by the number
of its adherents. Only a few centuries ago all the humanity believed that the
Earth is flat. Did this universal consensus make any difference in the shape of
the Earth? If 1 billion people are told a lie and all of them believe in a lie
that lie does not become truth. Today people think, read and investigate and do
not base their faith on the convictions of others. When you study the Quran and
compare it with science you find that book is full of errors. When you read the
history of Muhammad you find this man was anything but holy. You and I live in
the age of information. There is no need for us to perpetuate a lie and believe
in someone who was a liar just because others do and because our fathers were
forced to believe. My ancestors did not choose to become Muslims. They were
forced under the sword. Your ancestors did not fare better. None of our
forefathers had the chance to question the tenets of Islam. But now you and I
have this chance after 1400 years. I am not satisfied to follow blindly one
billion people. I want to make sure the religion that I believe is true. I read
the Quran and found it to be a hoax. I do not expect you to believe me or accept
my conclusions. I ask you to read the Quran on your own. Then you will see what
I saw and you too will come to the same conclusion that I came. 2- Rashad Khalifa was a self-centered ambitious man. He
forged what a friend of mine called “a not lie deception” and when his fame
augmented he decided to claim himself a messenger of God. What he said about the
Quran and the miracles that he attributed to that book is a trick. Please read
this refutation of him by a Hikmat a young Indian ex-Muslim woman. 3- No I do not think Islam can be reformed, modernized or
humanized. There are many interpretations of Quran but all of them are wrong.
Quran is a straightforward book. It is a book that Taliban have understood best
and apply it. It is up to you to renounce it or not but I find nothing of value
in that book. Once it becomes clear that Quran is not a book of revelation but
emanation of a sick mind I see no reason to dig into it to find something good
in it. I can find something good in any book even in the words of Hitler and
Khomeini. “Love thy neighbor” is not from Quran. It is from the
words of Jesus. “A true Muslim cannot sleep with full stomach when his
neighbor is hungry” is not in Quran. These are the good things that good
Muslims have told each other. Muhammad never cared about the poor. He destroyed
the lives of many innocent people. Looted their cities and after massacring many
of them he banished the sick and old from town empty handed. Many of them died
in the way. Muhammad was an evil man. There is nothing good about him. Let us
read the history of Muhammad and learn the truth. I have not seen that hadith that say a Jewish person used
to dump garbage at Muhammad though I heard this story from childhood. But it
cannot be true. Muhammad was never living in the Jewish neighborhoods. Jews in
Medina had their quarters. Muhammad was such a vengeful man that he ordered the assassination
of Abu Afak, a 120 year old man who was a Jew and whose crime was to
compose a lyric ridiculing Muhammad and his claim. Muhammad asked one of his
followers to get him rid of this man. Asma bint Marwan who was a poetess became
so angry that wrote a poetry cursing the men of Medina for letting a Meccan kill
an old man and do nothing. Muhammad asked one of his followers who volunteered
to kill her. He entered in Asma’s home and pierced her chest with his sword
while she was asleep with her five children beside her, the smallest was a
nursing baby. How can such a man who could not bear someone criticizing him in
poetry forgive someone throwing garbage at him? These stories of grandeur of
Muhammad along with those attributing miracles to him are all forgeries
concocted by over zealot believers. Even today the followers of diverse cults
make stories such as these and attribute them to their gurus. (Read the story of
the new prophet John the Ruiter here)
My last request for now is for
testimonials from Arabs, and especially women. I feel that would put my thought
more in perspective. By the way, I'm Lebanese, and left the country to become
American when I was 21. I need to know what you think about this question and answer? http://www.newsday.com/features/religion/ny-p2dexmaster2565686jan26.story It is fascinating, but is it true?
Can you critique the answer to the first question? Your thoughts are well appreciated,
especially if printed in public on your web sites. Rational thinking should not
fear questioning (as apposed to religions it vilifies) right? Thanks again
As for testimonies I post them as I receive them here. I
hope in future more people start sending theirs as for many, testimonies are
very important. (I personally never care about testimonies. I rather see the
facts on my own than follow someone else) As for the claim of Rabbi
Marc Gellman & Msgr. Thomas Hartman that “Islam
is not a good religion but a great religion” I would like to ask you
why they do not convert to Islam if Islam is such a great religion as they say?
Doesn’t it seem odd to you that a Rabbi and a Christian priest speak from a
common tribune? To understand where these people come from you have to
understand the mindset of today’s Westerners. The westerners want to see good
in everything. They "not see evil, not say evil and not hear evil" is
vogue. They dislike criticizing other people’s beliefs. They are humanists
(not religious). They want to be tolerant and accepting of others. This is of
course good but you cannot be tolerant and accepting of something that is
inherently evil. Islam and Nazism are evil in nature. They should not be
tolerated. These people do not understand Islam. When they praise the “Golden
Age of Islam” and attribute it to Islam it is clear that they have no clue
about Islam. The truth is that the Golden Age happened because Islam was not an
issue for the statesmen of those days and men such as Zakaria Razi, Bu Ali Sina,
Ibn Ruashd and Khayyam could openly criticize Islam and not fear death. (Please
read the article on freethinkers of Islam). These two modern-day religious leaders are so ignorant
about Islam that they think Islam is 1600 years old. I bet they have not read a
page from Quran. They sat In Islam there is no inquisition. What an ignorance.
Muslims practice religious persecution even in this day of religious freedom.
Hindus are massacred in Bangladesh, Qadianis in Pakistan, Bahai's in Iran,
Christians in Nigeria, Philippines and East Timor. Why don’t you write
to them and ask them to come and show me the truth that they found about Islam?
It is amazing that Muslims do not bother to read the Quran
on their own and instead rely on the opinions of misinformed people such as
these two guys, Cat Stevens the singer, Muhammad Ali the boxer and George Bush,
Tony Blair or Gandhi who are/were politicians. Politicians HAVE to say good
things about other people’s beliefs. It would be a political suicide if
they spoke the truth and said other things. Thank you for your questions and take care Ali Sina P.S. In continuation I request please post your next
message in our new forum so others can answer it. I am very busy and would
like to dedicate more time to other projects. |
