Yesterday, a young Muslim woman named Sumaya presented Islam to my World Religions class. She covered the basics of Islam, which I already knew. They worship the God of Abraham. They hold Abraham, Joseph, John the Baptist, Jesus, etc. to be prophets of God, with Muhammad being the final and greatest prophet. They claim that earlier Scriptures haven’t survived unaltered and without error (yup), but that the Arabic Qur’an has survived in original form (could be; it’s fairly recent). They practice the Five Pillars: “There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”, pray 5 times daily, pay the poor tax, fast during Ramadan, and make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca. God is compassionate and forgiving, but they hold to the teachings of God (and prophets like Jesus) more strictly than Protestant Christians do, and believe there are greater consequences for sin. “Allah” is the Arabic word for God, and is used by Arabic Christians to refer to God, too. (I noticed this months ago when “reading” an Arabic Christian Bible.)
I’m always disappointed by the misconceptions about what I consider “true” Christianity, misconceptions that Christians themselves (myself included) propogate. And I always look for opportunities to present the real Jesus. Sumaya presents Islam often and I imagine it is a thrill for her to clear up misconceptions, especially among Westerners.
Sumaya was humble, confident, loving, at peace, and true, so much so that she was sexy without me knowing a single feature of her body (she was dressed very modestly).
I did disagree with her about Islam and violence. The history books I’ve read claim that Muhammad led military conquests and established a political empire. Sumaya claimed that Muhammad only fought in self defense and that Islam was spread by trade. This is probably a disagreement between historical texts, just as there are disagreements among historical texts about Jesus.
I also disagreed with her about jihad. It does mean a struggle with one’s inner self, as Sumaya claimed, but many non-radical, practicing Muslims know it also means a military struggle for the cause of Islam, and consider that a valid method of spreading truth in certain circumstances. Update: Somebody (how they found my blog I’ve no idea) commented with a link to this article, which may be useful in explaining the concept of jihad to non-Muslims like myself.
Without further ado, here are three major things I love about Islam, in the way Sumaya presented it:
1. Islam is pure. Just as in all major religions, there are divisions in Islam (Sunni, Shiite, Sufi, etc.), and there are non-practicing Muslims and wrongly-practicing Muslims. But practicing Muslims seem to me more unified in belief and especially in deed compared to Christians, Jews, or Buddhists. This is probably due to the recentness of Islam’s origins, the Five Pillars which daily reinforce Muslim belief and practice, the dedication by many Muslims to read the Qur’an in the original Arabic rather than translations which cause endless confusion of language, and unifying cultures (Islam is popular in community-oriented cultures, Christianity is popular in independence-oriented cultures). It’d be hard to prove this, but I bet there are a greater percentage of Muslims who memorize parts of the Qur’an than Christians who memorize parts of the New Testament. And perhaps a greater percentage of Muslims who pay the poor tax than Christians who give tithe. And perhaps a greater percentage of Muslims that abstain from drunkeness or premarital sex or other harmful behavior than Christians.
2. Islam is practical. As Sumaya said, Muslims believe that “one thing leads to another.” If you don’t affirm your faith daily, your faith may suffer, so a Muslim prays 5 times daily. If you take on loans to start a business, you will accumulate debt you may not be able to escape from. So Islamic nations prefer or mandate business partnerships rather than business loans. If you start dating and spending lots of alone time with a romantic partner, sex may precede marriage. So Muslims don’t date: potential partners get to know each other with the stated purpose of interest for marriage, over the phone or together with another friend present.*
3. Islam is honorable. One thing that bothers me about Judaism and Christianity is the persistent personification of God. I’d much rather consider God holy and of a totally different nature than we can comprehend than something similar to a human father, human king, human servant. Perhaps God wants to relate to us in this way, but I often feel I am merely bending the unfathomable God into my little perceptions to make me feel comforted or special or something. Islam affirms that God is God and there is no other, and he is not personified. Islam does, um, earthify heaven, though, as a desert oasis (not surprising, since Islam was born in desert).
Many features of Islam are attractive to me. Of course, many features of humanism are also attractive to me, on a more superficial level. But I believe the truth is that Jesus is Lord.
* Some ask, “How could you really know if you want to marry someone without being alone with them?” I think you can know someone well enough to decide to marry them. What you’re actually missing is total intimacy, which is exactly what you should be missing until marriage. Don’t give your heart away until there is mutual commitment.
May 22, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Hi
Read you comments about Islam.
Most of the NON Muslims have wrong knowledge about what jihad in islam is. I would like to tell you a link where you can find information about what jihad actually is, in Islam.
http://www.islamonline.net/english/introducingislam/Individual/article08.SHTML
Hoping you would find it helpful.
October 1, 2006 at 6:54 am
Dear friend,
What you wrote about Islam is very sincere and it seems like you are those few that seek for the truth. I only like to say that Islam teaches Muslim to have responsibility over what ever they do. Eventhough when nobody is watching(but Allah is). Living in a community makes muslims strong and at ease in practicing their faith. By living in community, muslims are responsible in reminding other muslims to practice the religion and watch over each other’s well being. There is also no problem for them to live in harmony with non-muslims, as it was practice since the times of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w).
I believe that you may find more features of humanism in Islam because it is taught as the way of life.
Hope you find what you are looking for. Good luck.
October 28, 2006 at 7:22 am
hi, i really enjoyed reading ur experiance, and i liked the fact that you were talking from a christians point of view, and not from a muslim or convert/revert. And everything u said wasnet biased. But neway the same way u researched islam, and justified it in ur article. u didnt really justify how jesus is lord?..anyway dont get me wrong i respect ur belifs, coz as a muslim im not allowed to critisize but if u look into what god is in islam compared to in christianity u might find something interesting. anyway good luck and tc
October 29, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Dear sir,,
but before 3 years i was a totally different person i was a muslim by name no prayers no vail on my hair… but when i got to know my real religion, it was like a 180 turn change for me!
The words that you wrote shows how intelegent and open minded you are, realy not because im a muslim as im caliming
i gained an unbelievable self confidence, i can see more respect among all the ones who im meeting, became more active with all communities and i have too many chrestian freinds and coleagues
Islam mainly teaches us how to respect our brains “the God greatest bless to humanity” when it bands us from worshipping people to worsheping the God, the Greatest…
one huge difference is that we have the basics of islam from the holey Quraan and sunnah “what the prophet Mohammad said and did” and the third source is from our Islamic scientist.. they could have different view points that we can either accept or refuse but still respect …
unlike ur popes who you have to go and addmit the fault you’ve done! when there’s no need cuz God is the Greatest and the Merciful… you can feel the existence of Allah infront of you… tell him what ever you want what ever you feel and what ever you wish!! He’s always seeking for those who come back to him
God Bless All of us
October 30, 2006 at 8:30 pm
RASHA, your discovery of true Islam mirrors my own discovery of “true Christianity”, although I prefer to divorce myself from the term “Christianity” in favor of “discipleship to Jesus.”
I do speak directly to God and swear no allegiance to a Pope.
Thank you for your comment.
December 28, 2006 at 1:13 pm
Hi
It is very refreshing to read such an honest, unbiased, informed perspective of Islam from a non-Muslim, in these times of venemous propagations against Islam. I commend you for doing that. I only wish that more Christians and Jews would ‘at least’ do such an effort to learn about the true Islam, as opposed to the one that the media portrays so viciously.
It is the duty of every Muslim to clear out any misconception that he/she comes across, for ignorance is the cause of all ill. Therefore, for the cause of Allah and Islam, I do have to make certain corrections:
In the Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, Forever Merciful
1-The Glorious Qur’an is untainted not because of it’s so-called ‘recentness’, but because such is the promise of God Almighty, The Lord of the Worlds. Million (yes, millions!) upon millions of people (called ‘Hafiz’ or ‘protectors’ of the Noble Qur’an) have memorized the ENTIRE Noble Qur’an. Even more have memorized parts (chapters) of the Holy Qur’an, since doing so is necessary for the performance of the 5 prayers (called ‘salat’). Memorizing the Glorious Qur’an has been a tradition of Islam since its relevation by the Prophet Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of Allah, The Most High, be upon him). Even if all the Noble Qur’ans in the world were destroyed, in less than one day, in each Muslim community, a hafiz would be able to rewrite the Holy Qur’an just as it was originally, since its very revelation. The Great Qur’an is one of the greatest miracles granted to Mankind by Allah, The Supreme in glory.
2-I disagree that Islam ‘earthifies’ Heaven. You may find that some Hadiths and certain passages of the Glorious Qur’an use ‘earthly’ terms to describe certain parts of Heaven, but this is only to help the understanding of mankind. For, the only way for us, humans, to understand things is in function of earthly terms. This however doesn’t mean that the descriptions given in holy books of Islam are ‘earthly’ or ‘earthlike’. These descriptions are just for the understanding of the imperfect human mind. How can we expect to understand something as great as Heaven, which we do not see, if we can’t even understand aspects of our own galaxy (like Black Holes, and the Formation of the Universe, and Emptiness, and dark matter, and Dark Energy, and Not-so-constant constants, and Cold-fusion. See: http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18524911.600) some of which we can detect??? Heaven is unlike anything that the human can conceive, for it has never experienced it.
3- Not only does our concept of Heaven not have anything to do with ‘the desert’, but also Islam was not born in ‘the desert.’ Islam, the submission of mankind’s will to Almigthy God, started with the first humans Adam and Eve. They were the first muslims, i.e. the first to submit to the will of God. By the way, in a strict sense, whether you agree or not, the truth is that, from the point of view of predestination, even you (Christians, Muslims, Jews, etc.) are submitting to the Divine Will of Allah. For, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Seeing; your life had been written even before you (and all of Creation) were born. This wonderful article that you wrote is part of the predestination put in place by God. The willful submission to the Will of Allah, The Exalted, is what Islam preaches. We believe that all the Prophets, from Adam to Muhammad (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them), submitted willfully to the Will of Allah, AND preached STRICT monotheism (called Tawheed which means ‘Unity’, i.e. the Oneness of God), therefore they were all Muslims. The belief that Islam started with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is false. Christianity and Judaism stem from Islam, not vice versa. To prove yourself that, learn about Tawheed, and see for yourself if indeed there exists, today, besides Islam, a single religion that preaches that form of STRICT monotheism. I recommend you get a book called ‘The Fundamentals of Tawheed’ by Dr. Abu Ameenah Bilal Phillips.
I compliment you for having done some personal research on Islam. However, I believe that you still have much to learn about Islam, to the extent that it would be wise as to not be complacent in your current knowledge thereof. The truth is that we all have much to learn about religion.
I am a former Christian who converted to Islam this year after months gruelling research on the teachings and books of the major monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. My goal was to find God, to worship God as He deserves and expects to be worshiped, and to learn about my Maker, Allah. I have found true brotherhood, true worship, true respect, true wisdom, true teachings, true equality, true compassion, and truth itself in Islam. May the Guide of Mankind guide you to the Straight Path. Thanks again for your candid account on Islam. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you wish to know more about the journey that led me to Islam. May Allah, to Whom all Glory and Praise is due, bless you and your family.
Jo
December 28, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Thank, Jo.
There will always be more for me to learn about Islam.