Dear Mr. Stevenson,
you are most welcome
now, I will try to respond to your post and will quote the paragraphs you wrote and start them with “You wrote”
You wrote: “By your definition it seems the only requirement for being a Moslem is to believe in God!”
I am not so sure I can say that… Islam has five pillars that one has to accept and practice… and my understanding is that some are more important than others… I know for example that the unity of God in Islam is the most important.
You wrote: “There is no question that Islam is a strong advocator of God or a supreme being. The issue is how does it portray that God? Obviously - as it appears - your view of God as portrayed by Islam is certainly different than that of - for example - the Talibans'.”
I don’t think that believing Muslims differ on how God is portrayed in Islam… it is when some people, like Osama Bin Laden or the Taliban become pragmatists and try to gain control or maintain it under Islamic pretext…
A simple example, there are stories of Muslim women helping in Islamic wars… a Muslim woman defended the Prophet pbuh in one of the wars by standing in the way of his attackers… where is that from the Taliban’s rule that forbids women working or going to school for example…! Do they not know that or is it that they simply wanted to maintain control over the population…! So you see, their desire for control overshadowed everything else… and that is where they went wrong…
You wrote: “In order to understand how Islam really views God, one has to understand what Quran says. It seems by your admission you do not seem to know much about Quran - despite knowing valuable sources and links to point others to! “
“Therefore, and again going back to my original question, if you are admitting that you do not know much about Islam or Quran and how its verses are defined and meant to be used, then how can you genuinely call yourself a Moslem? If your definition of being a Moslem is just submission to God (and a supreme being) then you may as well be called a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, or practically over 1000 other faiths and religions that exist in this world and promote the same concept. “
Mr. Stevenson, I know and understand the basic teachings of Islam… I do not know the reasons behind all the verses of the Holy Qur’an… if I am to be a beacon of Islam (which I am not, and I doubt I will ever be), I would definitely need to be better versed in it…I am not, and that is not my goal here… my goal here is an attempt to clear misrepresentations of Islam by providing links to reliable resources… because these misrepresentations affect Islam and affect me as a Muslim American citizen in numerous ways… so, it is not my ego that I am defending here… had that been the case, I would have not opted to ignore people who verbally attacked me, don’t you agree?
You wrote: “I mean if I am an American I know exactly what the U.S constitution says and how it has defined my rights and liberty in this country. I do not just call myself American because I believe in Democracy , and freedom of thoughts, but because I know exactly to the point how this democracy and freedom of thoughts are defined by the U.S. constitution.”
“You as a Moslem therefore should know exactly what it means to believe in God under the rules laid out by Quran.”
Mr. Stevenson, if you are well versed in the US constitution, then you are a better citizen than I am a Muslim citizen… for I am not well versed in either (the constitution or Islam)… with regret, I admit that… but I have to qualify that, for I always try to learn with time according to my time limitations… that might not be fast enough for someone who is eager to find all he / she can about Islam in the shortest time… but again, that is why I provided the links and keep referring everyone to them…
You wrote: “You say people take verses out of context and do not look into reasons behind a verse they reference, I assume that you have already looked into every single verse and know exactly what they meant to say, and therefore can explain in a rather proficient manner what they really mean someone asks you a question about them who may have misinterpreted them. Because if you believe in Islam, you must also believe in every single verse in Quran, and to believe in every single verse you must understand it fully and completely. Otherwise - and with all due respect - you will simply be following blindly without knowing what is it that you are following! “
“To be totally honest then, and based on your admission that you do not know much about Quran (or Islam), is it safe to assume that the main reason you really are such a strong defender of Islam is because you have been born into it? Hence it is a matter of ego rather than genuine belief?”
Mr. Stevenson… I consider myself not to know much about Islam… far less than what would qualify me to mentor others about it… I simply prefer to refer people to what I would consider reliable sources as opposed to getting into answering questions I consider myself not qualified to answer to begin with…
I know that certain verses were revealed for specific reasons addressing specific situations… and others are meant to guide a Muslims behavior… that is different than saying how a verse is meant to be used… and no, I did not look into the reasons of every verse of the Holy Qur’an.
To understand the verses of the Holy Qur’an, one needs to find out the reasons behind the verse at hand… and whether it is considered a specific verse or a general verse…
Let me give you an example… there is a verse about Moses when he went to the Pharo of Egypt…now obviously this is a specific verses detailing an event… and there is another verse that goes into the details of divorce, death and inheritance… and this is obviously a verse that is meant to be a guide for Muslims’ behavior…
If we look at all verses with this knowledge trying to discern what is what, we would clear up all the misunderstandings… that is my belief.
Some people for some reason or another, opt to just take the translated verse without any information on the reasons behind it creating a misunderstanding of Islam…
Mr. Stevenson, I hope that I’ve addressed all the issues you raised…
Regards
Amein |
