Your unofficial apology re: Boston..

[AHASRADA]

After 9/11, I didn't leave the house for a few weeks. Then, only to do grocery shopping. On one of these trips, a woman smiled at me and asked me how I was doing. I assumed she recognized me from one of the many interfaith community outreach presentations I had done, and apologized for not recalling who she was. Her response? "Oh, I don't know you, I just saw you with your headscarf and wanted to make sure you were OK." Her touching comment reminded me of the tolerance and respect that my community had always shown, and for the most part, still maintained.

 

At the same time, it was unnerving to stick out like a sore thumb, never knowing if that one random violent person would see me as a target. I found some American flag patterned fleece fabric, and sewed myself a wrap, which I wore all fall and winter 2001. Somehow, I felt I might be protected if I always left the house wrapped in the stars and stripes.

 

I had completed forgotten about that wrap, until I was cleaning out an old chest a few weeks ago, and there it was. I looked at it, briefly remembering that time in our history so many years ago, and set it aside for donation. In my experience, the legacy of 9/11 is an increased understanding and knowledge of Islam and the fact that Muslim does not equal terrorist. The media has done an overall excellent job of not rushing to judgement in the Boston case. I have held off on donating my wrap, though. I sincerely hope I don't end up feeling the need to wear it this time.

[umsami]

Thanks everybody. Your replies and support are very much appreciated. I do hope should you encounter any visibly Muslim folks in your travels over the next few weeks, you'll give them an extra smile.

 

So far things have been O.K. except for one friend from h.s. on facebook. She keeps posting these inflammatory things related to the bombing, Muslims, etc. Just posted something about how Michelle Obama visited the Saudi student who was implicated early but not Jeff Bauman. Sigh.

 

Hoping that things go better this time and that the guy recovers enough to give some answers.

 

Thanks again. :grouphug:

[fraidycat]

:grouphug: :grouphug:

 

:sad: I feel incredibly saddened that you felt the need to apologize for something you have absolutely no control over, and by the fact that anyone should experience the intolerance you (collective, Muslims) face each time a radical goes off the deep end.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug:

[LibraryLover]

I don't know if this helps, but I live in MA, and I have not heard blame towards, or one negative word about Muslims from anyone (not in public, not on my FB wall or feed), wrt this week's horrific events. Not saying it's true for everyone, but it's been my experience.

[Tullia]

:grouphug: :grouphug:

 

:sad: I feel incredibly saddened that you felt the need to apologize for something you have absolutely no control over, and by the fact that anyone should experience the intolerance you (collective, Muslims) face each time a radical goes off the deep end.

 

:grouphug: :grouphug:

 

 

 

fraidycat said it better than I could have: :grouphug:

[Amy in NH]

If I accept your unnecessary apology, can I apologize for the way white Europeans have mistreated every other race under the sun? It isn't even something that happened last week, and I still harbor horribly guilty feelings about what Americans have done/are doing, especially to Native Americans and Africans (and that doesn't even begin to touch the Crusades, colonization, etc, etc, etc.)!

[linguistmama]

We have several Muslim families on our street and will certainly be giving them huge smiles if we see them outside. I don't know how they will feel about leaving their homes much, though. :crying:

[MyThreeSons]

 

There is absolutely no justification for killing innocent people in Islam. I don't care what your brother's friend heard, there isn't. I've read the Qur'an in its entirety, in context, and can say that without reserve.

 

 

Can you recommend a good book or website that will help me to better understand what Islam truly teaches? Perhaps both the true or orthodox teachings -- sorry I'm so ignorant I don't know the proper term -- and the teachings of some of the splinter groups.

 

I used the Westboro Baptist Church analogy on FB, and it was countered with the typical "The Qur'an teaches commands that all infidels must be killed". I know that I could post some out of context passages from the Bible which say that adulterers are to be stoned, that those who disrespect their parents must die, etc.

[Ameena]

Can you recommend a good book or website that will help me to better understand what Islam truly teaches? Perhaps both the true or orthodox teachings -- sorry I'm so ignorant I don't know the proper term -- and the teachings of some of the splinter groups.

 

I used the Westboro Baptist Church analogy on FB, and it was countered with the typical "The Qur'an teaches commands that all infidels must be killed". I know that I could post some out of context passages from the Bible which say that adulterers are to be stoned, that those who disrespect their parents must die, etc.

 

I'm sure others can provide better recommendations, but here are mine. I am not familiar at all with the splinter groups though, so can't give recommendations there.

 

For a Book, I found The Idiots Guide to Islam to be very helpful when first studying the faith as a non-muslim. It gives a bit of an overview along with differences in the major sects of Islam. It's hard to find a single book that covers Islam - it's like asking for a single book to tell about ALL the different sects of Christianity and what each one believes on subjects - nearly impossible.

 

The DVD Islam an American Faith was good too. As was Youtube - I learned a LOT from Youtube from the following channels: Dawahaddict, ILoveElHassan, and Amenakin. There also was a british BBC show that I found on Youtube called "Make Me a Muslim" that was very good at explaining things & geared towards a non-muslim audience. The premise of the show was to take a group of very non-muslim brits, and ask them to live as muslims for 6 or 8 weeks, and teach them what it was really like to be a practicing Muslim.

 

WhyIslam.org is good too - they will send a free Quran in english to anyone who wants one Muslim or not, and they also have a forum and 1-800 line where you can call with questions.

[Shahrazad]

I will have to come back for a link because I need to look around as the one I know of is geared more toward stopping extremism within the Muslim community and is written with a lot of references to jurisprudence and differing ideologies that would be difficult to sift through if you aren't familiar with it.

 

To answer your question though in the meantime, Islam is very clearly against these types of actions. I've read the qur'an in entirety both in its original form (in Arabic) and in English and I have read the tafseer (scholarly explanations) and the major problem is that the people who do these things a) lack this education and are not able to see for themselves that this is against our faith and B) are usually taken advantage of by people who DO know better but who have a self-serving methodology (like AQ).

 

The main area I see quoted by the anti-Islam websites is the ones about killing disbelievers or the 'kill them wherever you find them' verses however those verses were directed toward the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions when they were fighting the aggressors of the pre-Islamic pagans in a major battle. It was during declared war. And the following verse even mentions that if one of the enemy you are fightingcomes to you asking for refuge and shelter that you GRANT it to him (I mean, what faith, especially at that time, would order such a thing?)

 

As for jihad, there are multiple types of jihad (ex:jihad an-nafs, the fight against the soul and the temptations of the world). The main jihad you hear people refer to on the news is the fighting one, obviously, but there are very specific requirements that are currently not being met for such a thing to exist (there is no amir and there needs to be education and purification amongst the people first, otherwise there is problems like we're having now!). The exception would be if you are IN YOUR HOME defending yourself from an intruder or aggressor. You're told that if you enter your innermost room and lock yourself inside and the aggressor enters upon you to repel them with a force equal to their own and if you die you are a martyr. This would be the equivalent of if someone breaks into your house to kill your family and you shoot them or fight them off.

 

Most importantly, when there is a clear and declared war between a Muslim land and another (and I mean clear, declared, and accepted on both sides and of course, as mentioned above there are the stipulations which cannot be currently met re: jihad) the following rules apply:

 

1. You CANNOT commit suicide. To do so means you will get punishment in hell. Some scholars even said that if a person does this they should not be prayed over or buried with the Muslims. The EXCEPTION is when a person is mentally ill because they are not considered responsible for their actions.

 

2. It is absolutely forbidden to kill women, children, the elderly, the disabled, and the mentally ill under any circumstances (even as collateral damage).

 

3. You cannot kill civilians (non-fighters).

 

4. And, again, as mentioned above, if someone asks for refuge you grant it to them.

 

This is all taken from the Qur'an and Hadeeth (prophetic narrations).

 

 

Regarding the groups, well, personally, I would characterize people like AQ and BL as Khawarij or Kharijites. The Saudi government has done a fairly good job quashing these groups (and they even have detention centers for basically 'deprogramming' people who are involved in this type of thing -- I know of someone who went to one of those and now he is runs a scholarly website and it actually did work to change his mind, believe it or not). The history of the khawrij dates back to the time of the Prophet and they were called the 'dogs of the Hellfire' because of their violence and twisting of the religion to fit their evil goals and its just kind of complicated to explain, as I mentioned, because there is a lot of Islamic history involved. Basically they are the ones who rebel and overthrow rulers and believe a person's sin takes them outside of Islam for good and also, the people who call for the deaths of other Muslims who sin. They also tend to adopt political causes and claim that it is a mission from God to kill civilians despite the fact that is completely contrary to what the holy texts command. Unfortunately, it seems like this 'revolutionary' bent tends to attract disaffected youths like bees to honey.

[LibraryLover]

Btw, the press is being very gentle, in general, I think, reporting on the widow of the older killer. She is only 24, with a toddler daughter. I also haven't heard anyone in my circle of friends (FB included) express anything but pain for her. News sources are reporting that she was abused by him, and there was a 911 call from their home regarding domestic violence-- about a year ago, I think. Even if we consider this was done by a zealot, it's men who do the killing, not their wives.

[umsami]

 

Can you recommend a good book or website that will help me to better understand what Islam truly teaches? Perhaps both the true or orthodox teachings -- sorry I'm so ignorant I don't know the proper term -- and the teachings of some of the splinter groups.

 

I used the Westboro Baptist Church analogy on FB, and it was countered with the typical "The Qur'an teaches commands that all infidels must be killed". I know that I could post some out of context passages from the Bible which say that adulterers are to be stoned, that those who disrespect their parents must die, etc.

 

You can always read the Qur'an in English. My favorite translations are the ones by Muhammad Asad and the Oxford version. There are orgs that will send you a free Qur'an, but they tend to send the Yusuf Ali version which I don't like as much. Of course, you can find it online and read for free. :) (Free is always good IMHO.)

 

BUT...it is a religious text, so it's not like it's always easy reading. It's divided into 30 parts...and honestly like the Bible, some parts are easier to read than others IMHO. It really helps to know what was going on when the various things were revealed so that you know the context. Reza Aslan did a great book on kind of the history of Islam/Muhammad (peace be upon him) called "No god but God." It's probably one of the best English-language books I've read on Islam.

 

If you want a quick, easy fun-to-read book, then "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Islam" by Yahya (John) Emerick is great. You can flip through it, read a bit, and then go on.

 

All of the above should be available in most libraries too.

 

Reza's book goes a little into some of the splinters and stuff, but I can't remember how much (if at all) he gets into the more extreme groups of late. He does talk about the Wahabis and stuff. If you want to understand a bit more about the Muslim Brotherhood (who haven't been linked to terrorism, but in their past, were responsible for some and both they and Hamas came from the same origins), I actually thought that Leila Ahmed's book A Quiet Revolution: The Veil's Resurgence was really interesting.

 

Today (I think) I head a program on the BBC's World Have Your Say talking about extremism in general, which might be interesting to some.

 

For a different (and not often seen) perspective on Islam, I also was channel surfing today and came across a program about saving the oceans on the island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean. Surprisingly, the biggest supporter was the mosque, whose Imam preached about how conservationism and preserving the environment was straight from the Qur'an.

[Melissa in NC]

:grouphug:

 

 

Some people use excuses for their bad behavior. It is easy to assign motives to religion or other factors when you want to behave in a manner you know is wrong. I do not blame Islam for their actions, they made a choice to hurt innocent people. It was their choice and only they are responsible for their actions.

 

Peace

[Melissa in NC]

:grouphug:

 

 

Sorry, double post.