I am a mix! Maybe just like you!

I just wanted to say that I completely agree.

Those who feel compelled to call themselves either Sunni or Shi’ite, are missing perhaps the most often repeated and most important part of islam.. which is:

There is no God but God. (better said in Arabic).

For the record though, from my understanding, except for the overly ‘mystical’ aspects of the faith, Sufism is perhaps the closest to, in my opinion, real Islam.

for a little thought experiment, try this.. find the relationship between the philisophical concept of ‘Ego, Superego, and Id’ to Islam, or religion in general.

Greetings,

I am curious about your expression: “I am 1/4 Shi’ite.”

Is this a common way of thinking about denomination within Islam? Forgive my ignorance.

I am a Catholic Christian like my father, but my mother was a Protestant Christian. I do not describe myself as “1/2 Protestant.” That kind of expression is meaningless within Christianity. One belongs completely to the denomination they have chosen – at least I have never encountered a Christian who thought of denomination in this almost genetic way.

Thank you for helping me to understand.

But Alhamdulilah we believe in 1 Allah, and we follow his Quran. I dont know too much about shiite’s and everytime i hear about them its always something bad about them like “who are they to pray 3 times a day while the prophet prayed 5″ “why do they pray while their foreheads are on rocks… it should be on the ground” “why do they call them selves muslims if they harm themselves every year and make it a religious tradition” You know, and every time i try to learn more about them. its either negative talltales or the basics of their sect.

I know a friend of a friend who’s half european (the country escapes my mind) and half egyptian. The mother is christian and the father is muslim. but her father left her at a young age because the mother wouldnt become muslim, so she has this mentality of hating muslims because her father left her, she basically dresses like a hoochie, thinks like a non-muslim, but prays sometimes. Theres my next door neighbours where the father is Persian/Afghan muslim and the mother is a spanish christian. The oldest daughter who’s 18 has a spanish boyfriend and loves all things spanish. The fathers family NEVER visists, i remember only 1 occasion did the fathers family visit, our neighbourhood is 80 % muslim and she dosent give two shits to learn about the religion, but she told me once in a blue moon will she pray, or fast, but on the other hand when its time for christmas she wakes up for presents. Then I know of a girl who’s half eritrian (east africa) and egyptian. The mother is christian and the father is muslim. But alhmadulilah she was smart enough to take to heart “you are what your dad is” and when she was asked upon her religion they were shocked to know. Surprisngly her older brother is appaently pretty religious.

There are some sucess stories islamically with the children turning out muslim when the mother is christian, and sadly others are not. You can tell the husband or wife is lax about religion when they marry a non-muslim. Though i know of a woman who totallllyy respects islam, and she is married to a moroccan, and although she dosent want to convert, she wouldnt mind her children to be though she said 1 funny thing i was awed about they travalled to a muslim country and while they were talking the azaan came on, she stopped talking right away while her husband asked her why did she do such a thing, and she simply said out of respect its the call to prayers. he replied these arabs if anything will talk even louder trying to drown out the sound …. mashallah i didnt know there were people like that.

very long post, i hoped the bit about diff religions was a bit helpful, incase youve never met any.

Maybe it should be banned for Muslim men to marry Christian women? As a Christian, I get a bit tired of hearing all the horror stories. Just saying.

@yaz

Just wanted to clarify one thing in your post.. Shi’ites don’t pray 3 times a day, they pray 5 times like Sunni’s. The difference is that they have the option of grouping some of the prayers, such as the Maghrib prayer (evening) and Isha’a prayer (Night).

I also wanted to say one other thing, off topic a bit.. For me, prayer is simply God’s way of telling us that when we pray 5 times a day.. that is 5 times a day we remember God and how to be good souls… just my opinion of what prayer is.

@Craig

What is funny is that by Quranic law, A muslim man may marry any women from the book (Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike).. while women cannot marry any man but a muslim.. the logic behind this is that a muslim man would ensure that his children also become muslims…

http://www.waleg.com/archives/017391.html

Why do I have to read comments like those in there? It’s effing offensive. People who don’t believe in religious freedom should not be getting involved in interfaith marriages.

@Ahmed Masri

Ahmed, I know… I looked into it in the past. And actually, the Quran allows both women and men to marry “people of the Book”. It’s some of the Hadiths which prohibit such marriages for women.

But as I just said, since it seems to cause so many problems maybe it should be prohibited outright? Especially since a majority of Muslims live in countries which are not secular?

sorry Mona.. I’m really hijacking (wrong choice of words) your blog here.. but I just wanted to add..

I heard from someone recently (have yet to double check the fact though) that it has been scientifically proven, touching our foreheads to the ground has some sort of effect with our electromagnetic fields.. resetting it… or something like that.. I’ll look into it.

It reminds me of a classic islamic story about how Islam tells us that when a fly falls in our bowls of soup, rather than simply taking the fly out, we must first DIP the fly fully in to the soup before taking it out. Proven scientifically, the reason is that the left wing of a fly contains bacteria, while the right wing of the fly contains the ANTI-bacteria. Dipping the fly in would make sure that the anti-bacteria is fully present to combat the bateria….

@Craig

I don’t agree with outright banning of interfaith marriages.. that for me is like taking a huge step backwards in liberalism.

For the record, I don’t like to follow the hadiths to the letter myself. They are interpretations and memories of the Prophet Mohammed time. Even more so, they only tell you what the Prophet Mohammed DID himself; that doesn’t mean that that is the only way!

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@Ahmed Masri

I don’t agree with outright banning of interfaith marriages.. that for me is like taking a huge step backwards in liberalism.

I don’t think there’s a way to “liberalize” religious freedom. People either have it, or they don’t. It’s a boolean (threw that in for you, Mona)

So in my view, permitting men to marry outside of the faith while prohibiting women from doing the same is sexist. At least if it was prohibited for both men and women, there would be equality in the law… which is a “liberal” concept

My opinion doesn’t really matter since I’m not Muslim, but it does seriously get on my nerves hearing Christian women (and their children) being ridiculed for marrying a Muslim guy. So for purely selfish reasons, I really would like to see an outright ban in Muslim countries on interfaith marriages. Seems like that would be best for everyone… except perhaps the prospective couple, but it seems nobody cares about their wishes anyway.

@Craig

That is just the thing.. Islam, at least as far I understand it so far, is built on the principles of tolerance. To be muslim IS, or at least should be, the same as being tolerant and acceptant of other faiths (liberal in our relations with others). We are not meant to ‘kill’ unbelievers, but teach them.. as arrogant as it may sound.

This is why I have a problem with the hadiths, they have skewed Islam. The hadiths are an attempt to turn God’s message into literaral interpretations. My view is this: the Quran is filled with parables and they are meant to teach us understanding, the third part of the puzzle [The first one being Judiasm (law) and the second being Christianity (love)].

Maybe I am wrong, and my views of Islam is half-cocked, but for me its a matter of what I feel to be God’s message, what I know to be the right thing to do in each situation. Religion itself.. be damned.

As for what you are saying about the stories you hear of interfaith marriages, I would like to say, blame the men themselves, rather than the faith.

@Mona

Thanks.. but why not join in too?

@Craig

I also agree with you about it being sexist. Religion can be really quite unfair at the best of times.

Food for thought:
What if religion is no more than an attempt by common men, albiet perhaps really spiritually inclined, to quanitify God. To give that feeling of spiritually that even die hard atheists can’t avoid, some sort of meaning?

@Mona \\

Exactly.. one man is not the race.. so why the entire religion..

@Ahmed Masri

Based on what you are saying, I think we have a lot in common in the way we view religion in general

@Mona (and Ahmed)

I’d rather not blame anyone!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Christian speak in favor of interfaith marriages. And likewise, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Muslim speak in favor of interfaith marriages. In a secular society, it doesn’t really matter if your co-religionists approve of what you are doing, as they can’t do anything worse than gossip about you. But since the vast majority of Muslims don’t live in secular societies, I still think “better safe than sorry” is the way to go. I do believe in tolerance – especially when it comes to religion, as so many wars have been fought over religious disputes – but when the reality is that the tolerance just isn’t there, it doesn’t make much sense to me to pretend that it is.

PS:

@Ahmed Masri

We are not meant to ‘kill’ unbelievers, but teach them.. as arrogant as it may sound.

Yes, Christians and Muslims have that in common. And that’s one place where Christians and Muslims differ from Jews. Judaism is actually quite exclusionary.

Hey, I read this article today on MSNBC: Iraqi Shiite-Sunni couples who wed get $2,000

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32301084/ns/world_news-conflict_in_iraq

I think it depends on how they represent each religion. Or don’t represent either and go with a “secular” home.

Now if they make their children go to services, but never go themselves? Well what kind of message does that give the children?

Are the children shamed at services because their parents never come? Do the parents care about how their children may be treated when they are not about?

Are the parents shamed?

I feel that if the parents are not going to bother with religion they should not force their children to take on that responsibility for them. No matter that they are in a mixed household.

I think I may have gone off topic here…

Very interesting blog you have here, i totally agree with you. Ppl are making such big deal about denominations.
I’m a christian, and we have so many denominations: catholic, protestant, baptist, advent, etc etc etc……… A lot of ppl think their denomination is the best and treat others like sinners
I really don’t care about how many denominations there are, what’s the difference or which on is better, those things are such trivial things, the important things in life is that we worship the same God, and we treat other people like how we treat ourselves…. we do that and the world will be much much better

Religiously, I am 100% Sunni.