I am posting a new topic because I wanted to talk about the blindness that we Muslims - being only human - have.
I was struck once by a novel's premise.
In 1981, the second coming of Christ was born a Muslim girl in Medugorje, Yugoslavia.
In 1995, she was executed during the ethnic cleansing of a small Croatian town.
While this is written from the point of view of a Christian - and a bitter one, at that - I think it highlights my greatest concern, willful ignorance.
Muslim discussions - online or not - so often are about who can do what. Women, don't do this! (This one is popular.) Reverts aren't real Muslims! Arabs are dominating Islam! Those damn Shi'a/Sunni/Salafi/Wahhabi/Nasibs/Rafidis are at it again! (This one is also real popular.)
These blind us to the potential of God, who is beyond our understanding.
Endless, niggling arguments about women's rights are the ones that drive me the most crazy - instead of supporting sisters, the consensus seems to be that women need to be put in their places and get married off and have many babies. And they can't be leaders. And they can't go to the mosque when they are menstruating (heard that one just today, Fiqhu s-Sunnaed that one). And they can't, they can't, they can't.
Established: I want babies. Not everyone does. Not everyone wants marriage. Some people are intersexed (quite a lot of people, actually). Some people have no sex drives, or low ones. Some people don't want to be married.
There is no sin in difference. The Umma is far more diverse than the two or four categories that people try to box themselves and others into, and it is because God made them that way.
This post is a passionate cry for tolerance and support. When we talk about other Muslims, let's not use derogatory terminology about their madhahab, racial origins, ethnic origins or sex. Can we have a conversation about real-life issues without talking about (to hit my favourite topic) how women are restricted from doing those things or should be making babies instead?
I don't know what exactly I'm on about, but I'm pretty tired of the salvos of blatantly bigoted posts about women in particular and the "you must" posts in general. There are many other issues that seem more pressing - issues about our experiences with the Divine, for example, would seem to be rather central to a website about Islam.
Is your religion real when it costs you nothing and carries no risk? Is your religion real when you fatten upon it? Is your religion real when you commit atrocities in its name? Whence comes your downward degeneration from the original revelation?
I have to say, this is an excellent post, not only has it covered the problem we as Muslims face but it also shows reality as it is. Although i do not necessary agree with you 100%, which is to be expected, you've raised some good points. Pessisimistic views are usually brushed under the carpet for varies of reasons.
Muslims place way too much of their energy on few insignificant topics. I am not implying that these issues should be forgotten and ignored. However, if we all studied Islam, we had strong Imaan we wouldn't have so much problems.
But it was said (if i remember correctly) "Your struggle (as muslims) will never end until death over takes you" (The words of Imam Abdul Malik )
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