Why are people so hateful
Current mood: confused

I have a friend who has been interested in learning about Islam so I am trying to introduce her to people who are knowlegeable about the relgion but I am finding that a lot (not all though) of people are so hateful. I know this is the case with any religion but it is getting hard to tell the people that I care about that Islam is a religion of peace when some Muslims that she is being exposed to are speaking about wanting naked women for fun but modest women for marriage and others saying that the white race is horrible.

What do I tell her?

First off, if you choose to have naked women for fun you are disrespecting yourself just as much as the women that are scantily clad are. If you choose to mess around with these women you are just as sinful as they are, if not more sinful since the truth has been revealed to you, in my opinion and Allah will give you the wife you deserve. She might be a virgin but she might lack other qualities that are good in a wife such as a caring demeanor, compassion, affection, obedience or a general nurturing nature.

And please don't get me started on racist comments! I just can't believe this. I'm so disgusted and feeling confused. I know that Islam is the relgion for me but I'm sickened that people would use this beautiful religion to be so cruel to others. Let us lead by example.

Asalaam Alikum

1:32 PM - 5 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Guided to Islam
Current mood: giddy

A lot of my friends have asked what prompted my conversion to Islam. Those who have known me for years know that I am an avid reader and somewhat obsessed with cultures, religions and politics but would never consider me to have been religious. So here it is:

I was raised in a non-practicing Catholic family. I loved mass as a child and I would often beg my parents to take me on Sudays although their drug habits at the time would conflict with arising early to attend services so we would go on an occasional Christmas or Easter. I loved the sense of community and I always longed to be closer to God but growing up without positive religious role models soon took it's toll. Eventually, I gave up asking to go to church. It was futile but I continued reading about several religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam (due to politics) and Budhism.

Just recently though I had felt an inexplicable draw towards finding God. This is something I hadn't felt since I was very small and I think most of us seek to  feel about religion as we did as kids so I started reading the Bible again and going to a non-denominational church but I noticed in the Bible that there was another prophet prophised to come. Hmmm....who could this mysterious prophet be? This Spirit of Truth that was discussed in John? It couldn't be Jesus (pbuh). He was already in Jerusalem at the time. John already knew of him. I felt so out of place at church.

Why did we not mention God? What about the first commandment to worship no one but God? Why did Jesus (pbuh) tell the disciples that he worshiped the same God as they did? Why didn't Jesus (pbuh) tell the disciples to worship him (Jesus pbuh)? Why did the worship of Jesus (pbuh) not start until the disciples spread out? Why did Jesus (pbuh) refer to himself as "The son of man" and not the "son of God" as we called him? This was just too confusing!! We sang hymns that were akin to rock. This is strange! Where's the piety that I imagined as a child? Why were my donations going to fund big screen TVs and not to the poor?

I had been studying Islam stirctly for political points rather than religious ones. The last thing that I had considered was a conversion. Muslims were too strict for my liking. Praying five times a day?! That's an awful lot to ask of someone, isn't it? But what I read of the Qur'an made sense to me. It didn't leave those lingering questions that I had with Christianity.

So one day I'm sitting in my cubicle at work wondering why God would make it so hard to find the right path. What good can come of all of these religions claiming to lead to Him? So I did what I only did when I lost my keys or had a stressful trivial situation, I prayed. It seemed silly at the time. After all, when did my praying result in finding my lost item immediately? I told God that I was confuesd and I knew by my franitc feeling that I needed to find my path. I asked him to send me a sign as to what path is mine. I walked out to my car and there was a covered Muslim woman very near me! My frantic feeling turned to panic. I approached her and talked for some time. This just couldn't be the sign I asked for though! It had to be a coincidence.

I told her that I was considering stopping by a mosque in my neighborhood  just out of curiousity. She insisted that I go today but I kept offering excuses. I wanted to read the WHOLE Qur'an first, I was too busy today, I wasn't feeling in the mood. She was very stubborn though! I soon left her and started drivning home but I found myself parked in front of the mosque. Shaking, I walked up to the door and up the stairs.

There happened to be only one woman there that day. Her name was Nichol (notice the similarity?), she was raised Catholic (like me), her father was married three times (like mine) and when I told her why I had come to the mosque that day she stopped and looked at me like I was crazy. She converted the same way and had just told a similar story that day to a friend! My heart was filled with such peace! I felt like I had come home! I converted and said my shahada that night with Nichol.

Many times in my life I felt lost and worthless. Like Allah would never guide someone like me when there are other people in the world that are so much better than I am but he did guide me alhumduillah. How blessed am I?! I always feared having to leave my life behind for something else. I always had a fear of being swept away from all that I had known. But you know what? Being swept away by Allah has given me more than my sinful life had to offer. I obtained peace, understanding and love for myslef that wasn't there before not to mention the stregth to give what was impossible to give up before. One would think that submitting to Allah would leave you helpless but nothing is further from the truth. By becoming the slave one learns to master himself and his urges. We spend our whole lives trying to convince ourselves that WE have control. Once we relinquish that false sense of control we become better than we were.Struggling against God takes a lot of enegry and is pointless in the end. Allah-hu Akbar!

12:00 PM - 5 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Reflections from peacekeeper Tom Fox
Current mood: touched

The following was written by Tom Fox the day before he was kidnapped in Iraq. Tom's body was found with gunshot wounds to his head and chest along with signs of torture. I think we can all learn from Tom's wealth of love and spirituality. He wrote:

"If an attacker inspires anger or fear in my heart, it means that I have not
purged myself of violence. To realize nonviolence means to feel within you
its strength--soul force--to know God. A person who has known God will be
incapable of harboring anger or fear within him, no matter how overpowering
the cause for that anger or fear may be." (Gandhi speaking to Badshah Kahn's
Khudai Khidmatgar officers; _A Man to Match His Mountains_ by Eknath
Easwaran, 1985.)

When I allow myself to become angry, I disconnect from God and connect with
the evil force that empowers fighting. When I allow myself to become
fearful, I disconnect from God and connect with the evil force that
encourages flight.

The French theologian Rene Girard has a very powerful vision of Satan that
speaks to me: "Satan sustains himself as a parasite on what God creates by
imitating God in a manner that is jealous, grotesque, perverse and as
contrary as possible to the loving and obedient imitation of Jesus" (_I See
Satan Falling like Lightning_, 2001)

If I am not to fight or flee in the face of armed aggression, be it the
overt aggression of the army or the subversive aggression of the terrorist,
then what am I to do? "Stand firm against evil" (Matthew 5:39, translated by
Walter Wink) seems to be the guidance of Jesus and Gandhi in order to
stay connected with God. Here in Iraq I struggle with that second form of
aggression. I have visual references and written models of CPTers standing
firm against the overt aggression of an army, be it regular or paramilitary.
But how do you stand firm against a car-bomber or a kidnapper? Clearly the
soldier disconnected from God needs to have me fight. Just as clearly the
terrorist disconnected from God needs to have me flee. Both are willing to
kill me using different means to achieve he same end--that end being to
increase the parasitic power of Satan within God's good creation.

It seems easier somehow to confront anger within my heart than it is to
confront fear. But if Jesus and Gandhi are right then I am not to give in to
either. I am to stand firm against the kidnapper as I am to stand firm
against the soldier. Does that mean I walk into a raging battle to confront
the soldiers? Does that mean I walk the streets of Baghdad with a sign
saying "American for the Taking?" No to both counts. But if Jesus and Gandhi
are right, then I am asked to risk my life, and if I lose it to be as
forgiving as they were when murdered by the forces of Satan.

Standing firm is a struggle, but I'm willing to keep working at it."

This has shown me that there are people  in our world who are willing to risk EVERYTHING  in order to stand up for what they believe in . They are willing to stand for love and compassion. What more could the God ask of a servant?

Currently reading : Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library) By William Shakespeare Release date: 01 January, 2004

8:03 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Bush's greatest accomplishments
Current mood: angry

George W. Bush's 50 greatest accomplishments

1. I attacked and took over two countries.
2. I spent the US surplus and bankrupted the US treasury.
3. I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy)
4. I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12
month period.
5. I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market.
6. I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.
7. I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.
8. In my first year in office I set the all-time record for the most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did).
9. After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history.
10. I set the record for most campaign raising trips by any president in US history.
11. In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.
12. I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history.
13. I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period.
14. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any other president in US history.
15. I set the record for fewest press conferences of any president since the advent of TV.
16. I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.
17. I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history.
18. I cut health-care benefits for war veterans.
19. I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any one person in the history of mankind.
20. I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history.
21. I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.
22. Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US histiry (the poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her).
23. I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy.
24. I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world.
25. I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community.
26. I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the US.
27. I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Reagan was hard to beat, but I did it!!!)
28. I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations to remove the US from the Human Rights Commission.
29. I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.
30. I removed more checks and balances and have the least congressional oversight of any presidential administration in US history.
31. I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant.
32. I withdrew from the World Court Of Law.
33. I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions.
34. I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations elections inspectors access during the 2002 elections.
35. I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for the most corporate campaign donations.
36. The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of EnronCorporation)
37. I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.
38. I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied, saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1).
39. I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government.
40. I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11, and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history).
41. I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.
42. I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts.
43. I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US laws by not selling their huge investments in corporations that later made bids for gov. contracts.
44. I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.
45. I have created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided that the US has been since the Civil War.
46. I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down.
47. I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available).
48. I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war. I refused to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.
49. All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father's library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records of any SEC investigation into my insider trading or bankrupted companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.
50. All minutes of meetings of any public corporations for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

Currently listening : Hypnotize By System of a Down Release date: 22 November, 2005

10:52 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment