What's your view on Hijab?

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

So you are questioning Islam while calling yourself a Muslim? That is misleading. Tell people that you are searching. Otherwise, it is very dishonest of you.

When you have children how will you raise them? Which religion? Will you tell them that God exists or not?

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

One thing I have always appreciated with Atheist is that they don't mislead others.

[Roshina]

So you are questioning Islam while calling yourself a Muslim? That is misleading. Tell people that you are searching. Otherwise, it is very dishonest of you.

When you have children how will you raise them? Which religion? Will you tell them that God exists or not?

What do you think "questioning" means?

But I can see why "searching" might be a better term than "questioning," even though I have no problem with either. In the end, I'm doing both, sort of, whatever either might mean to people.

As for my kids ... don't you worry none :D I have a plan in mind for them, and I'm sure my husband and I will know what to teach them and all. Still, as far as I'm concerned, no one on PF is (physically) a child... so we're safe! No young minds to mislead, if that's what you're thinking, wrora

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

No, I want to know how you will be raising your kids. Why? Because I want to know how sincere you are.

Will you allow the adhan to be recited in their ears when they are born? Will you circumcise your son? Will you allow them to call themselves Muslims? Will you tell them that God exists?

[Muslimah]

People can have a blind faith - as in everything they have learned in their religion is enough for them not to doubt, and to feel that what they are following is right. And there are people who do their research on their religions and other religions so that they feel comfortable in their religion. However, I do agree that if you like the religion you are a part of, or if you like a part of anything, you are positive about it.

It is okay to question Islam. Wherever there is a question - there is an answer. But I guess the way to go about it is in a positive way. I ask a lot of questions, but I do it with a smile because I know Islam won't let me down!

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

That is the right attitude. Masha Allah, your faith is very strong.

However, what I am concerned about is when someone is question the foundations of their own faith and calling themselves part of that faith.

If someone asks you: Are you a Muslim? Say: no! I am searching. Don't say yes and then present yourself as a scholar and then mislead people. That is where my concern is.

There are many people rely on those who are 'educated,' like scholars.

I don't have a problem with questioning. The only thing is that you better have a solution and an alternative.

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

Hmmm...I don't think we are attacking her for 'what' she is not doing. Not at all. She is questioning people's faith. We are attacking (if you want to call it that) her by questioning her.

I guess if she can dish it she should be able to take it! What do you think? No?

I have a lot of respect for her analytic skills, she knows that. I am just coming to terms with her philosophy on Islam.

I guess what I am doing to her is what she has been to doing to everyone else.

[Roshina]

@ Pishoo: Thanks for your post! Had you not said those things, I'd have had to make my response a thousand times longer! :D So, thank you very much.

Now ...

Firstly, I've never, ever claimed to be a scholar, lol. But the mere thought that someone would ever THINK that I would see myself as such actually makes me appreciate those who think like that. So, just so we're clear, I'm not a scholar. My idea of who can be a scholar is one that is even difficult for ME to understand, though I'm the one with who's thought of it, so I don't know who can be a scholar and who can't be.

Khair, that's just to say I've never claimed to be a scholar and never have made myself appear to be one. I'm sorry that the way I talk sounds so arrogant to some that they think it means I'm calling myself a scholar! No, if I could ever reach the status of a scholar - that even of Islam - it'll take me more than many, many decades.

Secondly, ALL I asked Muslimah was to give the Quranic verses she refers to in her posts. (And I ask this of ALL people, and PF members who've been here longer than a few weeks should know this by now.) And this is how far some of us took it -- so far as to say, "Don't call yourself Muslim if that's what you're not." That's such a silly and immature and ignorant suggestion to make, really, one that is one for me to just ignore instead of wasting precious minutes of my life responding to, but oh well. If we're all so miserably hopeless that we need long minutes of people's lives to explain to us what they're saying, it's worth it.
And note that my question is still not answered. In the midst of this whole issue, she forgot to provide the Quranic verses she was referring to.

You see, the reason I do that is to show that the Quran isn't as specific as we've made it to be. It's not. Another reason I do it is that ... well, ANYONE can tell us, "The Quran says that ...," but how do we know if it's true? If someone tells you, "The Quran says to kill non-Muslims," you shouldn't get offended or attacked; you should say, "Where does the Quran say that?" That way, you can read the verse yourself, read neighboring verses, understand its context, and figure out what made the person make such an unfair claim. You'll be able to have a discussion with that person and perhaps be successful in clarifying a major misconception about the Quran.

Similarly, when someone tells me, "The Quran says women should cover their faces" (lots of Muslims believe this), my response is: Where?

Thirdly, I call myself Muslim and I am a Muslim whether others like to see that or not. I'm surrounded by millions of different perspectives and by people I consider scholars, so, just so you know, when I go too much in detail into something, it's perhaps my way of imitating the people I admire. My daily life activities include spending hours with these people (whom, again, I consider intellectuals and scholars, and as I've said earlier, I'm very strict on who can be a scholar), having them ask me questions that take me months to figure out answers to. I'll come up with an answer, be it something that's directly from the Quran, and they'll challenge it. At first, it used to upset me and even offend me because I was like, "Leave me alone. I'm fine this way!" But now, years later, I see what they were trying to do to me. A professor in my department once gave me an article to read, saying he thinks I'll be interested in it, and said to me, "Come by when you're done with it, and we'll discuss it. What I am looking for is your critique of the article."

So I said okay. I went to him a few days later, after having read that article four or five times (it's called "Speaking for the Subaltern" by Gayatri Spivak), making sure I fully understood the author's purpose and understood it well enough to critique it. Turned out, I hadn't understood the article at all because he asked me questions that I had no answers to! Each question I tried to answer, he challenged me further and said, "Come back tomorrow."

It was frustrating at first, but this teacher prepared me to read things more critically, to be able to RESPOND to something after reading it, to be able to QUESTION something.

What I probably need to learn is to not impose the same style on other Muslims -- if it's imposing at all, that is. We commonly here the adage, "Ignorance is bliss," and though I myself can't imaging seeing ANY bliss in ignorance, I guess it's true and it works for a lot of people. I see it works for some of us here as well, and that's just really sad to know. But then again, if it's bliss for some of us, who is anyone to tell us it's sad.

I'm not a normal person (normal meaning typical, really), and everyone who doesn't know me well knows this on PF. I'm normal to close friends who know me well and who know HOW to respond to my comments, but people who don't know me well, it takes them a while to absorb my thoughts (yeah, sadly, some of them never do). So, when I challenge you, it's not because I hate you.

If you're not okay with it, ignore my comments everywhere. That way, we'll never have to get into "arguments" or discussions. A person can't have a discussion with her/himself alone, as we all know, so if you don't reply to me, I will understand that you just don't want to get into a discussion about it. That's fine with me.

Fifthly, Muslimah said in another thread that she converted to Islam and explained why. I noted several holes in her arguments and reasoning, so I pointed one of those out (in my response to her post), ending my post with a warm welcome to Islam to her and wishing her well. Then I also suggested to her -- as I do to all other Muslims as well as to Muslims who leave Islam -- to fully study as many religions as she can. I don't see the harms of having said such a thing, but apparently, it was an affront to some. Since I'm known to be blunt, I pointed out that only people with a weak faith will be afraid of studying other religions AND be intimidated by being questioned.

I've said over and over, if you don't know the answer to something, simply ADMIT it. Don't get offended. We're humans; we learn, and we don't know everything. People will ask you things you don't know answers to, and those questions may never have crossed your mind before, but why see it as an insult? Why feel attacked?

I will pose many questions and challenges on PF, as I do on all other forums I'm on as well as on my blog, and I will say things that many of us will not like. Eventually, you'll learn how to handle differences -- extreme, extreeeeeme differences -- and live in peace with those who are different from you, even if they have the same religion as you. But, noooooo, we'd rather ask questions like, "Are you Muslim?" as if someone's not being a Muslim will take away the meaning or purpose of the questions that are asked of you!

As far as Islamic philosophy is concerned, if you must know, my focuses within Islamic Studies include:

- hermeneutics (mostly comparison of classical and contemporary interpretations of Islam, with emphasis on women and non-Muslims in Islamic law)
- Islamic philosophy (emphasis mostly on the existence of God and on the formulation of Islamic law)
- gender relations

I question people's faith, and I don't see why I don't have a right to do this. What I have no right to do, my friends, is to tell someone which religion to follow, as that is a decision each human must make for her/himself individually and is nothing that someone else can make for her/him.

I'm an opinionated individual, and if some of us have a problem with that, ignore my posts. Really, that'll save you a lot of mental trauma, since I know that not many people can handle differences or my views. I'm always willing to have a discussion; I APPRECIATE being questioned - believe me, it feels fantastic to be questioned by people I consider intellectuals, but to be questioned by people who are just as "lay" as I am feels even better in that finally, I get to talk to someone on my level and not fifty levels above me.

For me, the more I'm challenged and questioned, the more I learn. There's SO much in life to learn that sometimes we don't know what to learn and how! So when someone asks me questions or challenges me, I know what to focus on for that moment and how to go about finding my answers. So anyone who thinks that I'd ever, ever be upset or feel attacked when someone questions my beliefs, think again 'cause it's certainly not the case with me. I accept all questions, and I take differences in beliefs to be an excellent way to learn something new and more -- and to appreciate my own beliefs because I know that no matter what happens, nothing and no one can take my beliefs away from me. The more I'm challenged, the stronger my faith in my beliefs becomes, and the better I feel about my own beliefs. Life would be so much more blissful if it was like that for everyone else, because to say that this is such a liberating and satisfying feeling is to say the least.

Peace.

[MeemWawMeemNoon]

I never said you are not a Muslim.

You question others allow us to question you.

Do you follow the sunnah of the Prophet (saw)?

[pir_Rokhan]

People can have a blind faith - as in everything they have learned in their religion is enough for them not to doubt, and to feel that what they are following is right. And there are people who do their research on their religions and other religions so that they feel comfortable in their religion. However, I do agree that if you like the religion you are a part of, or if you like a part of anything, you are positive about it. It is okay to question Islam. Wherever there is a question - there is an answer. But I guess the way to go about it is in a positive way. I ask a lot of questions, but I do it with a smile because I know Islam won't let me down!

Muslimah

While you have the liberty to have any faith, may I suggest that having blind faith is neither a logical option nor aappreciated and not even useful pratically.

The simple reason is that for example if you have blind faith [by blind faith I mean faith without a reason, rationale, justification etc] then the very next question to you would be :

Well if you believe blindly in Islam then what is wrong with hindusim, christianity, jainsim, budhism etc?

It is at that stage that you would be compelled to have justification and reasons for your choice of faith and that is the first step towards a conscious faith hence claim to have blind faith will no more be valid.

Have a nice day.

[Muslimah]

I personally don't agree with having a blind faith. I look at my mom and she is Christian, and says she is sin-free. But she doesn't know any of the prayers, never goes to church, and couldn't even tell you the 10 commandments. So I disagree with it. But I know people are comfortable like my mom just claiming to be Christian, and not caring to look further into other religions let alone their own to deepen their faith/understanding.

[Mutakhasis]

The Qur'an tells us there are two ways to ascertain the truth: One is through revelation and the other is through the signs of Allaah. Remember, one of the uniqueness about the Qur'an is that it's a book of signs and not just science.

Islaam doesn't call for blind faith.