Learning about Islam

I have a lot of opinions. If you haven't heard any of them, please feel free to ask. I would be happy to share! Of course, I also believe strongly in education. I think it's important to put the two together. You may not agree with me on everything...nor I with you...but I can respect your argument more if you have done some research on it.

Growing up, I also had opinions. I knew what I believed about gay people, religion, teen moms, poverty, and any other controversial issue. Once I moved to Dallas and met people who fit into every category I had already formed opinions about, my thoughts and opinions began changing. I began learning that everything is not as it appears on the surface. As a result, I have tried to challenge myself to be involved in various situations (that are sometimes uncomfortable). Invariably, what usually happens is once in the situation, I realize that the things we form such strong opinions are much different than we have created in our mind. I have learned to love these new experiences and love how they challenge my own opinions.

I started my New Year off right by going with a friend of mine to the Mosque. Since I had never been before, I wasn't sure what to tell people I was doing. I mean, I usually tell people I'm going to church if I go to a religious function. So, I asked my friends, "What do you guys say you're going to?" To which they replied, "We're going to mosque." Duh. It's no different. Just a different word.

My friend's wife allowed me to wear one of her abiyas. Some people wear western clothes with a head covering, but the majority wear the complete abiya, which is a beautiful dress-like covering that has a wrap that goes over and around the head. All women must have their head covered. 

It didn't occur to me that we would be separated into men and women so I was really glad that my friend's wife was going as well. Otherwise, I would have had no idea what to do! When we walked in, we removed our shoes at the door (there is a place for shoes). We (the women) went in a different entrance than the men. There was a cleansing place for people who haven't done their ceremonial cleansing before prayers. I learned there is a very specific ritual that goes along with that cleansing. We walked up the stairs to sit in a room that had lines taped to the floor so we would know where to sit (no benches or seats). Most people were kneeling already. Some were praying in preparation for the service. My friend's wife and I sat in the back since she had a child. She was great about explaining everything to me. 

Though the service was done in English and Arabic (though many people in the mosque don't understand Arabic any more than I do), I started realizing, "Wait a minute! This sounds like the sermons I heard growing up!"

The preacher, priest, speaker (...hmmm...I don't know what he was called) talked about the daily prayers Muslims are expected to do. He challenged the audience. "Do you even know what you're praying?!" and challenged them to not just allow prayer to become a ritual but that they really be meaningful prayers.

I remember sermons like that! In our church, they used to talk about how the service had become so ritual...two songs, prayer, sermon, two songs. They challenged us to take to heart the words of the songs and not just sing what we had memorized from childhood.

As we were leaving the service, we stopped because someone was saying something over the speakers. My friend explained to me that someone was just converting to Islam and was saying the standardized vows.

We have that, too! At the end of each service, people are asked to come forward and repent or convert. When they do, they are asked specific questions, "Do you believe in the son of God?" I can't remember the other things they tell them, but it was very similar to what we were listening to over the speaker!

As we walked out, people were hanging out talking with each other and catching up with their friends.

On the way home, my friends asked me what questions I had. We talked about some of the things that occurred and I will probably ask more questions as I think about them. If I want, the mosque is open on Sundays from 1:30-2:30 specifically for people to go in, ask questions, and learn about Islam (there's a sign in front of the mosque saying this).

Though there are some differences (like wearing head coverings and separating men and women...which makes a lot of sense to prevent distractions), the biggest and most important thing I learned from my experience is that "mosque" is not that different from "church." My friends are people of faith just as I am. The difference is the venue we choose, not the faith we profess.

Being a person of faith in a Christian nation

Faith.

Why does my faith challenge me so much?

Is it because crazy people like Terry Jones use Christianity as a shield to schedule things like a Quran burning? Is it because Christians feel it is their obligatory duty to evangelize people and often make assumptions about what people do and don’t believe and how they should and shouldn’t profess and demonstrate that belief? Is it because the financially better off Christians often seem to want to help the poor, but don’t want to live next to them or be a part of their every day lives? Is it because people who claim Christianity feel it is ok to make disparaging comments about people?

I guess if I were Muslim my faith might be challenged in the same way. I would wonder why the extremists have to kill and I would be angry at the ones who take the Quran and use it to abuse women. I suppose that every religious sect has sections of people who seem to distort and then justify their message.  I also guess I have to realize that we are all flawed.

Some recent events have caused me to think about what and how I believe.

Eat Pray Love (the book...not the movie) caused me to reflect on my own faith...my internal faith--what I believe when no one else is watching. Realizations: Faith is my own spiritual journey. When I focus on myself, it radiates out. Not through evangelism or piety, but in how I interact with others. Faith is internal that results in horizontal relationships with people and a vertical relationship with my God. My hope would be that my horizontal relationships and interactions with people would cause others to seek to create these as well…which would cause them to begin to find their own vertical relationship with God or, if they already have a relationship, they would reflect and continue to seek to improve. Eat Pray Love helped reinforce the conclusion I was already moving toward. It’s not about my evangelism. It’s about changing myself from the inside out.

This morning, I finished A Lesson Before Dying (by Ernest Gaines). Toward the end of the book, I found myself reading quicker, wanting to figure out what the “lesson” was going to be. Mr. Grant Wiggins seemed to have faith struggles much like my own. He had stopped going to church. The preacher, his aunt, and the other ladies in the community constantly raised their eyebrows and shook their head, yet never thought to seek an understanding of what he did believe. Their judgment didn’t make him desire to go to church, but reinforced his decision not to. The irony of this was that Mr. Wiggins had a better ability to create a horizontal relationship with other "unbelievers"...the ones the preacher and the church-goers desperately wanted to "save." 

Alternately, though the book reinforced my belief that “church people” can often be over-bearing to the point of turning people away from Christianity, it also challenged my thoughts of why we all need to be grounded in faith. Our faith is often not about us. Our faith is often conciliation. Sometimes we demonstrate our faith by doing conciliatory things for others...and sometimes that means portraying faith in a way that helps them feel comfortable.

In our world today, it also has other implications. Our conciliatory nature can be to accept and allow Muslims to build a mosque at ground zero...because conciliation doesn’t mean expecting others to make the compromise. It means that we (because of our faith) make the effort. It doesn't matter how others respond and whether they do something for us in return. Christianity...and many other faith religions...is about what we do...how we respond to situations more so than church attendance. Church and prayer is what keeps us focused on how we're doing and what we still need to work on.

Faith reminds me of integrity…what I do and how I act when no one else is looking. Every day I have new things to work on.