 One
way or other
What attracted
you to
Islam?
By Debra Johnson
December 18, 2003
The Iranian
In reply to, "I
have turned to Islam":
I'm glad you find happiness in Islam, for what it's
worth, but having been there done that so to speak, I have to wonder
if
you
know what you're getting into. Beyond its various sects (which
are many), there are still two very basic versions of Islam that
you might not be aware of.
1. That which takes every tenet of the
Quran and, haddith (history/examples set by Prophet Mohammad),
with absolute literal,
straight-forward seriousness. For example,
* The right foot is the proper way to enter the bathroom with
* Infidels
must pay tribute (jizzya) to Muslims, be enslaved, or be killed
if
they refuse to accept Islam
* Those who convert to Islam but then find it objectionable
and reject it must be killed (this is normally by either beheading
or slow skewering)
* Slavery is permissible and an acceptable
use of infidels captured in war.
* A woman's inheritance is
half that of a man
* Girls should be married young enough that
she has her first menses in her husband's house
* Before puberty,
a girl can be married off without her consent
* Any woman requires
her husband or father's consent and an approved escort to travel.
If she travels with her children
without said permission, she
can be
executed for it.
* After puberty, a girl can reject the husband
her parents pick for her but not pick her husband. If she fails
to speak up when
the husband-to-be
offers
for
her, her silence is to be taken as consent... even if she doesn't
happen to be present in the room at the time since her father
is the one to
whom the
proposal
will actually be presented
* If a girl is raped and reports it,
she must produce 4 male witnesses to the act (as IF!) or will
be counter-accused of adultery.
This
is especially true
if the girl is impregnated.
* There are 3 types of punishment
for adultery. An unmarried girl is either confined to her room
for life, given 80 stripes
with
a whip,
or killed
by a male family
member (all of which are legal in Islamic nations. If she
is married, she will be stoned to death. This involves her being
covered with white burial shroud and buried up
to her breast,
whereupon
a crowd of
people throw palm-size stones at her until she dies, her
body beneath the shroud a mass
of smashed flesh and bones
* A Muslim woman who marries
a non-Muslim man, will be treated as an adulteress (unmarried
type) by her Muslim
family as
such a marriage
is not recognized
in Islam
* Muslim men are encouraged to marry non-Muslim
women as a means to convert them to Islam. In actual practice,
the
conversion
usually happens
first
with marriage
being held out as bait
* Thieves are to be amputated
2. The "apologists" version which takes
only those parts of the Quran
and haddith are popularly acceptable and ignores or glosses over - even to
lying about - those parts which are not acceptable. Examples,
* Women have greater rights in Islam than in any democracy in
the world (the biggest lie ever told)
* "Islam" means "Peace" (False. It means "submission" and
it has never been peaceful in all its history. Conversions have often been
by the sword and continue to be at present)
* Islam abolished slavery (False. It is still widely practiced
in the Islamic world)
It's common for a person to convert to a religion for a number
of reasons: disillusionment with one's original religion and so
trying another; penitence
for perceived guilt...
The biggest reason is usually because the person feels their life is
out of control and feels unable to deal with it themselves so looks
for in
depth detailed
guidance
from a higher source.
This applies equally for converts to Buddhism, Christianity,
Islam, and many other religions as well. So I'm curious: what is
it that attracted
you to
Islam? And what version of it did your Islamic teacher give you?
I would
be most interested
in hearing from you. December is Donate
to Iranian.com Month
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