The Never Ending Cruisade

Shoot me now, because here we go again folks. A friend of mine, whom I have known for about 2 years now, has made a life-altering and personal choice. She has decided to follow the path of Islam. I can well imagine that a few heads rolled, considering the brutally prejudice stance many non-Islamic people have these days. Which also tells me how little people truly know about the Islamic belief system.

Let's see, where to start. Oh! It is a monotheistic religion (meaning, the belief in only one God - sound familiar?). The holy text of Islam is believed to be the word of God (think - Bible, in another language). The name they have chosen for God is 'God', and they consider Angels to be messengers of God. Uh, wait...that sounds like Christianity. Perhaps using the Arabic terms would be better. Qur'an, defined literally as 'reading', the name given for the Islamic holy text, thereby literally defined as 'the reading of God's word'. Allah, the Arabic word meaning, 'God'. Malak, the Arabic word meaning 'Angel'. Suppose I should probably throw the word 'Jihad' in this mix too yes? That word is the Arabic word defined as 'struggle'. In the Nation of Islam, and to the people of Islam, and written within the Qur'an, the word 'Jihad' is used definitively and quite literally. Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war.

We'll touch on that 'holy war' bit in a moment. For now, perhaps understanding a few beliefs of Islam might help put things into a bit of perspective. For example: Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through the prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Uh, wait, that sounds very similar to the beliefs held within Judaism....and Christianity for that matter. Hmm, maybe because all of these religions were formally established in the same city, Jerusalem, Israel. OH DEAR GODS NOT THAT!!! (puh-lease)

To touch upon that 'holy war' thing now, I should remind everyone reading this that these said 'holy' wars (more like "holy shit! We're being fired upon! Get the women and children the heck outta here!), were NOT started by the Nation of Islam. No, my dear readers, The Crusades were 11th, 12th, and 13th-century religiously sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Christian Europe against the Muslim Middle East. I'll simplify that, because it sounds...ok, mildly important. The European CHRISTIANS took it upon themselves to make an moronic gross attempt at wiping out every other religion that was not Christian, and decided that the people who practiced the Muslim beliefs should be wiped out of existence. Of course, they were given the option to turn to Christianity, before they got their heads cut off. Lovely Christian beliefs, yes?

Let's take a look at some of the more modern day ideas of the women of Islam. They were Burkas (which some comedians have referred to as 'bee keeper dresses' - I wanna slap them for that by the way). It is recommended that they not be in public without a male companion that is at least a relative of theirs, and if they are married, that male companion should be their husband, unless that is not possible for whatever reason. For people of other belief systems, this seems a bit 'restrictive', yes? Well, then you look at the reasoning behind this, it really is not restrictive, nor extreme (and most women of Islam willingly follow these practices). The reasoning for these above mentioned 'ideas', is for the protection of the women of Islam (and nothing more, I might add). Or, should I remind my Christian readers of Commandments #'s 7 and 10? Commandment #7: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Commandment #10: .... you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You know, 2 parts of the 10 Commandments brought down my Moses who supposedly got these from God himself?
Yeah, those. Well, the people of Islam (including the women, I might add) just so happen to take these seriously, and live by them daily, in every aspect of their lives. People of Islam are also not stupid. They are more than aware of kidnappings, rape, molestation and other violent crimes that are afflicted upon women (from all nations, belief systems and ethnic backgrounds), and do their best to protect their women and children from such horrific and most personal crimes. OMG that's a BAD thing?!? WHAT?!? O_o

Ok, so what's all this 'praying to the east' stuff? Why do Muslims pray facing east? They don't. Muslims pray towards Mecca in Saudi Arabia. A muslim in India woud face west, in Turkey s/he would face south and if in Somalia would face north.

So before anyone starts talking trash about any other belief system out there, you might want to take a good look at your own belief systems first. And for all you so-called 'devout' Christians out there...remember the following (from your holy Bible, by the way):

And Jesus went and stood at the edge of the pit, raised a stone over his head and proclaimed "Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone!". A side note on this: Jesus himself cast no stones. Practice what you preach before passing judgment on others.

And for all of my Islamic readers out there... SALAAM!! :) (that translates into "peace" for you other nut cases who might think that's some odd Arabic call against other faiths)