Show Posts
1
Introduce Yourself / how I found the truth ...
« on: January 20, 2005, 02:26:11 PM »
Hello all,
First of all I would like to say thanks to Everyone here. I enjoy this site a lot because of its thought provoking material.
I first started learning about "islam" last year. I decided to fast for ramadan along with some friends for fun I would say. I met a woman one day and she started telling me about Islam. She later introduced me to her husband who also gave me an instant "lecture" about the basics of Islam. I liked the fact that they were not pressuring me and they were very nice. I was impressed because they both answered all my questions and everything they said actually made sense.
This was like a revolution for me because I was raised Catholic, and never understood the doctrines. Already at 13 (I am 20 now) I realised something was wrong because I didn't understand the whole trinity thing. I became very sad because it looked as though they praised Jesus all the time and forgot about God. And everything seemed so illogical to me. So I became an agnostic desperatly looking for something to believe. I felt that I needed God in my life.
Anyway, I lost contact with the couple and didn't see them again after that encounter. But since the day I met them I couldn't stop learning about Islam. I was incredibly fascinated. I even took shahada and became friends with several muslims. But soon I realised that everything was contradictory. Muslims agree on basic principles and they know what to say to reverts. But I'm the sort of person who needs logic and I don't like to follow blindly.
One day I realised that in traditional "islam" you can prove almost anything, you just need to find hadiths. Also, if you pay attention all the controversial issues with Islam arise because of these Hadiths (hijab, stoning, suicide bombers, discrimination). And I never understood why some muslims decided to follow hadiths when they were in clear contradiction with the Qu'ran. I expressed this concern to various muslims and they told me that I shouldn't believe in all hadiths. But how can a basic person like me, who doesn't even speak arabic become a hadith expert? How do I know which hadith is valid or not? Why should I even give hadiths that importance when the word of God is more accessible and more truthful? they said that if I trusted what good scholars said it would be okay. But like I said, I don't follow blindly. The funny thing is, I once found a hadith which said that the prophet didn't want anybody to record his sayings!
The other reason I started question hadiths is because they promote arabic culture. After I took shahada it became clear that muslimc were expecting me to adop traits of arab culture (dressing, wedding traditions, language, etc). I have no problems with arab culture, but it's not my culture (I am african). What sort of religion makes you forget about your own culture? It reminded me too much of what christian missionaries did in many parts of the "south".
I think I might have remained a tradtional muslim if they didn't give that much importance to hadiths. It's a sin to equate anything with the word of God. Especially hadiths because their authenticity is always contested. Plus it encourages people to follow the prophet in an almost divine way. It's very dangerous, it's like equating partners with God. Example: everybody eats dates during ramadan because the prophet like them. Does that make sense to you? my conscience could not support such thing
Anyway with a lot of sadness I stopped practicing that Islam. But I still needed God in my life. But for some reason I couldn't stop readin the Qu'ran. I can't explain the fascination I have with it. This book matters so much to me. It bring me so much comfort. So I decided that I will follow God only.
voila... I'm sorry if this was too long
:shock:
First of all I would like to say thanks to Everyone here. I enjoy this site a lot because of its thought provoking material.
I first started learning about "islam" last year. I decided to fast for ramadan along with some friends for fun I would say. I met a woman one day and she started telling me about Islam. She later introduced me to her husband who also gave me an instant "lecture" about the basics of Islam. I liked the fact that they were not pressuring me and they were very nice. I was impressed because they both answered all my questions and everything they said actually made sense.
This was like a revolution for me because I was raised Catholic, and never understood the doctrines. Already at 13 (I am 20 now) I realised something was wrong because I didn't understand the whole trinity thing. I became very sad because it looked as though they praised Jesus all the time and forgot about God. And everything seemed so illogical to me. So I became an agnostic desperatly looking for something to believe. I felt that I needed God in my life.
Anyway, I lost contact with the couple and didn't see them again after that encounter. But since the day I met them I couldn't stop learning about Islam. I was incredibly fascinated. I even took shahada and became friends with several muslims. But soon I realised that everything was contradictory. Muslims agree on basic principles and they know what to say to reverts. But I'm the sort of person who needs logic and I don't like to follow blindly.
One day I realised that in traditional "islam" you can prove almost anything, you just need to find hadiths. Also, if you pay attention all the controversial issues with Islam arise because of these Hadiths (hijab, stoning, suicide bombers, discrimination). And I never understood why some muslims decided to follow hadiths when they were in clear contradiction with the Qu'ran. I expressed this concern to various muslims and they told me that I shouldn't believe in all hadiths. But how can a basic person like me, who doesn't even speak arabic become a hadith expert? How do I know which hadith is valid or not? Why should I even give hadiths that importance when the word of God is more accessible and more truthful? they said that if I trusted what good scholars said it would be okay. But like I said, I don't follow blindly. The funny thing is, I once found a hadith which said that the prophet didn't want anybody to record his sayings!
The other reason I started question hadiths is because they promote arabic culture. After I took shahada it became clear that muslimc were expecting me to adop traits of arab culture (dressing, wedding traditions, language, etc). I have no problems with arab culture, but it's not my culture (I am african). What sort of religion makes you forget about your own culture? It reminded me too much of what christian missionaries did in many parts of the "south".
I think I might have remained a tradtional muslim if they didn't give that much importance to hadiths. It's a sin to equate anything with the word of God. Especially hadiths because their authenticity is always contested. Plus it encourages people to follow the prophet in an almost divine way. It's very dangerous, it's like equating partners with God. Example: everybody eats dates during ramadan because the prophet like them. Does that make sense to you? my conscience could not support such thing
Anyway with a lot of sadness I stopped practicing that Islam. But I still needed God in my life. But for some reason I couldn't stop readin the Qu'ran. I can't explain the fascination I have with it. This book matters so much to me. It bring me so much comfort. So I decided that I will follow God only.
voila... I'm sorry if this was too long
:shock: