My continuing journey
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I was born to a traditional Sunni family, and while we aren't too religious and quite liberal, we are quite traditional in the Islam that we followed. It was pretty much a case of what we had learnt from our parents being followed unquestioningly. Now I have always been very curious about the world, spiritual and independent in my thought, so some points about sectarian "Islam" have always irked me. These are small and many, but they always remained with me. Of course I was bought up thinking that questioning religion is a sin and will lead me to hell fire and what not. I put up with them (for the time being!) and carried on following what I thought was Islam, but even at that young age I could not get over how Muslims will force small children with no understanding of life or morals to read text in Arabic that they have no understanding of whatsoever, just for the sake of reading it and for "sawaab" (good deeds). I tried reading it in English for myself, but the awkward and antiquated style of most of the translations out there kept putting me off.
Being a bit of a science geek, I understood Quran's divinity through the advanced scientific revelations contained therein, but could not make sense of why such a logical and rational God would allow apparent injustices and inequalities, or why he would be concerned with minor details of day to day life like listening to music, using your right hand over left (this one especially irked me being left handed lol!) or other such sectarian minutiae that made me wonder if God really was as petty as He is made out to be. I bore with these burning questions until they were further compounded around the time that the Afghanistan war started. I saw the apparently absolute faithful being vanquished by their enemies like they were nothing. I knew from the Quran that believers are promised victory in this life and the next. It got to the point where I was seriously contemplating whether God is just a giant scam or not. I realised we are the most backwards (technologically, financially, philosophically and any-other-ally) and hated people on the face of this earth and a shadow of the former glorious and cutting edge people that conquered Europe and spread Islam through out the world. I knew not to bother with asking any clergy as I know the vast majority to be (excuse my French) complete wankers
My eureka moment came one night as I sat in the mosque during Ramadan after Isha. I will never forget this moment. I look to the wall in front of me and saw a plaque hanging that read "Ya Allah" (Oh God!). Right next to it, and hung on an equal height as if to give it equal importance, there was a plaque that read "Ya Muhammad" (Oh Muhammad!). This immediately stood out like a sore thumb to me. After all the bleating and finger pointing about idolatry aimed at other religions and sects, isn't it a bit hypocritical to be calling out to a messenger as if on an equal footing to God? Those who have visited a mosque or seen religious memorabilia will surely know this, but this isn't a one-off incident. This is repeated through out the Muslim world. It is absolutely EVERYWHERE. At this point, a light went off in my head and I started studying the Quran the way it is meant to be. It was through God's guidance that I found submission.org and that laid out a lot of the questions floating around in my head in a concrete and logically plausible form. Now don't get me wrong, I don't agree with everything contained within, but the articles there showed me to a great extent how superstitious and absurd traditional "Islam" is. I realised just how libertarian and progressive God's word is and how it is the only way to obtain real peace and harmony spiritually and physically. It dawned on me as to why Muslims were such great people in the past. It is because we followed the word of God and didn't associate demi-gods with his absolute power. Since then I have thoroughly studied the Quran and devoured any material out there on true Islam to gauge an idea of the correct path to follow. However, this has lead to a new problem. I can't simply keep my mouth shut and let those around me carry on as they do and this has lead to some serious debates that usually end with me apparently going off the rails of Islam and poking my nose around where I shouldn't. But there is one thing no one traditionalist can answer for me. Truth is never afraid of full examination as that will only strengthen it, in fact God encourage true believer to do so for themselves. So why should I stop asking questions and why should I stop examining? I do not claim to have the monopoly on truth, but with real self examination and God's guidance, I shall continue on this path of true bliss and learning.
Thank you for those that have read my long winded story and am glad to have found a community of like minded and hopefully open minded people. I look forward to contributing, learning and sharing of knowledge! If any out there have suggestions or experience about approaching people with this, please do share in your replies!
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peace,
Welcome to the forum. I recommend the study tools at www.StudyQuran.org
but even at that young age I could not get over how Muslims will force small children with no understanding of life or morals to read text in Arabic that they have no understanding of whatsoever, just for the sake of reading it and for "sawaab" (good deeds).
Out of curiousity, how old were you when referring to this feeling?
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Guys thank you for your welcome, I hope to continue to enhance my knowledge and to maybe even help others.
Wakas I was around 8 when I started feeling something was off about reading something in a language beyond comprehension, but I must have been around 10 by the time I finally made up my mind about it.
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Wakas I was around 8 when I started feeling something was off about reading something in a language beyond comprehension, but I must have been around 10 by the time I finally made up my mind about it.
I was about that age too when I first had those feelings. I often said this to my mum. ;D
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God truly does guide those who He pleases! Would you mind me asking what the reaction of your family was to this? I assume you have now tried to approach them with these "revelations", so how did that go down and how did you go about it?
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Well, I would often ask my mum questions at a young age, e.g. what was the point of reading it in a language we didn't understand? What does Al Quran (AQ) say about dinosaurs, the bible etc. I was quite inquisitive. When I was about 16, I sometimes read books about islam/quran, but I never came across Quran based islam till I was 19. I would often share my thoughts/findings with my fellow family members, some of it they thought was interesting, some probably right, some could not be right etc but they were open to discussion, liberal in view but still average Sunni Muslim family. Sometimes I'd discuss big things, e.g. "5 pillars of Islam did not exist", sometimes small stuff, e.g. ablution as said in AQ. My mum is still of a fairly Sunni Muslim mindset, but she is not against me having different views, neither of my parents are, but she probably thinks I'm wrong on most of it. My siblings are quite receptive of my views and agree on a lot of them. So I have not had any major problem in this regard. Some of my extended family know of my views too.
I would recommend taking it slowly, if discussing things with family/friends, try to bring up simple small topics, ask open questions, engage their thought process etc. You will soon find out how open minded and rational they are, then go from there. I have had great conversations with Traditional Muslims about philosophy/islam/quran/etc. Just depends on their mindset.Most Muslims, like most followers of any religion, are simply unaware of what they follow, so you will find you are dealing with mass ignorance most of the time.
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welcome
I really enjoyed reading your post -
peace and welcome sun
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Munzir Ali Thank you my brother, I actually enjoyed typing it! Peace
the seeker Thank you my brother, very nice sig!Diem Brother that is exactly what pisses me off about the so called Islam practised today. We used to rule the known world and were the most technologically advanced and civilised people when most Europe was still running scared of its own shadow and praying to sun gods. Why is it that they (i.e. the Sunnis/Shias) are now the most backwards and impoverished people on this Earth? It is because they have turned away from the mercy God bestowed upon us. Instead they choose to follow a man from the 7th century, therefore forever dooming themselves to be stuck in that time. Quran/God's Word is contemporary and will ALWAYS be relevant and revolutionary, something that NO man can match no matter how pious or good he be.
