Salaam
-
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago I converted to islam, having have read part of the Quran during christmas(!) because I heard there was a story about Jesus in it. Before, I thought Allah was a different God entirely and did not know that islam is an Abrahamic faith. I felt incredibly moved, reading the verses, I had no doubt that they contained the truth that I didn't even know I'd been looking for.
Unfortunately, the mosque where I did my shahada is a sunni mosque. As such, I first came in to contact with traditional 'islamic' rituals and restrictions. From being expected to wear a headscarf to learning to recite the Arabic prayer just by sound without knowing it's meaning and having to avoid men as though they are all going to try and rape me if I talk to them... It wasn't the religion I'd be expecting to find. Any joy I felt at getting closer to God was diminishing and I was getting distracted from even studying the Quran because I constantly had to discuss and defend myself from the "worried" sisters that told me NOT to build my faith alone because apparently, I needed to be "guided" by more experienced sisters who had knowledge of the sunnah.
Needless to say, I refused and researched the Hadith myself. After finding pearls like 'a stone steals Moses' clothes and he has to chase it down', or 'God commands us to pray fifty times but Moses disagrees, negotiating it down to five', the pinnacle being that Muhammad will actually intercede for us on the day of judgement. I emailed my arguments to the sisters that were trying to educate me and they are still emailing me trying to persuade me to follow their sources. One even suggested that since I was not supporting the sunnah, it would have been beter if I had not taken the shahada...
I'm afraid I will have to leave the first islamic community I have encountered, already one week after I met them, just to save me from going crazy. All I hope for now is that God will guide me on the right path and that he will take care of me so I don't get too lonely praying by myself.
So, I guess that's my story. I look forward to reading your articles and maybe getting to know some of you.
Peace! peace
-
Welcome aboard!
God will guide us searching for the truth.
By the way, can you keep going without getting emotional (if you can) pointing out to them that what they are believing in are lies told about God?
welcome
-
Peace be with you and welcome peace
Please know that you're not Alone. This is common with traditional sectarian Islamic groups. It's kind of like, "If you're not with them, you're against them". Even amongst themselves, you'll see Sunnis against Shias against Alawi against this group and the next group.
You can connect with more people on facebook who have a similar beliefs
Uniting Muslims who want to follow the Quran Alone.
https//www.facebook.com/groups/310518545650653/ -
Peace,
Glad you could see through their masks, it is only a masquerade they are doing and Satan is hidden somewhere among them laughing and dancing. For some people it takes years too free themselves from the Satanic affliction caused by this behavior. I discovered the Quran about three years ago and I could see it was from God, but I almost immediately saw the practices by those who claimed to follow Quran were not right. These people are slaves to their own blasphemous ways. I feel pity.
I rebelled almost instantly as I came into Islam and I did not say salams or Muhammad's name in the prayer. And later on I learned enough about Quran to have my own arguments against people who wants me to follow their corrupt ways.
I feel this Muhammad worship is no different than the lifeless stones pagans used to worship in ancient times and simply an updated version of the old Satanic practice. The obsession with him and his family is so severe, people are completely soaked up in commemorating him, that they even forget about God and His book. Hadith is taking prevalence during religious gatherings and they almost treat the Quran as an idol than a book of reading. They respect the book highly, but barely know a thing about it. And hadith abrogates the Quran if they contradict each other.
This is traditional islam in a nutshell. Better be lonely and die lonely than embrace this nightmare. Be strong and try to meet people who have seen the Light instead.
Good thing you were not turned off from islam because of them. I am happy for you and I tell you as I tell both myself and others to do, tell God that; "Oh Lord, Gracious Master. I seek your nearness and guidance as well as protection from the evil one and his followers. I submit to your will".
And do not be afraid of reciting prayers in another language than Arabic. I recite "Oh Lord in Heaven" during my prayers, the prayer that came with Jesus consisting of seven verses. I also read first chapter of Quran because this is a straight prayer meant to be frequently recited, but feel free to read it in your language, as long as everything is done with your heart it does not matter
Do not be afraid of doing some traditional moves such as prostration because that is just an ancient humble greeting not particularly associated with religion. Kneeling is also mentioned in the Message. Raise your hands to your heavenly Lord and feel His energy and Holy Spirit flow through your veins.
God will, if it is according to His will, bless you plentifully and make you rise to an honorable position.
Welcome to the forum.
God bless you
-
People believe out of fear and letting go of this fear is a hard thing to do. Fear can be irrational but also disabling. When you have been since a child raised to believe that Jesus is son of God and the only way to salvation is through Jesus, you incorporate that as the truth even if you are troubled by what you believe. People are raised to believe out of fear and not to question out of fear. Many hadiths instill fear and also offers reward if you believe or do this and that. So when you question someone's belief, you are in a sense creating distress. When people are distressed they react in different ways - defensiveness, distancing themselves from her person who has created the distress, dismissal, etc.
Satan undstands pyschology of the people quite well.
-
Salaam @KTHRN my former colonial (just historical joke )).
Some month ago I nearly converted to Christiany after knew the truth if hadiths are full of contradictions, but not so after find Quran alone movement in internet.I also break out from an Islamic organization becouse follow Quran alone.
Hopefully you can find the truth in this forum.
Satan undstands pyschology of the people quite well.
rotfl This sentence is funny.
-
KTHRN,
Welcome ) I think most of us have been there. I get all kinds of scorning. I am very active in my Mosque, I just do my own thing. You will find so much info here.
People believe out of fear and letting go of this fear is a hard thing to do. Fear can be irrational but also disabling. When you have been since a child raised to believe that Jesus is son of God and the only way to salvation is through Jesus, you incorporate that as the truth even if you are troubled by what you believe. People are raised to believe out of fear and not to question out of fear. Many hadiths instill fear and also offers reward if you believe or do this and that. So when you question someone's belief, you are in a sense creating distress. When people are distressed they react in different ways - defensiveness, distancing themselves from her person who has created the distress, dismissal, etc.
Satan undstands pyschology of the people quite well.
Perfectly said!!
-
Salam and welcome,
One even suggested that since I was not supporting the sunnah, it would have been beter if I had not taken the shahada...
They may actually be right concerning THEIR Shahada. I somehow always flinched away from taking the Shahada and then learned here that their Shahada is the wrong one and that this formal thing isn't necessary anyway (or only necessary to join their club of tribal religionists, but not for submiting to your creator). -
People believe out of fear and letting go of this fear is a hard thing to do. Fear can be irrational but also disabling. When you have been since a child raised to believe that Jesus is son of God and the only way to salvation is through Jesus, you incorporate that as the truth even if you are troubled by what you believe. People are raised to believe out of fear and not to question out of fear. Many hadiths instill fear and also offers reward if you believe or do this and that. So when you question someone's belief, you are in a sense creating distress. When people are distressed they react in different ways - defensiveness, distancing themselves from her person who has created the distress, dismissal, etc.
Satan undstands pyschology of the people quite well.
This reminds me of Conformity & Peer pressure
Social Pressure A Profound Disaster
He said, "You worship beside GOD powerless idols due to peer pressure, just to preserve some friendship among you in this worldly life. But then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will disown one another, and curse one another. Your destiny is Hell, wherein you cannot help one anotherConformity
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I
-
I'm afraid I will have to leave the first islamic community I have encountered, already one week after I met them, just to save me from going crazy. All I hope for now is that God will guide me on the right path and that he will take care of me so I don't get too lonely praying by myself.
So, I guess that's my story. I look forward to reading your articles and maybe getting to know some of you.
Peace! peace
Salaam,
welcome
I've never felt lonely praying by myself. I actually believe it could be a benefit sometimes in that we focus on connecting with Allah swt. The salat, I don't think is a time to connect and be with others, but a time to connect with God. That's just my opinion and how I feel about it.
This reminds me of Conformity & Peer pressure
https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrNIuFrso8I
Could I ask where you got that translation from? It seems to accurately portray the point about simply following what their fathers followed, as well as just those around them. This can also go for anything else in life as well.
-
welcome Praise God for guiding you to Islam and for the strength you have in verifying information for yourself and not bowing to peer pressure. I recommend you keep praying for a community of friends who worship God Alone .
Socially, I have been on my own since becoming a Muslim who follows Quran and worships God Alone . I do not feel lonely because I have God with me, and I spend much of my free time reading and reflecting on Quran and studying Quran via Free Minds and other websites. However, I did want to join others for jumaa salat so I kept praying to God for a like minded group of people who worshipped God alone to do join for jumaa prayer and eventually I was guided to a Submitters group living in a city a couple of hours away from me. Although I don't agree with some of their understandings of Islam, we do have a lot in common so I have continued to attend. Recently I also began praying for God to help me find a social group of friends who were righteous people. The very limited social contact I have is with workmates who enjoy a lifestyle that I left behind when I became a committed Muslim. Praise God, I have just met a Muslim woman who told me she doesn't follow hadith, and she is living in the same housing complex as me! She offered to teach me Arabic which I accepted and has invited me to come along to a social group she attends with some other Muslim women who are reasonably open minded and righteous people. God is indeed Great! -
Salaam @KTHRN my former colonial (just historical joke ).
rotfl This sentence is funny.
Firstly I did not wrote the post such like this.
It's my younger cousin who modify my post while I left to buy some food.
I planned to remodified the post, but too late, maybe because the next post already appeared.For @justamuslim and @KTHRN, I beg your pardon if it offended you, and forgive my cousin too, because he's still an unstable teenager.
-
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago I converted to islam, having have read part of the Quran during christmas(!) because I heard there was a story about Jesus in it. Before, I thought Allah was a different God entirely and did not know that islam is an Abrahamic faith. I felt incredibly moved, reading the verses, I had no doubt that they contained the truth that I didn't even know I'd been looking for.
welcome welcome KTHRN...
Being a moslem is not achieved through leaving and joining certain religion / social identity / group.
Being a moslem is achieved through shaping your attitude.Jesus was a moslem during his lifetime and cited as among the best example of a moslem ever walked upon earth.
You can even find the teaching of islam in the gospel.The most prevalent one is
"Let Your will be done, in the earth, just as it is in Heaven"Thus there are moslems and non-moslem in all religions/social groups.
And as you can read in the Gospel of Jesus's life story.. the islam attitude mentioned above is easier to be said than done.
Thus self-claiming the identity of a 'moslem' doesn't really matter.Salam / Peace
-
the Quran is indeed the most beautiful, holy, majestical and spiritually enlightening text there is on planet Earth. a personal heart to heart talk between us and our Supreme Creator, ALLAH (SWT). Your lovely story shows that you seek the ultimate truth about God and existence. This is the same reason that drove me to leave Sunnism. Leaving man-made tradition is the most rational and wise decision to make. Submission to the will of ALLAH (SWT) alone is the true salvation. Peace be unto you, Katherine.
-
deleted --double post--
-
Hi everyone, thanks for the warm welcome! D I've been busy with exams lately so it took me a while to respond.
By the way, can you keep going without getting emotional (if you can) pointing out to them that what they are believing in are lies told about God?
I did try this after your reply. But I'm afraid she kind of went crazy after that, I got a looooong mail back calling me the most arrogant 22-year-old she ever had the misfortune of meeting, completely ignorant, having accomplished nothing in my life yet daring to question those who had spent all of their life studying hadith, how dare I etc. She was clearly holding back those feelings before... At least now she and the rest of those sisters no longer contact me.
Please know that you're not Alone. This is common with traditional sectarian Islamic groups. It's kind of like, "If you're not with them, you're against them". Even amongst themselves, you'll see Sunnis against Shias against Alawi against this group and the next group.
You can connect with more people on facebook who have a similar beliefs
Uniting Muslims who want to follow the Quran Alone.
https//www.facebook.com/groups/310518545650653/Haha, as you may have noticed I did join and comment. I really recommend this! The articles are very interesting and it's an easy way to get updates. Thanks for inviting me Youssef. D
People believe out of fear and letting go of this fear is a hard thing to do. Fear can be irrational but also disabling. When you have been since a child raised to believe that Jesus is son of God and the only way to salvation is through Jesus, you incorporate that as the truth even if you are troubled by what you believe. People are raised to believe out of fear and not to question out of fear. Many hadiths instill fear and also offers reward if you believe or do this and that. So when you question someone's belief, you are in a sense creating distress. When people are distressed they react in different ways - defensiveness, distancing themselves from her person who has created the distress, dismissal, etc.
Satan undstands pyschology of the people quite well.
I've definitely experienced this now. Not following hadith would mean a world of change, especially for the women who are mostly converts already, started wearing the headscarf, praying behind men and being both submissive to them and completely seperated from them, had fights with their families and otherwise adopted this completely different lifestyle from our Dutch one, only to be told that it wasn't necessary and they went through all that trouble for a religion that is actually easy regardless of cultural upbringing. It's depressing that most of them will never want to think critically about what they're reading and hearing because they are to afraid of angering their husbands or the community.
welcome Praise God for guiding you to Islam and for the strength you have in verifying information for yourself and not bowing to peer pressure. I recommend you keep praying for a community of friends who worship God Alone .
Socially, I have been on my own since becoming a Muslim who follows Quran and worships God Alone . I do not feel lonely because I have God with me, and I spend much of my free time reading and reflecting on Quran and studying Quran via Free Minds and other websites. However, I did want to join others for jumaa salat so I kept praying to God for a like minded group of people who worshipped God alone to do join for jumaa prayer and eventually I was guided to a Submitters group living in a city a couple of hours away from me. Although I don't agree with some of their understandings of Islam, we do have a lot in common so I have continued to attend. Recently I also began praying for God to help me find a social group of friends who were righteous people. The very limited social contact I have is with workmates who enjoy a lifestyle that I left behind when I became a committed Muslim. Praise God, I have just met a Muslim woman who told me she doesn't follow hadith, and she is living in the same housing complex as me! She offered to teach me Arabic which I accepted and has invited me to come along to a social group she attends with some other Muslim women who are reasonably open minded and righteous people. God is indeed Great!That's great Lena! I hope you will meet more and more muslims this way. I have also met a muslim who feels this way and I know there are many others, mostly young, modern muslims who want to practice faith with reason. I hope one day we can open a mosque. P
To all the other posters, thank you very much! Oh and Earthdom I have no idea what the joke meant but I wasn't offended. Haha don't worry.
-
Hello everyone,
A few weeks ago I converted to Islam, having have read part of the Quran during Christmas(!) because I heard there was a story about Jesus in it. Before, I thought Allah was a different God entirely and did not know that Islam is an Abrahamic faith. I felt incredibly moved, reading the verses, I had no doubt that they contained the truth that I didn't even know I'd been looking for.
Unfortunately, the mosque where I did my Shahada is a Sunni mosque. As such, I first came in to contact with traditional 'Islamic' rituals and restrictions. From being expected to wear a headscarf to learning to recite the Arabic prayer just by sound without knowing it's meaning and having to avoid men as though they are all going to try and rape me if I talk to them... It wasn't the religion I'd be expecting to find. Any joy I felt at getting closer to God was diminishing and I was getting distracted from even studying the Qur'an because I constantly had to discuss and defend myself from the "worried" sisters that told me NOT to build my faith alone because apparently, I needed to be "guided" by more experienced sisters who had knowledge of the Sunnah.
Needless to say, I refused and researched the Hadith myself. After finding pearls like 'a stone steals Moses' clothes and he has to chase it down', or 'God commands us to pray fifty times but Moses disagrees, negotiating them down to five', the pinnacle being that Muhammad will actually intercede for us on the Day of Judgement. I emailed my arguments to the sisters that were trying to educate me and they are still emailing me trying to persuade me to follow their sources. One even suggested that since I was not supporting the Sunnah, it would have been better if I had not taken the Shahada...
I'm afraid I will have to leave the first Islamic community I have encountered, already one week after I met them, just to save me from going crazy. All I hope for now is that God will guide me on the right path and that he will take care of me so I don't get too lonely praying by myself.
So, I guess that's my story. I look forward to reading your articles and maybe getting to know some of you.
Assalamu alaikum,
I am a Sunni. However, I think I know how you feel and empathize with what you are feeling. I am long (psychologically) worn out and (spiritually) burned down by the empty, robotic ritualism of mainstream Islam where people are one thing in the masjid and another thing with the rest of the world ? largely because of the conflict of religious values with the human desires and cultural adaptation.
You needed more conviction in order to process the unexciting moral, stringent legalistic and complicated ritualistic demands of Islamic orthodoxy while you were exposed to the hardhearted world of appeasing, and living up to the unrealistic demands of, the Muslim majority while you suffered from empty spirituality and love for Islam in one's heart (typical in the heart of a new convert).
I can sense that the sisters with whom you conversed have given up on you and reacted with lack of spiritual answers. I myself have reservations, surprisingly many in fact, about the taken-for-granted mainstream form and public system of Islam and when I find Muslims, day in and day out, validate or invalidate hadiths at will, pick and choose from whatever they can handle of permissions and prohibitions, and condemn almost anybody for almost anything that is un-Islamic... How do Muslims even socialize or befriend one another, when typically strict Muslims can, and do, condemn everyone because everyone else, especially all the people around them, are doing something haraam (or bidah or leading to fitnah or un-Sunnah or challenging certain established arguments in Islamic law even in purely religious contexts), has always been beyond me.
All of my life, I find Muslims to be far from the ideal hospitable people that they are made out to be by the storytellers and travellers. I have never been able to socialize with Muslims in general and found them to be unfriendly or deliberately insulting/condemning/condescending/never-pleased-with-you-for-something-unislamic-you-are-doing. Some of my Muslim families have absolutely no problem with photography, even hanging up some loved ones on the wall; whereas, when my Muslim brothers (what kind of brotherhood?) condemn me for using family photography and accuse me outright of possessing Satanic materials... Then when some of my family or my younger friends play music in their car, and I have to switch any music off or even academic media with musical content when I'm dealing with more strict (pro-Sunnah) Muslims... Then when I am asked a question by a female from my college about Islam, and I answer her; but sometimes I want to make sure I am relaying the correct answer, I ask my religious (Sunni) brothers for suggested refinement of my answer and share with them my experience in public dawah... I am accused of inviting fitnah or or leading myself to zina and "playing around" with the opposite sex (despite in my city, the opposite sex are everywhere in real life, in the real world). Scandalous, condemning, condescending, you are never-good-enough or religious enough or fear-Allah-enough... This is the imprisoning form of Islam that surrounds us, all around us, today.
Muslims cannot love one another any more because they seem to condemn one another for their human deficiencies, weaknesses, imperfections and falling short of the perfectionist ideal standard of so-called Islam as practised 1400 years ago by the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace and blessings of Allah) and the early Muslims who followed the Prophet directly. I feel peace with Allah and the Messenger, but never in my whole life I could ever find social belonging with Muslims who claimed to follow Islam. It's a joke to even try, even.
Despite my hurtful experiences with religious Muslims, I honestly cannot blame the Hadith literature alone for influencing or transforming them into the social terrorists that they have become today. Not because of my personal affirmation in Hadiths, but because of my observation that, in the face of literally up to a million ahadeeth, Muslims can pick and choose whatever they want in order to make life hell for others... They have become so insecure in themselves from realizing the fact that they themselves find the ideal standards of the Sunnah/orthodox Islam impossible, they want see if others around them are able to or willing to take the burden off/from them instead.
You and I are not the only ones who are fed up with the real world of Islam (as opposed to media misrepresentations that do nothing but malign the religion out of every reality, or the beautiful visionary depictions of Muslims circumnavigating the Kabah)... The Sunnis are already worried about the decreasing rate and lack of Muslim youth that visit the mosques. On Youtube, there are a couple of series of "Unmosqued The Movie" which are bringing up discussions in intellectual Muslim forums (such as Muslimmatters.org)... But, so far so good... As for the orthodox Muslims themselves, they just simply pass by the crisis with condemnation of the lack of fear-of-Allah and sincerity in the faith of Muslim youth. Sigh.
-
All of my life, I find Muslims to be far from the ideal hospitable people that they are made out to be by the storytellers and travellers. I have never been able to socialize with Muslims in general and found them to be unfriendly or deliberately insulting/condemning/condescending/never-pleased-with-you-for-something-unislamic-you-are-doing. Some of my Muslim families have absolutely no problem with photography, even hanging up some loved ones on the wall; whereas, when my Muslim brothers (what kind of brotherhood?) condemn me for using family photography and accuse me outright of possessing Satanic materials... Then when some of my family or my younger friends play music in their car, and I have to switch any music off or even academic media with musical content when I'm dealing with more strict (pro-Sunnah) Muslims... Then when I am asked a question by a female from my college about Islam, and I answer her; but sometimes I want to make sure I am relaying the correct answer, I ask my religious (Sunni) brothers for suggested refinement of my answer and share with them my experience in public dawah... I am accused of inviting fitnah or or leading myself to zina and "playing around" with the opposite sex (despite in my city, the opposite sex are everywhere in real life, in the real world). Scandalous, condemning, condescending, you are never-good-enough or religious enough or fear-Allah-enough... This is the imprisoning form of Islam that surrounds us, all around us, today.
Muslims cannot love one another any more because they seem to condemn one another for their human deficiencies, weaknesses, imperfections and falling short of the perfectionist ideal standard of so-called Islam as practised 1400 years ago by the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace and blessings of Allah) and the early Muslims who followed the Prophet directly. I feel peace with Allah and the Messenger, but never in my whole life I could ever find social belonging with Muslims who claimed to follow Islam. It's a joke to even try, even.
Despite my hurtful experiences with religious Muslims, I honestly cannot blame the Hadith literature alone for influencing or transforming them into the social terrorists that they have become today.
Salaam,
I think social terrorist is a harsh word. There are all sorts of people, even among those who follow hadith. It seems like you are talking about people from a particular background, or maybe you're referring to a particular ethnic group? In my opinion, that treads on dangerous ground.
Those who are saying that you cannot talk to a female etc, are going too far but even in countries like Pakistan where more people follow hadith, you still get varieties of strictness, Muslims still cannot be labelled as a whole - I'm not sure if you intended that, but it did appear so when I read it.
And lack of hospitality, in my experience has come from non-Muslims as well, but this could also be down to differences in culture, ethnicity etc.
Btw, there is a thread here maybe you could give some advice from a Sunni perspective about dealing with this specific type of oppressive behaviour. http//free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=9605351.0