Let's just stay together, the more the mix the better!

Absolutely! I was going to ask for one for us poor forgotten Australians and Islanders from SE Asia and Pacific Nations, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's a bad idea.

Don't make more. Get rid of the ones you have. We are one world, let's be one world together.

Peace!

Welcome Dark

You said it yourself so elequently...

...opinions differ and diversity makes the world beautiful!

It's true. People see things in different ways, and thats what makes life so darned interesting!! Your parents obviously see things differently to the way you do, but that's ok. I am lucky my parents are open minded, but I have not told my sister I believe. She would go bananas. She's very narrow minded, though she thinks she is very worldly, and I know there would be a huge insult heading my way if I told her about my faith.

My way of looking at it is like this. If I am asked, I explain. That's it. My relationship with Allah is just that - my relationship. I don't believe in wearing my religion as a badge of my identity. If you're white, black, gay, straight, muslim, christian, whatever, it doesn't make you who you are. Everyone is unique, and your own way of finding God has to be right for you. So I would suggest this. Go with the flow. Don't go out of your way to prove a point, but be quietly confident in your faith. As others have said give the folks time and take it slowly. Inflamatory language makes it hard, and it can be easy to lose your temper when you are being abused or suddenly thrown into a heated situation, but if you keep your cool and your faith intact you will find that things will be ok in the end.

Have faith sister. You are not alone. Not only is Allah with you, but we are with you also, and know of your hardship. Strength!! )

I remember when I found free-minds and read the first articles and the forum ..., it was so overwhelming and a big big relief and finally knowing I'm not alone on this planet...

Ditto, Warda. At first you think you are a bit weird. I know when I have been to the Islamic Bookshops in Sydney they look down their noses at me cause I don't look like your "textbook muslimah", but after finding this site, I realised I was not alone, and it was ok to be different.

With family it can be hard. I have told my parents that I believe, but not my sister. She is very narrow minded and I know she would take it the wrong way. I don't share my belief with many people, cause I find these days people often hear the word "Islam" and automatically think the worst. Esp for me - I live in a country town. There's no other Muslimah's that I know of for hundreds of kilometres! All the locals know is what they see on the evening news, and that's always bad!

Topo, thank you for sharing your story, your strength of will is inspirational. It shows what beautiful use we can make of those amazing brains Allah has given us when we just take the time to let them work their magic!!

Peace to you and to your family. )

Hi Jankren, and thanks to all for responding!!

Why Catholics? Well, I think it has something to do with the way we are all brought up, at least for the slightly older ones like me. In particular the idea of set prayer style is big for Catholics. You have to stand up and say one prayer, then respond with another phrase, then the priest says his bit, then you say your bit and kneel, and... it just goes on and on. You realise very quickly even as a child that the performance of the ritual is what's important, not what's in your heart, and that never really made any sense to me. I think a lot of Catholics think the same way. It restricts their path to Jesus through a series of stupid actions that don't mean anything anyway, but gee, they look impressive.

It seems to me that Catholicism and Islam as institutions aren't that far apart. Traditional Muslims kneel, then bow, then say a phrase, then kneel, then...sound familiar?? The language is another stumbling block for islam, and was for Catholicism for a very long time. It was only mid last century that Vatican II decided we could suddenly say mass in English and not in Latin! The problem with catholicism is you are told so much of what you can't do, and what you have done wrong, and what will take you to hell, that you easily lose sight of the positives about Jesus. Other Christian groups aren't as fiercely structured as Catholicism, which I think explains why, as we become more educated as individuals, we are turning away from Catholicism and from being treated like naughty children. twisted

The Quran told me that I am not inherently bad, and it made so much more sense! It has a much more positive message to give, and I think, for Catholics at least, the negative messages constantly coming out of the Vatican can get a little bit much after a while. Besides, they assume we are all still the uneducated peasants we were hundreds of years ago. Well, we aint!! The Quran clearly tells us to educate ourselves, when we do it's messages make sense, in a lot of cases more sense... whereas with Catholicism, the more educated you get, the more you question the whole basis of the faith and it's practice.

I hope that explains a little of what I think. Mind you, that's just my opinion, for what it's worth!!!

Cheers, and peace be with you!

Hi y'all

I have a small question. I am hypoglycemic, and have a long and nasty history of Anorexia Nervosa. cry Consequently, I can't fast. If I fast, things turn bad. Real bad. Real quick. twisted My problem is that the fast, and the concept of the fast, is quite clear in the holy Quran, and I am at a real loss to know what to do during this period. I know that I can "feed a poor person" etc etc, but in our modern world that is not as easy as it sounds.

Is there anybody out there in a similar situation to me? Is there anybody else who, for whatever reason, simply cannot fast? what solutions do you have? My solution has been to look on Ramadan as kind of like "Lent" (OK, ex-catholic talking!), where I give up those things that are luxuries and remember the true values of life and that others aren't as lucky as I am. I also save the money I would spend on luxuries and at the end of the period donated it to charity (in my case, the one which I sponsor a child through). I managed to save quite a bit of money last time (my first Ramadan) simply by giving up chocolate and ice-cream and pre-packaged meals for healthy, natural alternatives.

Am I on the right track? Any reflections anyone can give me on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Peace!

Howdy from Australia!!

How did I get here? Well...here's a bit of a weird one for you. I actually found a copy of the Quran in a bargain book bin a few years ago, and thought "hmmm, that looks interesting!", so I bought it. Never actually read it though - it just sat on my bookshelf gathering dust along with all my witchcraft textbooks. (that's another story...)

Anyway, earlier last year the London Bombings got me thinking "there's no way any God would command his followers to kill people... is there?" and at that I dragged out my copy of the Quran to try and understand what all the fuss was about.

What I found changed the way I look at life. I realised that the morons blowing up trains and buildings and themselves don't really get it. The Quran was just so beautiful, and so accepting, and so perfect. I really felt like God was talking straight to me when I read it. At the time I was also going through a terrible phase of depression and illness, and I found that the messages of the holy book really inspired me to be strong and have faith that all would be well. It made so much sense; everything I had been asking, everything I needed, everything that could put my world in order was contained within it's pages.

What lead me to free-minds is a little more complex. After reading the Quran, I began to investigate more about Islam, and quickly found that Islam and the Quran DON'T mean the same thing. Being an ex-catholic, I am very familiar with the gospels and the practices of making an icon out of a man. It seemed very clear that Muhammed was suffering the same fate at the hands of so-called Muslims everywhere. I could never, and still don't understand why the Hadith/the words of the prophet are taken as being law. They're not. God didn't say them. God didn't send them. Come on, even Muhammed must of had bad days, and the whole idea of something being written down over a century after it was supposedly uttered just smacked too much of the Catholic "we say it's right, so it's right" dogma.

Reading the Quran made me see that I can have a relationship with God and be at peace with him and the world, and still live my life learning and loving others, but my education and questioning nature quickly made me realise that the "Laws of Islam" based on Hadith and the utterings of the Prophet are not the "laws" I thought they were before. I DON'T have to cover my entire body except my eyes. I DON'T have to utter endless phrases in Arabic to let him know that I love him and appreciate what he has done for us. I read the Quran every day now, and always seem to find something different whenever I read it. I can safely say that I am a changed person, and I believe that Allah has lead me to his message for this reason. Now I am more confident, more sure, and happier than I think I have ever been, and it's due in a large part to the love and message of Allah through the Quran.

I am grateful for this forum, to find that I am not the only one on the planet who thinks the whole idea of Hadith and the organisation called "Islam" is, well, just a bit silly, and very misguided. I honestly felt I was the only person who questioned any of the so-called "pillars of faith", until I went searching online and found this place. Thank you so much for creating this site, and for welcoming me to it. I look forward to reading more articles and meeting new friends online.

Peace to all,
Miss Flossy