Tuesday 14 August 2007

My Reversion Story pt IV

Islam
I studied Islam for three years. I have to say that although I began with thinking and even hoping that Islam was the answer I was looking for, it was pretty obvious pretty soon that it was not.
I loved the simplicity of the Pillars-but there were BIG problems with them.
The Salat was short and sweet: There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet (or words to that effect)
Then there was the Prayer which was five times a day. I liked the rhythm of that idea and the set movements, words and having a mat to create a holy place wherever you went.
Alms giving-no problem with that.
Hajj or pilgrimage. Every Muslim must make a hajj to Mecca once in his/her lifetime if possible. Now despite being Catholic I had a few problems with this. It was the stone at Mecca itself. It seemed like a daft story-go and visit a stone just because Abraham had something to do with it. Okay so we have relics and if it had been on the same level as that I could have grasped it. But to HAVE to visit it?

Finally there was jihad. Now then, this was years before we had 9/11 or Osama bin Laden. These were the days when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem had been forgotten and the Crusades were because of those nasty greedy Christians. But even here I was taught that Jihad was by the sword.
The life of Muhammad is clear-he went around with an army getting things done. This was no inner spiritual battle. Blood got spilt, and a lot of it was innocent blood.

I liked bits of the Qu'ran but the more I studied Muhammad even in pc terms-the more I thought he was a pretty horrible person and no way could I follow him.
The final straw was the killing of the Jewish community when they would not bend to Muhammad's will.

Since then I have learned more about this religion from less pc sources. I have less respect for Muhammad than ever.
I love my Muslim friends though and pray for them.
I admire those who are trying to reinvent the faith to be more peaceful-but I think they are going to fail.
Muhammad sent his followers out specifically to kill people. He sent them to attack a merchant caravan, rob it and kill the owner. That's just murder and robbery. And it was done in God's name!

Meanwhile Sr Mary Kate was still with me and I decided to look at the Church -was it really what God wanted me to be part of and should I be a nun?
I have to say this was a mixed up question. What I really wanted was to live with Sr Mary Kate and have her take care of me. I was not called to religious life. Heck, I hardly knew what religion I wanted to be!

Finally I went out into the big wide world and came across various protestant ideas.

3 comments:

Ttony said...

Do keep on with this. It's fascinating!

W. said...

Keep posting your story. Thank you.

WhiteStoneNameSeeker said...

Thank you to all who have posted comments.
It's not an easy story tell.
I'll keep going...