xenophilicpilgrim

Shahadah:

I think there is no God but God and I don’t need any more prophets after Mohamed, however I think God’s name shouldn’t be a political code word and I don’t think God intended for society to freeze at the time of Mohamed.

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses are quite certain God prefers to be called Jehovah, some Muslims are quite sure God prefers Allah. I think both groups are using semantic differences to institutionalize political differences. God’s name shouldn’t be used to fit people into different groups. There is only one God. God doesn’t force people to agree. We should seek to know God for ourselves rather than divide the world into categories of disagreement.

As for God’s final prophet, I believe He was a great teacher and His words are useful in pretty much every situation. God has said everything that can be said through prophets and now we are on our own. We have continued to grow and lean from our successes and failures over the past 1400 years. The teachings of prophets still apply to life both then and now but the situations are different and the exact applications are different. It is wrong to ignore experience and it is wrong to change a question to fit a known answer.

Salat:

I try to have 5 religious experiences every day. The easiest way is to meet a new person. I believe God is much more present in people than in material things. I also have religious experiences by seeing beauty and by praying. I acknowledge that the nearness I feel to God is different with each experience. I don’t count simple greetings and I generally don’t count chatting online. However, I try not to dwell on rules or definitions. I know when I experience God.

God does not need our prayers. I think it is very wrong to fall into the idea of “god batteries” that somehow when we pray we “charge up” God allowing God to perform miracles or something. I bring God into my life for my own benefit, not for God’s. I think it’s important to be active in this relationship. In my personal journey I have found I am not able to take ownership of memorized prayers and bring myself to them fully in a new way each time.

Still, I fall short. On average I only meet 2.33. people every day. Beauty and prayer probably only amount to 1.5 additional experiences each day. I try to do better. I think my life would be more fulfilling if I always made at least 5.

Sawm:

I don’t really understand this one. I don’t think I do it right. A few years ago I noticed online video games where becoming a problem in my life I used the Catholic tradition of Lent to help me abstain from them. It worked, I didn’t log on once during the entire 40 days. I like the idea of setting aside specific times for accelerated growth and reflection but the need for a community makes it tricky for me.

Zakāt:

Devout Christians donate 10% of their annual income. Muslims donate 2.5% of total wealth. Since I don’t have substantial savings it’s about the same. I try to do good works and help people when I can. I donate my time at Donovan prison. I also visit the homeless around my office and try to help them with their problems. One time I gave them a small party with pizza and comic books. I was trying to encourage them to do something aside from getting drunk all day. I intend to do this again every other Monday.

Hajj:

This seems like quite a challenge but I think I could grow a lot and I really want to do it. I would need to prepare and I’d also have to come up with the $4,000 to $6,000. I think doing this would be the difference between casual study and a tangible devotion to the knowledge. I don’t think I will see myself as being any more Muslim than I am Christian, Buddhist, Jew or any other religion but I will need to be Muslim enough not to anger anyone. Regardless of what others think, I feel God wants me to do this. So I will try hard to make it happen.

Hello, my name is Patrick.

I am interested in learning about the Qur’an. I intend to embark on a 64 to 128 week study of the book and I would like to know if you can help me. My goal is to learn everything I need so that no one would say I am unqualified to talk about Islam. I intend to study one set of verses each week, reading the annotations in my English translation, as well as the Wikipedia articles and talking to people online.

I want to understand the essence of Islam both in the context of middle eastern culture and separate from it.

My fundamental beliefs:

Things I am somewhat sure of:

I consider myself spiritual but not religious. I believe in a version of God that can best be described as a universal harmony. I believe in a knowable morality which can be derived from experience. I don’t think God wants us to be in a big group of people who all believe the same thing. I think that was made up by organized religion and not by God.

I think all religions have something to teach me, I intend to study them and incorporate the things which make sense to me into my life.

My intended course of study

I understand the Qur’an is organized into 114 sutras. So one sutra a week seems logical. But I understand there are other important books. For example the 5 pillars of Islam are in a book called the Hadithes so learning about that is important too. I will need to spend a week or two planning and organizing the study before the actual work begins. Every 16 weeks or so I would like to spend a week summarizing and cleaning up what I have learned. Ramadan will happen a few times and I want to spend one week in personal reflection each time. I also want to spend some time writing about important topics such as:

What the 5 pillars mean to me.
Equality of Women.
Religious extremists and what a world where no one wants to be a suicide bomber would look like.
Problems with Israel.