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Browsing: Archive for December, 2009

Changing Beliefs

On 31 Dec 2009, In Religion, by , 6 Comments

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

This will be my last post that has anything to do with Christmas this year.

After spending some time reading about Christmas trees and Christianity relating to them, I started thinking about other aspects of Christmas that are misguidance.

That led me to Santa Claus. Parents lie to their children regarding his existence. He is given the god-like qualities of hearing and seeing everything, and the ability to travel the globe and visiting every home in a single night, the ability to give as he pleases of his gifts.

I grew up believing in him. I was scared to misbehave, I didn’t want any lump of coal. I would lie in bed and ask him for all the things my heart desired. How could he not exist? My parents were telling me he did, the cookies and milk left out for him were gone in the morning, when I went to bed there were very few gifts under the tree but when I woke there were so many that they couldn’t fit under the tree and all marked with a tag that said, ‘from santa’.

I don’t believe in him now. Can any guess why? I grew up and they let me in on the dark secret that there is no santa. It was nothing more than an elaborate trick played on fragile minds. Later in life, I was the one eating cookies left for santa and wrapping the gifts with the ‘from santa’ tags.

I bring all this up because I have been told on a number of occasions that because I left Christianity it meant that I never really believed in the first place. That goes for anyone who has left, not just me. They use that statement to discredit me or to protect their own faith. However, looking back at the little boy that I used to be, the little boy that had a firm conviction in the existence of santa, which was uprooted with a little knowledge, I know that people can believe in something today and reject it tomorrow.

Ya Allah, ar-Rashid, an-Nur, al-Hadi, keep me firm on Islam. Ya Allah, Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim, Al-Ghaffar, Al-Ghafur, forgive my shortcomings and cover my faults in this life and in the hereafter.

False Assumptions Produce False Conclusions

On 29 Dec 2009, In Religion, by , 6 Comments

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

I don’t mean to brag but MyIslamicFamily has a number of Christian fans that evidently are regular readers. I’m not sure whether its my writing style or my unique ability to offend Christian polytheism that keeps them coming back for more. Whatever the case is they latch onto my every word.

They get so desperate to refute my understanding of Christianity that they start to comment on every post that I have made about Christianity. They complain about my grouping Catholics and Protestants in the same Christian pagan pile. They complain at my insistence that the Bible has many errors, contradictions, racism, pornography and absurd statements. They complain at my highlighting minority Christian groups that do retarded things, i.e. Ava Worthington, even when the groups act in accordance with popular Christian thinking. More recently there was an outcry because I said Christmas trees are a pagan tradition.

I don’t let anyone, who comes for the sole purpose of arguing, to post comments. Why? Because this site is my little thread on this massive Web and I don’t want to have endless arguments here. This is a place for my musings, my thoughts, my writings. Its random nature and the often careless structure of posts should tell you that. Moreover, I write for myself and about the events that surround my life and my opinions about things. If your following then you’ll understand that this blog is all me and no you. That said, I am flattered that I do have a few regular readers and that some of them comment. The idea that my randomness has been interesting for more than just myself amazes me.

When commenting fails my Christian fans they turn to email. When email fails them a few resort to blogging about me. One thing that I have noticed about bloggers is that they find someone that they disagree with and they blog about them and then the person being blogged about blogs about the other person. In the end there are twenty posts that amount to little more than mudslinging. It is of course a cheap way to give visitor traffic and something I will not get involved in no matter how ridiculous the posts from my detractors get. I’m not saying that I don’t read a few of the posts or that I don’t appreciate the links.

My indifference has caused some to have several false assumptions about me. One, I am intentionally/unintentionally being deceitful because I didn’t read or understand and therefore gave an erroneous interpretation of Bible verses or events. Two, I don’t listen or read counter arguments, apparently I find something on the Web and I don’t bother to read an explanation. Three, I haven’t already come across your position in the past. Four, I don’t understand fundamental concepts in the Quran. Five, I am a complete moron. I’m sure that there are more but I’ll leave it there.

Let’s look at the Christmas tree ‘controversy’. Last week, I posted a picture of decorated Christmas trees with verses from the Bible underneath, which I proposed meant that the current and popular custom of putting decorated trees in houses for Christmas is a pagan tradition opposed by the Bible.

My Christian fan attempts to refute me by assuming that I hadn’t read the entire verses. I spend a lot of my personal free time developing a site with the core functionality of displaying the Bible. Whenever I come across a Biblical verse that has interested me for whatever reason, I first go to Biblerrors and read the entire chapter surrounding that verse. I also regularly visit a Christian site that displays multiple versions and translations of the Bible to give me a better insight. Then I read from at least one Christian commentary of the Bible. This case was no different.

My fan said that the answer lies in the full verses. They are not talking about the Christmas tree but about carving idols from trees.

An unknown author wrote:

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. (J.10-2) For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. (J.10-3) They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. (J.10-4)

This is a case where the KJV is not so clear so let’s look at the NIV to fully get what these verses are talking about.

This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.

How did I miss this obvious aspect of these verses? The truth is I didn’t miss this aspect when I first read it and I didn’t miss this aspect when I search for a Christian explanation of the Christmas tree in light of these verses. It is my opinion, however, that it takes an exceptionally superficial reading of these verses to limit its scope to those of idols carved from trees.

The first part of the quotation is telling the ‘house of Israel’ to stay way from pagan customs because they are worthless. It then carries on and gives an example of their worthless customs, which is to cut a tree down, carve something out of it or on to it, cover it with gold and silver and then nail it to the ground so it cannot move.

What is the origin of the Christmas tree? There are a lot of myths and guesses but what we can be sure of is that it has no endorsement in the Bible, Jesus never had one, neither did his disciples nor did Paul. Therefore, reason tells us that its origins are outside of Judaic/Christian customs and then must come from a pagan source, which the first part of this quotation is condemning as worthless.

We can see now that even without the other verses Jeremiah 10:2-3 is condemning all pagan customs, which includes Christmas tress and many other aspects of Christmas. Who then will say these verses have nothing to do with Christmas trees?

Is there something specific about Christmas trees in these verses? Yes and no. The author of these verses did not have the foresight to write about something in the future of which he was completely unaware. He was writing about a custom that pre-dated the Jews and warning them from following it. Modern Christians are not following that same custom but by not reading and understanding their book they fell into the same trap that the author of Jeremiah was warning the Jews about. Pre-Christian pagan Europeans were busy worshipping trees, cutting them down, putting them into their houses, decorating them and fastening them to the floor long before the arrival of Christianity. One difference between the Pre-Jewish custom and the Pre-Christian custom is that the European pagan was not carving anything into the tree. They were simply worshipping the tree as it was. Christians later adopted the custom to their own detriment.

If the Christian commentator focuses too heavily on the part of carving then they are missing the whole point of the verses. The striking similarity between the verses of Jeremiah and modern Christian Custom should have immediately aroused the conscience of faithful Christians. They should have been moved to keep far away from a custom that did not belong to them, that was exceedingly similar to one already condemned in the Bible, for fear of repeating past mistakes and falling into idolatry. Modern Christians should abandon the custom immediately after learning about these verses, the non-Christian origin of the tree, and its history as an idol of pre-Christian Europe. They should then condemn the custom to every other Christian that is not yet aware. Of course, they won’t do any of that because Christians are not a people who enjoin righteousness nor forbid evil, for themselves or for others.

Christian, are you convinced? It doesn’t really matter to me if you are or not. Christmas trees are small things compared to your sin of worshipping a man. However, I hope that you have the decency not to accuse me of not reading or being deceitful or not listening to all the arguments.

I invite you all to the worship of your Lord, without ascribing partners to Him. I invite you to a pure monotheism that is free of any polytheistic impurity. I invite you to light and away from darkness. I invite you to Islam. If you accept then glad-tidings of paradise, in the company of the God-fearing, basking in the pleasure of our Lord. If you don’t accept then be warned of a painful torment to anyone who ascribes partners to the Most High God.

Contradiction or Contrast

On 16 Dec 2009, In Religion, by , 6 Comments

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

I recently watched a debate between Shabir Ally and John Gilchrist, which took place in Benoni Town Hall, Benoni, South Africa on the 25th June, 2009. As I was watching, I started to write a comment for the video on YouTube but I quickly ran out of my allotted comment characters. I then open Word to write something up and share on here. It was going to be my thoughts on the entire debate. I had lots to write but parenting got in the way and I abandoned it.

I was disappointed in Shabir’s lack of killer instinct (and a few other things). Niceties are fine but we must also have the courage to speak forcefully. I say this because even though John’s responses were absurd the Christians in the audience were clearly energised. I am assuming that was not the goal of the IPCI (who hosted the event).

In that debate, however, was a lesson for the Muslim wishing to understand the view many Christians have of their own book. Often we Muslims try to project our expectation of perfection on anything that is claimed to be from Allah ta’ala. I think it is a fair expectation to expect a perfect God to produce a perfect book for guidance. Christians have no such expectation, they can’t afford to with such an error ridden book as the Bible.

Christians employ various methods to deal with the problem of an imperfect book. The most common of these methods might be the choice to remain ignorant, which would be the easiest way to deal with it. If you are unaware of a problematic verse then there is no need to reconcile it with your religion. I have been criticised by Christians for reading Christian commentaries of the Bible and that position was justified on this blog by another Christian. The reason for this criticism should be clear. The more you dig, the more problems you uncover. It is essential for the future health of Christianity that the Christian masses remain ignorant.

While ignorance is the most common it is not the only method, by far. It is not my intention to go through each of the methods that I have experienced but it might be a useful discussion to have in the comments area, if anyone feels so inclined. I do wish to write about the method employed by John Gilchrist. I want to discuss it because Shabir Ally made no attempt to refute them and for the Christians it was convincing enough that Shabir Ally’s words appeared to have little to no effect on them. Moreover, his method was extremely devious and indicative of the lengths that Christian leaders go to to cover up the weaknesses of the Bible.

During Shabir’s convincing, yet a bit too academic, opening statements he listed several contradictions in the Bible and then made the familiar claim by Muslim daiees that because these errors, contradictions and absurdities exist within the Bible, the Bible is unreliable as a proof. He then demanded proof that could substantiate the unreliable Biblical claim they were debating. None was forthcoming.

In response John claimed that these were not contradictions but rather contrasts. Each author of the Bible is showing a different aspect of Jesus and so they focus on different things surrounding those same events. It is true that if you read the Gospels in the New Testament you will get a drastically different picture of who Jesus was but how does that explain those things that are seemingly contradictory? Relabelling them contrasts does not absolve them of error. What for example were the last words of Jesus? Was it before or after passover when he was killed? Did he speak or not on the way to his crucifixion? And there are many many more questions we could ask but I hope that these will suffice.

John attempts to answer this problem by relating the story of the Titanic ocean-liner that sank on its maiden voyage. Eyewitness accounts from survivors varied on whether or not the Titanic sank in one piece or two pieces. The majority claimed one and a small minority claimed two. After investigation it was discovered that the Titanic broke into two pieces but because of the way it sank it appear to many to have sunken in one piece. So you can see that neither group of the witnesses were lying and they both were telling the truth from their perspectives. Likewise the authors of the Gospel are telling the story from their perspectives.

Since when does God deal in relative truth? The Titanic survivors might not have lied but the majority of them were wrong. The Titanic sank in two pieces, not one. Likewise, it is impossible that Jesus both spoke and remained silent at the same time. We might absolve the authors of the Gospels of lying but we cannot absolve them from the error that is found on the pages of their accounts. God is not limited by the circumstances that surround events. He knows the absolute truth of everything.

Was the Bible inspired by a god who couldn’t differentiate between relative and absolute truth or did he intentionally mislead the authors to write false statements?

John mentioned that there is no way to verify the statements of the authors of the Gospels because we can’t dig them up and question them. However, we were able to ascertain the real truth about the fate of the Titanic because we were able to question survivors and later we were able to descend and view the Titanic in two pieces on the bottom of the ocean.

The irony is that the Titanic has little significance and there is less significance on whether it went down in two pieces or one and yet God choose to preserve the truth regarding that event but He wasn’t bothered to preserve His Bible.

John’s deceit is clear. First, he relabels the contradictions as contrasts and then he reduces the Bible down to relative truth. John’s position effectively destroys the Bible of any value as a book of guidance because the guidance of God must be absolute. That is the only way that mankind would be able to navigate the pitfalls of life in a manner that is pleasing to God.

I invite you all to the absolute truth of God, His Quran and His noble prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. I invite you all to the light of pure monotheism and true guidance. I invite you all to Islam.

Looking Back At Eid-ul-Adha 1430

On 14 Dec 2009, In Family, by , No comments

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

All praise belongs to Allah, Who made me Muslim, made me love belief in Him, and made me hate disbelief in Him.

So much was going on that I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to blog about eid at the time. If you permit me, I would like to take a look back at that great day, which is probably my best eid ever.

The day began at fajr and then a cup of coffee, which in my opinion is the best of starts to any day. After that the morning was quite rushed. I showered, changed my clothes, ate a cookie, got the kids eid toys ready and then headed out the door for the eid salaah.

I was on my way to pray in the mosque but because I was running a bit late I decided to pray in the tent outside. I arrived at the tent early and sat in the front row after putting my shoes in in a little plastic bag and placing them out of the way. The air was cold and the breath of those making dhikr was visible all around. I took a moment to reflect. Allahu Akbar.

The khubah was a pleasure. The sheikh told the stories of Ibrahim, Ishmael and Hajar, their dedication to Islam and their contentment and sabr with the decree of the Almighty. May Allah’s mercy be upon them and all the Muslims.

I got back from eid salaah much later than expected and I didn’t bring my keys, which meant Zahira was no longer waiting for me and I was stuck outside for about 15mins. It was cold and I didn’t have a coat; good times.

After I finally got in the house, we got ready and went to visit my in-laws. We spent the rest of the day there. I drank coffee, ate cookies and other various eid treats, played with the kids and played xBox with my brother in-law. The conversation was light-hearted and everyone was amicable. It is what I would call near a perfect day.

Next eid I think it would be a good idea to take the kids somewhere. Perhaps we can get some of families together and let the kids have a day out playing as a group.

Here are some photographs from the day. I have some more, perhaps I’ll upload them another time.

School, Stars of the Week, The Power Puff Girls, Driving, Traffic Tickets and Inside-Out Clothes

On 07 Dec 2009, In Family, by , No comments

As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,

The past few weeks or so have been really interesting for my Islamic family.

Sabah got star of the week at school for catching up with her classmates so quickly. She started late because we had to wait for a place. I wasn’t surprised that Sabah was able to do that because she works really hard and genuinely enjoys the tasks her teacher gives her. One morning I dropped her off and she went straight to her desk and started writing her name. She was concentrating so much that despite calling her name and waving I wasn’t able to get her attention.

More positive news for Sabah is that she has started talking at school. I don’t think she said ten words last year. The first day of this year we drove all the way back to school just to make sure she used the toilet because we were afraid that she wouldn’t ask the teacher.

I also learned that Sabah is one of the popular kids and has her pick of friends. She refused to play with one little girl because ‘she’s not pretty’. How disappointing. We had a long talk with her and she seemed to change her attitude a bit. I hope that it is not a sign of things to come.

Sabah has also started lying to stay home from school, which is strange because every time I ask her how was school when she gets home she says, ‘I loved it’. One morning she insisted she needed the toilet right before we were leaving but when she got to the toilet she just sat there and did nothing. I was waiting for her and telling her to hurry but she just sat there and smiled back. It was only after I threatened her that if she was lying she would be in trouble that she got up and went to school. She later admitted that she was lying.

Last Friday at school and after lunch she, she told her teacher she was ill and was making puking noises. The first thing she did at home was to eat some chips and run around the house playing with her sister. I’m convinced she was lying but definitely got away with it that time.

Sabah has also stopped wanting to wear hijab and instead she wants to show off her ponytails and be a power puff girl. For the moment this isn’t really a big deal and even though she attends an Islamic private school she isn’t required to wear hijab because of her age. Most girls do though. It is funny that when she went to the public school and she was the only one wearing hijab she wanted to wear it every day. Now when a lot of the little girls wear them she doesn’t want to.

The only day this is a small problem is on Friday because all the kids go to the masjid for jamaat and it is usually Friday that she puts up a fight and wants to be a power puff girl. I explained to her that the power puff girls also wear hijab when they go to the masjid because they’re Muslim as well.

She didn’t really believe me and you probably don’t either but I submit to you that they are and I will try to prove it.

They are dutiful to their father, respectful and studious at school, generally clean and they are well behaved (I agree that these attributes are not exclusive to Muslims but they do begin to paint a picture). They are under the age of puberty and live their lives on their natural dispositions. One of those is to believe in God. Most importantly, they enjoin the good and forbid the evil and they do so with violence if needed. There is no group of people with that quality except the Muslims. All other groups either renounce violence (to their own detriment) or use it to spread corruption (to the detriment of others).

Who then agrees with me that the power puff girls are Muslim?

Dhuha has had a marvellous few weeks at school and was star of the week herself last week. She received hers for settling in so well. A difficult task for a super hyper child with ASD. She is meeting and exceeded her targets faster than expected and walks around her school like some celebrity. Even though she is in preschool and only attends school three days a week in the mornings, most of the children in the school know her and call out her name. Sabah has been referred to as Dhuha’s sister and Zahira as Dhuha’s mum.

At school she is recognising pictures to mean things. If her teacher shows her a picture of sand Dhuha immediately goes to the sand tray. A significant first step for Dhuha’s future ability to communicate with others. Its all very exciting for me as her father.

On the funny side, Dhuha has found a big ridiculous pink hat in the dress up box and really likes it. She puts it on and looks in the mirror as if she is well pleased. She wears it so much and so often that one little boy in her class seen that she was not wearing it and went and put it on her head.

She is such a celebrity that she goes where she wants to go and only goes if she wants to go. One day I had to pick her up because she just didn’t feel like being at school (I know that because she was fine the rest of the day). When I got to her school to pick her up, she was in the library laying on the super soft plushy carpet listening to nasheeds and getting a massage.

While she has done remarkably well at school and at home, bedtime has become a nightmare. She has been spending hours and hours screaming at night. I started to blog about this one night while this was going on. I’ll have a look at the draft and decide whether I should publish it or not.

Abdurrahman has been ill and puking a lot. He is also teething. Alhamdulillah, he is getting better. He hasn’t been smiling or talking much lately but today he seems to be back to his cheerful self. He also started sucking his thumb, which is something that my girls never did. I have to admit it is very cute, mashaAllah.

Zahira has been doing exceptionally well in her role as a teacher assistant and seems to really enjoy teaching. The school she is volunteering in has offered to put her into university to start her teaching career. I really am very proud of her. She has also started driving, which is fantastic for her and me. Now I don’t have to visit the school four or five times a day and she doesn’t have to worry about a ride.

So what’s been going on with me? Well I dropped Sabah off at school one morning with my clothes inside-out. I didn’t realise it until I was in the school. I tried desperately to hurry back to the car but I could feel the eyes of the teachers and parents staring at me. To make it worse on the way back to the car my shoe came untied. So there I was walking down the street with inside-out clothes and an untied shoe. Deeply embarrassing.

I also got a traffic ticket. Yay(!)

Praise and thanks belongs to Allah, Who sent the Quran in truth and Who sent Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, in truth. So that we may be guided to truth.

I praise him for giving me the courage to abandon falsehood and false gods and false worship and guiding me to the light of pure monotheism. There is nothing better than being part of the Muslim Ummah.

@MyIslamicFamily

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