the first chapter in God Is Not One is about Islam. it covers many different aspects of it, teaching you what different traditions mean and the history behind it. i came the the conclusion that being a Muslim isn't for me. Muslims follow the Quran, which not only guides their religion but every aspect of their life. there doesn't seem to be any "separation of church and state" which makes me really uncomfortable. i think both being raised in the US and having the parents that i have had has led me to this general desire to have that separation. i'm not a naturally religious person and i wouldn't want the country i live in to be so intertwined with one belief system.
according to the book, "the word Islam means "submission" or "surrender." So Islam is the path of submission, and Muslims are "submitters" who seek peace in life and the next by surrendering themselves to the one true God… they refer to themselves in many cases as "slaves" of the Almighty… In Islam, the problem is self-sufficiency, the hubris of acting as if you can get along without God, who alone is self-sufficient… the response that Allah demands from humanity is not so much belief as obedience."
so it's good for humans to be humble and grovel to God by praying to him 5 times a day and being his "slave." but then, what does that say about God? if being humble is a good thing, would God then be even more humble than humans? wouldn't that mean that he wouldn't want to be groveled to? it seems as though the only leaders who want their followers to grovel and be their slaves are leaders filled with excessive pride. so then, does that mean that to them God is filled with excessive pride? i wouldn't want to work for a boss that treated their employees like slaves or live in a country with a dictator that treated their people like slaves. so then, why would a want to pray to a God that wanted everyone to be his slave?
i tend to view God as having the best qualities we humans have to offer, that includes forgiveness, understanding, love and humbleness. God gave us free will for a reason, to use it. he gave us emotions to feel them. he gave us bodies to move them, which is part of why i love dance so much. i wanna live my life as fully as i can, doing the things i enjoy best and believing what i want to believe. this is how i was raised and this is how i live.
i'm not going to go into the controversial aspects of Islam. you can read all you want about suicide bombers and the way women are treated somewhere else. and pretending that fundamentalists of other religions don't also commit terrible acts that offend and hurt others is to be blind to the reality of the world. sometimes it seems as though assholes and psychopaths use religion as an excuse to act in the horrible ways.
Muslims describe God in both masculine and feminine ways. it's as though God is the ultimate mother and father in one. i kind of like that idea. they see God as being beyond gender. what i don't understand is how they can describe God as being compassionate, merciful, forgiving, generous, loving, powerful, wrathful and just. to me, being wrathful does not mean being just. it's like when the punishment is out of scale with the crime. it makes me wonder if this is how they see their own parents. were their parents the type to be too hard on them when they got out of line?
maybe the fact that my parents weren't the wrathful type that punished too hard and too frequently is why i don't understand the idea of a wrathful God. what is the point in that? is it just to scare you into being a good person? shouldn't God be an example of justice so that humans want to act ethically? do we really need the idea of Heaven and Hell to keep us acting like decent human beings? i personally don't believe in heaven or hell, i think both are right here on earth. the whole idea of hell alone perplexes me. why threaten us with physical pain in the afterlife if we will no longer have our physical bodies to feel pain? and why go to hell for an eternity? shouldn't it be at most a temporary punishment so that we can go back and try again after having learned our lesson? this is why i like the idea of reincarnation.
there are some aspects of Islam that i don't mind so much, and one type that i actually like the sound of and want to learn more about. the mystical side of Islam is represented by the Sufis who are more interested in personal experience. there are two types: the sober and the drunk. as the book explains it, "Drunken Sufis emphasize the mercy and beauty of God, approaching Him in love and ecstasy more than awe and fear. As a result, they worry less about their tradition's legal and ritual requirements."
there is a great sufi poet named Rumi who challenges you to "gamble everything for love." he says, "there is no salvation for the soul but to fall in Love." and he insists that romantic love is also love for and from the divine. this makes me want to learn more about Rumi and about Sufism. maybe when i am done with this book i will do more research on this. the spiritual journey should always be never ending.
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