Allowed eating

"When I walk into a restaurant, ... it shouldn’t be important to the waiter what my religion is", wrote Dr Taj Hargey 

I agree with him.  Hungry people want to eat.  It doesn't matter how the chicken was killed.  So long that it has been handled in a reasonably sanitary kind of way, I would think it would be okay.

Hargey points out that for chicken to be truly "halal", it has to be killed in a certain way, with the blood drained from it, and prayers chanted.  However, the Quran does not actually require that Muslims eat food that is truly "halal" only.  It says in Chapter 5:5 that 

‘This day all good things are made lawful for you. The food of the People of the Book [meaning the Jews and the Christians] is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them …'

Hargey, as a Muslim, would allow himself to eat any meat other than pork.  He reckons that non-Muslims have even less reason to fuss over the detail of whether food is "halal" in the Muslim context or not.  And Muslims, eating non-halal meat of allowed animals are not violating the Quran's command, so they do not need to be as picky as what some have become.

Would you agree with him?

Why then is there this big fuss over "halal" food?  Why are companies paying big bucks to be halal certified?  And why are companies forced to take on the "halal" certification in order to export their produce?

Is this a money making venture to keep the Imams in business?  Or are there other hidden reasons behind this?

Are people making a bigger deal about Islam and drawing an unnecessary "them" vs "us" line between the Muslims and non-Muslims?  Why would people do this?

How are we to love one another when conspiracy theories abound?

What do you think and believe?

Be like Muslims

Bill Cosby was quoted to have said:

I am a Christian. But Muslims are misunderstood. Intentionally misunderstood. We should all be more like them. They make sense, especially with their children. There is no other group like Muslims, who put so much effort into teaching children the right things:

* They don't smoke
* They don't drink alcohol
* They protect their women
* They command respect

What do you think of this statement?  Would you agree with him?

Is Cosby an expert in such matters for this statement to be taken as a fact?

Why do you think Muslims are "intentionally misunderstood"?  Or are they just misunderstood, howbeit unintentionally?  Or perhaps understood correctly?

Is this a plot to draw people to consider converting to Islam?

Do you think Muslims behave well?  Do they really not smoke, not drink alcohol, protect their women and command respect as what Cosby said?  Are these really virtues?  Do they teach their children these things?

Do these characteristics represent all Muslims? Or just some of them?  Do non-Muslims uphold such values also?

I am not saying that Cosby is wrong.  I am just surprised to see  that a web page puts such emphasis on what he said.  I am not sure if Muslims are really misunderstood or that Cosby's description is right.  I think that Christians should respect Muslims, and vice-versa ... but we should believe and serve the One True God and not be taken in by words of respect that may turn out to be deceptive.

What do you think?

What is "fatwa"?

"Some people use the term to mean an Islamic death sentence imposed upon a person the word "fatwa" is an Arabic word, and it literally means "opinion"."  This seems to be a key point according to the Wikipedia article on this subject.

The opening paragraph of that article said that "in Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar".

So it seems that the world has different opinions about how seriously to take fatawa.  ("Fatawa" is the plural of "fatwa".)

I was drawn to this subject when somebody pointed out on Twitter that some have used fatwa to exploit Syrian women.  It sounded to me that people were taking words beyond what the Koran said, and interpreting the meaning to justify themselves in doing nasty things.

I think self-justification is wrong ... but very human.  It is in our nature to want to think that we are good, when we are actually sinful.  I found it assuring to find another person also expressing that fatawa need not be taken as law - they should be read in context of the background and culture of the mufti scholar who puts it together.

Some fatwa are hard for me to believe, eg. that a curse will be on people who take photographs, except for reason of necessity.  What do you think about such rules?

Do you think people understand the Scriptures in ways to justify their own actions?  The Quran?  The Bible?  What do the Scriptures actually mean?  How does God really expect us to behave?  What does He want us to believe?  Are there expectations and understandings that transcend the boundaries of culture?

What do you believe?

What is a Muslim?

A couple of women, dressed in modern clothing with sparkling beads were spotted during the New Years Eve party.  They wore head coverings the way many Muslim women do.  They also wore mini-skirts, which many Muslim women do not do.  Under the mini-skirts were tights, so they certainly were not showing a lot of skin.

Were they Muslim women?  Or were they not?  Is the stereotype that Muslim women wear head coverings correct?  Don't other women wear head coverings too?

We live in such a multicultural society that it is easy to box people up in the way we wish to perceive them, but the way we classify people may not be entirely correct.  There will be exceptions to the rule.

A friend told me the other day that "all generalisations are incorrect, including this one".

This reminds me of another article I read recently.  It said that "no particular Islamic institution - legal, philosophical, or mystical - has an exclusive prerogative deciding who a Muslim is. It is Muslims themselves, in the plurality of their class, gender, and racialised identities - who are now (as they have always been) on a vastly variegated and open-ended highway making that decision for themselves".

Dabashi, the author, sees that Islam is not the religion in history that it once was.  Now that many adherents live in a modern, "post-Western" world, many are understanding their beliefs in ways that are somewhat different from what others in the Eastern world would have thought a few generations ago.  So besides thinking of Islam as fundamentalists, Sunni, Shia, Imam, men, women, etc; we also get to meet the modern and post-modern ones; at least in some societies.

What do you think?  Are all Muslims the same in the way you perceive them?  Is it anything like the "denominations" that are used to classify different Christian groups?  How would you define what a Muslim is from your point of view?