Ask a Muslim anything

[Lesschubtolove]

Another thread on a Quran being kicked about has brought up some pretty ugly stereotypes on Muslims and a perception that we all want blasphemy laws and death threats are part of our religion and that a Quran only matters in Arabic. None are true but it dawned on me actually that there are a lot of mistruths and Misconceptions about what Muslims believe, think or do.

Well ask away… the questions you maybe wanted to know but thought you might get in trouble for or would be frowned upon

Question asked with respect....

What is your personal opinion on marrying within your own families?

Also, are all Muslim marriages arranged?

That is abhorrent! Some Muslims are backwards sometimes. It is permissible for a Muslim to keep an assistance dog because it serves a purpose. The ruling on dogs is when they live in your house, ie where you sleep, not occasionally ride on your mode of transport. I’m so sorry for your sister having to deal with such nonsense

I’m white, born Muslim, but white, or at least white looking

This has confused me somewhat! Are you referring to your skin tone or ethnicity? What would you consider your heritage to be? Is your DH of the same background?

Do many Muslims date non Muslims? Or is this quite rare ? I'm a teacher and I've never met a family with one Muslim parent and one non.

Thank you, it’s Leeds Uber drivers. I am relieved to know it’s not a widely held opinion.

Not true there's many programmes that take the piss out of Jesus life of Brian , south park etc.

I’m European Muslim my mix I feel is super outing, esp considering my other threads but my husband is Pakistani. I’m very fair lol

@SallyWD I'm not intolerant, at all.

I'm doing my best (as are my colleagues in my school and across the UK) to deliver a broad and balanced statutory National Curriculum, which includes singing, performing, dancing, swimming, religious education, relationships and sex education.
The daily Worship and prayer elements are fundamental to the Christian ethos of the school I work in. A minimum of 10% of our timetable is dedicated to RE.
We don't have the staff to facilitate different activities when all these things are happening. We don't have enough staff as it is!
As I said before, I am not religious, and therefore, for my child, I would only ever opt for a community school.
For the children in my school who are not Muslim, they are now likely to have opportunities and experiences reduced, because we can't get the uptake of numbers. Examples would include: a residential outdoor and adventurous activities holiday, a musical theatre trip, an end of year drama production, a leavers' disco, etc.

At each and every turn, we meet resistance from our Muslim families. We're constantly worried that we'll be accused of racism, when all we're trying to do is provide a great education and a wealth of experiences for our young people.

Anyway, l'm signing off now.

Incest ? vom that’s my opinion

nope not all are, it’s never been too much of a big thing in my family at least in my memory, tides are turning in dh family too more love marriages or meeting organically or someone spotting someone at a wedding and ask their father/ brother for permission to ask the woman etc

I went to a Church of England school myself and we watched life of Brian in RE, have to admit it’s not quite the same as those cartoons of prophet Muhammad.

Well there is a huge difference between a uniform being Adapted and the list of things you have just said.

Religious education is fine? But are you saying your school only teaches Christianity? Even then the children aren’t being told to worship Jesus rather this is what Christian’s believe. I see no problem in this but tbh I wouldn’t want my kids having such a narrow re curriculum

atheist kids in my school refused to sign hymnes. Hardly a big deal.

sports are sports and if in secondary there are usually different activities going on. Swimming is a life skill and there’s Islamic costumes and if in secondary there must be an alternative activity for girls on their periods.

are you so irked by parents who can’t afford to send their kids to a musical theatre trip? I fail to see how a Muslim parent who might abstain from a theatre trip causes a huge problem for the school. Seems like it just suits your agenda

Muslims shouldn’t dare anyone, period. You can get to know someone for the purposes of marriage but as it’s less than ideal to marry a non Muslim it ‘shouldn’t’ occur.

nb to say Muslim man can marry Christian and Jewish women

Loving this post and thanks for answering, it's been insightful!

I attend a class with a couple of Muslim women. If I want to bring in snack (we usually all share),
what should I look out for and avoid please? one of the ladies is more strict than others & wouldn't eat a pie because the flavouring didn't state what they were so want to make sure I get it right 😁

Do you like cats?

anything that’s veggie I’d say or without alcohol (so not tiramisu unless you made it and left out the booze and then yes please). You seem very considerate and kind! I’m easy to please though lol

Yes i guess so, don’t really like litter trays or when they pick your furniture but overall they are cool

This is an interesting thread OP but wouldn't it be nice to sit down and have a proper chat IRL over a cup of tea? I'd love to ask lots of things without fear of causing offence (and vice versa). I've had Muslim friends but I feel I've had to tip toe around certain issues which is a shame. At the end of the day we're all human.

It would but I think sometimes a lot of Muslims get tired of answering for other Muslims or constantly explaining why they do so and so and some questions are offensive (intentionally or unintentionally) I mean if someone came up to me in real life, say at work and said ‘hey you’re Muslim, what do you think about incest’ I’d be floored. This forum eliminates that, as I started it and I’m not offended in this way but I think I would be in real life

Good thread OP. This has been done a few times before and in each one I’ve read, the OP confuses Islam with cultural traditions, which meant those threads only reinforced misconceptions around Islam. Really liking your answers.

I’m visiting a Mosque here in the UK for the first time next week to have a look around on a day trip. What advice would you give about what to wear/how to conduct myself/what I can expect to see etc?

Thank you!

Thank you!

Just like you would at any other place of worship, don’t be surprised if they ask you to put on a head scarf, might want to bring your own (not sure I’d want to put on one someone else has worn) modest clothing, take your shoes off and put them in the shoe rack when you go in, make sure you remember where you put them though lol

I agree @Fifi0102.

I would say that there's way more piss-taking of the Christianity faith and especially Jesus. Way, way more.

It's been widely reported that mocking the Muslim faith is heavily frowned upon and likely to be considered as problematic. In contrast, mocking Christianity is almost trendy and even Christians join in sometimes. I don't know anyone who would openly tell a joke about Muslims but pretty much everyone would joke about Jesus without giving it a second thought.

But...

The only difference I would say is that racists/neo-Nazis/xenophobes will use "jokes" about Muslims to try and make their point.

I would say that there are far, far fewer jokes about Muslims, but a much higher % of those are nasty/malicious rather than genuine, well-intentioned humour. Jokes about Jesus are usually harmless jibes and not based in hate. Not the case with "jokes" about Muslims, in my experience.

As for Guru Nanak - I have rarely if ever seen any jokes about him. Sikhism doesn't seem to attract the same hate.

Saudi has come some way here, long way to go

as for the women of Afghanistan my heart breaks, the west has this on its hands for arming the taliban against the soviets