More of the same but very different AMA. Ask me about Islam

[therealcookiemonster]

Hi guys, I noticed there have been few recent AMAs about being Muslim which have fallen on their faces for different reasons and I thought I would try something different. instead of publicly posting questions, I am inviting anyone with questions about Islam to PM me. I am suggesting this to avoid anyone feeling awkward about appearing 'insensitive' and also the ego battles that often happen on these threads. I promise to answer all your questions and I will do so by PM, so it will be more like a real life conversation with a Muslim person you know. I am a bit busy during the day so please bear with me as I respond.

I also did a normal AMA some time ago (changed my name since then as cookie monster really suits me as a name)... here is the link. quite a few of the common questions are answered here. if you don't wish to engage via PM, you are welcome to post on my old thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/4818978-im-a-practising-muslim-ask-me-anything

for background, I am a late 30s practising British Bangladeshi Muslim female. although far from perfectly practising. I belong to the sunni sufi denomination broadly but explored other religions before coming to this. I am a medical professional during the day (and night sometimes) and am left leaning politically.

don't worry about offending me, ask away!

I saw the last AMA by a Muslim woman got deleted.

There was rampant racism, hatred and Islamophobia on that thread.

Sadly it didn’t even occur to me to report posts as the racism on MN is so ingrained now.

Does anyone know who reported the thread? Good on them.

People will just message you privately with racist and bigoted messages don't open yourself up to that,

@phishy no idea I am afraid. another reason I have changed the format of this AMA. I think if you are having a more personal conversation with an individual then perhaps you are more likely to think of them as a person. I hope, anyway...

@Mrsjayy probably some will... but happy to take the risk if it means I can help with real questions as I know a lot of people might have genuine questions.

I just think you will get abuse wrapped up as concern of course !

i honestly hope it goes as planned and
you have the report button.

Are you happy for questions to be also put on this "thread", or only by private message?

It's racist and Islamophobic to ask about the tenets of the faith to someone who asks you to?

If someone says ask me about my religion and you ask them about the rules and beliefs how's that racist?

lol. that's my favourite kind of abuse

@SeulementUneFois hiya. your name seems familiar, did you ask me a question in that thread that got taken down by any chance? would prefer them to be pm'd please... but happy either way. if you see the link to the old thread, that is better for a public post :-) is that OK with you? ultimately ask however you feel comfortable, I don't want to discourage anyone....

@WhatWhereWho I never looked too deeply into the other thread but don't want this thread to turn into an argument. if you have questions about Islam, feel free to pm me or post in my old thread. you can ask any question.

So it's OK for others to post on this so far, but my comment to someone else is a problem? Ok then.

We must have been reading a different thread @phishy I also read that AMA and found it full of excusing blatant homophobia, excusing child rape as it was the ‘done thing back in the day’, warning that anyone not following the Islam religion would face ‘retribution’ and saying women need to cover up as men sexualise them!

guys I am a different poster and i did not agree with a lot of the views of the poster who started the AMA that was deleted. this thread is not a discussion about the previous thread. this thread is an opportunity to ask about Islam. if you have strong feelings about the other thread, please kindly start your own thread please.

Why do we need all these threads? Baffling.

I managed to read a couple of pages before it was pulled, but actually, I thought OP was just answered questions respectfully regarding her faith, and was jumped on by posters who twisted everything she said.

I am sorry it was pulled. As an orthodox Jewish woman, I appreciate seeing people from different beliefs reaching out to share their lives, even though I know there will be points we will disagree on. It seems to me to be the first step to building mutually beneficial and respectful relationships between diverse communities.

Kudos to you @therealcookiemonster and the original OP for attempting to open conversation about your beliefs.

@LegendsBeyond if this is not an area of interest for you, there are plenty of other threads which you might find interesting? I haven't been using the imperius curse on anyone to force them to respond/read it. I posted this because I enjoy engaging with other human beings regarding my faith.🌹

@EllaDisenchanted thanks so much. I love the AMAs, I really enjoyed reading the orthodox Jewish one as despite having many Jewish friends, I didnt know much about the daily practice because they are all secular.

and I 100% agree that knowledge builds trust and tolerance and that goes both ways. Muslims also need to learn and not ghettoise themselves.

You have grossly misinterpreted what she said.

Funny how people like you never have an issue with Mary giving birth to Jesus when she was 12.

OP said she can’t change what happened in the past, it was a different time, with people dying in their 30s.

She said she couldn’t care less what other people do. How is that someone who thinks you will face retribution from her?!

She said she personally wants to cover up! That’s her right, stop imposing your sexuality on her.

I can’t believe the other thread got taken down. I was really looking forward to reading it. I found the OP to be knowledgeable, respectful and helpful.

No she didn’t. Stop making things up.

If you don’t like Islam or Muslims and think it’s hogwash then say that openly rather than lie about what the OP said.

Agree

If anyone wants to know about Islam they can look it up

@phishy @ButterfliesnWaterfalls while I appreciate your sentiment.... please could we not make this AMA a debate into another AMA 😊. no good will really come of it. feel free to PM me with any questions or head on over to https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/AMA/4818978-im-a-practising-muslim-ask-me-anything?page=1

if you want to post questions or read through discussion. 😊😊

My feeling is that any thread like this will start arguments