Islam - What do you think?

[ChaCha]

Hello everybody,

I've been posting on MN for years and have met some lovely people on here. I am a practising Muslim, have been for around 6 years and chose this way of life for myself after much soul searching.
I recently met up with some ladies from my PN group here and not an eyelid was batted about my headscarf or the obvious fact that I am a Muslim. We have been chatting online for a year and a half and it has never been an issue.
It shows me that we can live in a tolerant society and that our own beliefs do not need to be forced upon others. I have found the inner peace that I was looking for for so long and this has prompted meto ask the following:

1. What makes you happy/content in life? What/Who do you turn to when you've had a really bad day? Do you often think about death and how does it effect your day to day life?

2. What comes into mind when you see a woman wearing a headscarf and how do you view Islam?

My thoughts for the day. Thank you. Off to change nappy x

Oh Lordy.
Do I parp myself now??????

Hello Moondog. We've met before. Said something wrong have i?

Simple things make me happy, like knowing im cared about and thought of. Sounds silly

My best friend is always there for me when ive had a bad day.

I find I make safer choices now I have children as I want to be around for them. Always look twice crossing a road etc.

Doesnt really register when I see a person in a head scarf, people are just people.

Have no real view on Islam as know nothing about it. Dont really practice any religion.

LTOTT - Thank you for your reply. Doesn't sound silly at all. And nice to know that a person can be viewed as just that, a person

I've asked for my thread to be deleted now.

Thank you for those who took the time to reply. Now I remember why we stick to our PN groups, geeeh!

I think its a decent thing to ask actually, just as we who choose not to take a faith to live our life with/by, I question those who do and ask them why?
So its quite nice to see someone of faith asking how those without faith seek their answers andhow the spirituality exists.
I do notice headscarves, I always hope they are worn by choice and not because a woman is oppressed. I see many women in full burqa and I do wish sometimes I cold converse with women wearing them, as I feel very ignorant about Islam and I think particularly in this political climate, ignorance is a danger, I'd like to know more as well

i'm sorry you feel that way, cha.

i think there's room for all of us and yes, there are extremists in EVERY sector of society.

there are many Muslims in the area where i work, i just think, 'well, they are muslims'. doesn't really register w/me, but i also don't practice organised religion.

expat - is good to see you again.

Will post again after tea.

cool, cha, i look forward to 'seeing' you!

hello chacha

I'm NOT a Muslim, but have beensn tudying it as part of my world religion degree. So, can I answer 2 first?

What do I think of Islam? I think its a lovely religion , when practised as taught. I have read the (english language) Qur'an, and it was a truly beautiful piece of writing. I believe Islam is a good, kind community based religion in most ways. HOWEVER, like most Westerners I don't like aspects of Shari'a law, but accept agin that it has been changed by many people over the years and that many Muslims also do not believe it should be so strivtly adhered to (for example, the number of people who SHOULD witness 'one organ enter another' is often over looked. Ic an see why Shari's Law developed, but I am against any corporal or capital punishments.
My impression of people I havemet who wear the scarf (or indeed who choose not to) is that they are generally kind, gentle people.

I believe that people who involve themselves in terrorism are people looking for a cause to justify their actions, not the other way round- the Islam is incidental to them. It must be, or they could not act so.

What gives me peace? My family, I am always happiest with them. And silence to think. Who do I turn to? Always my DH, and he me, we have a very loving amrriage. I do have close friends andfamily, but Dh is my person of choice always. Do i think about death? Well- have spent today at a funeral of a close friend, one of the kindest men I ever met! I cannot pesonally believe in a single, Humanoid God BUT I do beleive in karma and the cyclical nature of life. Death doesn't scare me as such, only the effect it has on others.

Glad my post was taken as it was meant. I want to reply but my LO, not quite 7mths old is almost ready for bed so if i'm not crashed out straight after him I will post again. Until later then ...

peachyclair - we have also met before, and i'm sorry to hear of your loss.

1a)money
1b)drink
1c)after much of 1b

2)am not right bothered one way or the other

Chacha,hello.
I have discussed Islam long and hard on MN with my old friend Peacedove.

I am intersted in all religions and there are some excellent aspects to Islam which I admire tremendously. Fond myself nodding vigorously whilst reading interview in The Telegraph with the new head of the Muslim Council the other day. He seems an eminently sensible man.

I live in Eastern Turkey and have many Muslim friends (both in Turkey and UK)

Headscarves???

Don't like them.

In fact I hate them.

Don't have your thread deleted. It is terribly boring when all we do is agree and talk domewstic issues.

Speak to you again.

Why did you ask for your thread to be deleted? I don't see anything offensive that anyone has said, have I missed something?

I'm a Catholic myself, you might have noticed!

Ok, your questions:
My kids make me happy and content now. When I've had a really really bad day I turn to dh and God. I do think about death, it doesn't affect my day to day life but I do fear growing old. It's not so much death I fear but dying!

Nothing comes into my mind when I see a woman wearing a headscarf, I am used to seeing them. I know it means that person is a Muslim, but I don't think of anything beyond that. Islam - well I have issues with certain parts of it, like the Prophet Muhammed, his marriage to Aisha and so on, and the attitude towards Jews. But I don't know enough about Islam to argue the points tbh. I respect anyone's religion so long as it doesn't encourage violence or abuse. I think I would like to know more about Islam, out of interest really.

So what do you know about Catholicism?

chacha this has got to be the most uncontroversial thread about any religion mn has had for ages. dont have it deleted.

when i see a woman in a headscarf, i automatically have a lot of respect for her, as i think it shows she is choosing to follow her faith, and iswilling to be public about it.
however when some women wear their dupatta half heartedlyon their head , covering abotu three hairs, it just annoys me. dh's 14 year old neice came to dd birthday party, at a farm fgs wearing a shalwar kameez, sandalls, in february, and kept her scarf sort off on her head throughout. why? gggrrrrrrr...... that sort of cultural thing really gets on my nerves.

I think yesterday can be described as one of my 'hormonal' days Nobody missed anything, I had my extra-sensitive head on, the one that drives family members nuts and they cannot do right for doing wrong. Don't mind me!

I want to read through each post and reply, It's DS's breakfast time here so will post when grandad can take him out for a walk or play with him.

Unfortuneatly like many others here, I don't really know much about Islam. Ignorance about Islam is what has led the country to be the way it is towards anyone who practices the religion. It angers me when I constantly see, hear and read 'Islamic terriorists' as if the two things go together. It means people are prejudiced about something they know nothing about.

I am jewish and I believe in my religion, but I am 'almost' emmbarrased to be religious these days since saying you are religious is almost suggesting you are fanatical.

I know little about our religion, but what I have heard is great. In some ways it is similar in that since I am jewish people always expect certain things from me, as all anyone knows about are the extremes (the hassidic jews with long coats and hats etc, I have lost count how many people think my dad wears that!)

I wish I knew more, since I really believe ALL major religions have a similarity and laws which are the same and to be honest a set of beliefs and ways of living that are more similar, rather than separate.

When I'm very down or during hard times I turn to music or nature to help me through. I have certain pieces of music I can put on which transport me. Otherwise I get out into the woods or swim in the sea if its the right time of year. These things all take the edge of desperate times and allow me to find a way through and remind me of my connection to the universe.

I don't know any Muslims, personally, despite having lived in South London for 16 years.

I have no real views about headscarves, BUT I will admit to a gut feeling of unease when I used to see groups of women in full purdah (with just slits for their eyes) walking through Brockwell Park.

My children were actually scared and when they asked me who 'the scarey people' were I didn't quite know how to explain to them what the whole get up is about because it really is at odds with my cutural understanding.

If I have offended, please feel free to put me right. I'm just trying to be honest about my feelings.

1. My family, my children, my friends, my work, my home; Dh/friends; Yes I do think about death but not all of the time. A friend recently had a cancer diagnosis (but a good prognosis thankfully) and my parents are 81 and 77, so I think maybe more about mortality than death per se. I am a practising Christian but not a great formal pray-er.
2. I notice that she is wearing one, associate that with being an observant Moslem, that's it really. With regard to Islam, I feel underinformed, but tend to Peachy's perspective that there is much to respect and admire in the Qu'ran, and am comfortable with and welcoming of moderate Islam in the context of a Western democracy. I am deeply concerned about fundamentalism of all creeds (ie not just Islam) and specifically about Sharia law. I like to assume that most Moslems living in Britain are moderate in outlook and the goings-on at Finsbury Park and some other mosques do not represent British Moslems at all. I was against the invasion of Iraq.

I'm Muslim, so the answer to one would be well god, what makes me happy and content...whgen my dd's are both napping and the house is tidy and quiet for a couple of hours..

As for number two, I've had a lot of comical experiences whilst wearing the headscarf, I wear the entire abaya and shayla. I have been asked why I wear so much during summer (I actually prefer to being covered up during the summer months to be honest I cannot tolerate direct sunlight on my skin) and I have different abay'as and hijaab for different seasons, nobody forced me to wear the hijaab, my husband pleaded with me not to as it happens, although he knew I wore it when we married.
When I see a Muslimah in hijaab I know she's a muslim and offer her the Islamic salutation this has never failed to bring a smile to the receivers face.
Also when I see a woman in hijaab I assume she's wearing the hijaab of her own desire, people can't force you to wear what they want when you are not in their sight....and it's also my experience, all my friends who wear hijaabs have done so because they have arrived at point in their lives where they feel this is what they will do inspite of their families.