Islam - is there an "Idiots guide to..." book I can read?

[suejonezisdanielsmummy]

My sons birth mother was moslem and I'd like to be a bit better informed. Can anyone suggest an easy book for me to read please.

Hiya

Just a little bit of Inspiration - maybe you already know this, but the reward for a pregnant woman praying is 70 times more than when not pregnant owing to effort etc [grins]

Soz to hear you are feeling yukky - it will pass! I couldn't even stand the smell of DH in first weeks of preg....the poor man!!

I read 'Teach yourself Islam' when I married my DH. Part of the whole 'Teach Yourself' range. He is british, of Indian/Pakistani heritage. Its quite straight forward. I think I ended up knowing more about the faith than him! He doesn't really follow it any more but his parents are still very religious and I wanted to understand more. HTH.

Any idiots guide books which have all the arabic prayers written down? With a translation?
I am thick at that sort of thing and haven't managed to learn the prayers at all. My dd is 4 now and it's time she learnt them.

Sue, you are brilliant..I followed your story a bit (I'm about to 'pop' on the antenatal thread with your friend Fox ) The way you learnt russian impressed me loads! And now you are learning about Islam for your son...what a woman!

Wow Nikki76 sounds like an interesting story. You sound very happy about your decision.
Can I ask how your family took the news?
Also are your children following the religion?
I am worried how my family will deal with the situation if I was to become a muslim.

I have read a little and I like the way there is a lot of value put on mothers.
I would love to be able to teach my son when the time comes.

Also how did your friends take the news?

Sorry if I am being nosey I just don't have anyone to talk to about this.

Hiya

No, you aren't being nosey at all!

My family kind of expected it as they could see I was changing - not drinking, no pork and mentioning religion more, so they were really fine with it. My Gran was a little bit but I guess that is just the generation gap and now I just educate her and my family about Islam when I can.

My son is Muslim - he has a Muslim name and has been circumcised. We had an Eid party after his first Ramadan - he was too young to understand what was going on (he was only approx 6 mths old) but we felt that as we celebrate Christmas with the family, they could celebrate Eid with us (you have to make compromises as a revert), so we had a totally alcolol/pork free party and I made some Mid East food for people to try and gave them Eid cards with information about Eid/Ramadan inside the cards and where they could find out information about Islam. It went so well and I'm really happy that it gave people a good impression of Islam and everyone really enjoyed themselves!

As for my friends, they were all fine! In fact I've got one friend who is totally feminist and into Germaine Greer etc and she came with me to a talk by Yvonne Ridley (the jounalist captured by the Taliban who converted to Islam) and a good time was had by all! I think my friends respect that I've made a choice and I stick to it and now, when we go out and I'm having a weak 'I fancy wine moment' and I do get them, its my friends who help me and say no, you will regret it after etc. I don't wear a headscarf though so I guess that does make it easier for people to accept as I'm not looking drastically different, but I'm hoping the headscarf will be the next step...fingers crossed!

Any more questions, ask away!

I really admire you.
Our son was circumcised four weeks ago. We left it rather late but he is fine now.
I do not eat pork or drink so halfway there.

Does your husband follow the religion?

That sounds fair that you celebrate both religions.
Is your husband happy with that?

Where is your husband from?

I am so happy that I can talk to someone about this stuff.
It is difficult as I cannot talk to my friends.

Do you still go to pubs that kind of thing?

Hiya

DH is from Damascus, Syria. His family are sort of divided into the westernised un covered lot and the others that are pretty religious and cover up - I love them all though! Really super people. Hubby most definitely follows it - he gets miserable if he doesn't pray and he is better than me at a lot of things - espec keeping up with the prayers!! I gossip tooooooo much!!! Something that I am working on!!

When I go out with my friends, its mainly to bars or restaurants as we tend to meet up for food. I don't go to nightclubs anymore because I feel soooo uncomfortable there and don't have a good time. I tend to avoid bars on a fri/sat night though and just go out for lunch or in the evening during the week with friends. Technically you aren't supposed to go to a place that serves alcohol but over here that is pretty hard to avoid so I'm happy with the compromise of not drinking etc. Rather have a really good evening of chat/nice food.

We don't celebrate Xmas deep down, but we just go along with the gift exchange as it would cause so much upset if we didn't so we agreed that if my family want to give DS Xmas presents etc, they also have to give him Eid presents after Ramadan so that gives it the balance. I've found its a good compromise all around. Muslims do believe in Jesus as a prophet anyway so its not too bad. I'd rather do something like that and have my family with a nice view of Islam than say right that's it no Xmas etc and upset them.....

Why don't you feel you can talk to your friends about it? You can always chat to me -am really happy to help and very happy that you are already not drinking/eating pork...well done It takes discipline, espec when you know how good a bacon sarnie tastes!! lol You can CAT me for my e-mail address if you want?

That is a great compromise by doing both.
My family would be really upset if they couldn't give their grandson Xmas presents.

I don't go clubbing anymore either. I feel really uncomfortable. I prefer a nice meal with friends.

My husband doesn't really practice at the moment. He does Ramadan etc but he still drinks. I know in the future he wants to stop everything and be a good muslim.

I don't think that my friends would understand if I wanted to convert. They know it would be my decision but they would find it strange.

It is hard sometimes when you are out and eveyone is drinking. I stopped drinking about four years ago. I don't really miss it.

How do I cat you?
Would love your email address.

Nxx

I'm not registered with the CAT thing so prob easier to just give you my e-mail address [email protected]

E-mail me any questions you have - really happy to help