Spot the Difference

One of my favourite blogs on kuwait is http://intlxpatr.wordpress.com/

There is so much here about life in Kuwait in general, and every now and then there are issues raised to do with religion in Kuwait.

One of the latest entries titled "Minarets", shows photographs of minarets in Kuwait and asks if you can identify them as belonging to a mosque used by Sunni or Shi'a.

It is possible - click on the link above to find out how you can recognise the difference.

Enjoy

A popular guiding principle for Christians is WWJD or What Would Jesus Do? It was interesting to see an Islamic equivalent presented as What Would Prophet Muhammad Do? See Article below.


What Would Muhammad Do?
From Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR

Muslim Response to Cartoon Controversy

"You do not do evil to those who do evil to you, but you deal with them with forgiveness and kindness." (Sahih Al-Bukhari)

That description of Islam's Prophet Muhammad is a summary of how he reacted to personal attacks and abuse.

Islamic traditions include a number of instances of the prophet having the opportunity to strike back at those who attacked him, but refraining from doing so.

These traditions are particularly important as we witness outrage in the Islamic world over cartoons, initially published in a Danish newspaper, that were viewed as intentional attacks on the prophet.

Peaceful and not-so-peaceful protests have occurred from Gaza to Indonesia. Boycotts have targeted companies based in Denmark and in other nations that reprinted the offensive caricatures.

As Muslims, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "What would the Prophet Muhammad do?"

Muslims are taught the tradition of the woman who would regularly throw trash on the prophet as he walked down a particular path. The prophet never responded in kind to the woman's abuse. Instead, when she one day failed to attack him, he went to her home to inquire about her condition.

In another tradition, the prophet was offered the opportunity to have God punish the people of a town near Mecca who refused the message of Islam and attacked him with stones. Again, the prophet did not choose to respond in kind to the abuse.

When he returned to Mecca after years of exile and personal attacks, he did not take revenge on the people of the city, but instead offered a general amnesty.

The Quran also says: "Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance." (16:125)

Another verse tells the prophet to "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)

These are the examples that Muslims should follow as they express justifiable concern at the publication of the cartoons.

Conversions

The high profile event of the Pope baptising a Muslim convert to Catholicism has drawn some strong reactions.

The local Italian Muslim leadership voiced their protests and asked why not just have a low profile local parish baptism. They feel that such a media saturated event is a deliberate provocation.

The convert himself, an outspoken critic of Islam argues that while one can convert from Christianity to Islam without fear of negative consequences from the Christian community the same does not seem to be true for those who convert from Islam to Christianity. He felt that the Catholic church should be moAll the schools of Islamic law treat apostasy (ie; leaving Islam) as a serious crime which requires the death penalty to be applied.

As an outsider to Islam I find the apostasy law rather extreme. Is there someone out there who can explain to me why this is so important? I am just trying to understand, that's all.

Blessings

Are we talking about the same God?

Are we talking about the same God? For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.

Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.

Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.

If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.

What do you think?

Are we talking about the same God?

For Muslims and Christians to begin talking with one another about religion, there is a requirement that we share some common assumptions. The first most basic assumption is that we agree that we are talking about the same God. This is not as basic as it seems, for there are those Christians and Muslims who will vehemently assert that the Muslim and Christian God are completely different entities.

Colin Chapman presents a helpful analogy.

Suppose there is a country somwhere in the world where the sun is never clearly visible. People are aware of the sun, because they can see the shape of the sun behind the clouds, and know that the sun is the source of heat. But they can never see the sun in a cloudless sky. Contrast this with people who live in the Mediterranean. They see the sun very clearly, and feel its heat. Is it the same sun for both people in both places? It must of course be the same sun, although each group of people have very different images and experience of it.

If we cannot accept this analogy, we have to think in terms of two completely different astronomical bodies, such as the sun and the moon and assume that Muslims and Christians are talking about two completely diffferent beings. That assumption is likely to make communication between Christians and Muslims extremely difficult, if not impossible.

What do you think?

It's good to talk

I find it hard to find groups of people in Kuwait who are willing to engage in inter faith discussion. Admittedly I think there is a real fear that it will all boil down to having an argument or having our own beliefs minimalised by the other.

But if the real intention is to make genuine friendships (which takes time for sure) then we should not be threatened by exploring our similarities and differences. The more we understand about each other the better we can relate.

As Kuwait has the highest number of bloggers in the world per capita, a blog seems the best place. The Kuwait blogging community is diverse and fascinating and there is plenty going on.

It's good to talk

revq8

Abraham had many sons

EID AL-ADHA commemorates the sacrifice that was required of Abraham . In both the Biblical and the Quranic scriptures Abraham is an esteemed man of the Almighty God who displayed his obedience to God by being willing to ritually slaughter his own son. At the last moment, God intervenes and offers a ram as a substitute for Abraham’s son. The Bible says the son was Isaac and the Muslims say it was Ismael . The point of the story, however, is two-fold. One is that God calls us to obey, Abraham certainly took that obedience to its extreme. Secondly, that we thank God for his provision. Since the beginning of Islam, a ram or a sheep has been ritually sacrificed in remembrance of that event in the life of Abraham.

Abraham is often touted as a unifying motif when it comes to interfaith relations. All three of the world’s monotheistic faiths honour Abraham as a faithful servant of God. Both Arabs and Jews trace their ancestry back to him, and the story of his family is regularly told in synagogues, churches and mosques. His faith in God was unswerving. But more than anything else the story of Abraham focuses on the character of God. God is shown to be true and faithful to his promises to Abraham.

One of the promises that God made to Abraham was to produce many descendants. This seemed unattainable because Abraham was elderly and his wife was past her child bearing years. Yet, many centuries later we do indeed see the physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham numbering more than the grains of sand. As I greet my Muslim friends with Eid Mubarak, I am reminded of our common ancestry and the startling thought that we are related. How on earth do we reconcile centuries of division? I suspect the solution could be found in a sacrificial lamb.