I'm a Muslim. Ask me anything!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think the era of the McMansion is over?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Were you brought up Muslim? Are you originally from the US?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: Yes and no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you married? Did you date?

Yes and yes. I had 3 serious relationships before I got married.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you married? Did you date?

Yes and yes. I had 3 serious relationships before I got married.

This is Not OP but Another Muslim poster!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been wondering this ever since I moved to arlington.

What the heck is going on, noonish, Fridays on Leesburg Pike between 7 corners and Baily's crossroads.

EVERY SINGLE TAxi cab in the dc metro area is parked over there, there are cops, and burkas and men in pajama-looking cloths. and lots of normal looking people too but those are clues to me that this is indeed a question for a Muslim.

Namaste.

Yes there is a mosque there. And way to go with the stereotyping!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Islam impose a higher moral standard for how you treat other Muslims than for how you treat non-Muslims?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: nope- a person is a person.

A Muslim man once told me if want fine for him to sleep with non-Muslim women outside of marriage but that he would be defiling a Muslim woman if he did that with her before marriage. I found that insulting. What was he talking about?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: Sounds like cultural ignorance/ male fantasy... Pre-marital sex or adultery by a man or a woman are considered a major sin in Islam regardless of the religion of the person.

[Anonymous]

Why do Muslims give out candy in the hospital after a baby is born? What does it mean if you took care of them all day and they don't offer you any? Who is the candy really for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Islam impose a higher moral standard for how you treat other Muslims than for how you treat non-Muslims?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: nope- a person is a person.

My grad school friend's roommate wouldn't shake my hand because as a non-believer I was unclean. I thought there were special tax rules and protected statuses for People of the Book vs. atheists and polytheists, too?

Was the Muslim a man or a woman? What are you? Muslims aren't supposed to shake hands of the opposite sex, but it has nothing to do with being unclean.

Muslims pay zakat.
Christians and Jews living in an Islamic state paid jizyah. Muslim rulers in India extended the tax on Hindus and Sikhs. I don't know if it exists anywhere today.

I don't think all of this is cultural. I've read the Koran cover to cover and it's OK to kill apostates/atheists and polytheists. The treatment of Jews and Christians varies a lot, in fact the Koran talks about the slaughter of one town of Jews in approving tones. I'll admit older parts of the Bible give me pause, too. How do you feel about these parts of the Koran?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: yes and no- technically if you can attend all prayers in a mosque for men that's a good thing. Friday prayers at a mosque are obligatory for men (unless there's a valid reason for missing them) for women they are not obligatory at a mosque. They are no different than prayers said on any other day aside from the imam giving a sermon. So in a sermon they are similar to the Sunday Services but otherwise they are not in that this is not the only obligation for prayers that Muslim has to meet.

One more question and honestly, I can't believe I"m asking this. Is the sermon in NOVA (the Mosque between Bailey's and 7 corners) said in English?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Islam impose a higher moral standard for how you treat other Muslims than for how you treat non-Muslims?

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: nope- a person is a person.

My grad school friend's roommate wouldn't shake my hand because as a non-believer I was unclean. I thought there were special tax rules and protected statuses for People of the Book vs. atheists and polytheists, too?

np here. This depends on culture and thought, but many of those who do not extend their hand to a woman would not extend it to Muslim women either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why (according to All-American Muslim) are IVF and other reproductive technology discouraged?

Are you expected to have a lot of kids? How many is customary?

Np here. This varies with culture as well. I come from an arab Muslim country where ivf is quite common. It was introduced in early 80s and after initial resistance has been mainstream. The first baby was born in 1987 (in country ivf) and sometime in mid 2000 there was a news story on it with the picture of 'ivf' born children. There was a lot of pride in the national ivf achievements Also there is less conflict between science and religion, since there is thinking that if the technology is invented it must be with gods will.... The first time I heard of an issue with Darwin was when I came to the US a few years ago. It was always presented as a solid fact in textbooks. But this is experience from one Muslim country, so in other cultures things may vary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do Muslims give out candy in the hospital after a baby is born? What does it mean if you took care of them all day and they don't offer you any? Who is the candy really for?

NP here. This is cultural as well. Offering candy is way of sharing happiness. Not sure why you didn't get any, may be just oversight on their part?

[Anonymous]

How do you feel about your testimony being worth 1/2 that of a man's? I don't believe this is cultural.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about the Muslim husband's ability to divorce his wife by saying "I divorce thee" three times. He also gets the kids.

Also, a woman's word is worth 1/2 a man's in court, and she inherits 1/2 as much as her brothers. This is definitely an improvement over pre-Islamic Arabia, however.

These are in the Koran, I believe, and not cultural.

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: A man is supposed to take time between saying I divorce three times in order to get a divorce not all at once as many people mistakenly practice and/or suggest it. A woman can initiate divorce proceedings also. A man gets the kids at the age of 7 for boys and at the age of puberty for girls. For boys the man gets them because sons need their fathers to help shape them into being men (not saying women can't do it but just presenting a general idea that typically in the teenage years fathers tend to have a better understanding and control over boys) They get custody of the girls so as to prevent the girls from living in a situation where there can be inappropriate physical contact between the girls and other men either because of molestation or because of attraction (like between step-siblings). Men also technically get custody because it is their obligation to financially provide for the children however this does not mean that a mother is denied custody. There can be joint custody and many other situations that are mutually worked out. I am a product of divorce and lived with my mother until I went to college.

A woman's word is worth 1/2 because the nature of a woman is thought to be compassionate and reasonable then men and so their heart can be more easily appealed to and that is why it takes two women to 1 man so that they can be more rational. In modern and more progressive instances, these days even the word of 1 woman is accepted. Women inherit half as her brothers because no one other than she has a right to her inheritance... not her kids or her husband whereas a man's inheritance his children and wife have a right to share in it. The same goes for income.


DOesn't mean that things are practiced this way or that these hold true for all instances but these are the reasons behind these rulings.

Not OP but Another Muslim poster: Also just wanted to add that all these rules regarding testimony and divorce etc are all applicable only in places where true sharia law is practiced. And by that I don't mean the Sharia law that is espoused by political candidates to invoke fear- it means the Islamic way of life as the Prophet achieved with the Muslims in his time. There is no country in the world that currently truly practices Sharia law. Therefore in modern times many of these things seem alien but in a truly Islamic society they would not be. For instance the law of cutting of the hand for a their can't be applied when the ruling government (secular or otherwise) is starving their people and not taking care of them because it's not an Islamic society.
One of the requirements on a Muslim living in a non-muslim or any country is to abide by the laws of the country. So Muslims in America have to, by Islamic rules and law, follow the rules of America unless there is a law that directly contradicts with an Islamic ruling (which I can't think of) in which case the Sheikh's or the Mufti's would rule on how to handle that situation.

np here. I disagree slightly, you find remnants of these laws in some countries, that base the legal system on Islam, not sharia per se. So, yes, there are issues with inheritance and the woman receiving less. Often, families side step this by transferring ownership during life. There is no "will" either, so it's not possible to change the proportion through a will. These and other issues are what women and women organizations are trying to address where I come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
One of the requirements on a Muslim living in a non-muslim or any country is to abide by the laws of the country. So Muslims in America have to, by Islamic rules and law, follow the rules of America unless there is a law that directly contradicts with an Islamic ruling (which I can't think of) in which case the Sheikh's or the Mufti's would rule on how to handle that situation.

I thought there was no separation of church and state, as it were. Yet it's the obligation of a muslim to live according to sharia, which seems like a contradiction. I can think of several ways in which Islamic rules contradict US laws, for example in the punishments, testimony and divorce. How do you reconcile this?