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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New poster here. Married into an Egyptian Muslim family and have lived in Cairo. Islam varies by region, by culture, by language, and by individual. Christianity does too, for the most part. My Episcopal relatives would have a really hard time agreeing on a lot of things with non-denominational evangelical Christian, for example. And that's just here in the States. Broaden in globally and it has extreme variations. My Haitian Catholic friend doesn't believe in confession. A surprise to me. Culture.

Same with Islam. Egyptians practice it differently among themselves and have integrated several Shiite and Pharonic practices that would make a Wahhabi's head spin. My Egyptian relatives are buried in tombs far below the ground in the City of the Dead. And they visit them. Much more like how ancient Egyptians buried their dead than the how the Prophet Mohamed described. Most of  the Egyptian men I know regularly consult a Sufi Sheik. My Malaysian Muslim friends celebrate the Prophet's birthday, which much of the Islamic world frowns on.  American Christians for the most part differ vastly from Coptic Christians in Egypt. I have Christian Egyptian female friends my age and older (mid 40s) who were circumcised. It's an ancient cultural practice that has been conflated with religion, mostly, IMO, because religion is present in every single moment and aspect of life in Egypt in a way I've never seen here. The lines blur as to what's cultural vs what's religious in origin.  I was surprised to learn the other day that my Christian Indian friend had an arranged marriage. I have Hindu friends whose marriages were arranged but didn't realize it extended to Christians as well. And she plans to do the same for her daughter who was born here. I have never heard of a Muslim woman in Egypt marrying a Christian man. But I have many Indian Muslim friends who have married Hindus. Totally forbidden by traditional Islam, but not unusual in India. Again, culture.

I don't know for sure although I've been guilty of it. But when people say "Islam requires..." It may mean they are referring to official schools of thought or madhabs. There are four traditional schools of thought in Sunni Islam. My family is mostly Maliki. And that's a minority in Egypt, for example. While they don't do everything that Madhab says, they'd be able to tell you what they "should" do. Eat halal meat for example. Which means it's killed a certain way and a prayer is said. But everyone I know just makes sure to say "Bismillah" before eating, and as long as it's not pork, they consider their food halal. Same for some adherents of other religions.  I had lunch today with some coworkers. My Jewish friend had a ham and cheese sandwich. That doesn't mean he can't explain kosher rules to me. It just means he chooses to do something different himself. Does that make him less Jewish? Maybe some Jewish people would think so. But I don't think non-Jews would judge him. Maybe I'm wrong. In any event, it would be helpful to view the posts by Muslims as stemming from their life experiences. And that you will hear different opinions based on the person's background, language, culture, etc. Because there really is no one Islam once you get past the very basics. Personally I think it's the same for most religions.[/quote]

Nice post and definitely reflects my experience.  I've lived in a couple of Arab countries and am married to an Arab Christian.  The vast majority of Arab are know are pretty live and let live with religion and yes amazing the amount of conflation between social custom and what people think religion requires; it can be so intertwined.  Unfortunately, one does see growing signs of a way less tolerant strand of religion emerging in the Arab world; I hope in the end they can beat it back.[/quote]

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