religion

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW FROM THE SHIA ISMAILIS THAT WHY ISNT IT REQUIRED FOR THEM TO PRAY FIVE TIMES A DAY LIKE OTHER MUSLIMS? WHY ISNT HAJJ COMPULSORY ON THEM? WHY DONT THEY FAST IN RAMADHAN? AND ABOVE ALL, WHY HAVE THEY MADE CHANGES IN SURAT-UL-FATIHA? AND WHY DO THEY PREFER TO DO A DEEDAR OF THEIR HAZIR IMAM RATHER THAN HAJJ? ANY ANSWERS FROM THE ISMAILI BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO SUPPORT THEIR BELIEF?

I´ve been through some financial difficulties this year. And it got me thinking.

Is prosperity truly bounty of Allah for just being good and praying or is it divine help to the one who truly struggles and tries to get out into the fresh air of the middle class?

Perhaps i have phrased my question wrong.

I know for sure that, just like it says in the Qurán, people that find themselves in difficulty of any kind turn to God in repentence. I am guilty of that myself.

But i wonder sometimes which part of my ´success´ is divine help and which part of it is my own effort.

Primitive man decided that God is the sun.

Then there were the pre Jesus era jews and Zarathustra and Amon Ra. One God, jealous, punishing, fearsome.

Christians humanized Him

Muslims were a mix of both and brought Him into daily life and politics.

21 century. We ran away into atheism - the new religion. Science is god. Trust only the senses.

The truth is, the more we know, the more complex our society is, the deeper we get into quantum physics, the more complex our idea of God.

It can never be simple, but it has to be a matter of personal choice.

Declare Shahada, pray 5 times a day, fast in Ramadan, wear hijab, avoid mixing with men, do not commit zinah, do not drink alcohol or eat pork, be kind and patient.

These are the things that i was taught and practiced for 5 years since my conversion (reversion as some say) at 18.

Pretty simple, everything was supposed to fall into place and life was supposed to be a waiting for death and the gathering of paradise credit through the above plus marriage and charity.

Here is TED award winner Karen Armstrong's speech about religion and compassion. It will hopefully be another step toward dispelling harmful stereotypes about religion in general and Islam in particular (although it does not simply let religious people off the hook for taking responsibility for their traditions...)

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

The following is a question a brother asked in an email, and my answer. It is about love on the Sufi path, and is reprinted here with his permission.

Question:

Salaam Irving:

Religious Extremism: The Battle for Pakistan's Soul?

While religious extremism is perhaps the scrouge of our generation, and granted that religious extremism has been a part and parcel of Pakistan over the last several decades, the Lal Masjid episode has revealed a nation on a collision course with itself.

What are we doing to help fight the Battle for Pakistan's Soul? What can we do? Are we as big a hypocrite as the West when we don't try to understand what this rage is all about?

Sitaram made a comment yesterday asking me what I thought of my time as a graduate student in religion. It's something I've been meaning to write about for over 10 years now, but never got around to. But here goes.

AltMuslim.com finally got around to publishing my article! Here's the link for those who are interested.