Seasonal Muslims? Who are you kinding?

[Bosco 1]

Kelly,

This isn't only the case with the Islam-related topics. It is how many people here react to just about any post. You see various reactions to just about any topic. People have flipped in this forum about someone posting about drug use or alleged marriage fraud, someone posting sadness about their wait and another intrepreting that as jealousy or a lack of support - there is quite often reactions at all ends of the spectrum to even the most benign of subjects.

I think we should all keep in mind that immigration can be stressful. Not only that, but we all have various personal matters going on that others may or may not know about. Add in language differences, the various ways people have expressing themselves, and the written versus verbal nature of these boards and it is easy to be misunderstood. I think the decorum of this board is best kept by posting and replying with respect, and cutting each other a break if something doesn't sound quite the way we want to hear it. I don't think we have any "bad" women in this forum and if someone posts something that rubs me wrong, I try (not always successfully) to keep in mind that it may just be how I am reading it.

Rebecca

ok, i understand that bosco but why when someone disgrees with the topic posted, they get hammered for it?

also....islam is a contraversial subject.....its apparent as it has stirred up sooo much drama here....i dont know about all of yuo, but if people were bashing my religion, i would take my opinions and such elsewhere where people believed in the same things as me

[iceyspots 0]

[jordanianprincess 0]

Warning:

THIS IS NOT DIRECTED TO ANY ONE PERSON(S),

BUT TO ALL MUSLIMS and ALL ANY GOD FEARING PEOPLES

Subahan'Allah!!! In light of Ramadan being just around the corner... and all the strange and ill posts and replies I have read since finding VJ...( I donnot even know what what most are talking about...nor do I care...)

I thought I would share this film made by A href="ummahfilms.blogspot.com/2006/07/videoblog-7-seasonal-muslims.html">UmmahFilms. Inchallah it will remind us all , especially the Muslims here that Allah (swt) sees and knows all we do. There are no seasonal or part-time Muslims(submitter; believers)...And it is quite a shame that many people only call themselves Muslim cos they married Mr. So-and-so or they enjoy the perks of being Muslim when it is convient. Of course, in films and the media Islam is totally disorted but when I hear everyday people, esp who call themselves Muslims ... I wonder who hijacked my deen and why? I mean, I understand not all people really believe in Allah (swt) and are not care at all about Akhiraah. And as we commited ourselves to Islam, the submittance,worship and praise of Allah(swt) ... and also as this a forum about family immigration ...We should be more supportive of others and remember what our mothers told me when we were young "If you do not have something nice to say do not say it anything"

Anyway that is my opinion and I hope you all enjoy the film.

Peace and Blessings

I am one who grows weary of assumptions... the concept of "seasonal muslim" rubbed me wrong but I'm not going to complain about it. Everyone has an opinion. I have found it insinuated many times that because I was not "born" muslim I couldn't be considered a "real" muslim. To who? Another human? So what? It's between me and Allah. That's what matters (to me).

.

Esalaamu Aleikum wa Rahmat Allah wa Baraketu...

I am not sure if you watched the film, but Seasonal Muslim is the title... it is comical dawah film. And that is why was the post was titled that.

And also I clearly made disclaimers for a reason, as people seem to turn a well intended thing into something totally its opposite.

And also I was born a Muslim either... and I donnot go around preaching Islam either. I am proud and thankful to be a Muslim. And more then happy and willing to share my deen with people who are interested. And if we were to cross out Muslim and Islam...and put Christian or Buddist...the message would still be the same... LOVE THOU NEIGHBOUR and BE NICE.

Personally, I am thankful for finding this forum for 3 reasons- 1 immigration info and 2 meeting three friends here and 3 the lovely posts Rahma and Rebecca post. Other then it seems the forum is full of whining and backbiting, which I donnot care to be apart of.

I am not even worried ya know...cos I know Allah(swt) knows me better then anyone and knows my intentions and soon I will be getting married... And nothing is going to get me down and let me forgot those 2 things.

Peace be upon you all and May Allah protect us from the whispers of the Shaytan.

I can definitly understands ones desires to share with others things they believe in. Many of share common threads with each other. As we all know, even if you put a disclaimer on a thread warning of the content, it's not going to discourage people from going in there, in fact, its only going to encourage repsonses we don't want to get. Which will lead to fighting and members leaving, etc. I mean I think by this point, we can all safely say that we have gotten pretty personal on this thread. Even without the relgious talk, this forum is not really about immigration as much as it is about our own personal experiances.

I don't have issues with Islam or any other religion for that matter. I think some of Heina's remarks were pretty harsh and there are some members that will not take them lightly. I don't think they were directed at one particular person, but in a follow up post she wrote "Personally, I am thankful for finding this forum for 3 reasons- 1 immigration info and 2 meeting three friends here and 3 the lovely posts Rahma and Rebecca post. Other then it seems the forum is full of whining and backbiting, which I donnot care to be apart of." I can't get over this statement. How can you make that statement and, in the same thread, say: and also as this a forum about family immigration ...We should be more supportive of others and remember what our mothers told me when we were young "If you do not have something nice to say do not say it anything"

With all that said, I think there has been alot of fighting in here lately among members of this forum and on top of that, we are being attacked from members everywhere! I think we need to find somekind of middle ground. I mean if we were all sitting in one room together, I think we would be discussing things we could all take part in or be able to contribute too. I mean if you want to start a topic about Islam, thats cool, but please remember that everyone can voice their opinions in it and if you disagree there is no need to make mean remarks towards the rest of the group. I'm not whiney.

Edited July 30, 2006 by jordanianprincess

[sarah and hicham 3]

Telling us not to be judgemental and to love eveyone followed by:

judging women who are Muslim because their husbands are, followed by:

Openly saying she only likes 3 people in this forum...

doesn't make sense to me!

[rclouse 0]

I agree with Salwa. Religion should be a personal thing. You shouldn't wear your religion on a sleeve, or ever judge someone according to your religious beliefs. If you find yourself saying "S/he's not a good muslim, look at what s/he's doing!", that's what I'm talking about. Cause then you can start judging people who aren't muslim, and then we end up with all sorts of problems.

Religion is a personal matter. Judge someone by their actions, not by any religious standards. Thank you, shukran, merci!

[Together4ever 1]

Okay, I'm just going to say it...

Welcome to life. Some people are religious. Some people are not. Some people are more politically oriented. Others are not. This forum is not any different then the "real world". Expecting people to bend to your level of comfort just isn't practical (no matter which side of the fence you're standing on, or even sitting atop it.)

This forum is dedicated to the ME/NA. These countries are Islamic nations, and religion plays a huge open role in day to day life, much more then it does here in America. Therefore people are going to talk about it.

I think respect and care is being taken above and beyond the "call of duty" to separate out openly Islamic threads so that those who are uncomfortable with it or not interested can simply go about life without so much as a ruffle. If you tread into those threads, the responsibility lies in your own hands. Yep, people are going to come slinging stones and arrows and those posting are well aware. Just goes to show the present mentality level in this world today. Intolerance is everywhere.

Now, I'm about to say something that will most likely get me flamed and shunned but I have shut up about it until I'm about to pop. For those who are not with your SO yet... there is a good possibility that you will be faced with Islam on a daily basis if he is Muslim. Mohammed is not a "rah rah" muslim, but it is still a deep part of him and it is in our daily lives. I'm not saying everyone here has an SO who is a "rah rah" muslim, but don't kid yourself that you can erase this in him. It's going to be part of your life together whether its a very small part or what you build your life together on.

This is a good place to gain knowledge and to practice tolerance. It's a good way to gain a deeper insight into what makes your SO tick. Again I'll reiterate... you can say "he's not a devout muslim" but it's still going to be a part of him because of the society he is coming from.

Again I'll say I think many are going out of their way to be considerate. This forum is certainly biased towards Islam BECAUSE THESE ARE ISLAMIC NATIONS our SOs are from. No one is trying to draw lines here. It's just a fact of life.

Peace, love and tolerance... god willing.

[Bosco 1]

If this is how you feel, you could apply this to your own replies on the Islam-related posts

We are all different and people won't handle things how you think you would handle them. There are plenty of choices people make here I disagree with. I don't necessarily feel the need to announce "if I were doing what you were doing, I would stop".

I am not bringing this up to be contentious - only to say you could apply this to your replies as well as the initial posts and it would get the same result of ending a lot of headaches.

Rebecca

I know! I am like Kelly- if it caused so many people to get riled up and to say hateful things then I would be the first to stop talking about that subject. It seems like that would end a lot of headaches.

Edited July 30, 2006 by Bosco

[Veiled Princess 1]

WOW!

That's really all I can say at this moment. Just WOW!

[UmmSqueakster 54]

I've been enjoying these video blogs popping up. The presenter is getting better as he goes along. The first few were kinda hard to watch, with the timing being very bad.

I'll make my comments on the ensuing discussion on Jeans thread, when I get my head together.

[limah 1]

Just waiting..... I just have 2 questions............

Is that a real heart cloud and did you take the picture?

[~Jackie~ 30]

I, for one, am NOT taking my opinions elsewhere. My opinions have been here for almost 3 years, I have tough skin and staying here.

Jackie

[morocco4ever 63]

play nice children, play nice.

As far as seasonal Muslims, well it isn't just the converts stemmed from marriage. I have seen a huge amount of Muslims from birth that smoke, drink, cheat, have sexual relations out of marriage, drugs...the list goes on, but they choose not to eat pork because they are muslim, then claim to be part of the one and only true religion and everyone else will go to hell. Of course this is true of all religions, so I would never post this and claim it is only in Islam. We just need to remember that there are people who believe and live their religion and those who don't. Nothing I can do about it, nor will I try. Hopefully I can just be who I am, and hopefully what I try portray will rub off on others. We are not all perfect here, but most have kind hearts.

I do believe we all have a right to post our opinions here, just keep it respectful towards each other, is it that hard?

[Together4ever 1]

Just waiting..... I just have 2 questions............

Is that a real heart cloud and did you take the picture?

Yep, it's a real heart cloud... just the way nature made it. I didn't take it, but found it on www.cloudappreciationsociety.org. The cloud picture in my avatar I did take. It's a hobby. I have a thing for clouds.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Frankly, I find very little Islam being discussed here. What is discussed here is an amalgum of personal opinion buttressed by the belief that the majority of converts here seem to hold that anything can be Islam, it's all a matter of your own point of view and personal relationship with God, all of which must be respected as a tenet of politically correct politeness. While that is true, it is only to an extent, and much less of an extent than some here would have others believe. There are divine laws that overrule personal opinion, although that seems to hold no one back when they want personal opinion to be the measure of faith. I find that to be quite odd, but then, I'm not a convert, so I'm not sure what they are being taught these days, but I wouldn't call it Islam as most Muslims know it.

That's my personal opinion, so you have to respect it lol!

This is simply my observation as a born Muslim of many years, and none of this is meant to be insulting, although I'm sure there are some who will take it that way. I don't see the posts thru the eyes of a new convert, and those who are new converts probably can't see my posts thru the eyes of a born Muslim, so there are going to be gaps in understanding each other, no doubt. However, its is my warning to the non-Muslims in this forum to:

1. Not take their Islamic training from this place.

2. Please excuse the fervor of those with "convertitis", the need to constantly talk about your faith even if you know very little. There is often little tolerance for others when one is sure that they have found the only true path.

3. None of us is perfect and can emulate what we believe to be the ideal all the time.

I don't post here much on the Islam threads anymore because of the above and because there is a predominant group-think that is off-putting, so you don't have to be non-Muslim to be turned off by much of what goes on here.

Edited July 30, 2006 by szsz

[Sofiyya 1,687]

One more thing, the history of Islam, despite what right wing talk show hosts will tell you, is one of accomodation and acceptance of members of our sister faiths, Christianity and Judaism, and a belief toward others who are friendly towards us that there is no compulsion in religion. We have some very sweet Muslims and non-Muslims here, and in that tradition, if you are really trying to follow the True Path, this should be the one forum where all can state their case, discuss their faiths, and get along just fine.

That is Allah's intent, and our goal. Keep it in mind as you post and, insha'allah, we wil see each other in a more gentle and kinder light.

Edited July 30, 2006 by szsz