fasting itself is in the quran so therefore required, rather than just the action of not eating, its important to understand why, like some of the intangibles in will and discipline and sacrifice that come with such an act like fasting and not to mention appreciation of any food. Also, the 5 pillars, respectively is not in the quran, ofcoure it is widely accepted, but its not in the quran itself, so you will see different muslims depending on their own interpretation not find it necessary. Remember, Islam is multi faceted, and the 5 pillars itself is from the hadiths, the word of the prophets. There are quite a few hadiths and many have been written off by sunnis or shias as fabricated to support an agenda since essentially they are all secondary sources to the word of the prophet himself. This is of course a different conversation, not saying that one or the other is right, that they all are right and the rights of the believers of them, but just wanted to shed some light to this side of things. Its just like with the bible, you have people who read and interpret it and get different parts from it, unfortunately with the beast of the media you get one side and one facet which would be like the KKK being the face of christianity....the difference along with cultural differences, political social agendas, etc. all needs to be taken into play. Right now the popular word is that these muslims and extremists are all against america, back in 1989, they were in bed with the Americans as Americans were the ones financing them and even Regan said they had the character of the founding fathers. There was no talk about Islam being against the west then. Its interesting the political differences and agenda have twisted that all around and now when I see a mosque being built in America(which muslims also died in 9/11, its not muslims vs america, its the alquaeda extremists vs everyone really, including muslims), but its not portrayed as such and to see it spun off, and to see the stereotypes essentially dehumanize people to where Muslims, 1 billion muslims don't become individuals they become certain stereotypes, and in the other side to some of these extremists, americans don't become individuals, they are dehumanized to certain stereotypes. It is ashame to see the affect of the cultural and religious illiteracy. Can Muslims marry 4 wives? Some cite a quote in the quran? yet they don't read the whole sura and look at the context? That was during a time of a big war and there were many orphans and widows left over, and it says its a duty to take the orphans in and care for them, so only if you need help to take care of the orphans in raising them, then you can marry more and only if you can treat the wives justly and fairly, so if they don't find it fine, than it is not ok. Yet the book is not the problem, its the people who nitpick to justify their own agenda. Are women required to wear the hijab, that is also in argument, it says to cover their buzzoms, essentially just their privates, that also changes with interpretation, but people have to accept that Islam is not the arab world, and the arab world is not Islam, and to understand the cultural difference and the religious differences, infact the country with most Muslims is Indonesia, far from the arab world. Sorry about the rant, I just had some interesting conversations with some people telling me about Islam and I have my interpretations of it, but I have read and done research to know that there is no 'right' islam, there is just what's right for me, and its supposed to be a relationship between islam, yet its now about exclusivism and obsession about defining what it is and what it isnt rather than the relationship between you and god, so I just wanted to rant a little bit and maybe get some thoughts, also sorry for the organization(or lack thereof) and maybe grammar issues on this,
I like how you end this with a comma. I'm hoping for a sequel! (Seriously, though, even though this is in the wrong forum, I like that you think about things and ask yourself questions rather than blindly following a seemingly literal interpretation by some zealots.)
There is a constant push and pull between an individual's own spiritual relationship vs the traditions and expectations of a spiritual community. The latter becomes stronger when we're at our worst periods, and some people accept the community without question. Both, individual spirituality and community bonds, are necessary for a spiritual balance, but as we get older and more aware of our fates, our past individuality becomes more of an extreme and naked uncertainty. You have less options. You have to rely on others to complete your work for you. It's that fear of losing everything you have established and collected that pushes the obsession of defining rules and what things should be. Some would attempt to living on after death by imposing their way of life upon future generations. We have a lot of insecurity and uncertainty, but I'd say that 90% of religion is about insecurity. It's easier to ask for God's help when you want something than to remember God when you have what you want in your hands. I don't think I'm a fasting type, but I hope yours is rewarding.
some believe there is a 7th pillar, so on, fact is there isn't anything Islam says, there isn't Anything Christianity says, those answers will change depending on who you ask, its people, interpretations, etc. Its just a fact, they all get something different from it, and rather than the obsession to simplify and organize, perhaps we should start focusing on the right questions to understand each other better to get over what the aga khan called the 'clash of ignorances' rather than a clash of religions once again, yea sorry about the grammar mistake, I was just writing away and it is a message board, and as long as its comprehensible, I wasn't going to submit this anywhere else, but I guess people who want to focus on that, feel free, anyone want to add to the actual convo, i'd appreciate it
I think that the Druids require us to drink beer and wine...... Got to follow the 9 pillars of Druidinians ! DD
