Was Being a Baha’i and Latter-day Saint Blasphemy? Part 1
Social issues week, for those new to the Congregation, is when I face the challenges of each faith head-on. I spend the first two weeks getting comfortable with the faith and its people, and inshallah,...
View ArticleWas Being a Baha’i or Latter-day Saint Blasphemy? Part 2
You folks did an excellent job for this post and in case you haven't already figured it out, your overwhelming response to "Part 1" is "Part 2." The variety of thought here on the matter of apostasy...
View ArticleIftar Dinner at the Masjid
Islam, while indeed a personal faith, is more visibly communal--especially during the holy month of Ramadan. And if you plan on experiencing communal Islam only once, attend and iftar dinner at your...
View ArticleGoing All Night For Laylat al-Qadr
This post is late because I slept in after taking suhoor (pre-dawn meal) this morning. I slept in because I'm staying up all night for Laylat al-Qadr, or "The Night of Power/Decree." Laylat al-Qadr is...
View ArticleDear Muhammad…
For the last month now I've nose-dived into Islam, the religion you introduced to the people of Arabia. It's been a wild ride man, maybe not as much as your legendary Night Journey into Heaven, but...
View ArticleWe Made It! Eid al-Fitr 2011
High-five, congratulations, and Eid mubarak! Today millions of Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan. If you are among those who observed Ramadan, you just exercised...
View ArticleSaying Goodbye to Islam
Today is my last day as a Muslim. No more constantly checking the time for salat, no more reading/wrestling with passages from the Qur'an, no more "Salaam's" or "Ramadan mubarak's", no more standing...
View ArticleMuhammad’s Calling: A Vision of Terror and Unavoidable Purpose.
His is one of the most intense accounts of an encounter with the divine ever recorded. For years, Muhammad ibn Abdallah took his family on a spiritual retreat during the holy month of Ramadan to Mount...
View ArticleTo Shape Your Life, Become a River.
Rivers are a dominant motif in my personal journey, so it's no wonder I woke up Wednesday morning with them on my mind. In fact, of all my contemplations, rivers are probably my most frequent. So...
View ArticleThinking About Sex, Understanding My Spirituality: The Role of Male
As promised, here is the second installment of this series. All these posts actually lead up toward my Lent post coming up this Wednesday. Today we'll talk about the masculine nature of the divine....
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