February 7, 2007

About Allah.



On my first day in Dubai I was walking by some recreations of old buildings, and there was one with a sign outside saying ‘free entrance’, so I said to myself, what the hell, I get to see the inside of one of these things, and maybe some interesting stuff too. Well, I walked out of the place 5 hours later. It turns out it was an Islamic learning institute, with lots of funky posters talking about why Islam so cool. And that took 20 min. Then, I started talking to this Filipino guy who was working there, which lead to talking to this Indian guy (both ex-christians) who was also working there. Then, he found out that I was an atheist, and that lead to 4 more hours of arguing, sweet tea and dates.

I now have a lot more respect for the Muslim people than I used to. My views have not changed so much on the religion itself, but more on those that worship it. I mean, you’re either 100% in or 100% out of this. In fact, its not so much a religion, as a complete way of life. These people have strict rules on how to dress, act, how to wash themselves, how to eat, and how to conduct business. Their whole lives are basically dictated by this 3000 year old book. Now that takes devotion.

He kept emphasizing that the first thing the Quran teaches you is to question your faith, that you shouldn’t believe in Allah unless you’re 100% sure, yet to have your questions answered you must believe. And so far, all Muslims I’ve talked to about Islam are very intelligent, rational, and introspective people, which is everything that I don’t find religion to be. So, I’m thinking, there’s really gotta be something to this Islam thing if these kind of people are willing to follow it. Especially cuz Islam is the most intense religion to follow.

The guy gave me like, a dozen pamphlets, 3 audio tapes and an English Quran…so I think I’ll be ok for a while…

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