Author: Corbin

Theresa Corbin is an indoor-sy type who holds a BA in English Lit and an Master's of Library and Information Science. She has lots of opinions and more work experience than cats have lives. Corbin has been a teacher, office manager, hemodialysis tech, fundraiser, designer, interfaith and inter-cultural bridge builder, public speaker, researcher, editor, and writer. Her hero is Elastigirl for obvs reasons. Corbin is a socially poised introverted and HSP. Her hobbies include thinking, giving unsolicited advice, and putting her phone on silent.

Jihad Is Not The Problem

March 28, 2013November 24, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 16 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Jihad! Yes, I said it *looks over shoulder to see if the FBI is going to pounce*.

Jihad is a source of fear and loathing the world over. It is embedded in popular culture as something crazed Muslims do in the name of their religion. But what does it really mean? Should we rely on the media to learn our religion or to learn about other’s religions?

Nah, prolly not a good idea. Unless you like being ignorant and led down the path of bigotry. Is there a place we can go to find out the truth about such things? Is there a source? Somehow? Somewhere? Yes, and in the case of jihad it is the Quran. The source is the Quran. Not those who take Quranic verses and explain them out of context.

Jihad does not mean to blow oneself up and kill innocent people in the process. This is NOT allowed in Islam. Period! Jihad does not mean holy war –the Arabic term for holy war is harbun muqaddasatu. Jihad is not even pronounce GEE-had.

Jihad [jee HOD] n.- 1. As a Quranic concept, involves resisting the base desires and struggling against all that would take one away from good. 2. It is to resist, to defend oneself if attacked. 3. As an Arabic term, it can mean to struggle in any way. It can be a jihad to study hard and make good grades.

Struggling and fighting are two separate but often related terms. The word most people mean when they use jihad is “qital”, which means to fight. One may have to struggle (jihad) against their desire to run and hide when they should fight (qital) an armed aggressor who first fights them.

It’s semantics. The problem is not with struggling or fighting, but with those who twist the Quran.

Yes, qital or fighting is prescribed in Islam when it is against armed aggressors:

Permission to fight is given to those who are fought against because they have been wronged -truly Allah has the power to come to their support- those who were expelled from their homes without any right, merely for saying, ‘Our Lord is Allah’ […]. (Quran, 22:39-40)

Those who twist the meaning of the command to fight often quote the Quran as stating, “slay them wherever you catch them”. (Quran 2:191) But these same people leave out the most important part. Who is the them? The rest of the passage states:

Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loves not transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than death. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers. And if they cease, then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. Fight them until there is no [more] fitnah and [until] worship is [acknowledged to be] for Allah. But if they cease, then there is to be no aggression except against the oppressors. (Quran 2:190-193). [emphasis added]

Another trick of detractors is to quote part of chapter 5 verse 9 of the Quran:

Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war).

But it somehow slips their mind to mention the context in which this was revealed.

This verse is referring to the early Muslims who had entered into treaties with neighboring tribes (Jewish, Christian, and pagan), Some Jewish and pagan tribes violated the terms of their treaty. They secretly aided an attacks against the Muslim community.

The proceeding verse instructs the Muslims to continue to honor treaties with those who did not betrayed them. The verse continues to say that those who violated this treaty have declared war, so fight them. Islam does not advocate pacifism in the face of injustice. Without justice, peace IS an illusion.

So, who is to blame for propagating this “jihad” misinterpretation/ misunderstanding?

First and foremost, ignorant Muslims are to blame for giving Islam a bad name because they themselves do not understand their religion.

This is very important to note- the actions of Muslims DO NOT define Islam. Islam is complete, does not change (Shariah), and can be traced to its source. Muslims are imperfect human beings, who sometimes do not practice jihad against their own desires.

Why and how is this misconception propagated?

The Muslims: Muslims see their brothers and sisters in Islam being insulted, degraded, oppressed, raped, and murdered all over the world. As anyone with a heart will do when they see their loved ones hurt, they get emotional. When you mix emotion with uneducated minds, you get irrational and often violent behavior.

These ignorant Muslims will twist the Islamic right (and human right) to fight in self-defense defense of as permission to commit suicide bombings and other atrocities. They blatantly ignore the strict Islamic rules in defensive fighting that forbids harming civilians, their property, and even forbids destroying crops, trees, or livestock.

They search for an “Islamic” ruling to meet their desires, and when they find something in their culture or find someone who has distorted the Quran, they run with it. But the Ummah (the Muslim community worldwide) does not benefit from this. If you think this is OK, there are better and actual halal ways to help your brothers and sisters in faith!

The Ummah needs to take a good look at itself. We need more personal jihad and less fighting:

Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. (Quran 13:11)

It is obligatory on every Muslims to learn his/her religion for a reason. If we do not understand our religion, who will? If we don’t fix ourselves, how will Allah change our condition?

The non-Muslims: There are those who portray Islam as a religion that condones the use of “jihad” to kill innocent people. And these same people will claim that all Muslims are terrorist.

This is not so. The acts of a few do not define the many.

Can we call Christianity a religion of brutality because of The Crusades and The Inquisition? Certainly not. Can we call all American men wack jobs because of the Oklahoma city bombing, the numerous school shootings, the Batman movie theater shooting, and so on? No, because the actions of a few, deranged people do not define the motivations and actions of everyone in that group.

Those who propagate stereotypes of all Muslims as terrorists do so for many reasons, some of which include fear, ignorance, and hatred. But those who do it to control the masses are usually after power and/or wealth.

Whatever the ends, the dissemination of false information about an entire group is the means. So anti-Muslim propaganda is disseminated in the media, in popular culture, and all over the internet. It is easy to view a group as evil if it is the popular thing to do.

Those who twist the Quran and spread lies about Islam and the Muslims, you are creating injustice which will make peace impossible. It would be more prudent to make alliances with the 99.9% of Muslims who also believe the actions of these few, fringe, deranged Muslims are wrong instead of demonizing all Muslims.

Peace out!

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Muslim Crawfish Boil

March 25, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 5 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Hey, y’all! I have been having a pretty busy couple of weeks with my other writings and family stuff. But I did have time to squeeze in a crawfish boil.

In case you haven’t heard of such a thing, the crawfish boil can be described as a party in a sack. Crawfish come in a sacks the size of a third grader. They are then boiled in a large pot (like huge) with corn on the cob, potatoes, garlic, sausage, and seasoning. And everyone gathers around, rolls up their sleeve, peels the crawfish, stuffs their face, talks, and has a good time, washing it all down with beer.

When my father (who was born and raised in Missouri) married my mother (born and raised in New Orleans), he refused to partake in her crawfish boils. Until one day she brought home a sack of already boiled and spicy crawfish. She insisted that he stop being such a sissy (she was sassy like that), and try just one.

Well he did. And she regretted it. He proceeded to eat the entire sack, leaving none for her. She nearly divorced him for this travesty against humanity, but instead decided to train him to do all the hard work of a crawfish boiling, now that he was an enthusiast.

My father went on to become the best crawfish boiler, peeler, and consumer this side of the Mason Dixon line. (pardon my folksy-ness)

Spring time denotes the beginning of crawfish season in New Orleans and surrounding areas. With the weather not so hot yet, and the crawfish on sale, people get together to enjoy the bounty of the area and some friendly spice both in food and conversation.

Even though the crawfish boil usually entails some un-halal aspects (pork and alcohol), those can easily be switched out for their halal counterparts.

So, if you have access to crawfish, even if it isn’t from the Gulf of Mexico, you need to think about having a boil. It is an amazing delicacy in my neighborhood, and I don’t want anyone to have lived in this world and have never had a boiled crawfish. Some may be squeamish because it looks like a bug, but I guarantee it is worth the gross factor. You will first thank Allah, then thank me!

Halal Crawfish Boil:

1 lb Beef sausage, sliced to bite-sized pieces (vegetarians who eat fish: you can just leave this out)
6 onions, cut in half
5 lemons, cut in half
5 heads of garlic, whole
1 c salt (yes, one cup. You don’t drink the liquid it’s boiled in and the salt needs to get past the shell of the crawfish)
10-12 small red potatoes
5 ears of corn, shucked and cut in half
60 oz of Zatarain’s crawfish, shrimp, and crab boil
5 lbs live crawfish per person (this recipe is for 25 lbs- or 5 people)
softened butter
Barq’s root beer (http://barqs.com/)

How To:

-Bring a larger than life stock pot of water to boil (preferably outside if you can. The spices will make everyone in the house cough).

-Add garlic, onions, potatoes, lemons, corn, sausage, and Zatarain’s boil
and boil for 20 mins.

-Add crawfish and salt, cover, and cook or 5 minutes.

-Turn off heat and let set for 20 mins (the longer it stands the spicier it will be 😉 ).

-Drain water and pour out the deliciousness onto a table covered in several layers of newspaper.

-Bandage any cuts you have on your hands (these spices burn).

-Place a full roll of paper towels on the table (you and your guests will need the whole roll. It gets messy).

-Drench potatoes and corn in butter.

-Peel (how to peel crawfish:

-This is the most important step: Say Bismillah (In the name of God).

-Eat!

-Quench the spice with Barq’s root beer.

You don’t need pork or beer to have a great crawfish boil.
(you can also use this recipe for shrimp and/or crabs, as the zatarain’s boil suggests)
P.S. Make sure you wear clothes you are not overly fond of because stains happen, and throw your crawfish shells in the outside trash. It gets smelly quickly!

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Memories from the Dorm: A Conversion Story

March 18, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 10 Comments

What follows is my old roommate’s response to I Bear Witness: How I Came to Islam Parts 1 and 2.

Written by Gracie Lawrence (the roommate)

You know it has been at least 16 years since we had those talks, and reading about it reminded me how I am still trying to “figure it all out”.

I remember it was a time of a lot of questioning, we were free from both conservative Christians AND Muslims – where we could just THINK and we had the time to do it.

I don’t recall thinking that it was strange to think those things- but I use to have the bad habit of thinking everyone must be the way I am (got screwed over a lot for it, lol).

I remember during that time your mother had passed away. That impacted me a lot. I think I remember that more than the details of our talks exactly (I was a bit of a chatterbox, I think you once referred to me as a puppy and you were the cat. And a lot of times you just needed some peace and to be left alone- and I didn’t understand that).

I know one thing I struggled with as I became Muslim was wondering if I could make that cultural leap/ sacrifice and I would take a few steps forwards, and then a few steps back- then I just dove in and became extreme- then balanced out, made more mistakes, etc.

Ultimately, I became Muslims to become a better Christian- I think you remember us speaking about that. I think even from a cultural viewpoint we both saw something lacking, even lonely in our modern North American existence and I saw Islam as the natural progression to fill that gap.

Nowadays, I see Christians and Jews as very close to me. Christians and Jews are easy to understand us, as we have the same background- are just like siblings that bicker.

Anyway, one things that is great about Islam, even if people are reluctant to believe in anything divine, is that it makes for a great play-book on earth i.e. you are much less likely to F-up your life than if left to your own whims or faulty logic. You are more likely to win the game if you are given the instructions of how to play. Ya know? I think that for something like this to exist- is, by itself, pretty awesome.

I Bear Witness: How I came to Islam, Part 2

March 15, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 8 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Part 1 here

Where did I leave off? Oh yes … So there I was, dying from vampire Lestat’s bite only to be reborn as eternal evil. Oh wait, that’s a different story.

Eh hem, so there I was, feeling like I had been lied to my whole life, trying to cling desperately to my culture and simultaneously trying to figure out what the truth really was. I was confused, embittered, and lost.

I believed in God, I just didn’t know what was the correct path to Him. I alternated between ignoring the question, flipping the question off, and seeking answers.

Now that I think about it, I had turned my culture into my new religion. To be the best worshiper at the altar of culture, I never wanted to miss a party, but wished I could just yell at all those kids and tell them to turn their racket down. I looked for answers in the holy books of Vogue and InStyle, but really wished I wouldn’t be considered a freak if I read and talked about Anna Karenina.

I was a hot mess, as the saying goes.

My culture was making me miserable. And my roommate was suffering most of its brunt. She spent much of her time studying other religions and talking to people of different faiths, allowing me to tag along from time to time. After much thought and deliberation, she converted to Islam.

I cannot say how she came to this decision. By this point, my mother had passed away, and I was busy with my grief and self-pity.

I had become a capital A-hole, challenging my newly Muslim roommate’s every move. I had all the cultural perceptions of Islam that can be expected. I don’t even know from where I picked them up. I knew nothing of the religion besides it being something that was “backwards” and tried to take women’s rights away from them. And I knew I was not down with that.

Our dorm room discussion became episode after episode of When Corbins (that’s me) Attack.

I accosted her when she decided to wear the headscarf. “Why do you wear that?” I asked as snide as I could be.

And she answered calmly and simply. “So, that I can be recognized as a believing woman. So that I can say who sees what of my body and am not a victim of the male gaze.”

I not only heard what she said, I saw it in action. I didn’t feel more liberate with less clothing. I felt picked apart and judged, and more often than not I felt like prey.

I longed for the respect that I saw my newly Muslim friend and other Muslim women receive from men as they wore their long and loose clothing. The thought of being in control over who would see me was very appealing.

“Yeah, but women are like second class citizens in your faith,” I spat on another occasion, trying to distance myself from my growing affection for Islam.

She explained that during a time when the Western world treated women like property, Islam taught that men and women were equal in the eyes of God. Islam brought more honor to the mother than the father. It made the woman’s consent to marriage mandatory, a practice that would have been laughed at in the Western world at the time.

Islam gave women the right to own property and businesses. And if a woman were to marry, she would not have to share her wealth with her husband. Islam gave women the right to inherit, unheard of in its day. She listed right after right that women in Islam held nearly 1250 years before women’s lib became a thing.

And these were just a fraction of the conversations we shared about Islam as a way of life. I continued to search. At some point, I thought about Judaism. It was the original monotheism. Since I wanted to get back to the original religion, this seemed logical to me.

When I voiced my Jewish aspirations to my roommate, we talked at length about the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She explained to me the Islamic belief in all the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and then the last prophet who came with the same message as all the rest–Muhammad (PBUH).

Prophet after prophet came until the last prophet Muhammad (PBUT) came with the same message to guide mankind back to the truth one last time. “And to this day his sayings can be verified in chains of narration and the Quran has not been changed by man.” She said.

When I heard, I believed. I had asked God when I was a seven year old in Catholic school and learning about prophet Noah (PBUH) if He should send any more prophets that He would guide me to believe in them. I believe that God granted me this mercy, because it was not until this conversation that it all clicked.

I became less angry about my friend’s new religion and began to listen about all the things she was learning as a Muslim. My next question was “What does it mean to be a Muslim?” I met other Muslim women and questioned them about their faith and read for myself.

What I found out was that in belief I was already a Muslim. I believed in the oneness of God. I believed in the prophets up to and including Muhammad. I believed in the angels, and Divine will, the day of judgement, the holy books, and all that jazz.

But—and this is a big but—I was scared to abandon my culture (turns out I didn’t have to abandon the good things from my culture). I was afraid of receiving the same ridicule I had dished out to my friend.

Islam made sense and even spoke to my nature. But I rebelled and the more I refused Islam and chose my culture over it the more miserable I became. I would find myself weeping for no other reason than the increasing emptiness I felt as I continued to reject Islam and replace it with culture. My health began to fail. I lost my scholarship at school. My personal safety was compromised. I even became homeless.

I defied until I couldn’t go on. I finally admitted, like the most homophobic person who finally comes out of the closet, that I was a Muslim. I finally said the words “I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and messenger” on the first day of Ramadan 2001.

And what I have learned since has taught me that I never had to give up my American culture entirely. I learned that fearing ridicule from people will only make you a joke. And I learned that their is an amazing peace that comes with being obedient to no one but the One God, the One who created you and designed you to do just that.

I Bear Witness: How I Came to Islam, Part 1

March 11, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 19 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Of all the choices in life, why would a young woman living in one of the most affluent countries in the world chose Islam? Is she crazy?

Well, it is complicated.

me-1

And, yes, I am little crazy.

But Islam was not the cause or a symptom, but the therapy. Besides, we are all crazy. I find that those who don’t own their crazy are indeed the craziest.

No, there was no “miracle” or near death experience that prompted the decision. There was no man promising me love, riches, and life-long happiness if I would just convert. There wasn’t even a parting of the Gulf of Mexico.

My conversion came about through years of thinking, arguing, denying, defying, and searching. I would be foolish to think that my life experiences and my disposition did not lend themselves to my eventual decision. But for this post, I will leave them out. You are welcome.

It all began by trying to solve the Jesus problem:

Many, many decades ago, I was born to a virgin … just joking, I was born to a highly educated, agnostic, Vietnam vet with a drinking problem and a deeply religious, sarcastic, but patient, Catholic woman.

my dearest, sarcastic mom with her groovy hairstyle

Oh, the tales I could about being raised in a house with a violent drunk and a tenacious martyr. It was as though heaven and hell waged war nightly in my home which made me very tired. I am still tired. Seriously, I need a nap.

The parents fought over many things. One topic of contention was what type of education their six children would receive. They came to a compromise. For grammar school, we (the childrens) would be afforded a Catholic education so that we may learn the mass and all the sacraments, etc. (mom’s choice). Then, for high school, we (the aforementioned childrens) would learn the ways of the world in public school (dad’s choice).

In Catholic school, I identified with those people who doubted Noah. This scared the crap out of my seven year-old-self. I made a deeply sincere request to The Creator at this point. I asked God that if He should send any more prophets that He would guide me to believe in them. This will be important later on.

In public school, I encountered people from many walks of life. No Muslims that I knew of, however. All this exposure made me question what made my way of life, culture, and religion so correct and proper?

As I was travelling down this line of questioning, I eventually came to the Jesus question.

I distinctly remember when I first wondered about Jesus’ (Peace be upon him) true nature. I was about 15 years old and I was kneeling in a pew after mass. And all of the sudden the thought popped in my mind. What if Jesus is not God? What if it is a lie? What if my life is based on a lie?- doubt, something I would learn to embrace.

The answer came in the form of manipulation i.e. if you don’t believe, you will go to hell for eternity, etc. Just believe: don’t worry your purdy, little head with thinking too much. Hilarious!

This was like telling a wood pecker not to peck at wood or a beaver not to build a damn dam. I am neurotic. All I do is think. No matter how useless the thought, I think/worry, and worry/think, and think/worry some more for good measure.

College came, and with it more space to question. Having been manipulated into silencing my intellect, it was difficult for me to give up my indoctrination. However, my college roommate and I discussed many existential topics and religion made the roster often.

She being Baptist and I Catholic, it all began with the innocent comparison of the two sects of Christianity. Then, it dangerously evolved into a debate of such things like why had the Bible been changed so many times? Why are there so many versions? Etc.

We’d opened Pandora’s box and all the repressed questions came pouring out: Did innovators in Christianity base their belief in Jesus on the original Bible or a Greek translated, 18th edition? And if it was many editions and translations later, what was editorialized and/or lost in translation? What had been added or taken out? You know, the typical 18 year-old-girl, sleep-over topics of discussion interspersed with pillow fights.

My dear roommate, who also never let me nap–brought to my attention that something like four hundred years after Jesus lived, Christian leaders decided that Jesus Christ was both human and divine.

the roommate agreement

We naturally wondered how could people come to the decision about Jesus four hundred years after his death. From Prophet to God in an evolving religion.

This eventually evolved into the great debate 1999: was Christianity mixed with Greco-Roman beliefs because of the time and place of its advent? Was Jesus (Peace be upon him) being sacrificed for ‘all of our sins’ just an extension of the belief in pagan sacrifice?

Another suspiciously Greco-Roman belief that was on the debate roster for that year: Jesus and God as son and father: Zeus and Hercules, anyone?

My roommate was more advanced in her thinking than I. She would often ask me, as I feared giving up my belief in Jesus despite the facts, “Is the search for knowledge so dangerous? Can it hurt to really search for the truth? Can it hurt to use our own intellect to find out what is fact and what is fiction?”

And my rebellious nature replied, “No, I would rather err on the side of thinking too much.” Why do I have the ability to think, if I shouldn’t use it on such a fundamental aspect of life? All signs led me to believe that Jesus was not God, there was no trinity, and yes, my life had been based on a lie.

This was the beginning of my journey.

To be continued here

A Convert By Any Other Name: Why I Didn’t Change My Name

March 7, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 10 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away—I changed my name to Mariam.

I only told those closest to me, thinking I would let them get used to it. Then, I thought, naturally more people would incorporate it as those closest to me addressed me as “Mariam”.

The best laid plans of mice and Mariams oft go … where is it they go again? Ah, yes, they go to that same place my “Mariam” name went. Those who knew me could not get used to my name change. I would try to ignore them until they addressed me by my new name, but when I failed to remember it myself, I gave up.

Oh well, what the hell, I guess I will be Theresa–I resigned myself.

What is in a name? Does a “Theresa” by any other name smell as … umm, err, … *coughs*. Does a “Theresa” by any other name behave any less Muslim? Does a “Theresa” by any other name pray any less regularly? No and no. InshAllah.

I was, as is common, wrapped up in the zeal of my newly Islamicized life. I had always liked my “Theresa” name. And I guess it was my tender affections toward “Theresa” that led to my apathy of enforcing “Mariam”.

Many new converts to Islam change their name, feeling that with a new direction in life they need a new name.

I agree with this only if the name-changer does the name changing for the following reasons.

Good reasons to change your name:

1. You hope to adopt the good qualities of the former bearer of that name.

Hurray: If you admire the original “Mariam”–when Anglicized it is pronounced Mary (MEh ree) the virgin mother of Jesus (peace be upon them)—and you wish to be more like that Mariam, then change it. My hope was for my new name “Mariam”, to be a reminder to strive for perfection, because Islamic tradition teaches that she was one of the few people to ever reach human perfection.

2. Your name means something that is incongruent with your Islamic beliefs.

Yup: Think about the meaning of your given name. If your name’s meaning is something un-Islamic, for example if your name is Christian, with its obvious meaning that you are Christian. Or if your name is Kafir, which mean disbeliever, by all means change your name.

But if your given name already has a good meaning, why not keep it? When I thought about what Theresa means (harvester). I decided it was pretty perfect for me. To me, this is a better reminder than to be perfect (because I am far, far, far from it). It is a reminder that I will harvest or reap what I sow, so I should sow only good things.

I disagree with this name changing craze if it is done for the following reasons.

Bad reasons to change your name:

1. You want to enhance your apparent Muslims identity by adopting an Arabic name.

An Arabic name does not enhance your Muslim identity, you can and should behave in Islamically through your actions. Besides, Arab does not equal Muslim.

2. You want to distance yourself from your old identity.

You should not shed your old identity. Just improve upon it. You will always be you. You are uniquely made up of your experiences, style, personality, and quirks. Embrace that and incorporate the endlessly beneficial teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) into your life and manners.

But why not keep your name and make it a Muslim name. If your name is Bob and you are a Muslim. Then by the transitive property, Bob is now a Muslim name. Viola! You are breaking down barriers between the West and Islam. And that is pretty cool.

I enjoy the surprise that the disparity between my traditionally “Christian” name, and my obvious Muslim appearance provides. People get all kinds of confused when they learn my name or see me for the first time in a headscarf. It is fun to watch.

Now, after bearing the name Theresa, wearing the headscarf, and presenting myself as a Muslim since 2001, Theresa is a Muslim name. And your name can be too!

In Defense of the Prophets (PBUH)

February 28, 2013November 23, 2016 by Corbin ♥ 6 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin

This post is one that I wrote in September 2012 about the anti-Islam video “The Innocence of Islam” and subsequent murders and riots. I know that it is no longer a “current event”, but the issue remains and has been relevant since the first prophet, Adam (peace be upon him).

It is important to understand why Muslims are/were angry

Muslims try to honor the prophets and follow their example. The prophets were patient, honest, and steadfast. Overall they were the best of mankind. They suffered, were harassed, and tortured for the message they were chosen to deliver.

So, when people slander a prophet, Muslims should and do take it personally. It is worse than a “your momma …” joke. Any good Muslim (or human being for that matter) will protect the honor and reputation of Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and all the true prophets (peace be upon them all).

One lie about the prophet named Muhammad (the last and final prophet- PBUH) that particularly angers Muslims, is the claim that he was a child molester because of his marriage to Aisha (RA). To say that a man in the 7th century CE was a child molester for marrying someone who had reached puberty (as the Innocence of Islam claims) is absurd!

This kind of marriage was common practice in both the East and the West during a time when people died very young. If people then waited to marry like we do in our time, the species would have died out. Besides, people only estimated their ages back then. They didn’t have birth records or birthday parties at Chili’s.

Five centuries after Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha, 33-year-old King John of England married 12-year-old Isabella of Angoulême. The only difference is that in Islam the bride-to-be had to (and still has to) give her approval of the marriage before it was (is) valid.

Whereas, a woman’s consent in the West was not even considered!

Historical facts need to be put in historical context. And not misconstrued to the level of vile slander.

However… and this is a HUGE however,

the reaction to the video was unfounded and un-Islamic.

Lives are phenomenally more important that some ignorant idiot’s video/cartoon/words/etc.
It is NOT OK to kill people. Especially over a flippin’ video; especially people who had nothing to do with it; especially when the sin of murdering one person is like the sin of murdering all of mankind.

I am ASHAMED of the Muslims who are committing these and other similarly atrocious acts!

Nothing can be solved this way, Nothing!

Would the Civil Rights movement have made an inch of progress if they had employed these tactics? Absolutely not. And we would all suffer from a lack of civil liberties in America today.

**Muslims need to remember that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings Be Upon him) was insulted during his life, and he bore these insults with patience and returned them with kindness. Let us defend the prophets reputations’ by emulating their example.

So, as Amphion was said to move stones with his poetry to build Thebes, the prophets have moved men’s hearts to build empires of faith. Let us honor them by not tearing nations further apart.