Sunday, January 27, 2008

Organized Religion Makes Me Uneasy

A friend showed me a forum where a somewhat famous and respected sheik issues fatwas on things like threesomes and smoking marijuana.

It saddens me to think that the majority of the people I meet feel the need to seek a sheik's approval of every intimate detail of their lives. For some reason they do not trust themselves to make any kind of judgement, or they distrust their ability to research matters on their own and come to their own conclusions.
These shaikhs capitalize on every one's vulnerability, and their "fatwas" are sometimes nothing more than opinions that have no basis in Islam. And if you tell anybody this they will think you are "some sort of atheist."

I think I am "some sort of being that posses at least one working brain cell."

If you go to these forums, you will see that all of the questions are from people who have probably asked 3294834 sheiks the same question, and might very well go on to ask 32897432894 sheiks the same question, looking for the answer they want.

Very often they are horny old men who are looking for someone to justify their want of... Perverse... Things.
Like the threesome question?

السؤال: إذا كان الرجل متزوج من أكثر من زوجة ، هل يجوز أن يجتمع زوجتين ـ مثلا ـ للمداعبة في نفس الوقت ، أو أن يجامع واحدة والأخرى ترى ذلك أو يداعبها أمام الأخرى ، أو يطلب من زوجيته التعري أمامه ويمارسهم معاً ؟
الجواب : يجوز مداعبتها معاً ولكن لا يجوز تعريتهما لعدم جواز نظر كل منهم إلى عورة الأخرى.

So basically, you can do whatever you want as long as your women keep their eyes closed.
You know, so there's a sense of modesty.

These are the kinds of examples that make a mockery of religion in general.

Faith is a beautiful thing. Religion is a beautiful thing. Sacred. Glorious.
How dare these people invade it in this manner?

We should all stop giving these people a podium.

It is disgusting that while there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the Moral Police are on forums and at their dinner tables preaching about how it is a disgrace that women can rent their own hotel rooms now without the permission of their male guardian.
And many many people blindly mimic this opinion, because someone "more knowledgeable in Islamic law" told them so.

Stop listening to these people. You be the judge.
Who on earth knows your faith, your religion, better than yourself?

Organized religion is what takes the soul out of believers.
Let's just put a stop to it.

ubergirl

14 comments:

Taqo said...

You totally hit the nail on the head. <3

Anonymous said...

hmmm.. I agree with some of what you said, like not being so stupid and ask questions that got answers in common sense, in addition to keeping asking this and that untill you get the answers that satisfies your desires. But your call to override relegion scholars and "follow our hearts" is inacceptable as my mischievous heart usually guides me to what cheerz me and provides pleasure, which definitely is not always allwoed in the frame of relegion. There are, however, many shiekhs who can be trusted, and who will not fool you. you are obliged to ask them (supposing that you are a beliver), because Allah explicitly orders us to ask those who know as stated in the Quran: (فاسألو أهل الذكر), unless you are more knowledgable than them, then you can not ask them and use your relegios wisdom to find answers to ur questions.

Greetz and good luck

programmer craig said...

Organized religion is what takes the soul out of believers.

I agree completely. Organized Christianity made me into an agnostic when I was a teenager. It wasn't until I was an adult and started evaluating scripture for myself that I became a believer again. I'm sure there are sound reasons for the existence of a clergy, but in ALL cases, in EVERY religion, the clergy just suck the life out of the faith that they are supposed to be representing. I've met some amazing pastors, but for every one of them, it seems like there are 10 who are the exact opposite.

Don Cox said...

The purpose of a priesthood is to provide comfortable indoor jobs for people who are otherwise useless.

A.nagadi said...

One time, I was getting out of a mosque after prayer, then I apotted a (lo7a) maktoob 3aleha inno LA YAJOOZ for women to play sports or excersize :S

Anonymous said...

U know I always wondered about that the question u posed in Arabic..so the answer is you can make out with both of them at the same time, as long as you dont expose their private parts....intresting....

Crispal said...

This is my first visit to your blog (for sure not the last) and is a pity I did not know about you before. I do agree completely with what you say in this post. Actually it is amazing how people do not dare to think by themselves when it comes to religion. And, believe me, it happens in all religions.
One small suggestion: would it be possible to include the English translation of your Arabic text? I do speak and read Arabic but most English speaking people out there don't.

أبو سنان said...

This will probably be the one and only time I agree with "Programmer Craig".

I have been a Muslim for years now but do my best to avoid scholars and the nonsense most of them put out, as well as organised religious events.

There is nothing so dangerous to your religion as there is in being around "religious" people.

Anonymous said...

I agree with you.

In my opinion, this describes what was happening in the old days.. when the Shikh's word was the only word you cannot tell against it. People at that time were less educated. Nowadays, people are having more knowledge than before and can determine what's right and wrong. Quran and Hadeeth taught us and we must come back to them anytime.

saying, "Do not test your faith."

knowledge,knowledge,knowledge

Anonymous said...

I love this bumper sticker... "I love God, it's his followers that I can't stand"

Ha ha ha..

Anonymous said...

wonderful, peace loving religion;

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/08/iraq.women/index.html

The result of a great and organized religion.

unokhan said...

greetings,

i am here by way of a friend of yours, and really have no business engaging in weighty questions.

but i will ;-)

there is a spirited saying among western anarchists: "no gods, no masters".

if humans are to overthrow the ghosts of our multifarious and ignorant pasts, must we resort to timidity when we behold scripture? neither jesus nor mohammed nor moses wrote any of those things down with their own fingers; these things in the books are the words of mortals.

is it possible to work out your own 'salvation'? isn't that the way it must always be done?

forgive the intrusion..

Anonymous said...

crispal,
I thought one could infer what the question in Arabic was. I didn't want to translate it exactly because it isn't really what this post is about, and I don't want to encourage these questions or fatwas. I certainly don't want to give then any weight, either.

unokhan,
In Islamic faith, part of our belief is that one of the miracles bestowed upon Mohammed is that the Quraan, although not written by him personally, would be the exact word of God for eternity. So according to Islam, the Quraan has not changed, and will not change.

In regards to your question, I can only speak for myself, and I believe that "salvation" (or anything to do with faith or religion, really) is absolutely to be worked out on your own, as you put it.
Religious scriptures are merely guidelines. How to apply what they say to your life is up to your own interpretation.
A person looking to use religion for their own personal gain will find religious texts that, to them, support their cause, and a person advocating peace and tolerance will also find religious text supporting their cause, and so on.
So it really is up to each of us to make those calls. And that, essentially is why religion, in my opinion, in itself calls for private contemplation. We must not adopt other people's causes; by encouraging fatwas, for example, we contribute to the rise of these sheikhs to power.

Man, I hope I'm making sense. Lol.

What I mean to say is that in my veiw of religion, it is in itself a private practice. Parading is phony. Fatwas are a way of duping people. Engaging in either parading or fatwas (asking for them or issuing) are acts against the very nature of pure faith.
But that's just my take on things.


Thank you for your comments, everybody :-)

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