Islam, thankfully, rejects the belief in Original Sin (17:15), and in fact anyone disabled of full mental capacity also loses the ability to sin, until (and unless) that capacity is restored--that includes children before reaching an age of understanding and, less often mentioned, the dreamer before waking. I was taught this as I grew up, …
Category: Islam
On Drawing the Prophet Muhammad
I will never defend, accept, or fail to denounce a depiction of the Prophet by a Westerner, regardless of their excuse, progressive or offensive. Depicting the Prophet is an injustice, and it is an injustice because the West has a habit of ignoring the copyright-by-virtue-of-existing laws, those which it conveniently affords itself, when regarding the …
what you should know part 2
Part 1 Although I don't know why most people read this website, I can gather from emails I receive occasionally that for some the reason might be some form of religious consultation. I am going to tell you that I am a Bad Person to ask for religious advice. That is not to say I …
Religion as an Inception of Compassion
In spirit of the last post, and along the same lines, sometimes when I am asked whether if all can be achieved without referring to religion or if I see any usefulness or need of it, I recount the story of myself reading the following hadith: Anas Ibn Malik narrates: "Whilst we were in the …
On Whether We Require Religion to be Moral
I wasn't, until rather recently, one to suggest / wonder if religion is the only way to decipher between what is moral and what is immoral. Though upon receiving inquiries as to whether I believed someone could be a moral person without religion my answer had consistently been yes, admittedly what I truly felt was …
And the Patriarchy Lunges: the Purpose of the Wali
Dear readers, there are few "Islamic" [?!] practices that I reject entirely (actually I can only think of this one), but if I were to toss out any--any at all--it would be the practice of "giving away" the bride. Fuck that noise, seriously. This is one of those things that is mandated nowhere in the …
Continue reading And the Patriarchy Lunges: the Purpose of the Wali
Islamic History and the Women You Never Hear About: Zaat al-Khaal
The very earliest of the Umayyads did not keep harems of jawari (or slave women, if I can translate roughly for a moment), but instead a woman’s power was rightfully her own, and her nobility was measured by her defiance. Among the women who demonstrate this are Sakina bint al-Hussain and A’isha bint Talha, both …
Continue reading Islamic History and the Women You Never Hear About: Zaat al-Khaal
the fatal feminist 