Comment

Comment by Bweny Kamaua on September 15, 2010 at 10:53am

thank you mr and mrs molu for your interest in reading my blog,
what i meant about that statement is that fasting for the sake of God is in itself teaches me self-discipline (patience), self-restraint, nearness to God, obedience and total reliance (devotion) to God, a sense of gratitude/ appreciation and a higher spirit of sacrifice to do charity to the poor.
You see when I was fasting as a Christian, it was on my terms. I began fasting after I woke up at the time I picked and after I had food. I skipped lunch but had a glass of water only. In the evening, I ate to my full. I didn’t really get the meaning of fasting as described above.
What motivated me to become a muslim is the fact the Quran and the Hadith talk about everything in reality with clear instructions on all aspects of life. It tells what to do when you wake up, what to say to your neighbors, how to treat your parents, children, people, how to eat, sleep, wash, fasting, way to worship God, etc. etc. It is very clear about equality and unity – a person from a noble family is the same as the one from the street when it comes to prayer and in the sight of God. In the mosque there is no class, everybody stands in line next to each other, no special seating or line for the royal family or president’s son; everybody is the same. I didn’t see in the churches.
Above all, the fact that Islam teaches one way to pray and has only one Quran. If you go to China, you can pray alongside the Chinese muslims in their mosque or Bangladesh or Russia, anywhere – the prayers are all the same in one same language, so this is very convenient.
Growing up as a Christian I always had that heart and respect for Jesus, the Quran doesn’t deny Jesus or any of the people mentioned in the Old Testament. It doesn’t reject my Christian knowledge and faith on the people told in the Bible.
I grew up in a strong catholic family (plenty of priests, nuns and pastors in my family). I only heard of Catholic, Protestant, Seventh Day Adventist, Mormon and Bahai in Kiribati. But when I went to New Zealand, I was confused to find the Anglican Churches, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Jehova’s Witness, etc. I visited almost every church. I also travelled to many countries around the world and what I found was that, each country may have the same Church name (Methodist) but they prayed a little different from the other countries. The Methodists in Tonga are a little different in their prayer/service fashion from those in Sri Lanka.
This became a problem to me; I didn’t know anymore which church to follow. I had many unanswered questions. They shared a common name as Christians but their bibles, doctrines and services all differ and vary. I compared the catholic bible with the protestant and the seventh day Adventist and felt betrayed and more confused to find the verses were not the same in some chapters and worse was that one bible had more chapters or less and the other. I also went to the Mormons and learned about their religion. There was no evidence about the golden tablets that God revealed to Joseph Smith, they practiced unrestricted polygamy (some had 18 wives), they discriminated the blacks (no black person can enter priesthood) and the religion itself keeps changing; like the Christians – new churches and names born almost every year. I never understood and never knew how to properly explain trinity in a sensible manner, but I grew up in that faith and so took it as it is; though my conscience wasn’t contented about it.
The 9/11 attack made me ignore Islam for a long time until I met the muslims who were so humble and good natured- it got me curious about them and their Quran. That made me began reading and researching about Islam. I had that image that Islam is a religion of violence and oppression of women.
Relating to your friends who convert from Islam to other religions: one who believes in God, will be very conscious of what is his purpose in this life. We are created to worship God, God has power over us, we all will die. If we believe in God, we must obey his laws, not manmade laws or human rights. The Quran talks about human rights that God gave. Some examples are man and woman are have the same rights.
Women have a lot of rights specified in the Quran, making life easier for them including worshiping God. They are excused from prayer and fasting when they are pregnant, breastfeeding or menstruating or sick. Women have the right to work and their income and properties are theirs only, not the husband. But the husband is obligated to work hard and provide for his family, even if the wife is working or from a wealthy family. Women have the right to inherit properties. The husband must be caring and loving to them, it’s prohibited for a husband to hit his wife. He must consult with his wife, not his way only just because he is the man and the provider.
It restricted polygamy, a man can have up to four wives, only for a good reason and only if the wife agrees to it. She has the right to divorce him if she doesn’t like the idea. His obligation is to serve and treat them equally in everything. (If he buys a watch or this wife, he must do the same to the other for the same value and so are with their children) Nowadays, its so common that a husband has mistresses, this is an adultery act. Islam prohibits adultery but permits a man to have a second wife only if there is a good reason (wife is barren or sick) and only if the wife agrees to it. Muslim scholars and real muslims don’t take more than one wife because it’s a difficult route and will only lead them to misery, frustrations, failure and hell fire (for not equal and fair to all of them)
God gave restrictions in the Quran to humanity for their own good, to protect them from harm and calamity. God commanded women to wear modest clothing and cover their hair (hijab) why? To protect them from unwanted harassments or uninvited remarks from men. You see when a woman who wears modest clothes and has her hair covered passes a group of men, they will not notice her beauty and will not bother her by making bad or offensive remarks. Its different when a woman who wears tight and flashy clothes showing off her beautiful hair, walks in front of men, she will attract their attention and will lead to unwanted remarks. It is disrespectful to the women. Its true that the world and fashion is changing and we are in a modern era but a man’s desire never changes, it is the same from the old days until the next generations. God knew it and gave that commandment to women to protect them from sexual harassments and disrespect. You can relate this commandment in the Bible. It can be found in Corinthians 11:3-10. Do you ever wonder why nuns dress like muslim women? Or all portraits of Mary (mother of Jesus) has her head covered? This can be answered in the above verse
God commands us to worship him five times a day so we be close to him and not get distracted and ended up doing wrong sinful things. We are required to fast so we be close to him and think more generously for the poor. A rich man doesn’t know the meaning of hungry, fasting will help him understand and give to the poor.
Islamic laws are not complicated but tough to follow especially with the influence of this western world. Music, fashion, discos, alcohol, drugs, prostitution, etc are all prohibited for a reason, so people live righteously and peacefully, for all to live in harmony and die righteously and enter paradise, no hell fire for them. It restricts people on certain things to protect them from harming themselves.
So if your friends left Islam for other religions, my guess is that its because they forget their purpose of being created, they forget that they will die one day and will have to answer God on the day of Judgment. They think of today and this world only, they like to take the easy way out.
For your Iranian friend, Iran is a country with its own laws. The laws are not Islamic laws and that is why women’s rights are limited there. Just like Kiribati laws, women’s rights are limited but its not an Islamic country. I live in the US but feel more at ease and protected as woman than if I live in Kiribati.
I hope I have clarify what you have asked me about. Take care

Comment by Mr & Mr & Mrs Molu on September 13, 2010 at 10:36pm

"Now I truly understand why God puts fasting as one of his requirements for worshipping him. Fasting for the sake of GOD is different when you fast on your own will, which I used to do as a christian when I needed God to answer my prayers".

I was reading thru your post and came thru the above sentence. Now i'm just wondering what motivates you to become a muslim, as you said you are a christian before. Right me if i'm wrong but from what i know (according to some use to be muslims who are my schoolmates) they convert to other religion because of the laws of the religion (muslim) so complicated and have taken much of their freedom (esp. their right to eat, drink, dress, talk etc during muslims celebrations). And most importantly I had a classmate (lady) who told me that she is so glad to move to New Zealand that now she had the right to do whatever she wants but still practicing muslims.
She said this because she said where she is from (Iran) women have no rights AT ALL to express their opinions in the presents of men.
Now i'm not criticizing your religion, i just want more clarification on what motivates you to convert to muslims, while some of the pple i know as mention above gave their reasons why they convert to other religions.

Comment by ULMO on August 16, 2010 at 6:06pm

Thanks for posting this blog Bweny and with your permission, I would like to add a few things that people outside Islam don't think about. Just in case some of our I-Kiribati opt to visit predominantly Muslim populations, they may want to keep these in mind:

1) Be aware that in some countries, it is actually illegal for one to eat or drink in public between sun-up and sun-down. This suggests the need to be sensitive in all of these countries to potential actions that may cause offense to the local population. Be aware that fasting Muslims are present in the work-place and they expect non-Muslims to respect their fasting and not eat or drink in front of them, even in motor vehicles.

2) Most restaurants will begin serving food at sun-down, but expect them to be crowded, especially for the first serving hour. In some Muslim nations, non-Muslims may find some restaurants partitioned off with curtains or screens for areas separating Muslims and non-Muslims. Some specialty restaurants may be closed until sun-down

3) Shops and stores usually have extended hours into the late evening and early morning.

4) If you are in a hotel and they do not serve a meal at a time you require, you will find that room service is normally available.

5) One should be extra alert to aggressive driving, particularly during the late afternoon when many Muslims will be rushing home to break their fast. Be aware that fatigue, brought on by fasting, tends to worsen driving standards.

6) Modest dress and respectful behavior between sexes (even between married couples) are normal social customs in many Muslim countries but particularly so during Ramadan.

After having taken these few steps and exercising a little humility and willingness to learn about Ramadan, you should be able to enjoy a peaceful visit to Muslim countries. Peace to all.....