Wow, Dippedinblush, you've obviously gone through a lot and it takes courage to write something so personal on a public forum. I think a PM would've been more appropriate, but ok. Please keep in mind, I can't speak for Christianity. I can't speak for Christians or their actions. I can't even speak for other Muslims or how Islam is practiced. All I can speak for is what I believe and what the Qur'an and Hadiths say. My conclusion will be at the end, if you don't care to read all the fluff.
Homosexuality is a sin, in Islam, it's not going to change and neither are my beliefs. If I'm going to accept Islam, it's all or nothing, I don't pick and choose.
I knew what I was then and I knew at such a young age I would go to hell for nothing I could control (because of an old book)
In Islam, only God knows where you're going when you die. There's an authenticated Hadith of prophet Muhhamed (PBUH) telling a story of a prostitute who saw a dog panting near a well, it was clearly dying of thirst. She fashioned a water pouch using her sock and veil, draw water and let the dog drink. God forgave her for all her sins.
Your teacher, priest and even some Imams I've heard have no right to say who goes where, they aren't God. The 99 names of Allah include 'Most Merciful' and 'The Judge'. Only God has the right to judge and forgive or punish you. Everyone else should mind their own business.
I am not a typically "butch" lesbian at all. I think a lot of people think lesbians are manly and gay men are swishy and that is not true.... Most gay people are just regular people and don't fit any stereotype.
True, I have 3 gay cousins a gay uncle and had multiple gay friends over the years.... I'd confidently say I'm more stylish than all of them combined and probably own more perfume than all of them put together and I'm 100% straight, LOL. I've never been one to take stereotypes too seriously. Even if the stereotype were true, so what? I can't imagine how more gay guys acting like parfaits or more lesbians wearing Doc Martins would change anything.
Fast forward a while (and I am trying to be as cool as a cucumber for not exploding how any organized group can see me as a sin) but I can't understand.
I see you as a human being, same as everyone else. As I said, I can only speak for what I believe and what Islam teaches, not how people practice it, or other Religions for that matter.
Y'all still want to oppress, suppress a person's nature...Also Aristocrat you said...well hey....we think eating pork is a sin and other arbitrary shit is a sin in ISLAM so...you shouldn't feel bad.....NO NO
I'm not oppressing anyone, I'm just believing what I believe and minding my own business. There are NO arbitrary "rules" in Islam. You might not agree with them, but things are prohibited for a reason. Islam teaches that the pig is not fit for human consumption as it is unclean. Its digestive system is incredibly slow, thus increasing the likelihood that it will contract parasites and it'll eat whatever you put in front of it, including its own feces and dead fetuses... You might not agree and that's fine, but I think that's at least enough of an argument to say the ruling that pork shouldn't be consumed is justified under logical grounds and not arbitrary mumbo-jumbo.
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YOU think I am a sin (as a person. its not a lifestyle or a choice...its like choosing to be brown skinned or black is a choice)...WHO I am is a SIN to your religion and to you (in some sects in your religion I could be stoned to death or be murdered).....(sexuality is a huge part of who we are....and that is why u were upset by people insulting your family...which is why I apologised from my heart)...
Not once did I say you were sin. Not once did I mock your lifestyle choices. Not once did I try to convince you to follow a different lifestyle. Not once did I judge any of your choices. I simply respond to questions or statements and the reason I choose to talk about it is because people, you included, have some pretty warped views on Islam and that influences how you treat people.
- There are no 'sects' in islam. You're either Muslim or you're not. Suffis pray a bit differently to Sunnis, but that's because the
exact method of prayer varied slightly by hadiths, ultimately, this doesn't matter. As long as you believe in your Shahada, you're
Muslim, if you don't, you're not, simple.
- There's no stoning in Islam. Islam has been around for close to 400yrs in my country, I've never heard of anyone
being stoned or thrown off a cliff for being gay. You're talking about Sharia, not Islam.
I want to ask you...If a gay man (in the closet because he had to be...there really is no choice in your religion...because he was embarrassed or shamed into being "straight") married your sister or daughter, had children and then ran around with men and then was found out.....broke their proverbial hearts because he had to be in the closet and couldn't actually marry the man he wanted but was forced to marry your kin cause there was no way out....what would you think? Wouldn't he...having an open and honest lifestyle be optimal? Instead of living a lie and crushing so many hearts because he had to hide?
For ruining the lives of others instead of having the courage to confront his own issues, I'd say he's an idiot... a selfish, self-centered idiot; he should take some responsibility for his actions. There's no obligation to get married, in Islam. I'm not going debate whether you're born gay or become gay, but if he knows he's gay, don't get married, stay single, that's my advice.
Muslims believe that God never gives us more than we can handle. End of the day, nobody has the right to punish you for being gay. Do what you want, it's up to God to judge.
I don't understand your religion...its like the religious right here, Aristocrat. It's not compassionate. It's judges me (i honestly can not control my sexuality....I have tried...and have wanted to die because of it) as a sin,....the same sin as eating pork ??? What? That's so insulting, Aristocrat.
Love the sinner, hate the sin makes me wanna puke. It's what all fundamental religious people say, whilst pontificating from their pulpits worshipping dusty old fairy tale books written by dusty old people that may or may not have existed hundreds of years ago.....
Meanwhile there are people here...living people who are suffering and bleeding because somewhere in LEVITICUS blah blah says something about gays...and people kill, hate, and judge them cause of it.. Would you be shunned and possibly stoned and killed because you ate pork, Aristocrat?
This ties in with my conclusion.
It sounds like you're basing your opinions on Religion on personal experiences and that's understandable, but if you're attempting to understand Islam, you need to go into it 'tabula rasa'. Like people have stereotypes about gays, you have plenty of stereotypes about Islam and as someone who understands Islam pretty well, I can tell you that you've picked up a lot of your knowledge through the media and don't understand what Islam is. Your first step is to distinguish what Sharia is, what Islam is, why there's a discrepancy, what you think about Islam and what it actually is; if you like, I'm happy to share any information.
Either way.... why the hell should you want to convince me of anything? I'm some random dude on the internet.
Why are you trying to make Islam work for your lifestyle? It's obviously not for you, just do whatever you think is best. If I don't want to the potato salad I don't look for ways to make it work for me, I order something else. It sounds like going down this path is just going to make you angry and frustrated. Atheism is ridiculous to me, but I spend very little time thinking about what Atheists do, nor do I try to comprehend their rationale. My Faith keeps me pretty happy and satisfied, I don't need validation from strangers to augment my happiness or need for approval.
They have their beliefs, I respect that, I have mine; live and let live.
I say what I say to dispel ignorance about Islam in the hopes that someone reading it might be less likely to harm a Muslim in real-life. I have no interest in trying to convert or convince anyone to follow my Faith.
Detach people from their Faith, many Christians and Muslims are poor ambassadors/practitioners of their Faith.
We live in a world of diversity, your decision are never going to go over with everyone, same with me. Don't invest so much time in trying to please others or worrying what others think, didn't you spend some traumatic childhood years doing just that?
Homosexual acts will always be a sin, in Islam, just like I sin regularly by swearing like a truck driver (particularly while playing the lesbian video-game from yesterday, on 'survivor' difficulty). Judgement and punishment is reserved by God. If any Muslim or whoever who wants to punish you for being gay, call the police, they're breaking the law.
