My wife and I went to Temple on Good Friday, rather then attending our regular Church service.
Saw a special on PBS called “Jews & Christians”, where the they sent Jews to Church and Christians to Temple. Both groups came out surprised by the fact that they felt they had experienced true worship of the one true God.
I felt the same.
My question is would I be welcome in a similar way in my local Mosque?
Would I feel the same true feeling of a worship experience?
Peace To All Who Read This…
Depends on the mosque.
Many mosques in United States have active community inter-faith programs.
Our main mosque here in California actually encourages all those who come for Friday prayers to bring a non-muslim friend. There are welcoming committees to take care of these guests, introduce them to the basic concepts of Islam and they can observe the sermon and the prayers and then a little meet and greet with the muslims after the prayers are over. The program is an enormous success.
I've been in churches during cermony, whats the big deal, I even attended an all girl catholic school with some nuns as teachers.
i’ve been interested in other religions too, mainly sikhism, everyone had gone out earlier and i was home on my own listening to gurbani, i like the tune to some of the hymns its good for time pass but as far as ‘experiencing true worship of the one true god’ as you put it, i’ve only felt that in my own religion, it’s a fulfilling feeling different from other religions.
lately i’ve been feeling a bit down on my spiritual side, my own fault i’ve been doing and saying things which are against my religion, not as bad as what i used to do but still, i’ll offer some optional prayers and recite some quraan to get back my islamic high.
Thanks for the replies. I'm sure it depends on the congregation and the Imam(correct usage?)
By the same token, I'd like to visit Pakistan, but, as both an American and a Christian, I'm afraid that I would have a target painted on my back!
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by pk taz: *
but as far as ‘experiencing true worship of the one true god’ as you put it, i’ve only felt that in my own religion, it’s a fulfilling feeling different from other religions.
[/QUOTE]
pk taz, probably from the familiarity of it. It's like nothing smells quite like mother's or grandmother's kitchen. It's familiar and inviting - you feel you belong. It's comfort food for the soul - no matter what faith.
Well, Christians and Jews in my city helped raise money to refurbish a local mosque that needed help. Maybe I would be welcome...who knows?
When the schedule calms down in a few months, I'll have to give it a try!
Thanks all, for the input!
Peace To All Who Read This...
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by pk taz: *
i’ve been interested in other religions too, mainly sikhism, everyone had gone out earlier and i was home on my own listening to gurbani, i like the tune to some of the hymns its good for time pass but as far as ‘experiencing true worship of the one true god’ as you put it, i’ve only felt that in my own religion, it’s a fulfilling feeling different from other religions.
lately i’ve been feeling a bit down on my spiritual side, my own fault i’ve been doing and saying things which are against my religion, not as bad as what i used to do but still, i’ll offer some optional prayers and recite some quraan to get back my islamic high.
[/QUOTE]
When I feel spiritually down I listen to Kabir's bhajans. He was as you probably know a muslim saint of India. (although www.ask-imam.com pretends not to know him). Its is his famous bhjjan Mein to hoon vishwas mein that restores all my faith. I do disagree with you that one feels true god only in one's faith. Just as a bhajan, "Mushkil karon aasaan khwaja more" also takes me to exactly the same place.
Tum Mushriq kiya jaano qurb-e-Ilahi kiya cheez hoti hai…
QUOTE.
[/QUOTE]
I use to go on that website for fataawa. Maybe Desai Sahib really hasn’t heard of Kabeer.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ashti: *
Tum Mushriq kiya jaano qurb-e-Ilahi kiya cheez hoti hai…
[/QUOTE]
This is the intolerance I am referring to which exists in GS in a ratio of 10 to 1 with tolerant guppies. You Ahsti don't even have a decent word to refer tto a nom-muslim so you call me mushriq and claim that only you are near to God. Wow, what a claim!
And yes, Mufti Desai's statement that he is not aware of Kabeer sounds real hollow.
Arvind yaar, you are new. Just give it back to him. He is a bachcha..laaton kay bhoot ki adage is apt for these idiots.
Re: Christian goes to Temple...How about Mosque
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mrpockets: *
My question is would I be welcome in a similar way in my local Mosque?
Would I feel the same true feeling of a worship experience?
[/QUOTE]
If you are looking for that high you get from incense, music and bowing to nicely carved statues of Jesus PBUH and Mary PBUH or Crucifixes then I wouldn’t bother with a Mosque.
In Islam we do worship in congregation but the Contact-Prayers are still quite personal, the Imam says a few phrases and recitations out loud but most of the Contact-Prayer is offered by the individuals under their breath, accompanied by standing, bowing and prostrating to Almighty God. It’s a very humbling feeling.
The Mosque is not like the ‘God Channel’ where everyone is as though they are stoned on marijuana jumping up and down shouting “hallelujah praise the Lord!”
For a non-Muslim it would be more beneficial if they read the translation of the meanings of the Holy Koran accompanied by the explanation or listen to it with translation of the meanings, speak to some knowledgeable Muslims, listen to lectures by Muslim scholars and speakers such as Ahmed Deedat, Bilal Philips, Zakir Naik, Garry Miller etc. and reading books on Islam.
The individuals themselves carry out most of the worship; it’s not a matter of standing their enjoying the sound of the hymns, the smell of the incense and the architecture of the building rocking back and forth, although Koran is more beautiful than any music when it is recited with the correct pronunciations and the effect is even greater when we understand what the words of God mean.
To feel the true essence of Contact-Prayers we need to get ourselves in the right frame of mind and understand what we are saying and say it with conviction and meaning.
To offer Salaah and get the full benefits from it we have to have that Emaan and Yaqeen in our hearts.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Arvind: *
This is the intolerance I am referring to which exists in GS in a ratio of 10 to 1 with tolerant guppies. You Ahsti don't even have a decent word to refer tto a nom-muslim so you call me mushriq and claim that only you are near to God. Wow, what a claim!
And yes, Mufti Desai's statement that he is not aware of Kabeer sounds real hollow.
[/QUOTE]
I wasn’t referring particularly to you and I didn’t mean any insult by the word Mushriq, it simply means ‘Polytheist’.
I know from personal experience that true nearness to God is only felt when we single Him out for worship and worship Him directly instead of through intermediaries.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Desai really hasn’t heard of Kabeer, although the Deobandi and the Barelvi believe in saints and Sufism I don’t think they are particularly keen on Bhakti-Sufism.
Re: Re: Christian goes to Temple...How about Mosque
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ashti: *
The Mosque is not like the ‘God Channel’ where everyone is as though they are stoned on marijuana jumping up and down shouting “hallelujah praise the Lord!”
.
[/QUOTE]
Well played, sir. :)
In on efell swoop you pretty much denigrated hinduism, christianity, sikhism, etc.
Tell me how else is spirituality in Islam superior.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Ashti: *
I know from personal experience that true nearness to God is only felt when we single Him out for worship and worship Him directly instead of through intermediaries.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Desai really hasn’t heard of Kabeer, although the Deobandi and the Barelvi believe in saints and Sufism I don’t think they are particularly keen on Bhakti-Sufism.
[/QUOTE]
Nusrat Fateh Ali was a darling of unginat Hindus for his phenominal qawallis devoted to Pir Chisti of Ajmer. To hear Nusrat was to talk to God. It is your belief that God cannot be reached thru intermediaries and you are welcome to it. But that does not make it exclusive truth. That only tells me that you do not want to reach God thru intermediataries and nothing more. After all Allah (saw) did reveal himself thru Prophet, did he not?
I must agree with Matsui that you try to denigrate everone else's faith and pretend that your way is the only right way.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Arvind: *
This is the intolerance I am referring to which exists in GS in a ratio of 10 to 1 with tolerant guppies.
[/QUOTE]
Bullcrap... majority of the guppies dont even bother with the religious arguments. dont know where this 10 to 1 ratio comes from.
Yes Pir sahib,
10 to 1 ratio is bull-crap. It is probably worse than that. How do I guess it? I just count number of guppies who post in the Religion section (I didn't say any other section) and count how many believe stridently that their faith is the only that count. You go count them yourself.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mrpockets: *
Thanks for the replies. I'm sure it depends on the congregation and the Imam(correct usage?)
By the same token, I'd like to visit Pakistan, but, as both an American and a Christian, I'm afraid that I would have a target painted on my back!
pk taz, probably from the familiarity of it. It's like nothing smells quite like mother's or grandmother's kitchen. It's familiar and inviting - you feel you belong. It's comfort food for the soul - no matter what faith.
Well, Christians and Jews in my city helped raise money to refurbish a local mosque that needed help. Maybe I would be welcome...who knows?
When the schedule calms down in a few months, I'll have to give it a try!
Thanks all, for the input!
Peace To All Who Read This...
[/QUOTE]
Mr POckets, How lovely to see your intrest in Pakistan and Islam. I will tell you one thing, that there is a common misconcepting among foreigners that Pakistan has hords of muslim fundementalists roaming the streets armed to the teeth with AK-47's and RPG's ect... That is not true. In the city we live in (Islamabad) foreigners from the embassys are a common site in (Koshar Market) a beautiful market that caters to the foreigners providing Western Newspapers (Dailys, Weekley's) specialist stores that supply anything that you could get in wal-mart or Sainsburys. A furniture maker who was comissioned to make the furniture for the British Embassy and the White House, a replica of the chair and desk with the LOGO a picture of Bill Clinton receving the items is handing on the wall.
There are so many things people dont know about pakistan, we have the largest christmas tree in Asia since 2000 running (Lal-Kurti) boasts a large christian community who live peacefully side by side with their muslim neighbours. There is an amazing array of tower, spiar and conventional churches. The most famous is the Holy Mary Church in Lala-Zar.
I studied in a Christian convent by the name of Saint Marys Academy, and 40% of the school staff were white christian, most are still here, my best friend was a christian. "Haroon Yousaf", i remember that we use to have an american couple living next to us (Simon Rattle) who worked for the Pakistan Tabacco Corporation).
I invited some of my friends from London over to Pakistan in 2003, although i could understand why they were nervous that all disapared when they saw pakistan like it really is.
Generally the people of pakistan are very hospitiable and belive it or not once you make it clear to them what you want, will go out of their way to help you. Espically foreign women.
If you do wish to come to Pakistan, then please do contact me i would love to show you around the popular sites.
PLease dont believe what you see on tv. or read in the newspapers!
Like recently i heard from my cousin that the UK foreign Office advises Tourists in Pakistan to be careful of muggers and pickpockets.
Let me tell you in all the years i have been in Pakistan, i have never been mugges or robbed... However i was mugged 12 times in England and once in L.A. so much for safe democracy! Petty cime is really low, its organised crime and curruption that plauges pakistan.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Arvind: *
Yes Pir sahib,
10 to 1 ratio is bull-crap. It is probably worse than that. How do I guess it? I just count number of guppies who post in the Religion section (I didn't say any other section) and count how many believe stridently that their faith is the only that count. You go count them yourself.
[/QUOTE]
why dont you count the rest of the members who dont even want to deal with the whole flame bait and arguments and thus never post there. kills the whole 10-1 ratio thing. shabaash.
you said 10-1 in GS, not 10-1 in religion section only. so being specific may help. even in religion 10-1 is not true, some people may post a lot and you may not like their views but when one person posts 50 times, its not 50 individuals :)
WE are nitpicking here Pir sahib. OK so make it 10 to 1 post ratio. Khush?