Lifestyle

Episode 18: Chat with Free Thinking Rani About Conversion, Dawah, and EXMNA

~ thesecularbrownie ~ Leave a comment

T-ouOHef

Check out the video below to tune in to my amazing conversation with “The Free Thinking Rani”.  We spoke about her conversion to Islam; the Dawah scam; Islam’s effects on her social/family life; path to apostasy/doubt; and finding a community in The Ex-Muslims of North America.  Enjoy! Click for more!

Choosing My Own Chains

~ thesecularbrownie ~ 4 Comments

 

The following is a guest contribution by “Hope.”

tumblr_lvi0ewXph01r0ug6x.jpg

Choosing My Own Chains

 

The Rhetoric

  • “The shackles of Ms. Clairol… you are a slave to the cosmetics industry… a prisoner of Hollywood’s concept of beauty… if you don’t’ fit their standards you are nothing!  Allah subhanawata’ala gives you freedom from all of that.”
  • “A woman is like a piece of candy – she must be covered to not let filth pollute her.”
  • “A man is like a stone, if you drop the stone in mud, you can wash it clean; however, a woman is like a piece of silk, if you drop it in mud it is forever soiled.”  
  • “Your husband is like your father except you bear children with him.”
  • “A woman needs “ta’deeb” (discipline) which is why Allah gave men the right to hit her, she is in her nature rebellious; therefore, the man who hits his wife honors her by keeping her “ala al sirat al mustaqueem” (on the righteous/straight path).

 

Yes, I was well versed in this rhetoric; it was instilled in me as a young girl.  I fell for it too. Click to keep reading!

Is Shaytan Truly Chained In Ramadan?

~ thesecularbrownie ~ 6 Comments

There is a famous hadith commonly quoted by Muslims on Ramadan.  The hadith goes as follows:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained.” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1899)

According to this Hadith, the devils are chained.  The devils are what causes evil desires and actions.  By this logic: [the Islamic version of] evil is chained.

5967_422531751188022_246585202_n.jpg

But is it really?

  • I lost faith in Islam during Ramadan of 2012 after a long period of doubt and critical examination.
  • Indonesian Police forces warn their local communities on rising crime rates (such as theft, prostitution and mugging) in Ramadan compared to the rest of the year. (Also try this article.)
  • Egypt has witnessed rising crime rates in Ramadan
  • Child trafficking increases in Yemen during Ramadan.
  • According to a study in Morocco, irritability increases in the month of Ramadan.

Click to keep reading!