VISIT WITH FRIEND
1. Islam is one of the worlds largest three religions. Islam and it's followers known as Mulsims follow the teachings of the Koran as written by Muhammed their prophet and worship Allah their God. Muhammed was born around 570 A.D. and after his marriage and his angelic visit he proclaimed his writings and what he had learned and the religions started from their.
2. Two Fridays ago I attempted to visit the Chino Mosque however when I arrived one of the gates was closed and the parking lot was empty. So I waited a little longer and still no one was there. So I decided to park my car and walk around the place to see if anyone was there. I noticed there seemed to be a construction fence around what looked like to be the main building. I walked up into what was like a center quad the only place I could go and tried all the doors to my dismay they were locked, so I tried to walk around the building to find the main entrance and discovered the fence was blocking off the main entrance so I looked inside to see if I can see why it was fenced off and it looked like the place had caught fire in the past as I saw black marks all over the inside of the building. So I walked around a little more to see if I can find anyone there and eventually left to my dismay. Since this was the only time I was able to go to a Mosque I resorted to finding someone who was a Muslim and interview them. So I remembered one of my old partners at American Medical Response was Muslim and I decided to drive over there and see what shift he was working. He happened to be working that day so I waited for his shift to get off and asked if he wanted to go to lunch and if I could talk to him about his religion. So we did. He first talked to me about Muhammed and Allah and said that his understanding was that Allah and my God (Christian) where the same God and that the major differences is that he believes that Jesus was merely a prophet along with Muhammed and shared with me the fact that Jesus even mentioned Muhammeds coming in the New Testament. He told me that he believes that the Christian Bible was flawed by mankind and that is is errant where the Koran was divinely inspired and written by Muhammed after being visited by the Angel. He said that the Koran was inherrant. I asked him what being a prophet meant and he said basically someone sent by God that doesn't lie. So I asked him that if Jesus was a prophet how could he have lied when he stated he was the son of God. He told me that is a common mistake that Jesus probably never said that and that is just Christians who added that to the Bible. When I asked about the grave he told me they beleived that the disciples moved the body and it was merely a cover up situation. He did say that they give credit though to Jesus for the teachings he taught and that he was respected. However, he said their religion mainly focused on Muhammeds teachings and the Five Pillars of Islam. He told me the basics about praying five times a day and once in their life if they are able they must pilgramage to Mecca. So I then asked him about how he feels about Israel and Palestine and he felt that Israel was to blame and that the Palestinians just wanted their land. I said well doesn't Israel feel the same way and it seemed we both agreed to disagree about that whether God gave who what permission. So I then asked what was it with the term Jihad is it a common mistake used or a true representation. He told me it's basically if they feel that their faith is being challenged or felt that they are going to be forced into conversion they have the right to kill that person and that is a personal Jihad. Where in the other term it is when they feel nationally they are being persecuted that would be a Jihad in the way we know it. He said he disagrees with the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and saying it is an improper Jihad and that most muslims in America feel that way. I asked him if it was similar to what the Catholics did and he said similar but more in a defensive way. He then told me about the month of Ramadan and the fact that they can't eat pork year around and that it is an unclean meat. He said that he is somewhat on the liberal side of the Ramadan thing but he mostly tries his hardest to follow it. He said he believes in only having one wife and that adultery is wrong and he feels Christianity and Islam have a lot of similarities in it's ethical code and moral stance and that the two are commonly mistakingly at each others throats for things it shouldn't be. I asked if they believe in Heaven and he said yes and that their is a Devil figure in their religion as well. He told me the name but I can't remember it right now. After that he had to go so we wrapped up our lunch.
3. I definately had a good experience. I think I learned more from him then I would have from just visiting a service as well and I got an even deeper personal insight on how deep their religion goes for them similar to us in Christianity. I am glad I had the opportunity to get to know him better and get another side of the story besides what the news tells us.