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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board

MISSION #1: Dare
admin
05/28/02 at 15:24:46
As salaamu alaykum, Madina Citizen. Your mission this week, should you choose to accept it, is to divulge one fact about Islam to a non-Muslim stranger. (IRL=in real life) As always, should you, or any member of the Madina fail in your mision, the Madina will disavow all knowledge of your actions. This post will self-destruct in five seconds. (or be moved to the ARK soon)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
jannah
05/28/02 at 16:29:58
woohoo!!! i completed the first dare!! yesterday when we were shopping in jackson heights.. one of the women says to us, when we asked about looking for long sleeves, why do you have to cover your arms, we don't cover our arms!! (i think she thought it was a cultural thing among different desi peoples). so I said yes  we cover our arms!!!  that counts right??? umm maybe?? brkhalid?? ok i'll keep trying :( :)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Asim
05/28/02 at 23:39:12
Assalaamu alaikum, Hmm, if that counts then I had a very interesting encounter yesterday. I was sitting in the park reading a book (on psychology, go figure!) when these two guys approached me. One was a pastor of a local church and the other an intern, and they wanted to 'interview' me for a worldview class that he teaches. He had a form, asked me questions from it and wrote down the answers. What comes to mind when you hear these words: politically correct, ethics, truth, etc. There were other questions, including do you believe in god, how would you describe god, purpose of creation, how do you erase sins, do you believe in hell/heaven, how certain are you that you would go to heaven... After these he stopped reading the questions (i could see there were more, apparently my answers weren't going down well with him) and started to state the biblical view. God the planner, the executioner, the holy spirit, etc. Before this he also mentioned god has perfect attributes like mercy, justice, etc. I asked how do you reconcile the three entities into one, each having perfect attributes? Won't they conflict? Why not delegate responsibility to angels, prophets, etc? He beat around the bush for while, then changed the subject, jesus/god died for our sins, paid for our sins (this comment probably came because I mentioned that I was not 100% sure that I would go to heaven from the start). Umm, I told him that doesn't make any sense, you just mentioned god had perfect attributes and now you are saying there is no justice and mercy overrides all? Also, I told him, look around, do you think if there were no checks ppl would continue to be nice? No, noo, he went, but you have to be grateful to God for forgiving us and not break his laws. He gave some analogy that I poked holes in ... Then I mentioned about the Quran and the final word revealed by God. He said yeah, yeah, God had other revealations as well. I said how you know the biblical books state God's word? How do you reconcile the differences that exist in Quran and bible? He mentioned there were 300? prophesies about the messiah that came true, internal consistencies, miracles, and some other stuff. About consistency I told him there are well know inconsistencies in the biblical books (however, I didn't have any specifics). Okay I asked when were the books written. Old testament 1200 BC(something around 400BC I can't remember what that was) and 40 - 70 AD. I was like uh huh, how are you sure it hasn't changed or that ppl added material? He sighed and said you ask tough questions! and continued, I am not trying to convert you or anything, just disussing :) And from there we just talked about some generalities, how pastor intership works, what I do, current affairs, etc. Definitely an interesting encounter on a beautiful afternoon in the park :) Wasalaam.
05/28/02 at 23:40:48
Asim

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
BrKhalid
05/29/02 at 10:10:50
Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) [quote] that counts right???[/quote] Hmmm…the Secretary is a touch sceptical. I think more of a half than full credit methinks but definitely a good attempt. ;-) By the way the Mission is effectively enjoining good and forbidding evil and hence if you go out with that intention, then even if you fail inshaAllah you will still be rewarded ;-) Br Asim nice story ;-)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
eleanor
05/29/02 at 10:22:57
[slm] okay I was driving in the car with this girl, we had just met recently and it was the first time we were really getting to know each other. We were sharing details and we got to talking about Islam and religion generally. So I said that the best thing I find about Islam is that no matter what question you ask, there is always a good answer. And that that wasn't the case with christianity/judaism/hinduism etc. I told her I was talking with a guy who is hindu and when I asked him questions about his religion, there were no good answers, or simply no answers. So I told her Islam is complete, logical and makes sense, and all the horror stories you hear about women being subjugated or terrorism, have nothing to do with Islam in its original form. She said that she has no religion, that people are having wars only because of religion and that's why she rejects religion. (she believes in God). To which I answered people may be fighting over religion, but its not necessarily religion's fault.. Religion and especially Islam do not condone it. does that count? wasalaam eleanor

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
M.F.
05/29/02 at 11:13:56
Assalamu alaikum:) This one's so much easier for you all who live in non Muslim countries.  I don't think I'll ever get an opportunity to tell a Moroccan stranger about Islam. But.... I have to post in discussion forums for these online classes I'm taking.  Each forum is about a different topic. In the topic about environmental influences on communication, I mentioned the hadeeth about not building a house or wall that blocks the sun from your neighbors' homes. And in another forum about how to become transcultural, I spoke about Al Fitra.   So?  Am I in? :-*

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Kathy
06/01/02 at 19:26:58
[slm] My High school best friend called me for the first time in three years this week. She invited me for lunch. This is interesting because she had not called me since 9/11. In the last 10 years we have been twice a year friends- catching up and reminicing. but, because so many others have contacted me since this tragedy- i was perplexed to why I had not heard from her. Apparently the rush ;) of newspaper articles and TV appearances have been nagging her to call. So we talked. We talked a little bit about Islam and cleared up some misconceptions. She said she knew alot about Islam- which made me a little more clear of why she never asked me about Islam. It was weird stuff- I thought. Like she thought that I became Muslim to rebel. Rebel against what? She was afraid of my husband- after all she knew little about him. She wondered about my role- as I have "brought" 2 of "them" into this country. We talked a little about a lot of things.- Insha Allah we will talk alot more.  Baby steps....

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Insanna
06/02/02 at 19:02:14
[slm]I was recently registered for a class called communication among cultures which I dropped a few days ago.  However, for a group project, my group asked me a about mosques and imams and I explained to them that we have no priests and the idea of confession doesn't exist.  Only God can forgive our sins, not other human beings.  I also told them that imams only stand apart from the rest of Muslims because because they have more knowledge in religion that the average muslim person.  I think that this counts.  Salam

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
A_Stranger
06/02/02 at 19:53:38
[slm] , Hope you all are in the best of health and Imaan inshaAllah  :) So, I was sittin there, doin me geography homework..as you do  ;) and it was on volcanoes etc., and i was makin a point that some people don't move away from volcanic areas cuz they don't believe the scientists/geologists/volcanologists etc, cuz their religion clashes with science. And so I thought "hey! but Islam don't clash with science!". I thought i'd include that fact, so in brackets I put "(though here I'd like to point out that Islam is in fact entwined with science)" - or something to that effect. You see, I go to an Islamic school, alhamdulillah  ;D All the teachers are Muslim except my geography teacher, so I thought I'd do a bit of da'wah to her thru my homework!  ;D HOWEVER, there is a  slight problem. This was last year - *before* we were given this mission. So I don't think this counts (?) ..oh well  ::) ...if at first you don't succeed...try again! ;D With Peace A Stranger 8)   []

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Julie
06/02/02 at 20:56:59
This wasn't with strangers, but anyway... I was over at my friends' appartment working on a lab.  My two lab partners were making dinner (guess who was doing all the work ::)).  It turns out that the sausage they were making was halal, and they seemed to find it extremely funny that there was something on the package indicating that the meat had been slaughtered islamically. :(  I told them why it's important for Muslims to eat meat that's been killed in a certain way, etc., and they were just kind of like, "oh..."  Apparently the sausage was pretty good too. :-* Julie:)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
ascetic
06/02/02 at 21:13:24
A non-muslim posted on our internal Indians mailing list at work saying that he wanted to cook a lamb curry dish and the recipe told him to use Halal meat and he wanted to know where he could find this meat! I replied telling him what Halal meat was and included the following verse: “Forbidden to you (for food) are: dead meat, blood, the flesh of swine, and that on which hath been invoked the name of other than Allah; that which hath been killed by strangling, or by a violent blow, or by a headlong fall, or by being gored to death; that which hath been (partly) eaten by a wild animal; unless ye are able to slaughter it (in due form); that which is sacrificed on stone (altars); (forbidden) also is the division (of meat) by raffling with arrows: that is impiety…” (Qur’an 5:3) I also told him that he could go ahead and use supermarket meat and I also gave him the address of the place I get Halal meat from, if he still wanted to get Halal meat. I certainly hope that wasn't more information than he was looking for!

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
AyeshaZ
06/03/02 at 13:24:27
ASalamu Alykum, So I am taking this religion in Black America class this semester. And my prof is like this hardcore  protestant. We have been learning about  different sects of christianity and all. So , ofcourse Islam is mentioned a lot in my class and whenever it is mentioned he stares at me for atleast 35 secs and smiles. Anyways, so the first day of class he told us that during this semester we have to visit 2 places of worship. one can be our own and the other has to be something different. And than he looked at me and said and yeah I know that in some religions like Islam, one is FORBIDDEN to visit other places of worship  :o I cleared up things and said that i have been to many churches and synagogues. It made me wonder that this dude teaches an "Intro to Relgion" class in which Islam is being taught to students by him. So anyways, i have been clearing a lot of his misconceptions of Islam. And like friday I just metioned about this masjid close to our school and about the masjid that I attend and if anyone would like to visit it is more than welcome. I already got one guy who wants to visit.  :)
06/03/02 at 15:26:52
AyeshaZ

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
nouha
06/03/02 at 16:24:19
[slm] i had five encounter this week alone, but here are a few that happened: my roomate was asking me about men being able to have four wives and why women cant, so i answered by saying that a man can keep track of whos the mother of the child, while it'll be harder on the women tokeep track of the father also in times of war there are not many men left, so the population starts to fall, so more babies are needed, and i also said if a wife cant have a child, then a man can take on another wife, becuase in islam having children of your own is very beautiful. she also asked me the punishment of zina, and why only women are punished? i corrected her by saying that women are only punished in the mid east becuase its more of a cultural thing, if a man or women commited zina and they were single, then they get 80 lashes, and if they are married, they are stoned to death. pretty interesting topics me and my roomate had this week huh? lol, but i think this counts inshallah? wasalam nouha:)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Faiz
06/05/02 at 14:47:48
[slm] Insha'Allah, i will get married this December and i was sharing this with my boss at work. i am from India and most Indian communities have a dowry system wherein the bridegroom gets paid huge amounts of money and gold. so my boss jokingly asked me how much dowry i would be getting.  ::) i then told him that in Islam, the bridegroom has to pay money to the bride as an alimony. i explained to him the concept of marriage in Islam. (how it is a contract and how a girl can mention conditions in it etc.) i also explained to him that flashiness for men (especially silk clothes and gold) are abhorred in Islam and should be completely avoided. with the predominant anti-women image that non-muslims tend to have about Islam, all this info came as a surprise to him!!  :) hope this counts... wassalam....

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Barr
06/05/02 at 23:32:08
Assalamu'alaikum :-) I'm wondering... does the Dare extend to non-Muslim friends that we got? coz, like.. ermmm... the only strangers I talk to are the Cab drivers. And somehow, these cab drivers have been keeping quiet whenever I take the cab, ever since the "Dare". And.. erm.. I don't speak till spoken to.. I don't know... wouldn't wanna sound preachy... sooooo please.. can we extend it to Non-Muslim friends? Or can we extend the Dare for another week or 2?  :) Thanks! :-) wassalam

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
sadiqah44
06/07/02 at 11:23:55
:-)  Over the past 2 weeks or so,  I have been able to give 3 people 2 non-muslims and 1 learning muslim the books 'Understanding Islam' and 'A brief Illustrated guide to Understanding Islam'  also I have been talking about Islam to 1 of these people nearly everyday.  InshaAllah she may revert.
06/07/02 at 11:30:45
sadiqah44

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
princess
06/07/02 at 18:10:17
walikumas'salaam warahmatullah ;D well, although i hadn't initially taken part in this..i'd like to share something :) 1 of my cough*clients*cough, asked me for a copy of the qur'an cuz she wanted to look up something :) i told her to come next week, and i'll give her 1, inshAllah :) i asked her why, and she said cuz someone said something bad about muslims, and told her to go look it up..and so she's going to do that..lekin she wouldn't tell me what whomever said :'( anyhow..i dunno if this fits the bill..lekin i just wanted to share :)
06/07/02 at 18:12:48
princess

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Soulman
06/07/02 at 20:17:39
Asalaamu alaikum My story is from about 2 weeks ago, am I disqualified then?  :P I was chatting to a patient of mine from the scottish council. She said her job was to make sure that illigitimate children whose parents split up, get paid their schooling and pocket money. She can access government records and look up these runaway dads no matter where they were. She said she felt her job was disliked by the public and that she was unpopular with so many people because her `ept had the power to fine or even prosecute. I said that I thought that she had the best job out of all of us, she asked why. I said because she was protecting the rights of these vulnerable children whom nobody else would protect. The I launched my missile... I told her that her job originated in sharia - the holy law of Islam, which established the first comprehensive system for protection of orphans rights in society. She looked stunned, so I took her blood pressure - which suggested she was quite at peace with what I said - and let her go. I made a du'a for her and got back to work. One never knows. Wasalaam S. p.s. I'm trying to think of a nice footnote, but all of yours are too good.

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
flyboy_nz
06/08/02 at 08:07:27
Asalaamu alaykum, hats off to the mods who came up with this concept.. I have been away from Madinah waaay too long and this is definitely something I'll use in my TTC classes... but anyway this was about a week ago, I was attending a peace vigil in town..which consisted of 4 non-muslims and 4 muslims standing outside the public library on friday evening holding candles by a sign that said "Peace in Mid-East" Of the non-muslims, i think there were 3 Christians and a bhuddist..i started talkin to one of the christian guys, just general chat, building rapport (TTC tactic), I found out that he's got chronic fatigue syndrome, so I talked to him about things he could do to fill his day.. and suggested he could take some books from the library and read up on Islam.. he kinda went quiet so we continued with the general chat, until he asked what I did in my spare time and I mentioned the Train the TRainers classes for the youth and said that we had a growing muslim community- even more ppl accepting Islam after 911... and mentioned the revert bro as an example...we talked a bit about the local mosque, then we had to leave for Isha. ok, thats it... take care y'all, wasalaam,

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
seventhheaven
06/09/02 at 09:43:16
[quote author=M.F. link=board=special;num=1022613886;start=0#5 date=05/29/02 at 11:13:56] This one's so much easier for you all who live in non Muslim countries.  I don't think I'll ever get an opportunity to tell a Moroccan stranger about Islam.[/quote] My da'wah skills were never tested as much as when I went overseas to the country where I'm originally from. In the US and other non-Muslim countries, you see the sins and wrong deeds taking place right in front of you, but you think, what the heck, they're not Muslim and anyway what greater sin is there after shirk? But when you go to a country where the majority of the population is Muslim and you see all the wrong, wrong things everywhere, you can't walk right by and look the other way. They're Muslims, just like you, but they know nothing of their religion, and this is where your role comes in.
06/09/02 at 09:54:00
seventhheaven

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
nur-ul-aain
06/09/02 at 12:01:05
[slm] count me in..i had two opportunities Alhumdulillah to give dawah for the pleasure of Allah swt 1- i'm part of this email correspondant program which talks to ppl interested in Islam. So Alhumdulillah the Dawah opportunity arrives almost every day   :D 2- Following closely the Arab Israeli conflict and the Intifada news I'm part of this Media Center which posts information by Peace activists about what they're doing. Unforunately it's an open forum and ppl come to simply bash Islam and our Rasul (pbuh) at every given kpportunity. But I dont let it slide easily at all!! Subhan'Allah, they end up reading verses from the Quran and Hadith that would rock their world... so I say to br Khalid as moderator, bring on 'em truth and dares Insha'allah it should give us all an opp to "get up" and do something ;) Masalaama, Nur-ul-aain  :-)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
sofia
06/09/02 at 21:10:41
As-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah Masha'Allah, iA we'll all get some ideas from this thread.   I didn't think this particular encounter would count, but since others have mentioned "da'wah" experiences with their non-muslim colleagues/peers (rather than complete strangers), I'm in, insha'Allah. A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting at work that was about to start and my boss mentioned something about how the birds are relatively loud in her neck of the woods, and seem to wake her up at about 5am.  First of all, I thought, 'subhan'Allah, what an awesome alarm clock for fajr.'  Second thought was, 'hmmnn, that can't be, the birds chirp earlier than that (fajr starts at about 4:10 here),' and finally I thought, 'wait, da'wah opp!' Since everyone at work knows I'm Muslim and pray the 5, I mentioned:  "The birds start chirping right around when the morning prayer begins, usually by 4:30. At least where I am."   My boss: "Oh really, they (the birds) must be kinda slow where I am!" (my guess: she probably didn't notice they start to chirp earlier). So although the rest of the table just kind of looked at us like, "Huh, that's interesting (she has to get up that early!?)", I wished I could have continued on with that whole nature-worships-God-tip, but alas, the meeting had begun... Let's just hope they remember that the next time they're woken up by the birds at fajr time, insha'Allah. There's a time and place for everything, and there's certainly more time for da'wah in the west than we take advantage of!  May Allah help us all represent in the best manner, aameen.

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Road2Jannah
06/10/02 at 10:45:16
[slm] :-)'s and  ;-)'s I know its kind of late to post, but here goes. Yesterday my family, friends and I had a picnic at a park. We were there all day, did some Islamic lectures and stuff.   It was at like 6:30 every1 was getting ready to pray asr, and they started to pray, and all of a sudden I see Jewish people looking at them, on how they pray (I prayed already so that’s why I could see them). They didn’t take their eyes out of them. (One of them was blowing his nose and the ladies thought he was taking pics LOL. I thought that was very funny) anyway after the men finished, one of the guys went to get one of his kids, and his kid was where the Jews were at. SO I see him talking to them and doing the salat movement, I wanted to go over there sooooooo bad and talk to them. They were the religious kind of Jews. The women were covered some even had wigs. So then I’m looking at them talking to him, and I’m like burning out of the desire to go and talk to them. (I never talked to a Jew about Islam, so u can see why ;D ) well anyway, the guy later on leaves them. I decided to take the chance and go ahead and find a way to talk to them. So I got near them, and I see them talking to the Muslim kids. Which was great for me, bc I had a reason to go and talk to them; b4 I went to them they were talking about hijab so I was like great, cause they saw me covered and everything and the girls father was like " I think they are talking about your dressing" I was like " yah". SO then I just went up to the girl and spoke with her about everything.     I told her about our hijab, and Muhammad pbuh, and Jesus. (subhanallah they don’t know ANTHING about Islam, bc they r limited of using the internet of watching TV. so they have no source of knowing about it) I had fun talking to her; I even asked her about her own religion, I had a lot of Qs for her. They too have to lower the gaze, the men only I think. They cant touch the men, she even said when a boy reaches 9 they cant touch him. I asked them about the men why they have the hair thing, she was like some things we do we don’t have a reason (which was a lot, I don’t want to make it long mentioning them) and the interesting thing is, the Jewish men played with the Muslim men (for the sake of Dawa) I told them about how after sept 11th more then 34 thousand ppl converted to Islam, and her bro was like "WHY? ???" u guys know the answer to that :) but I felt that he was interested in it, and surprised about its outcomes and our similarities. In conclusion, It was very interesting, I learend alot and same for them. May Allah guide them if they are seeking the truth ameen. I hope this counts  :-*

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
BrKhalid
06/11/02 at 05:59:27
Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) Quick post just to let you know that you have until Friday midnight to complete Mission #1. ;-)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Aabidah
06/11/02 at 14:53:06
[slm] SubhanAllah since school has been out, I have not come across many non-Muslims who asked me about Islam or even my hijab.  During school however, my friends would ask me why I covered, how long I have to cover for, the different circumstances in which I have to cover and not have to cover, and similar questions.  I enjoyed talking to them about it, and Alhamdulillah they were understanding and I think it opened up their minds a little, Alhamdulillah.  I don't know if that counts, but like I said, after school closing, I haven't had many opportunities.  InshaAllah I'll have some chances in the future.   [wlm] Betul

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Muneerah134
06/14/02 at 12:14:18
:-) [slm] I am a board member of a Muslim women's not-for-profit in Philadelphia. We recently inaugurated a daw'ah project alhamdullilah and hope to reach many of the folks who come through our doors. I had the opportunity to talk with some women who came in this week. One woman had asked me why Muslims don't believe in Jesus Christ (AS) I was happy to hand her (and her companions) a pamphlet or two and let them know what we believe about the Prophet Eesa. It came as a surprise to all of them that we believe in the Day of Judgement. It was a great conversation and inshaAllah a positive experience for them. I pray they come back and we have the opportunity to talk again. Muneerah  8)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
AyeshaZ
06/17/02 at 13:44:01
Asalamu Alykum Wa rhamatuAllah, I know i already shared my dawah experience but this just happend to me an hour ago so gotta share it  :) So one of my ukhti's was standing talking to this girl who is hindu, she is a very honest and hardworking girl. We all enjoy her cute accent  ;D.. And she is going on about her life and i am  :-) and my ukhti is also  :-) and this bro walks by and he said  [slm] and we replied by saying  [wlm].. So the hindu girl got really quiet and she was like  :o.. So we asked what happened and she said i thought only desi's were Muslims but that guy was African American... we just couldn't help but smile and told her about the Muslims in Africa, and Afican American Muslims.. he he she was in awe... :)

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
Suha
06/18/02 at 11:15:05
[slm] oh no i guess im too late now  :'( :'( :'( :'( but my story took place a week ago so am i still in?? well i was talking to a nonmuslim collegestudent about what this life was for in general etc etc i remarked that he was quite interested in Islam so we leaded the discussion towards Islam. unfortunately he didnt have the right image of Islam (like most non-muslim and muslim "by name"  have). he taught Islam was a very traditional & stricted (especially for women) religion. so we talked and i explained him what Islam really was abt according to my view. Alhamdulillah he was impressed to know this, still he had some questions like how do peolpe know waht good and bad is. i told him briefly that a very important aspect of this is intention but to give him more ideas abt this topic i would like to ask you if anyone of u knows a good artikle abt this top? later on i saw a Christian friend of mine. first we talked abt this and that than suddenly i remembered this thread and i started asking her questions abt her religion. like why does she think Hadhrat Isa(Jesus) is the son of God etc etc. well for each question her answer was like its written in the Bible. after i explained her the way we muslims think abt the Truth  we had a lil discussion and then i left. those were my daremissions.....so do they count?? [wlm] suha :-* :-* :-*

Re: MISSION #1: Dare
mwishka
06/20/02 at 21:44:14
hmmm....let's see...i'm not muslim but a member of the community, so i guess i can recount my story here....   i often tell all kinds of people "stuff", and since most of the people i encounter are not muslim, most of those interactions fit in here.  however, i was so busy getting ready for my trip that i wasn't going anywhere but my lab and house and seeing no one new.  figured i'd just read other people's stories and see what the next dare was.... hee heeee that's not how it turned out, though, um, i think that was LAST friday at midnight bro khalid meant.. here are my encounters: 1. solid 1 1/2 hours being driven by a "hired" strange driver (?) from new paltz to newark NJ, correcting the most common errors everyone hears almost daily.  when this woman (who told me, though i could already tell, that she was italian catholic) got tired of not getting to say the last word, she'd switch suddenly to schools and her children and learning disabilities....   2. israeli woman sitting next to me on the plane, on the way over.  a very brief conversation just before we landed.  (the rest of the time i'd been talking with the brother sitting next to me who was in our group.  so she probably got a lot of that, too.  maybe i should list it as his madina dare...) 3. the christian couple who went with us (lutheran ex-chaplain, military, i think, and his wife).  they knew less about islam than i might have expected. 4.  two brothers in my group i had a long conversation with in one of the security lines still at newark - we had all just met each other.  (wait, does this count?)  i asked them, not meaning to be rude, but because i had come expecting, um more devout practice of dress than what i encountered in the group, about no beards and short sleeves.  so about three of us got into a discussion of that...  i heard the views about the beard and scarf not being in the quran, etc. (i know men are navel to knee, but that's not the extent of how i see muslim men i know dress - they cover throat to wrists and ankles, same as women.  is this unusual?) 5.  the israeli female security worker frisking me, and going through the stuff in my pockets, as they readied us to deport.  she was young, spoke not much english (hebrew).  i told her why i was with the group, my experiences with muslims, islam and god, etc. some non-strangers: 6. my friend who picked me up from the airport - a long discussion days before i left, israel experience told on the way back in the context of that earlier conversation...  she understood more what i was telling her because we'd already talked about islam and muslims. 7. my father, my mother, one of my brothers -- difficult conversations the night before i left.  all turned into conversations about islam, etc. 8. my friend who kept my cats.  she's jewish, is getting a little bit kind of shaky on how bad israel really is, EVEN hearing my story of our detention and deportation.  that's kind of scary..... 9. the people who run the little store on the corner of my street.  they knew i was going, gave me the name "the middle east kid".  they had already read the story in the paper when i went there today to buy copies for my family.  i had only talked to them briefly before i went.  this went from islam to palestine and back - more about human rights than just islam.... 10. people i don't know and didn't see, who were in the deli my jordanian friends own in poughkeepsie when i called to talk with my friend muhannad and only reached his brother fadi.  this was almost all about palestine, but he was saying things out loud about how people hear muslim and react and have wrong ideas.  (this might be fadi's madina dare, not mine......  does it count to have people carry out the dare WITH us, even though that isn't their intent??  hee heeee0 that's all i can remember...... oh yeah.. 11.  the woman in the other convenience store i had to go to to buy troy papers.  she asked just a little about going with a muslim group... and.. 12.  the reporter i talked to at the troy paper.  i included in my account why i chose to go with a muslim group, how gentle and kind most muslims i meet are, i went on about how good my experiences meeting muslims have been (nassiba began blushing had to look away.  the reporter commented "you're embarrassing her...")  how islam matches quite well with my own belief system of equality, dignity, human decency, etc. etc. etc.      does nassiba helping him to see hijab as "normal" count, too?  (another dare for a non-madinan??) 13.  the guy in the sandwich shop where we ate after the interview, who listened to a lot of what we were talking about, about islam, palestine, etc. ok, now i think that's REALLY all i can remember, because i'm not going to count the 6 people in my lab i spoke to when i got back..... mwishka
06/20/02 at 21:49:42
mwishka
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