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10/09/2001 Entry: "Exploring the Islamic Faith"
The Universalist Unitarian Church of Arlington is having a series on "Exploring the Islamic Faith" on Mondays during October.
I went to this evening's lecture, and it was pretty strange to say the least. The main speaker, Dr Anwar Hajjaj gave a half hour long catechism-style question and answer sermon which seemed to alienate the audience more and more as time went on. It was pretty much downhill from the second sentence when he said that Allah had no wife.
There was a big section about relationship between the rich who need to give 2.5% of the money to the poor, who in turn should be careful not to be envious of the rich. Not exactly what the social justice folks wanted to hear, but then again, not so different from that Christian "meek'll inherit the world" party line.
There was also a big helping of "Muslim != Terrorist" which I don't think anyone present needed to be told, except for one oaf who asked "Do you, personally, believe the terrorists went to heaven or hell ?" during the question and answer session.
Speaking of the Q&A, that didn't go to well either, especially the questions that lead to answers about Islam not accepting evolution or abortion rights. All in all, I left the lecture with pretty much the same idea of Islam that I entered with - that they're pretty much Southern Baptists with a different holy book.
There was a second speaker who switched from Islam from Christianity. He spent most of his time talking about how great it was to pray five times a day, and how we should stop by the mosque and learn more about the Koran. He seemed sincere, but I doubt he picked up any converts.
I don't know if I'll bother going to the other lectures. Hopefully they will be more culturally-based. I guess I'll camp out in the back of the church for the next one, and if it looks like another theology lesson, I'll duck out. My parents don't need to worry about me coverting to Islam anytime soon !
