So far, I’ve introduced the topic and talked a bit about belief in general. Now, at long last, let’s get into the Six Pillars of Belief.

First off, we believe in God, and belief in Him leads us to everything else.

Let me just dispel a myth right here at the start, above the fold, even: I’m sure some of you have heard something about a moon god. There is no such thing. Muslims do not worship the moon, we worship the Creator of the moon, the One who created the stars that went supernova, coalesced into the proto-planets and asteroid fields and comets and whatnot that smacked together and became the Earth and the moon, all by the will of God alone. We don’t worship the man in the moon either, we worship the Creator of all the people who look up at the moon, at the craters formed from asteroid impacts and other events that God decreed, and think that the result looks something like a face. The crescent symbol associated with us should not be confused with the Christian cross or the Crucifix: it’s is not an object of worship, nor is it associated in any with God Himself: it functions as a marker the passage of time; it reminds us that time keeps marching forward and we only have limited time here on Earth to worship and try to please God.

I doubt that explanation, or any of what follows will convince, especially if you are determined to reject Muslims, be it due to their skin color or cultural practices (if you actually know any Muslims), nor will it do anything for those of you who believe we’re all out to get you. Trust me, 1.3 billion people are not plotting anything. The Muslim community worldwide is way too geologically and culturally scattered to come together, much like the 1.5 billion Christians. My South Asian and Arab and Chinese neighbors and I can’t even plan a block party, much less plot anything nefarious.

But then, if your heart is closed and that determined to distrust, reject, fear, and hate us, you’re probably not reading this anyway, and may God bless you and soften your heart. Continue reading “Six Pillars: 1(a)”

For the next few weeks, God willing, I’ll be going through a sort of introduction to Islam, focused on the six pillars of belief. I’m basing all this (loosely) on Imam Nick Pelletier’s After Shahada Project classes at the Islamic Center of Irving, both to keep the information fresh in my head and heart, and to maybe give a few readers of this blog a different view into Islam than what they might usually get.

I planned to jump straight into the first pillar, but then I started writing. Before I knew it, I had enough words on belief in general to constitute a stand-alone post rather than the introduction it started out to be, so I guess I own an apology: what follows gets a bit rambling and probably goes too far and/or not far enough. If there’s any benefit in it, that benefit comes from God alone. All errors and omissions and oversteps are my own. Continue reading “Six Pillars – Belief, in general”