After more than a year of being Muslim, I've decided to start growing a beard.
I've tried this in the past, and the most I've let it grow out for was about 2 or 3 weeks (usually times where I was either in school or unemployed). My manager said that the company I work for does not have a policy on facial hair, so I've decided to start growing it out again.
It's been one week and so far it's coming in quite patchy. Most of the hair is along the jaw line, although it's starting to sprout out around the cheeks. The mustache is always the tough part; for some reason the little groove below my nose (don't know the technical name) is devoid of hair, so it looks a little weird.
Well, I'll keep you all updated on my progress. I'm also hoping this will add about 10 years to my apparent age.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Introduction - Part 3
OK, so where we last left off I was a freshman in college. A few years later I became frustrated with school, so I dropped out, moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking (my long-time dream and obsession), then worked there for awhile, decided I hated it, then moved back and applied to business school. Whew, that was a lot.
During my last year of college, the woman who was to later become my wife introduced me to Islam. I didn't really know much about it, despite doing a project about it in high school and taking a class called "Islamic Civilization" in college. Seriously, I still didn't know anything about it. I think that's the way we think about Islam in America; something to know about as a "culture" but not as a faith or way of life. In fact, go into any bookstore in the religion section; Islam is typically not grouped with Christianity and Judaism (as it ought to be), but instead with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other "eastern religions". Uh, excuse me, weren't Jesus (peace be upon him) and Moses (peace be upon him) born in the Middle East as well? In a used bookstore I even saw the Islam section way at the bottom next to the Witchcraft section. What?
Furthermore, I didn't know Muslims believed in Jesus, and that he was considered a prophet and not God incarnate. My wife's dad started giving me books to read, the first of which was about who Jesus really was and what he actually taught.
The interesting thing about that book was that most of the quotes were actually things Jesus said in the Bible. It's actually quite remarkable; everything he says in the Bible actually agrees with the teachings of Islam!
For example, Jesus never says that God is "three in one" as Christians believe, or that people can only be saved by his forgiveness of their sins. He clearly says that he prays to God, so does that mean he's praying to himself? In fact, the strongest passage that Christians use to support the Trinitarian doctrine ("there are three on earth: the Father, the son and the holy spirit) is actually a later addition. It was a note written in the margin by a scholar that later found its way into the main text!
It all started to make sense. Everything in Christianity that didn't make sense is explained in Islam. The more I read about this religion, the more and more I felt at peace. The humbleness of the daily prayer, the brotherhood and sisterhood, the beauty of the Words of the Qur'an; they all touched me and made me realize this is the truth.
Not to mention the food people brought to the mosque was always really good.
It was just before my college graduation that I officially converted to Islam after seriously studying it and visiting the mosque for about nine months. Shortly after that, I married my wife.
There have been a lot of trials along the way, and many things in my life I've had to change. I don't drink anymore (and I used to do that a lot), I don't eat pork anymore (if you're American you'll know that pork is in everything), and I pray five times a day (very hard to get used to). It's a new life, but it's a good life.
About nine months after we were married, my wife was offered a job in Boston, so we packed up the car and drove across the country. We now live on the East Coast (no accents yet) and we're blessed to have found a very strong Muslim community. With the blessings of Allah I managed to get a job after a month of being here and things are going pretty well, alhamdulilah (praise be to God).
I find that now in Boston my faith has grown stronger and I'm able to go to the mosque far more often than I did in Seattle (mostly because it's now a ten minute walk away instead of a twenty minute drive).
I hope this blog will allow you to experience what it's like to be a new Muslim in this country, and I hope to chronicle all the ups and downs, challenges and opportunities that I am sure to encounter along the way.
As we say in Islam, assalamu alaykum, or peace be upon you.
During my last year of college, the woman who was to later become my wife introduced me to Islam. I didn't really know much about it, despite doing a project about it in high school and taking a class called "Islamic Civilization" in college. Seriously, I still didn't know anything about it. I think that's the way we think about Islam in America; something to know about as a "culture" but not as a faith or way of life. In fact, go into any bookstore in the religion section; Islam is typically not grouped with Christianity and Judaism (as it ought to be), but instead with Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and other "eastern religions". Uh, excuse me, weren't Jesus (peace be upon him) and Moses (peace be upon him) born in the Middle East as well? In a used bookstore I even saw the Islam section way at the bottom next to the Witchcraft section. What?
Furthermore, I didn't know Muslims believed in Jesus, and that he was considered a prophet and not God incarnate. My wife's dad started giving me books to read, the first of which was about who Jesus really was and what he actually taught.
The interesting thing about that book was that most of the quotes were actually things Jesus said in the Bible. It's actually quite remarkable; everything he says in the Bible actually agrees with the teachings of Islam!
For example, Jesus never says that God is "three in one" as Christians believe, or that people can only be saved by his forgiveness of their sins. He clearly says that he prays to God, so does that mean he's praying to himself? In fact, the strongest passage that Christians use to support the Trinitarian doctrine ("there are three on earth: the Father, the son and the holy spirit) is actually a later addition. It was a note written in the margin by a scholar that later found its way into the main text!
It all started to make sense. Everything in Christianity that didn't make sense is explained in Islam. The more I read about this religion, the more and more I felt at peace. The humbleness of the daily prayer, the brotherhood and sisterhood, the beauty of the Words of the Qur'an; they all touched me and made me realize this is the truth.
Not to mention the food people brought to the mosque was always really good.
It was just before my college graduation that I officially converted to Islam after seriously studying it and visiting the mosque for about nine months. Shortly after that, I married my wife.
There have been a lot of trials along the way, and many things in my life I've had to change. I don't drink anymore (and I used to do that a lot), I don't eat pork anymore (if you're American you'll know that pork is in everything), and I pray five times a day (very hard to get used to). It's a new life, but it's a good life.
About nine months after we were married, my wife was offered a job in Boston, so we packed up the car and drove across the country. We now live on the East Coast (no accents yet) and we're blessed to have found a very strong Muslim community. With the blessings of Allah I managed to get a job after a month of being here and things are going pretty well, alhamdulilah (praise be to God).
I find that now in Boston my faith has grown stronger and I'm able to go to the mosque far more often than I did in Seattle (mostly because it's now a ten minute walk away instead of a twenty minute drive).
I hope this blog will allow you to experience what it's like to be a new Muslim in this country, and I hope to chronicle all the ups and downs, challenges and opportunities that I am sure to encounter along the way.
As we say in Islam, assalamu alaykum, or peace be upon you.
Introduction - Part Deux
Whereas I had seemingly left out God in the last year of high school, I actively sought to get Him back during my first year of college. Strange, I know, but I had a roommate who had the same idea. We met this Bible Study group while on campus and they invited us to church, as well as to some of their Bible studies.
Every week we would meet and talk about God and the Bible and about being a good Christian. However, my experience with this group was a lot different than it was during high school. These guys were really hardcore; often times we would sit with them individually, so there would be me and then two or three of them.
The meetings were usually pretty intense; on one occasion they asked me to write down every sin that I had committed. I refused to do that, so they asked me if I felt I was a good person or a bad person. Well, I thought I was a good person; but then they asked me if I had done bad things. Naturally, we all do bad things.
Well, apparently, things are very black and white with them. I told them that I was "kind of in the middle", although that didn't seem to fly too well. They told me that it was either heaven or hell, and with the way I was going, it was definitely hell for me. Only Jesus can provide salvation and forgive all of my sins.
I had accepted Jesus before, but I never really looked at things as being a completely black and white. Furthermore, how can Jesus forgive my sins when the Bible clearly teaches us in the Old Testament that a man cannot bear the inequities of the father? And how can God become a man and die?
This was a wake-up call and my faith was clearly called into question, so my friend and I did the one thing I felt would save us: we ran away as fast as possible from that Bible Study group. It was kind of awkward because we would always see them around campus, so it was always a challenge to avoid being seen. I kind of felt like a spy, sneaking around, hoping to never be caught off-guard. It wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't so persistent.
After some deeper thought I decided to divorce myself from Christianity, although I still retained my belief in God. The next few years were a bumpy ride.
Coming up…Islam calls me back
Every week we would meet and talk about God and the Bible and about being a good Christian. However, my experience with this group was a lot different than it was during high school. These guys were really hardcore; often times we would sit with them individually, so there would be me and then two or three of them.
The meetings were usually pretty intense; on one occasion they asked me to write down every sin that I had committed. I refused to do that, so they asked me if I felt I was a good person or a bad person. Well, I thought I was a good person; but then they asked me if I had done bad things. Naturally, we all do bad things.
Well, apparently, things are very black and white with them. I told them that I was "kind of in the middle", although that didn't seem to fly too well. They told me that it was either heaven or hell, and with the way I was going, it was definitely hell for me. Only Jesus can provide salvation and forgive all of my sins.
I had accepted Jesus before, but I never really looked at things as being a completely black and white. Furthermore, how can Jesus forgive my sins when the Bible clearly teaches us in the Old Testament that a man cannot bear the inequities of the father? And how can God become a man and die?
This was a wake-up call and my faith was clearly called into question, so my friend and I did the one thing I felt would save us: we ran away as fast as possible from that Bible Study group. It was kind of awkward because we would always see them around campus, so it was always a challenge to avoid being seen. I kind of felt like a spy, sneaking around, hoping to never be caught off-guard. It wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't so persistent.
After some deeper thought I decided to divorce myself from Christianity, although I still retained my belief in God. The next few years were a bumpy ride.
Coming up…Islam calls me back
Introduction - Part 1
My childhood was like any other childhood; I grew up in the suburbs of a booming tech town engulfed in the shadows of a company whose name begins in micro and ends in soft. It was no small town, but I'd say we lived a very normal American life. We went to Disneyland, ate Chinese food and went to the movies.
Growing up, we never went to church (OK, maybe once), although I can't remember a time where I didn’t believe in God. Despite not practicing any religion formally, I always possessed a belief in some higher power.
It was when I was in my first year of high school that some friends brought me to a Bible study. We would usually go over to someone's house and there would be someone reading some passages from the Bible. We would talk about the significance of these words in our daily lives and how we can strive to be better people. Then, after maybe an hour or so we would play some games or have social time. All in all, it was a good time, even if I don't remember learning too much about the Bible.
Eventually I started going to church; not just on Sundays, but on Wednesday nights as well. Wednesday night was "Youth Church", which was basically what happens when Pearl Jam meets Billy Graham. No, I'm not kidding.
For about the first hour or so there would be a lot of Christian music being played, usually live, and we'd all be singing along and "feeling the spirit". After the music, everyone is pretty fired up, so the pastor begins to call out to the "sinners" in the audience, and tells them to come down to the front so the Lord can heal them.
This is probably the first time I started to question what I was doing. I mean, usually this stuff was just plain embarrassing; I knew that I was a sinner and had problems, but I didn't want to get up in front of everyone. Furthermore, why did we need the pastor to get healed by God? Couldn't God just do it if we prayed to Him for forgiveness?
Nevertheless, this went on for a few years; more Bible studies and more Youth Churches. I eventually got used to it and it became part of my usual routine. During my senior year of high school I started to slack some more as the Bible Study group sort of disbanded, although I still went to Youth Church on occasion. I became more concerned with my social life than my relationship with God.
Coming up…the college years.
Growing up, we never went to church (OK, maybe once), although I can't remember a time where I didn’t believe in God. Despite not practicing any religion formally, I always possessed a belief in some higher power.
It was when I was in my first year of high school that some friends brought me to a Bible study. We would usually go over to someone's house and there would be someone reading some passages from the Bible. We would talk about the significance of these words in our daily lives and how we can strive to be better people. Then, after maybe an hour or so we would play some games or have social time. All in all, it was a good time, even if I don't remember learning too much about the Bible.
Eventually I started going to church; not just on Sundays, but on Wednesday nights as well. Wednesday night was "Youth Church", which was basically what happens when Pearl Jam meets Billy Graham. No, I'm not kidding.
For about the first hour or so there would be a lot of Christian music being played, usually live, and we'd all be singing along and "feeling the spirit". After the music, everyone is pretty fired up, so the pastor begins to call out to the "sinners" in the audience, and tells them to come down to the front so the Lord can heal them.
This is probably the first time I started to question what I was doing. I mean, usually this stuff was just plain embarrassing; I knew that I was a sinner and had problems, but I didn't want to get up in front of everyone. Furthermore, why did we need the pastor to get healed by God? Couldn't God just do it if we prayed to Him for forgiveness?
Nevertheless, this went on for a few years; more Bible studies and more Youth Churches. I eventually got used to it and it became part of my usual routine. During my senior year of high school I started to slack some more as the Bible Study group sort of disbanded, although I still went to Youth Church on occasion. I became more concerned with my social life than my relationship with God.
Coming up…the college years.
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