I just finished reading a book about Gandhi and his years in South Africa before he went to India as the Mahatma. Gandhi was a middle class lawyer in India before he went to South Africa, and then stuff happened. He gradually changed. It came from his breath of reading and from all the different people he met and befriended. He was a Hindu, but found friendship among people of other ethnicities and religions. I think this is how we grow. Read beyond books that simply support your present views. Meet people from backgrounds not your own. This can expand you. The Pope says we Catholics are supposed to be doing this. It counters prejudice and narrow-minded thinking. I recently heard a priest say the problem is not ISIS. It is Muslims. It is Islam. He has no Muslim friends nor reads much at all outside of his comfort zone of pious Catholic books. Education and indoctrination are two different entities. I am not sure I have much of either, but I do have interesting friends who challenge my notions. How about you?
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Hi Fr. One of my best friends is an Iranian man who identifies as a Muslim but does not practice his Islamic faith nor cares to talk or learn much about his faith, he's sorta more secular rather then religious. But anyway, a few months ago i decided to take it upon myself (with the help of others) to learn about Islam and try to become educated on the religion, an attempt to understand the Islamic religion, what is Islam and what does it teach and why. I decided to read all the foundational writings within the the religion itself. I read the Koran (Allah's teachings to Muhammad), the 10 major collection of the Hadiths (Muhammad's sayings and actions- The Hadiths are second only to the Koran in Authority to must Muslims), and I read a couple Sira's (biographies) including the earliest in history by Ibn Ishaq, Islamic scholar and historian 8th century AD. In addition to the above classical writings i also read many classical Islamic scholars views and interpretations on the Koran and the Hadiths, and i study many historical accounts of islamic history. Without saying, this has taken many hours of reading and much dedication, but is something i felt i must do to understand the Islamic religion which makes the news so much and has everyone saying this or saying that about it. Well, I am soooo happy i took the time to read and learn!!!! I am shock about what i have came to understand and what i have learned about what Islam is and believes!
ReplyDeleteFr. Terry, have you read the books i mentioned above (Koran, Hadiths, and Sira's...)?
Please reply Fr., I really want to know if you have read any of these books, Islam's must important books?
Everyone needs to read these books!