# 30 Days: My So Called Life as a Muslim **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465 "2005-06-30T03:07:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/21 "2005-06-30T20:02:56Z")
I liked the show (and I like the concept in general) but I was a little disappointed that they didn’t challenge some of Islam’s most misogynistic tenets. Further, it might have been nice had the history of Islam noted that Mohammed was actually a warlord who spread the faith via conquest and occupation. While I am on a rant here… The show dealing with 30 days of minimum wage should have spent some time on immigration and the deflationary affect it has on the minimum wage. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/22 "2005-06-30T20:05:03Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I liked the show (and I like the concept in general) but I was a little disappointed that they didn’t challenge some of Islam’s most misogynistic tenets. I thought of this as well. I think the host family was fairly liberal by Muslim standards for she both has a career and contradicted her husband in an argument in front of a male guest. I did like the explanation one imam gave him about separation of genders in prayer (basically “if you had 100 bowing women in front of you, could you concentrate on God?”) ---
**Author:** ![Menocchio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@Menocchio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Menocchio)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/23 "2005-06-30T20:43:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > They also don’t believe he rose from the dead, if I’m not mistaken. IIRC, they believe he never died. God yanked him up to heaven and replaced him with an illusion or something, and that was what the Romans crucified. This both gets around the big miracle of a man returning from the dead, and God rather nastily letting one of his prophets be killed so horribly. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/24 "2005-06-30T21:20:18Z")
Hmm. I was wrong: they believe in the Ascenscion but not the Crucifixion. Interesting. From Sura 4 (al-Nesi, or The Women) [link](http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch4.html) > [@](#): > > 1. [The People of the Book] have incurred divine displeasure). In that they broke their covenant; that they rejected the signs of Allah. that they slew the Messengers in defiance of right; that they said, “Our hearts are the wrappings (which preserve Allah.s Word; We need no more)”;- Nay, Allah hath set the seal on their hearts for their blasphemy, and little is it they believe;- > > 2. That they rejected Faith; that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge; > > 3. That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:- > > 4. Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;- > > 5. And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them. ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/25 "2005-06-30T21:29:20Z")
What I found interesting is the host family being put up as an example of American Muslims. How intimidating would that be?! I wouldn’t allow myself to be put in the position to be an example of anything. (“And here’s where the Jew goes and eats a Bacon Cheese Burger…again…”) But they came off great in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/26 "2005-06-30T21:44:50Z")
I didn’t see the show but- > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > I did think it was a little misleading in how it presented the Jewish view of the Messiah, and I also thought they could have gone into more detail about the commonalities of Abrahamic religions (they could have mentioned that Muslims believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, for instance) but I guess there’s only so much you can do in a one hour show. If we made a chart with all three, we’d see that Judaism and Islam have much more in common with each other than either has with Christianity. Re The Messiah Yep. The Jewish messiah will not be divine. He’ll be a great guy, descended from King David, gather the Jews together and drive our enemies from the promised land. He won’t rise from the dead, and dying without accomplishing the messianic chore list is conclusive proof that somebody was not the messiah. re Translation Translation of the Koran itself is forbidden. I can understand why Imams would be worried about translating a prayer. Should that prayer appear in the Koran, the prohibition applies and translation would be blasphemy. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/27 "2005-06-30T21:51:55Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Yep. The Jewish messiah will not be divine. He’ll be a great guy, descended from King David, gather the Jews together and drive our enemies from the promised land. He won’t rise from the dead, and dying without accomplishing the messianic chore list is conclusive proof that somebody was not the messiah. You just took three sentences to say what I said with countless posts, starting with page three of [Rick Santorum Has Never Read the Bible](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=317697&page=3) (post 109) Could I please ask you how I could have made my point sooner, if you have the time? My email address is in my profile. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/28 "2005-06-30T21:59:04Z")
Is it true that the prophecies predict the Messiah will be chosen on a Reality Show? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/29 "2005-06-30T22:09:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Is it true that the prophecies predict the Messiah will be chosen on a Reality Show? Not quite. But reality shows are useful for disqualifying candidates. Anybody who eats any non-kosher food (from live maggots, to roast stingray) in a bid to win is probably not the messiah. One prophecy says that the messiah will enter Jerusalem on a white bronco. I’ve gotten mixed answers as to whether a Ford Bronco would be okay. **Scott Plaid** Growing up, we were the only Jewish family for miles. I’ve been explaining differences like that since second grade. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/30 "2005-06-30T22:39:48Z")
My favorite part was the very end, as he was leaving. Host family husband: “Did he just flip me off??!!” Host family wife: “No, he gave you the peace sign, dude!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/31 "2005-07-01T02:40:42Z")
Well, let’s see what Morgan Spurlock has learned in his career as a documentarian. 1. He learned that McDonald’s is evil. 2. He learned that it’s hard living on the minimum wage, and the government should do a lot more for the poor. 3. He learned that Christians are idiots who unfairly demonize Islam. 4. Next week, he’s going to learn that gay people are wonderful, and Marines are stupid bigots. At SOME point, do you think he’s ever going to learn something, ANYTHING, that he doesn’t already believe with all his heart? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/32 "2005-07-01T02:44:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, let’s see what Morgan Spurlock has learned in his career as a documentarian. > > 1. He learned that McDonald’s is evil. Wrong. He never said that or implied it. Did you even see the movie? > [@](#): > > 1. He learned that it’s hard living on the minimum wage, and the government should do a lot more for the poor. Is that not true? > [@](#): > > 1. He learned that Christians are idiots who unfairly demonize Islam. Wrong. He never said that. Did you even watch the episode? > [@](#): > > 1. Next week, he’s going to learn that gay people are wonderful, and Marines are stupid bigots. Cite? Where are you getting this crap? > [@](#): > > At SOME point, do you think he’s ever going to learn something, ANYTHING, that he doesn’t already believe with all his heart? Why don’t you actually watch something and find out rather posting purely from your imagination. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/33 "2005-07-01T03:29:56Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Wrong. He never said that or implied it. Did you even see the movie? > > Is that not true? > > Wrong. He never said that. Did you even watch the episode? > > Cite? > > Where are you getting this crap? > > Why don’t you actually watch something and find out rather posting purely from your imagination. Diogenes, face reality: Morgan Spurlock is a likeable, funny, charming, even occasionally entertaining guy. Unfortunately, he’s a propagandist, and an utterly ham-fisted one at that. He NEVER makes a documentary without planning out ahead of time how it’s going to end and what the moral is going to be. If you couldn’t see EVERY 'twist" and turn, and EVERY ending to EVERYTHING he’s ever done a mile away, you’re not as intelligent as you think you are. If Stanley Kramer made documentaries instead of formulaic dramas, he’d be Morgan Spurlock. And if you’ve ever squirmed through a high-minded piece of well-meaning Stanley Kramer drama, you know that’s not praise. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/34 "2005-07-01T03:31:41Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > 1. He learned that Christians are idiots who unfairly demonize Islam. I can’t speak for the others as I haven’t seen them, and the gay-Marine episode hasn’t aired yet, but this most certainly is not he case for last night’s episode. The Christian was treated quite fairly- he wasn’t demonized or made to look an idiot (he’s in fact a successful and seemingly very nice, college educated guy whose wife is clearly biracial, thus taking away another stereotype) who, while uninformed about many aspects of Islam, was willing to study them and treat them with respect. I wouldn’t say he demonized the religion, though he had some questions as to their beliefs. He actually hugged and kissed (in Islamic style) the second imam he conversed with when he left, then returned home to resume his life as a devout Christian. Neither were all Muslims painted in glowing colors. There was discussion as to the role of Islam in terrorism (not particularly in depth, but then this isn’t a scholarly documentary) and the first imam the Christian conversed with was frankly not a very good teacher to the non-converted. It was surprisingly even handed for commercial television. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/35 "2005-07-01T05:02:52Z")
"Diogenes, face reality: " So… in other words, no, he didn’t watch the episode, and he’s rambling on clueless as to what he’s talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/36 "2005-07-01T05:36:01Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Diogenes, face reality: Morgan Spurlock is a likeable, funny, charming, even occasionally entertaining guy. Unfortunately, he’s a propagandist, and an utterly ham-fisted one at that. He NEVER makes a documentary without planning out ahead of time how it’s going to end and what the moral is going to be. > > If you couldn’t see EVERY 'twist" and turn, and EVERY ending to EVERYTHING he’s ever done a mile away, you’re not as intelligent as you think you are. > > If Stanley Kramer made documentaries instead of formulaic dramas, he’d be Morgan Spurlock. And if you’ve ever squirmed through a high-minded piece of well-meaning Stanley Kramer drama, you know that’s not praise. It may be that Spurlock has some specific expectations of where his experiments will lead, but that’s not what you asserted in your post. To say that Spurlock tried to portray McDonalds as “evil” is a misrepresentation of what he did in that film. To say that he portrayed “Christians as idiots who demonize Islam” is also a complete misrepresentation of that episode. The Christian subject of the episode ultimately came off as the probably the most likable person in the show. In fact, I thought his internal struggle with whether he should pray in the Mosque, rather than coming off as bigoted or mean, came off as genuine and sincere anxiety about whether he would be compromising his faith. The episode showed incidents of anti-Muslim prejudice, hostility and ignorance, but it didn’t tag those people as “Christians” and it IS a reality of post 9/11 life for American Muslims that they experience prejudice and suspicion. Your assertion that Spurlock will portray Marines as “stupid bigots” is completely off base. Taking a subject who self-identifies as anti-gay and who _happens to be_ a Marine is not even close to the same thing as smearing all Marines as bigots. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/37 "2005-07-01T08:16:01Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > re Translation > > Translation of the Koran itself is forbidden. I can understand why Imams would be worried about translating a prayer. Should that prayer appear in the Koran, the prohibition applies and translation would be blasphemy. The Qur’an is written in Arabic and is the word of god. To translate the Qur’an would be to alter gods word. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/38 "2005-07-01T08:37:03Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > The Qur’an is written in Arabic and is the word of god. To translate the Qur’an would be to alter gods word. Translating the Quran for learning purposes is okay but in prayer or when reciting the Quran, only uttering the original Arabic is acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![marymargaret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@marymargaret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marymargaret)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/39 "2005-07-01T17:40:37Z")
Are they going to re-run the first episode? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465/40 "2005-07-01T19:44:43Z")
Haven’t seen the episode in question, but I saw the first two and loved 'em. I definietely did an :eek: when the “Fountain of Youth” side effects started to roll in… As for the episode in the OP, I don’t understand why **Sampiro** is surprised. There’s always been a lot of ignorance in the US about Islam, and it’d be a trivial effort to go to any American city and find someone willing to spout their ignorance. What IMO is especially unfortunate is that the attacks of 9/11 have only served to magnify that ignorance, instead of reducing it. Please tell me there’s a DVD set of this series once it’s over… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-days-my-so-called-life-as-a-muslim/310465.md?page=3)