Muslims are not allowed to drink alcohol. yes. The reason being that men do stupid things when impaired. Gambling is forbidden for obvious reasons as is usury and eating pork. There are very practical reasons for all these things and i’m sure you can find lots of information on this on the web.
I know this is going to come off as snarky, but I don’t mean it that way.
What are the ‘obvious reasons’ for banning pork?
You’ve made me late for class! Now I hate America/freedom/Liberty/shortshorts even more!
I have to run, i’ll answer more questions after I get back. (ps: I got an A on my first Calc II test! huzzah!)
This one has been bugging me for some time: Why does the SDMB attract so few Muslims? Our previous Most Prominent Muslim Man could come up with many reasons but since they were mostly based on his preconceptions of the attitudes of non-Muslim Americans and his never-ending attempts to force-fit people’s responses into those preconceptions it was not a happy relationship.
And now I hate YOU even more! 
In fact, I’m getting pretty sick of ALL of the good students on this board. :mad:
Disclaimer: The stuff below may seem confrontational, it’s not. Just trying to be engaging.
My first post was worded broadly: ‘altered states of consciousness’. So, does the ban apply to only alcohol or to all intoxicants? If I remember my history right, opium wasn’t illegal in Iran till mid-50s. Is tobacco considered an intoxicant? What’s the status of pot?
People may do stupid things on alcohol. 10% of the heaviest users buy 50%+ of alcohol (20% -> around 75%). So, aren’t these dictates punishing those who may not need to be?
The 1960s and 70s were dark days for the world. During these times, Morocco almost single-handedly kept the world hash market alive. Sure there was some red Lebanese about (and Colombian) but Morocco took the lions share. This was before the days of hydroponics and homegrown etc. Does your heart swell with pride when you think of such things (mine would)?
Oh and what are your thoughts on al Qaeda (and specifically the bomb in Casablanca)?
Have you experienced any hostility or rudeness from other Americans who knew (or guessed) your religious heritage?
I’m guessing the reason for pork being forbidden to Jews and Muslims had to do with, back in the day, porkworm. If it wasn’t cooked properly, or thoroughly, people could become deathly ill, or so I’ve heard.
recurriman I am not sure I really understand the purpose of the op. The op says “Ask a muslim man” and then you appear to confess that you have not read the Koran and thereby perhaps implying that you have very limited knowledge of Islam. Also, you come across as a typical and normal adult with liberal ideas.
So what is the status that you are trying to project when you are inviting questions to a “muslim”? Is it an effort at letting people know that “muslims” can also be liberal and engage in typically “non-muslim” activities like getting intoxicated and homosexuality?
As far as I can see, your answers, at least until now, have been no different than what would have been given by a non-muslim! I am sorry, but I do not understand the purpose of the op, and why you have specifically mentioned “ask the muslim”.
*Guin, what the heck is ‘porkworm’? *
recurriman, I’ve copied my post from the ‘Ask a moslim woman’ thread and added one of Rune’s questions.
What do you think of the Fatwa on Salman Rushdie, and the killing of Theo van Gogh and other such Islamic religious killings?
In case you don’t know who Theo van Gogh was either:
Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker/columnist. He was slaughtered for his criticism of Islam.
A summary:
A public prosecutor told a high-security court in Amsterdam on Wednesday that terrorism is now a reality in the Netherlands. The murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, he said, was a catalyst to drive a wedge between different sections of Dutch society.
Prosecutor Frits van Straelen said letters left behind by the suspected killer Mohammed B. (*) and electronic surveillance pointed to a link between him and 11 other Muslim men who are in custody on terrorist charges. Their cases are being kept separate from the Van Gogh murder trial.
But it was clear, he said, that a small number of Muslim men had decided to take the “fatal path” of terrorising society
B., 26, with Dutch and Moroccan nationality, is charged with murdering Van Gogh, attempting to kill several police officers and bystanders “with a terrorist aim” on 2 November 2004 . He is also charged with possession of a gun and knives during the incident.
He is further charged with hindering the work of parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who went into hiding as a result of threats to her life made in a letter left pinned to Van Gogh’s body. Van Straelen said the murder was in part designed as a warning to Hirsi Ali, a vocal critic of aspects of Islam.
Hirsi Ali and Van Gogh worked together on the short film Submission, which suggested Islam tolerates and in some cases supports domestic violence against women.
He described how Van Gogh was cycling from his house to his production company when he was intercepted by his killer outside the municipal building on the Linnaeusstraat in the east of Amsterdam shortly before 9am on 2 November last year.
The attacker shot four times before Van Gogh fell or jumped off his bicycle. Van Gogh ran across the road with the killer in pursuit, again firing his weapon.
Van Straelen said van Gogh fell on the bicycle path and pleaded for mercy, asking the man to stop shooting.
Witnesses described how the man shot Van Gogh again from a distance of about half a metre. He then produced a large knife and cut Van Gogh’s throat before plunging the knife into his chest. He then took a smaller knife from a bag he was carrying and used it to pin a letter to Van Gogh’s body.
Van Straelen said witness described how the killer calmly reloaded his weapon before walking towards the public park Oosterpark. A short time later he fired on police and bystanders. He was shot in the leg and arrested.
One of the major issues to be clarified was whether B. acted alone or whether others helped in the murder.
Van Straelen said witnesses statements gave rise to the suspicion that others were involved. Some witnesses had come forward to say they saw other men in the vicinity of the Linnaeusstraat or near Van Gogh’s home prior to the killing.
One witness claimed to have seen B. talking to two other men in a market shortly before the murder.
(*)[We don’t give last names in order to protect a criminal’s privacy. :rolleyes:
His name is Mohammed Bouyeri though]
It’s the parasite that causes trichinellosis.
I imagine she’s referring to trichinosis ( or more remotely, Balantidium coli ).
Wisernow - Actually I’m not sure what you are looking for. Muslims come in all stripes and types. No reason we should get our information purely from a Salafist point of view, is there? 
- Tamerlane
While I basically agree with Tamerlane’s sentiment about the diversity of muslims, I must say I also thought the OP was something of a puzzle…
And while I like a challenging puzzle, I also wonder why the OP would be in Great Debates. What is there to debate? :dubious:
The only thing required of you to be a muslim is to say (and mean) the shahada. If you believe that there is no god but God and that muhammad is his prophet, you’re a muslim.
As a muslim, there is only me and the qur’an. I interpret it the way I want. I can also look to the Hadith (a compilation of discussions with muhammad where he gives his thoughts, advice, etc.) but even that is not required. It is recommended I go to the mosque on fridays but i don’t need to. I can go to some imam and ask him for advice but I don’t need to either. I won’t go into my opinion of ayatollahs and their fatwas (isn’t that a shiite thing?) but i’m sure you can guess what it is.
It’s a complement to this thread:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=298696
Perhaps they should both be in IMHO, like the old “Ask the Muslim Guy” threads, but I’m no moderator and religious threads often end up in GD in general ( remember this is the place for witnessing and debates often break out over religion ). A grey area, I’d say.
- Tamerlane
1- no.
2- Yes, absolutely.
3- Maybe a tiny little bit but they only want my wife to make me happy and take good care of me. It would never cause any kind of friction. They would however be EXTREMELY upset if my children were not muslim (and so would I).
Jojo bought this up in the other thread, but what do you think about the contents of this site?
Do you think people should report freely on these discoveries, even if they are non-muslim?
What do you think the effect would be on Muslims at large if it was shown the Qu’ran (sp?) has not been perfectly coppied from the time of Muhammed to the modern era?
1- No. However, if she elects to become a wife, she should be a good wife. If she elects to be a mother, she should be a good mother. The same goes for men.
2- Nope.
3- Absolutely. It’s hard enough to find a “soulmate” as it is, why lessen the choices? I’m also strongly in favorofo inter-ethnic and international marriages.
4- I disagree. I abhorr the burqa and don’t like the hijab. Men and women were supposed to dress modestly to make it easier for each other to resist carnal temptations. In this era of globalization, such an effort is largely futile. But if a woman choses to, it’s her business. I just won’t marry her.
My mistake. I should have said ‘practical’ reasons. The obvious applied to alcohol, usury and gambling. Someone else explained the deal with not eating pork earlier in the thread.