I’m feeling very done-over at the moment dear readers.  I’m usually a pretty optimistic, glass-half-full, happy type of a person, but a run of events in my life at the moment has me feeling pretty grouchy. 

A few months ago I made a pitch to a certain editor at a certain newspaper that I write for, that what it needed was a religion blog.  I described the type of content I would write, what type of topics I would cover, why Melbourne readers would be interested in such a blog etc. and I thought it was a pretty Good Idea at the time. 

I didn’t hear from them on the pitch but lo and behold, guess which newspaper now has a religion blog! I guess I can understand them giving it to their regular staff religion writer, but I think as a woman, a convert from one minority religion to another, and a religious academic I would have had something interesting to offer.  *Sigh* c’est la vie.

I’m having work hassles too, which I am not going to write about too much here, given that the problem of bloggers writing about their work (particularly police and medical blogs) seems to get people’s knickers in a twist, but let’s just say at the moment I’m getting mixed messages about my work to say the least.  I’m even tracking all the work I do at Toggl “just in case”.

What else can I rant about?  I’ve got my period so I can’t even go and pray a few rak’at to clear my mind and even though I can make regular du’a - it’s just not the same.  BLEEEECCCHHHHHHHHH world!!!!

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Well, we at the Umm and Abu Yasmin household are trying to become better global citizens and have been inspired by various environmentally-conscious efforts such as No-Impact Man, the Compact, Freecyle, and more.

I confess, we (well…. I) don’t think toooooo much about the environmental impact of the “stuff” we buy.  A while back we finally decided to get rid of a table that was so wobbly it was in danger of collapsing at any moment, so as I was brushing my teeth I contemplated a trip to Ikea to get a new table.  But then, I thought, “hang on, what about this trying not to buy any new stuff” business, and so I’m going to track down a second-hand table thru Freecycle or at a second-hand shop.

We are also going to go pretty much vegetarian.  For a long time now I have struggled with the meat issue.  See, meat at “halal” butchers where I live is treated in the same unethical manner that meat at normal butchers are treated (caged chickens etc.) and so I don’t feel ethically good about buying meat from “halal” butchers. 

But meat from organic butchers is not slaughtered in the Islamic manner, and whilst there is a Maliki permission to buy meat from a butcher that is Christian or Jewish, I’d prefer to eat dhabiha meat, and cross-contamination with pork products is highly likely at organic butchers (eg. when salespeople handle pork products and non-pork products with the same gloves, on the same benches etc.).

So, rather than sit on the fence, after chatting with some fellow Muslims that feel like me, I’ve decided to be inspired by their example and move to a mostly organic vegetarian / fish based diet.  So I’ve been trawling the website for good Vegie recipes. 

Speaking of recipes, Abu Yasmin created this VERY nifty website called Nassles that allows me to put in recipes, meal-plan and create shopping lists.  So do check it out, it’s very handy.

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I know I have many Christian readers, and normally I am someone who avoids the whole apologetic thing, because authors like Deedat make me cringe. They don’t have any real conception about what Christianity is, and how Christians are.

But dear Christian readers, just bear with me for this post. I am a Muslim, and it is true that Muslims believe many things that Christians believe, but it is also true that we believe things that Christians do not believe. I would be silly to try and pretend this is not so.

So, if you can keep an open mind, with the possibility that you may just find out something about the Messiah that has been kept from you… something that Jesus, peace be upon him, would want you to know!

If you knew of a book that introduced you to:

* what Jesus taught
* why Jesus was and is Muslim
* why you should follow the teachings of Jesus and become Muslim too!

Brandon Yusuf Toropov is a convert and has written simply the best apologetic book I have ever read.

He points out how the oldest Gospel material (named Q by non-Muslim Biblical scholars) actually confirms what Islam teaches about Jesus: that Jesus taught we should only worship the one God; that Jesus rejected any attempt to consider him divine; that Jesus taught the path to salvation is not the substitutionary atonement, but rather to do the will of God.

I have bought six copies so I can give them to people. You can actually download the eBook for free here.

If it’s all wrong, it doesn’t matter. But, if it’s true, shouldn’t you take a moment to consider?

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Recently I attended the Jewish Christian Muslim Association’s Women’s Retreat.  Margaret Coffee from Radio National was there, and her piece on our retreat was just featured on Encounter.  You can listen here, and read the transcript here.

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I know I have many Christian readers, and normally I am someone who avoids the whole apologetic thing, because authors like Deedat make me cringe. They don’t have any real conception about what Christianity is, and how Christians are.

But dear Christian readers, just bear with me for this post. I am a Muslim, and it is true that Muslims believe many things that Christians believe, but it is also true that we believe things that Christians do not believe. I would be silly to try and pretend this is not so.

So, if you can keep an open mind, with the possibility that you may just find out something about the Messiah that has been kept from you… something that Jesus, peace be upon him, would want you to know!

If you knew of a book that introduced you to:

* what Jesus taught
* why Jesus was and is Muslim
* why you should follow the teachings of Jesus and become Muslim too!

Brandon Yusuf Toropov is a convert and has written simply the best apologetic book I have ever read.

He points out how the oldest Gospel material (named Q by non-Muslim Biblical scholars) actually confirms what Islam teaches about Jesus: that Jesus taught we should only worship the one God; that Jesus rejected any attempt to consider him divine; that Jesus taught the path to salvation is not the substitutionary atonement, but rather to do the will of God.

I have bought six copies so I can give them to people. You can actually download the eBook for free here.

If it’s all wrong, it doesn’t matter. But, if it’s true, shouldn’t you take a moment to consider?

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