A Letter from American Muslim

    My advise to you:

    Dear female friend,

    As'salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatuh (God's peace, blessings and mercy be upon
    you). I am a 24 year old young Muslim man who had been living happily in the United States of
    America since July of 1988.

    I came to the U.S. when I was 13 years old, and I have learned quite alot from the American culture.
    Being raised for 13 years in the Middle East and almost 11 years in the United States, I consider it a
    big blessing from Allah Almighty (God Almighty) to be able to compare the two cultures that I lived in
    and be able to point out the good and the bad from both.

    Problems:

    My dear female friend, there are few things that I personally lived and saw here in the U.S. that
    violate the laws of God Almighty and promote a Satanic atmosphere. The following are what I have
    noticed from living in the U.S throughout my High School years, College years and in the
    Corporate world:

    1- Physical appearance is almost the most important thing people worry about.

    2- Sexual openness plays a major role in the people's way of life.

    For the first point, I do agree 100% that physical appearance is very important. When someone has a
    beautiful body, he/she sure looks very attractive. However, among the women population, this point
    had gone way too far. Women today in the U.S. seem to be more respected and think they would be
    more attractive to men if they have bigger breasts and thiner legs. The shorter the skirt or dress is, the
    more of the legs will show off, and therefore the more sexier and beautiful the woman will look, which
    makes her think that she would gain more respect and self confidence from that.

    My dear sister, this is absolutely wrong !. Muslim women seek their self worth and respect by taking a
    totally different approach. Muslim women believe (according to the laws of Islam) that the more
    covered the woman's body is, the less Sexually Intemidating they become for men, which would
    actually give them more respect from men and other women. Women in Islam gain their self worth
    and respect from others by their intellegence and high class, and not by their big breast sizes and thin
    legs.

    According to Islam, when a woman shows off an inappropriate portion of her body, she becomes
    satanic, because she would raise satanic thoughts among people in the society. If you look at the world
    today, you would see that the highest percentage of rapes that take place, take place in western
    societies. The reason for that is because all men think about in the west is sex. The reason why men
    always think about sex in the West is because women in the west are the main cause !. Women in the
    west dress in a satanic way, which effects men's behaviors and thinking process and leads them to
    gradually lose their self confidence, and self worth, because all they think about is girls and sex, and
    they do not always get what they want which leads them to forcibly acheive their sexual desires by
    raping a woman.

    Also according to Islam, women are not supposed to cover all the way as they are forced to in
    Afanistan and other fundamentalist Islamic countries. The Holy Quran orders women to cover up, but
    only the portion that would cover their bosoms. I always hear from American Femisnt women
    critisism about my religion by saying that Islam oppresses women and doesn't give them liberty. My
    friend, Islam does not oppress women in anyway. It is quite unfortunate that Muslims mix culture with
    religion in many Islamic countries today. For instance, arranged marraiges in the Muslim countries are
    cultural practice and not part of Islam. When outsiders see that practice being practiced by Muslims,
    they think that it is Islam that promotes arranged marraiges.

    For the second point, sexual openness among families in the U.S is what I find most confusing. We
    hear all the time in talk shows about parents complaining about their daughters losing their virginity, or
    mother's boyfriends sleep with their daughters, or sisters fighting over the same guy, etc...

    Have you ever asked yourself why this corruption seems to be part of almost every American citizen's
    life? My friend, the answer is very simple. It is the sexual openness in the society that created all of
    that. When kids in Grade Schools and High Schools have boy friends and girl friends, what would
    you expect from them to do? What do you expect from a 13 year old young boy who has a 13 year
    old girlfriend? Of course he would want to sleep with her.

    So the corruption is not just from parents alone who allow their kids to freely and openly to have
    boyfriends and girlfriends, but it is also from the schooling system itself which allows (1) gender mix in
    schools; (2) students can wear any cloths they desire (no standard uniforms); and (3) kids can drive at
    the age of 16, which promotes early dating.
 
    Speaking of dating, I find it very amazing when I see parents allow their kids to go on dates. If you
    fear for your daughter to lose her virginity and possibly get pregnant at a young age, then why on earth
    would you allow her to go on a date and take that chance?

    Suggested Solutions:

    My dear friend, the solution to the corruption in the American and the Western societies may be this:

    (1)  To all of you women out there, please watch for what you wear and be considerate to people's
    feelings around you.Having a beautiful body is a wonderful thing, but it would be even more
    beautiful if only your husband can see it in its natural form.  And remember this:  You might be the
    type of woman that any man wants, but you may not be the type of woman that any man would die
    for.

    (2)  To all of you parents out there, please don't encourage your kids to have relationships that could
    lead to a sexual experience, which might then end up in a big tragedy that you would have to live with
    for the rest of your natural life.

    (3)  To the government and the education ministry, please try to pass a new bill where Grade Schools
    and High Schools no longer have mixed genders in them.  It is pointless and dangerous to have mixed
    genders.  It causes nothing but sexual difficulties and discomfort among students, and avoiding it
    would sure solve most of the sex related problems that we have here in the United States of America.

    Thank you and God bless you all the way !

    In Islam

    Osama Abdallah