As-Salamu Alaikum! To start your trip to The World of Islam you need to forget all the previous ideas about Allah's religion. Because it's not as easy as closing your eyes I can help you by straightening your thoughts about it. If you still, after reading this, are in doubts or feel odd, do not hesitate to ask me or other Muslims about the subject. You can follow my links or e-mail me. Also leaving a message to my guest book helps. Let's get started!
1.. Oppression of women:
Against all your ideas and thoughts, Muslim women volunteer to wear veil and covering clothes. That is bigger freedom to them than walking outside only half dressed. Might seem to you that Muslim women are distant and silent and not very outgoing but that's only because they shouldn't socialize too much with non-Muslims. Among themselves Muslim women laugh, have fun, do all the things that are good for them. They are not their husbands' shy shadows. They have actually more rights than any other women. More about this topic later... Check my links about women in Islam.
2.Women’s circumcision:
The circumcision of men is wajib, meaning it’s a religious duty. For women circumcision isn’t any kind of obligatory operation, nor even a recommended matter. However, it isn’t Haram (i.e. forbidden) because it might happen that a woman might need circumcision for medical reasons. Circumcising women isn’t Sunnah (i.e. a part of tradition of the Prophet Muhammed Sallallahu Alaihim wa Sallam) because his (SAWS) daughters (RAA) weren’t circumcised or at least there’s no mention of it. Sunnah includes many important guidelines about other things so there should have been a menton of an important matter like this if it was to be done to every Muslim woman.
Women are circumcised in quite few countries (Sudan, Somalia, Egypt) and mainly in countryside. In Egypt this custom was adopted during the reign of pharaohs and nowadays in Egypt even Christians do it. It isn’t necessary for a healthy, normally developed girl/woman! Disadvantages outnumber the advantages of this operation in most of the cases. But Allahu a’lem, we don’t know if it’s needed in some rare, special cases.
For dozens of times I’ve heard a hadith about this issue but I’m not sure into which class this hadith falls into so I cannot say whether it’s reliable or not. Allah (SWT) knows my neeyat for this so I bring you the hadith. It’s been claimed that the Prophet Muhammed (SAWS) has said to a woman performing the circumcision on a girl.: ”Reduce, but do not destroy!”
3. Terrorism:
Media make Muslims look like terrorists. I don't know a single Muslim who has ever involved in terrorism. We don't keep M-16's under our beds nor produce bombs at home. There's over billion Muslims in the world today. Use your common sense, if all of those really are terrorists, world is quite a sad place to live.
4. Mercy:
I used to be a Christian and I know that some Christians have a corrupted idea that only Christianity includes mercy. That is not true! A Muslim can also ask for mercy from Allah. Allah can apologize everything else but no Shirk or earthly debts.
