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Theme Changer

 Topic: Book suggestion please

 (Read 2237 times)
  • 1« Previous thread | Next thread »
  • Book suggestion please
     OP - December 24, 2010, 03:07 PM

    My friend is not a practising Muslim but identifies himself as a Muslim as he fears Allah due to being told horror stories as a child etc.

    We've just had a long chat about it, and it was great that he opened up to me at last, telling me his fears etc.  I'd like to suggest he reads a book.  I was thinking of "Why I am not a Muslim - Ibn Warraq" but I haven't read it.  Has anyone here read it?  If so should I suggest it, or is there a better alternative?

    I don't come here any more due to unfair moderation.
    http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=30785
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #1 - December 24, 2010, 03:28 PM

    LOL that's like fearing Jack Torrance bcuz I read The shining when I was 10. And no, I didn't read that book. But what about: The God Delusion. Why don't you make him get rid of fearing any other god that existed in the human mind.

    <AliIsAli>: in ur sharia law, am i to be killed???
    <ghutlu>: Yes sure sure u should 4 firstly Being Ex muslim
     <ghutlu>:  for leaving ISLAM
     <AliIsAli>: would u kill me if u saw me?
     <ghutlu>: yes surely
     <AliIsAli>: :(
     <ghutlu>: by the way gay is just a mental problem
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #2 - December 24, 2010, 03:37 PM

    LOL that's like fearing Jack Torrance bcuz I read The shining when I was 10.


    Childhood indoctrination is a malicious thing, and can leave people with irrational fears for the rest of their lives.  It's not a joking matter, and laughing at people who experience this just makes it harder for them to confront their situation and seek help.


    And no, I didn't read that book. But what about: The God Delusion. Why don't you make him get rid of fearing any other god that existed in the human mind.


    "The God Delusion" isn't the right book.  Attacking religious beliefs from the top down (starting at God) is the wrong approach, this case requires a bottom up approach (Show the BS of Islam) - if we wants to believe in some undefined god that's up to him, but I want to help him to come to terms with the fact that his childhood stories were simply that, stories.

    He doesn't "believe" the stories are true, he "feels" the consequences in those stories are worth fearing.

    I don't come here any more due to unfair moderation.
    http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=30785
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #3 - December 24, 2010, 03:49 PM

    Why not start him with something gentle that describes the religion in a non-confrontational historical way?  For example, No god but God by Reza Aslan reflects on the movements of Islam in a relatively sane way.  A believer might come out of that with an understanding of the social and political practicality of religion such that he/she is less enamored by the superstition.

  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #4 - December 24, 2010, 03:53 PM

    I think teaching him about Evolution will clear up any fears he has. Once he sees the evidence of evolution, he would realize that the adam & eve story in islam is completely false, and if it is false, the rest of the quran is false as well and there is no need to fear/believe anything he was told as a child. That's how it worked out for me.
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #5 - December 24, 2010, 04:12 PM

    He accepts evolution, he just "doesn't understand" what the Quran really means my adam/eve.

    I don't come here any more due to unfair moderation.
    http://www.councilofexmuslims.com/index.php?topic=30785
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #6 - December 24, 2010, 04:17 PM

    Actually, I still fear sometimes from hell and djinns and all the other myths that was injected in ou minds. But not always. Only when night falls and the mind stats playing its illusion games. there was that movie about the afterlife of a person who don't pray and listen to music. I swear God it was the spoookiest thing I've seen in my life.
    The thing is there were no special effects nor that it used high tech and other hollywood stuff. the death angel was simply cloaked with something similar to a burqa'a and he was a little bit tall. Nothing as scary as The Grudge or The ring u might say. Well my heart is still throbbing and pounding furiously whenever i project the image in my mind. And u may ask why? simply, it is bcuz they tell u everything ur watching is true. they r not the product of the human mind but  the truth of what shall happen to you after u die if u didn't pray and be good.
    I spent the next 6 months or so in somekind of a children insomnia. I couldnt sleep unless in my mom's bed and still the hanger clothes in my room turns into the boogy man after midnight. So it is not only ur friend. Alot of people feel that too.
    I still fear hell and djinns. although I'm not intimidated from them as much as before. I still think what if islam is right and god is decieving us and make it sound savage and wrong, and then he'll burm me in hell forevermore  Cry

    But if u want an answer, then take this from someone  who've gone through this stuff: there is no truth but science. If you want to erode all these myths from his head, than science is the way. Make him read, like what donetelo said, about evolution. My doubts of islam officially started when I began reading about evolution
    . start with sci magazines cuz they r easy to fathom (aka discover, BBC Focus and National Geographic).
    And sorry if I offended ur friend dude. I was just playing around.  bunny

    <AliIsAli>: in ur sharia law, am i to be killed???
    <ghutlu>: Yes sure sure u should 4 firstly Being Ex muslim
     <ghutlu>:  for leaving ISLAM
     <AliIsAli>: would u kill me if u saw me?
     <ghutlu>: yes surely
     <AliIsAli>: :(
     <ghutlu>: by the way gay is just a mental problem
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #7 - December 24, 2010, 04:18 PM

    how could he accept evolution and Adam/Eve story?

    <AliIsAli>: in ur sharia law, am i to be killed???
    <ghutlu>: Yes sure sure u should 4 firstly Being Ex muslim
     <ghutlu>:  for leaving ISLAM
     <AliIsAli>: would u kill me if u saw me?
     <ghutlu>: yes surely
     <AliIsAli>: :(
     <ghutlu>: by the way gay is just a mental problem
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #8 - December 24, 2010, 04:25 PM

    ok well why don't u talk to him about the view of hell in a critical way. why don't u discuss the cruelity of eternal suffering. And bcuz i think he believes in God, then he ofcourse  aknowledge that god is compassion and most merciful.
    So maybe that contradiction may open up his mind and at the same time deliver him from the goosebumps  Afro

    <AliIsAli>: in ur sharia law, am i to be killed???
    <ghutlu>: Yes sure sure u should 4 firstly Being Ex muslim
     <ghutlu>:  for leaving ISLAM
     <AliIsAli>: would u kill me if u saw me?
     <ghutlu>: yes surely
     <AliIsAli>: :(
     <ghutlu>: by the way gay is just a mental problem
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #9 - December 24, 2010, 06:45 PM

    My friend is not a practising Muslim but identifies himself as a Muslim as he fears Allah due to being told horror stories as a child etc.

    We've just had a long chat about it, and it was great that he opened up to me at last, telling me his fears etc.  I'd like to suggest he reads a book.  I was thinking of "Why I am not a Muslim - Ibn Warraq" but I haven't read it.  Has anyone here read it?  If so should I suggest it, or is there a better alternative?

    Email him mine & Hassans blog - they are far better, less biased & free  Afro

    My Book     news002       
    My Blog  pccoffee
  • Re: Book suggestion please
     Reply #10 - December 24, 2010, 07:37 PM

    Try A C Graylings Against all gods.  It's an intelligent, safe, soft introduction.  ISBN No. 13: 978 1 84002 728 0.  It's short too.

    Religion is ignorance giftwrapped in lyricism.
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