Atmospherics, Addiction and Attachments

Where's the Needle Exchange?

Once in a while someone comes along and says something that requires a terse response.

abdalwali:

Wilders is just an ignorant prick. He doesn't know the feeling of hanging with the brothers. He doesn't know the feeling of itikhaf in Ramadan, waking up in the middle of the night to make salat and listening to a khutbah before fajr. He's never felt the vibe of the lighting in the masjid at night, or the old Turkish men reciting the Qur'an at 4AM when you rock up to fajr. He's never seen those retirees in their 70s suits, he's never felt the love when you enter a crowded mosque and some brother gets the others to make way so you can have a spot to make your two rakats of tahiyyat al-masjid. He doesn't know the love you feel for all of humanity, every plant, every atom in the universe when you're walking through the city fasting, while everyone else is going about their normal business. Muhammad Bouyeri axing van Gogh and black schools is what he knows, along with the works of Ms. Ali, Fox News et al.

Of course the intolerance, violence etc. has spoiled all that but there's another side as well...

My reply:

That’s junkie talk. Plain and Simple.

Being asked to justify my statement I’ll add that abdalwali is correct at the end. Of course there’s another side. The allure of Islam is compelling and because so many will associate their own surrounding culture with the associated smells, sounds and feelings of social gatherings evoking such images with sentimental attachments is bound to have the support of others like him. In fact, the state of light-headedness coming along with fasting isn’t necessarily a good sign of brain nutrition. However, it does make one more susceptible to visual and auditory effects and who doesn’t like a good high? Especially if you can share it with your friends. It’s great for bonding and makes for many a group experience. Like feeling at one with the universe. . . . . . .

Designed to confuse?

At this level it just isn’t about attachments but how such attachments work to distort the minds of many who leave Islam. In doing so we fall into the overlapping areas shared by such disciplines as cultural anthropology, cognitive and social psychology as well as neuroscience and deception research. It should also be well to serve notice such outbursts of rage against someone who finds fault with the implications of following the teachings of their ideology is common and not restricted to Muslims alone. Other dominant religions depend on visual and auditory cues to get their flocks into a focused state of mind just as much but, in contrast to Islam, it’s far easier to see where they get their love “for all of humanity, every plant, every atom in the universe”. How do Muslims get this so wrong? It must be what has spoiled all that.