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Conversion Story #643 (not a real number)

By Amina Wadud

…s hooked. I count my dates of entry from these two points: Thanksgiving day 1972 when I said shahadah, and March 1973, when I was began reading the Qur’an. For some time after that, all I read was Qur’an. Still today if things get freaky I return to just reading the Qur’an. Knowing it was originally in Arabic, I began studying Arabic through the local mosques until I could register for a course at my undergraduate University of Pennsylvania. In fa…

Rites, Rituals, and the King

By Amina Wadud

…et a killer who did keep up the performance, but with things like September 11th and al-Qaeda, or, persons like Osamah bin-Laden, at least I know they exist. So, it’s not magic. The prophet said, “If a man washed in a river five times a day, would there be any dirt left on him?”, and the companions said, “No our Prophet, there would be no dirt left on him.” “That,” he said, “is what happens to the soul, when one prays five times a day, no dirt is…

On Death and After-Death

By Amina Wadud

…ure, imagine that! We also have the notion of resurrection but not just in spirit, but in body too. In fact, the Qur’an says, even if you take the dead and throw pieces hither and yon, the pieces will all come back together to face the Judgment. But again, every one will be brought to final Judgment, no gender distinction. Now, you’d think it would be like passing an algebra test, but it’s not. Because there are things that weigh in here, unlike y…

Sacrifice

By Amina Wadud

…e of November (or according to the Islamic lunar calendar, the 8th ’til the 13th of Zul-Hijjah), so I have some flexibility. Keep in mind, for example, that people already in Saudi Arabia, and even some minimalists from outside, will only come for the hajj proper. Although it tends to be crowded there starting with Ramadan, there is some semblance of ‘before and after.’ To maximize my before, I think having some time to be there, but not in the ih…

Gospel and Soul Lose a King and Queen

By Anthea Butler

…st gospel singer in the world.” For all that, she didn’t win a Grammy until 1995 for her album “Songs of the Church.” Walker’s voice and presence filled many a church, but it was her generous spirit that supported the careers of many singers that made her an exceptional woman and gospel singer. Burke’s influence on country western music, as well as the Rolling Stones, Al Green and others, was a seamless marriage of the sacred and secular. Burke, o…

Chilean Mine Rescue: Largest Global Spiritual Event Ever?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…ion per minute), the rescue of the Chilean miners is the largest expressly spiritual, global, digital event. In a world of spiritual ambiguity and religious indifference, the Copiapó miners’ ascents from the depths of the earth were nothing if not a participatory allegory of the human spirit challenged by the machinery of greed and raised up on the strength of a complex technology whose success seems to have been made possible only by the perfect…

Religious Right “Compassion” and Other Lies

By Candace Chellew-Hodge

…Church in America, and other denominations, have come to realize that the spirit of the law in their Holy book is one of love and acceptance of everyone instead of the bullying, compassionless, soul-killing, letter of the law. Mr. Sprigg, when Jesus looked out on the crowds that followed him, that book you love more than your fellow human beings, tells us that he had compassion on them. What did he do then? Did he tell them to change? Did he bull…

Dan Webster’s Gothard-Speak

By Sarah Posner

…d “one-accord power” is when believers are in covenant with God, united in spirit and soul, with the power to reproduce (here Gothard appears to be referring to discipling, not sex). The believers must have no “competing affections” with their love for God, because “if we have any competing affections, God describes us as adulterers and adulteresses.” That power is broken by, well, the devil, who else? “One-accord power is extremely difficult to a…

From Here to Eternity: Of Mormons and Celestial Marriage

By Holly Welker

…riage provides these statistics for the year 2000: *Utah’s marriage rate is 10.6 per 1,000 populations, well above that of the United States, which stands at 8.7 *Median age at first marriage in Utah—Groom: 23 Bride: 21 *Median age at first marriage in United States—Groom: 26.8 Bride: 25.1 Marriages contracted so early face significant challenges, so it is good that the Mormon church does not forbid divorce, although the fact that Mormon couples o…

“Muslim Gospel” Revealing the “Christian Truth” Excites the Da Vinci Code Set

By Annette Yoshiko Reed

…Christian Aramaic), would be momentous, even if it were to date to the year 1500 rather than to 1,500 years ago. Some reports, however, have suggested that it isn’t a copy of the GBarn at all. Nevertheless, the notion of the manuscript’s connection with the GBarn continues to attract attention. In 2013, conspiracy theories circulated linking the resignation of the Pope to its rediscovery. This year, various blogs have resurrected the theory that i…