Let me be clear: I am NOT converting away from Catholicism! Nor will I ever be! Why would I go anywhere else when John 6:53 and we literally have the Mass right here. This post is NOT meant to be ecumenical in any way, in fact I’m pretty sure ecumenism is heresy and I don’t want to touch that with a ten-foot pole.
No, but recently my husband and I were watching Jeopardy!, and there was a clue about Islam, and, as someone who’s interested in religion and philosophy in general, I began to think: “ya know, I don’t really actually know much about Islam at all. What do they even believe?”
Thus began an absolutely fascinating internet rabbit hole adventure that kept me up too late and made my husband wonder why I was “brushing my teeth” in the bathroom for 45 minutes.
Keep in mind: I can’t attest to the veracity of many of these claims, as my knowledge of Islam is pretty much limited to what I absorbed in forty-five minutes on YouTube while brushing my teeth. I have never even touched a copy of the Quran, and don’t personally know any Muslims; for all I know, many of these statements could be completely made-up; you can’t believe everything you hear on the internet, after all.
Regardless, the following concepts made me go “Huh!, that’s interesting”:
10. They apparently have clear rules written down right there in their book that tell them precisely how to go about every moment of their daily lives, in black and white terms. Wow! As someone who lacks an innate sense of balance when it comes to living a religious life, I can see how this would be extremely helpful. Sometimes I wish we Christians had such clear instructions. In Christianity there’s more left up for personal interpretation, which is cool, because not everyone is living the same life nor has the same disposition, and God meets us where we are. However, I also think it must be nice to be told in very plain terms exactly what you may and may not do, and when.
9. Gender relations. Three particular details in this category blew my mind:
- (a) apparently, women and men who are friends are not allowed to deliberately touch each other at all — they can’t even shake hands when meeting. Wow! Is it just me, or does that actually feel… extremely natural and right?! Like, tbh I always feel a bit strange when I’m introduced to a (straight) man and am expected to shake his hand. Like, um, isn’t that hand for your wife?? Like, I know what you do with that hand, and I know what straight men’s brains are like, sir, so please refrain from touching me. Only my husband gets to do that. I’ve always felt a bit neurotic and prudish for feeling this way, but evidently it’s not just me, it’s a tenet of a major world religion. Huh! I wouldn’t mind if this became a social norm in the West.
- (b) In their churches — ahem, mosques, I guess — men and women often assemble in separate areas of the space. Segregation. This is also something that some more traditional Christian churches do, and I think it’s a cool practice, reminding us that men & women are different and should be treated as such.
- (c) According to one video I watched, Muslim women aren’t even technically required to attend Friday prayer service!, just strongly encouraged. Wow! To me this is so interesting; while I certainly don’t disagree with the universal Sunday obligation for all Catholics, I actually don’t think it’s such a bad idea either for the expectations to be different for men and women. I’ve talked on here before about how hard it is on Catholic women to discern when they are required to go to Mass vs when they have a legitimate reason not to (pregnancy nausea, parenting littles, etc.), and it causes a lot of anguish for us. I feel like attendance being “strongly recommended” instead of “required but with exceptions” might create less stress for women (also, apparently Muslim women aren’t supposed to formally pray while on their period?!, which, ya know what, I kinda can get on board with, as I, like most women, suffer a lot and can’t be expected to do much of anything, at least not very well, on certain days of the month).
8. Modesty standards are on point. I already mentioned in my post on women’s fashion that I personally think Islamic modesty standards for women are awesome; but here’s a chance for me to rant about it again! The Islamic definition of modesty makes way more sense than the Western one. Like, I will never understand how fitted clothes can be considered “modest;” it’s so dumb to me to see these Christian girl influencers, all with their long, beautiful hair out, posing in tight little showy outfits that they claim are “modest” just because they cover a certain amount of skin. Something that hugs the shape of your body may be beautiful and all, but it really can’t be called modest. Likewise, a little sheer lace mantilla that decorates your hair rather than covering it — I wear one because it’s normal here, but I don’t think it exactly qualifies as “modest,” technically. Showing off your figure and/or your hair isn’t modest. People be like “modesty can be sexy!”, but I’m of the opinion that “modest” and “sexy” are mutually exclusive. However, you can be both modest and pretty, which much Islamic fashion is. (And please don’t @ me telling me I “don’t get it” about modesty — I understand just fine how for some people, “modesty” means dressing in a way that honors your natural, God-given beauty without flaunting anything or drawing undue attention to yourself. I just think it’s also clear that a woman dressing this way is still subjecting herself to the male gaze, which is her decision and I’m not saying she shouldn’t be able to choose that; within reason, people can dress however they want; it just seems like this can’t properly be called “modesty.”)
I’m not done yet! Catholic women like to talk about “Marian dress” as a modesty standard, but seem not to notice that in images of Mother Mary, she’s always got her hair covered and is draped in long, forgiving, loose-fitting garments that conceal her body, like a Muslim woman. And I take issue with the accusation that shapeless, loose-fitting clothes for women are “lazy and frumpy.” I 100% would wear a niqab, or at least a hijab (because let’s be real, we all know hair is one of the most, if not the most, eye-catching and distinguishing features of a person (what’s the first way most amateur authors describe a character’s physical appearance?), and can often make or break a person’s sexiness; no point pretending hair is a sexually neutral feature like an elbow or a nose), if it were socially acceptable for a white Catholic woman in America. The less I can be perceived and visually assessed — the freer I can be from the prison of the male gaze — the happier I am!
7. Cleanliness standards also on point. Apparently, Muslims are required to wash themselves before praying — it’s called “wudu,” or ablutions. Even their feet! Wow. I think it’s kind of cool — of course we want to come before God as free of the stains and stink of the world as possible. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” as the saying goes. We Western Whites, who (according to r/Hygiene, at least) have a reputation for being the stinkiest people, could perhaps do well to consider this concept of cleanliness/hygiene as not just practical but spiritual. Fascinating.
6. Very clear rules about music. Oh my goodness, how much easier my little life would be if we Catholics had our own version of “haram” and “halal” labels, which apparently apply to music and media as well as food. If I didn’t have to bother agonizing over what’s okay to listen to, didn’t have to bother with the hard work of discerning and reflecting and examining my conscience — if there were a clear, black-and-white “this music is forbidden” — how much easier that would be! Obviously I get why we here in the West don’t feel the need for such labels, and I love the beauty in that — important things are rarely easy, after all — but also, there are times when I feel like some strict black-and-white rules would be really helpful and make life easier. Would help those of us who suck at discerning. You know: a system that caters to the lowest common denominator, and all (it’s me, I’m the lowest common denominator).
5. Similarly, the rules about food. I’m vegetarian anyway, and I’m all for a system of dietary laws. There absolutely should be restrictions on the manner in which animals can be slaughtered for meat, and, if we absolutely must slaughter animals, there should be a spiritual element to their slaughtering. Otherwise it’s just selfish and brutal. Muslims and Jewish folks are way ahead of us on this one!
4. And, continuing in that same vein, the Islamic rules for fasting are way more clear and easy to follow, imo, than the Catholic ones. The whole “if necessary you may have two mini meals that together don’t add up to one meal” — what even is that?! I’m so weird about food and “meals” that I honestly don’t even know how to apply this one in my own life. Simply not ingesting anything until sundown makes so much more sense and is so much easier to follow, as well as feeling more like true fasting. I don’t suppose there’s anything wrong with me stealing this method to use during penitential seasons.
3. Prayer positions. I saw one video where an imam was explaining why Muslims bow and prostrate themselves in prayer. It elevates the heart above the brain, demonstrating complete submission of the will and intellect. Isn’t that interesting?! I know Orthodox Christians do bowing and prostration too. We Catholics prefer kneeling upright, which I personally prefer because sticking your butt in the air is embarrassing imo. The only time I see a prostrate position during Catholic ritual is at ordinations to the Priesthood, and then they lay flat on their faces, so it’s a bit different. I kind of like this physical gesture, in theory, though. Humans are both soul and body after all, the two irrevocably intertwined (as much as I hate to admit it, given my issues with my body, lol!), and it makes sense to pray with our body too. “As we believe, so we pray,” said one of the Sisters who taught my kids’ Catechism class; I feel like elevating the heart above the head for prayer is kind of a cool example of that.
2. Specific, mandated prayer times! Again, for an undisciplined, forgetful, lazy, unstable, and irrational-minded person like myself, having mandatory prayer times sounds extremely helpful! “Figure it out for yourself”/ “do it whenever works for you” is pretty unhelpful, for me, who didn’t grow up religious and has struggled to figure out how to be so. Better Catholics with more discipline probably can’t relate, but, I kinda love the idea of pre-scheduled prayer times being non-negotiable.
1. Emphasis on our enslavement to God (“Allah”) rather than God as our loving Heavenly Father. Interesting! Obviously, I believe God is our loving Heavenly Father — Jesus Himself said so. I also think that many Christians in the modern West would do well to remember that He isn’t just our friendly “Daddy God” (🤮) but infinitely greater than we are, and has no need of us, and that He has no obligation to make sense to us or to make us happy. Like I said, I haven’t read the Quran, so I can’t really say much on how Muslims feel about Allah in comparison to how we feel about God, but, I just heard this difference briefly explained in a video, and I can appreciate this POV; it’s a helpful reminder for anyone of any religion, I should think.
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So yeah, like I said, I’m not interested in converting or anything — why would I be — I just think these elements of their belief system are super interesting, and there are some elements that I think I’d even like to borrow and apply to a Catholic lifestyle. Which, as far as I can tell, is not an ecumenical/heretical thing to say, and I hope I haven’t accidentally sinned anywhere in this post. This was just a fun little learning adventure for little old me, is all, and rather enlightening to see some of the similarities and differences between this other religion/culture and my own, that might actually help me be a better Catholic.
