Friday, 9 May 2008

On the Dangerous Topic of Islam and Conversion

From BBC: Malaysian woman can leave Islam:

A religious court in Malaysia has allowed a Muslim convert to leave the Islamic faith, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

Penang's Sharia court ruled that Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah was free to return to Buddhism, following the collapse of her marriage to a Muslim man.

It was decided she had not had proper counselling during her conversion.

Malaysians are rarely allowed to renounce the faith - those who do can be prosecuted under stringent laws.


That's actually a pretty fair and just ruling. Even though she was officially converted, she never did it for the right reasons. It's probably very difficult to fulfill that burden of proof, but someone who converts in name and doesn't believe it isn't really converting at all, is it? It's just getting all the right and proper documents to do the things you want to do. In this case, marriage. And boy, have I seen that happen.

Then again, I've also seen first hand how spending more than half your life in the presence of a religion can actually pull you to believe and practice. I suppose with time, it could have been possible with her. Conversion: a cardinal sin for one religion that guarantees your entry into heaven by another.

Tuesday, 6 May 2008

Are you awake?

So I have decided to give this thing called 'Life' another chance. Except this time, I've decided to stop fighting and struggling. I've realised that everytime I tell myself, "Well at least things can't get any worse," it inevitably does. Everytime I try and do something that I think will turn things around, it doesn't. It's gotten to the point where when one more thing goes against me, I just feel like sitting down and crying.

So that's it. I stop fighting it. I stop struggling against it. It's time to roll with the punches. What's the difference? This time I won't be stupid enough to think that I can depend on people. This time it's just me.

What question can you never answer no to?
Are you awake?