1.What is the name of your religion?

Its name is “Islam”. It means “peace”. In our holy book Quran, God says that " The only (true) religion in the sight of Allah is Islam." (Surah Ali-Imran/19). Because Islam is the last religion and there will be no religion until the doomsday.


2.What are the important holidays and traditions of this religion?

There are two festivals (eids) in a year and Friday is the blessed day for us. Each year, Muslims fast for one month. They do not eat and drink anything during the day until sunset In this month, they do not only eat and drink but also help poor people much more than they do in the previous months and try to do good things for other people. We pray five times a day.
In Islam, GOD JUDGES AND FORGİVE people. You may have a lot of sins but Allah is the most merciful who can forgive you.

3.How has religion shaped your life?

I don’t do wrong things such as robbery, killing people, telling lie, adultery…etc. I try to be a hardworking Muslim because Islam wants us to be hardworking and be beneficent to people. I try to be honest. I know ı need to be generous and peaceful. I don’t harm people or animals. I try to be better each day. I love all people whether they are Muslim or not. I never despise anybody.

4.What are the challenges, if any, to practicing this particular religion?

It has relatively no challenges. You do good things and pray five times a day. That is all. May be fasting one month might be challenging but it is not so hard. I think you need to know why this religion is different from the others or why you should believe it. The answer is this religion is the last component of the other religions, Christianity and Judaism. Think about a movie. For example Matrix, This movie has an end after 4 parts. Every part has a specific time. Islam is the last part of the religions sent by GOD. Why did God send Islam? The other religions lost their originality. The church or some people wrote the holy book according to their wishes and ideas. However not even one letter of Quran has been changed. In Quran, God says that “Without doubt, we sent down the message (Quran) and we will preserve it.” God said this almost 14 centuries ago and today we see that he preserves it.

5.Were you born into your religion or did you convert later in life?

I was born into my religion. I know other religions but Islam is the last and the perfect religion. After Islam, other religions lost their originality. In our life always the last things are valid. I want to give a simple example; the European people use Euro as currency. They cannot use mark, their previous currency because it is not valid. Like this Christianity and Judaism are not valid anymore.

6.If you converted, what made you decide to convert?

First of all Islam is the last religion and it is universal. However other religions were for a particular society. The aim of Islam is that we have good and peaceful life, it is the most logical religion.

7.I read online that some people in Muslim countries celebrate Christmas. How do you view Jesus in the context of your religion?

We believe that Jesus is a prophet, too. We never deny this and we believe in all of the prophets mentioned in Bible and Quran. The prophets mentioned in Bible were mentioned in Quran, too. The difference is we do not accept that he is dead. As it is mentioned in our religious book, Quran, Jesus is not the father or son or a God but he was a prophet and he was not killed. He was taken to the sky(!) by God. He will come back to the earth again before the judgement day. In Quran, God says, “He is God, the one and only; God, the eternal, absolute; He begets not, nor is he begotten; and there is none like unto Him”. (Ikhlas 112:1-4)
On the other hand, why you should believe a religion? I think the question must be “what will you lose if you believe in this religion?” we as Muslims try to do good things in this life and we try to have a regular life.

8.Does your mosque have any special rules about clothing, or who is allowed inside? For example, there is a Muslim Mosque in Washington that does not allow women inside. Do they all have the same rules, or does it depend on the mosque?

Men can not reveal their bodies between their navel and knees. Women have to cover all their bodies except their faces and hands. Both men and women can go to mosques. They just pray in different sections. In turkey everyone go to Mosque because these Mosques have special parts for women. Maybe in Washington they did not build a special part for women.

9.What do you say to people who approach you about converting to their religion?

I say “go and search about it deeply” or “read Quran and it will answer all of your questions”.

10.How does your religion view women’s contributions to Muslim religious practices?

Women have a special position in this religion. Women were unimportant before the Islam but Islam banned men to hurt women. Unfortunately there is a big misconception of Islam about women. before islam, women had really bad conditions in society. They were just like a good. People used to buy them from slavery markets, after having fun with them, they used to kick them out of their house. It was a shame to have a daughter before islam. People used to bury their daughters alive. With Islam, all those horrible things were abolished.Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him) says “the best ones among you are the one who behaives his wife the best”. In our holy book Quran, there is a chapter dedicated to women (Suratun Nisa) and also Suratun Maryam (Virgin Mary chapter). They are equal because women are human like men. Islam says that men and women are complementary of each other. We never despise women.

11.Who is the sacred being in your religion?

We believe in one God and we believe what he wants us to believe such as angles, prophets, holy books, the resurrection after life.
Our prophet is Mohammad (peace and blessings be upn him). He put people from dark to light. However, we muslims accept the whole prophets since Prophet Adam (peace and blessings be upon him).
If you do not accept any of those prophets, we will not be a muslim. So, Jews do not accept Jesus, and Christians do not accept Mohammad , we muslims accept all prophets including Abraham, Moses, Jesus…

12.Do you have a holy book? For example, Christians use the Bible. Who are the important people in your holy book?

Our holy book is Quran. Quran was revealed to prophet Mohammad. Prophet Mohammad did not write it. Quran is about 600 pages, and 6666 verses and 114 chapters.There are many muslims who know the whole Quran by heart. God mentions some prophets in Quran. Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Adam, etc are all mentioned in it.
As you know, every prophet has miracles, for instance jesus used to cure leprosy or blind people. God has given those special powers to the prophets ,so that people can not reject if there s a necessity to show a miracle. Prophet Mohammad had many miracles too, but his greatest miracle is Quran. It may occur in your mind that how can a book be a miracle.Quran is in arabic language and as you know in every culture there is a period in which people are the best either in literature or art. At the time of prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon him), arabian people were the best in language. Every year, they used to held a festival in which they used to choose the best poets, and the best poems would be hang on the wall of Kabah. With the coming of Islam, all those arab poets became silent, they couldnt say anything LIKE Quran. and it was impossible for prophet Mohammad to say such perfect things as he was an illeterate person. In Quran you can never find a mistake or contradiction. It is totally a perfect book. However in the works of famous people like shaekspear we can find mistakes or contradictions. All those things clearly shows that Quran is the words of GOd. If you listen to a Quran recitation, it will speak to your inner soul and affect you since it is the words of God.

ABD den döndükten sonra ordaki arkadaşım bu soruları yolladı. Konuyla ilgili ve bilgili olan 4 arkadaş bu metni hazırladık ve yolladık.Umarım faydalı olur sizin için. Her ne kadar WAT ın diğer tarafı varsa da bu yüzüde var.Eminim sizede gelecektir bu tarz sorular.