Ignorance.

      I took Islam expecting to learn about very strict religious tenets, extreme beliefs and rituals. I was so very, incredibly wrong. Since it was a course on religion and it's facts, there was not a lot of philosophical discussions about the religion. And what I learned at first was very basic. Islam is not necessarily a "different" religion than Judaism and Christianity. For the Jews, Jesus (as)* and Mohamed (saw)* do not exist as prophets. For the Christians, it is Mohamed (saw) that does not exist as a prophet. The other prophets, are the same. Moses (Musa), Abraham (Ibrahim), Jesus (Issa). Noah (Nuh), Adam (Adem), John the Baptist (Yahya)..and the list goes on. All 3 teach monotheism, the belief in one God. All three shun the practice of idolatry. All three follow a moral code laid out for them by God, which is more or less the same. Do not lie, steal, kill, have sex before marriage, disobey your parents, have any Gods or other entities before God, be jealous or cruel to our fellow humans and treat others with kindness and graciousness no matter how hard it is to do so...because it is the right thing to do.
      I learned that the belief in one God was the most stressed aspect of the Islamic belief. Allah (swt)* was not "their" God as I had been told growing up, Allah (swt) was the word for God, and it encompassed a whole lot more meaning than the word God does. Allah (swt) is everything, created everything, knows everything. Same qualities as we know of God...but to me the Muslims seemed a lot closer to the idea of what God was.A bigger and more imposing being with no human attributes at all. A thing so great that we don't as humans even have the ability to fathom what it could even be like. And I liked that. I had always felt that way about God. Like God was not something or someone I could grasp, or imagine.I also learned that in Islam there is no clergy. There is no person or people that stand between you and God in an way. Your relationship is completely and totally personal and between you and God. And this being the case in Islam, no one has the right to judge you, but God alone. These things were natural paths of thought for me, but were not the case in my church. I understood and in fact completely sympathized with their respect, love and reverence for God. Just God.
      I am falling asleep at the wheel here so I am signing off...but this discussion will pick back up tomorrow kids. Love ya'll. Nighty Night.