Islam

[LarissaFae]

No dear, I'm not. I'm asking you what I believe in. Tell me again. You were telling me what I believe in and then you got all choked up when I made you uncomfortable about your position.

You believe in a deity called Allah. If that is incorrect, you better tell me how exactly you define "Muslim". Though now I'm sort of confounded as to why you told me to go to Google...

Jewish Arabs believe in Allah. Arab Christians believe in Allah, and call Jesus Allah. If you believe in the God of Abraham, you believe in Allah, because "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God." Interestingly, the "-ah" ending also makes the word feminine, as Arabic has no gender-neutral pronouns, and the masculine "hu," meaning roughly "the," placed in front of Allah comes the closest one can get in Arabic to achieving gender neutrality.

That's your language lesson for the day. Test on Friday. :P

I would be more correct to say that they believe in an allah. When I speak of the Muslim god, I call it "Allah". When I speak of the

Christian god, I call it "God". When I speak of a god, I mean the generic concept of "god". I don't speak of an allah, as this is an English language forum.

I generally say "God," as well, because English is my first language, but "Allah" is also distinct because it can't be pluralised, unlike "god," which can become "God," "god," "Gods," "gods," etc., and that's why a lot of Muslims prefer to use "Allah," because it encompasses the singular nature of God.

[LarissaFae]

So I'd love to talk with you, but that group just isn't worth debating with.

What are your opinions on zombies? ;P

There's not enough logical consistency there to even constitute debate, but I'm glad I said something here anyhow. :lol:

Zombies are a dime a dozen. :lol:

I like to kill zombies, personally. The zombie apocalypse is coming, and we all need to be prepared.

And since this thread is about Islam, it's totally what God would want. Kill the zombies, save humanity. ^_^

[strangebird]

The funny thing is it is most usually the other way around.

[Sally]

Jewish Arabs believe in Allah. Arab Christians believe in Allah, and call Jesus Allah. If you believe in the God of Abraham, you believe in Allah, because "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God." Interestingly, the "-ah" ending also makes the word feminine, as Arabic has no gender-neutral pronouns, and the masculine "hu," meaning roughly "the," placed in front of Allah comes the closest one can get in Arabic to achieving gender neutrality.

No, they don't. Jewish Arabs speak Hebrew when they speak of God, because they are Jews. Arab Christians speak whatever language their country speaks and they don't say "Allah", because they are Christians. Jews believe in one god; Christians believe in God and Jesus as a part of the goodhood. Jesus is never referred to as "Allah". Adonai and Elohenu and other terms used by Jews always refer to one god. Judaism was a monotheistic religion for at least 1,000 years before Islam.

Please, Larissa -- don't claim knowledge you don't have.

[strangebird]

I am afraid folks here don't like new terminology in the English language that is taken from other languages. I suggest you find another word for taco, bath, chutzpah, Adam, banana, trek (the list goes on and on and on) since the language of foreigners bothers you so much.

[strangebird]

Over it. :)+

[Sally]

No, they don't. Jewish Arabs speak Hebrew when they speak of God, because they are Jews.

Jewish people don't say or spell God becuase it is against the Jewish faith. Please Sally don't claim knowledge you don't have.

As I said, they may say several other words in Hebrew which mean God. However, Reform Jews, and I am one, often use the word God. That isn't against the Jewish faith.

[strangebird]

POLITICALLY INCORRECT ALERT-> Well that explains why you're so anti-Islam. :) <-POLITCALLY INCORRECT ALERT

[LarissaFae]

But Larissa the secular world wants us to bend over and show our arses to men, obviously even the asexual secular world can't grasp why that might not be appropriate. :lol:

Oh my yes. That's what the 'secular world' wants you to do. And there are totally laws about it, and women who don't do it are stoned and beaten.

Oh wait, no, that's fucking stupid.

I think that strangebird's reply was largely meant to be hyperbole; not something that comes across easily on the Internet.

Mainly, there are no punishments laid out in the Qur'an or the hadiths for a woman, or man, dressing a certain way. There's no punishment proscribed for not wearing hijab, either. These were incorrectly added in later. It's a cultural addition, and it's wrong.

And now, I am insulted. I have repeatedly made my position clear-that fundamentalist and conservative Islam is incompatible with western civilization, and that Islam needs to modernize through the force of its liberals and frank criticism of its faults. I would ASSUME that a muslim visiting this board is most likely one of its liberals, and yet all I've seen from muslim members here is that they respond to every criticism of their religion as if it is a personal attack. I have never said that there can't be a liberal Islam, only that it is a tiny minority and usually viewed as heresy by mainstream versions of Islam (except in America, where because we attract the more liberal, educated and wealthy muslims, liberal Islam is more mainstream.) And for this view-not exactly radical, mind you, it is consistent with my experience and research-I am not worth talking to? You may be liberal in your interpretation of Islam, but I would recommend you spend less time ignoring the reality of the nature of the majority of Islam and defending your faith from percieved slights, and more time casting a critical eye on how Islam is too often practiced.

Okay. I made a mistake. I'm very sorry. This is, to my knowledge, the first time that you've laid out your position this clearly. I'm not saying that you haven't --- the past few days of these conversations have been irritating, to say the least, and I walked away from the other two threads, so you may have been more clear after I left. It's also got me on edge, and I haven't always been as level-headed as I should have been.

Now, I completely agree that fundamentalist and conservative Islam is incompatible with Western civilisation, and that the liberal Muslims of the world need to step up and take control back from the idiots who have hijacked it. One of the reasons that Muslims respond so personally to criticisms of Islam is that people do tend to generalise about it, and I will tell you from experience that it gets so irritating to have people assume that I'm not American, or that I converted because of my boyfriend or husband, to be told that "over there" women/thieves/children/etc. are treated [insert horrible stereotype here] and to have it assumed that I also am treated/treat others like that. It's assumed that only Arabs can be Muslim, that Muslims can't be white ... All these assumptions that we get every day build up, and we end up wanting to scream at people to go Google this stuff. I've blogged about this, in fact. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is also attacked a lot, despite by all accounts being an honest, fair, and just man --- even his enemies thought so. He's accused of being a paedophile, while there's ample evidence that A'isha was either at the age of majority, or close to it.

As for the state of Islam and Shariah law, both need to be looked at in an entirely new light. Muslims need to look to the Qur'an and sunnah first, and to let go of their cultural traditions (like beating women, underage marriage, forced marriage, etc.) that are in conflict with Islam. Shariah law needs an entire revamp, an update to bring it into the 21st century. The punishments that were applicable and acceptable a thousand years ago are no longer acceptable today, and Muslims need to become more educated about their religion, so that they can step up when someone makes an unIslamic ruling and say, "No, this isn't what Islam teaches. You're wrong." The Bible used to be kept away from commoners in order, in part, to keep them ignorant so that they were entirely reliant on the religious authorities. This is what's happening with Islam, and it needs to stop.

There's been a lot of tension between the West/Christianity and Islam since the Crusades. There was rampant propaganda on both sides, and it's caused even more damage over the years. The colonisation of the Muslim world made things even worse; a lot of the anger at the West stems from that period of being made completely/near completely dependent on non-Muslim powers, and being stripped of a lot of the rights that Islam had given the people --- such as women being able to inherit and hold jobs, which wasn't then legal in Britain. During the World Wars and especially during the Cold War, the Muslims states, which had been at one point self-governing entities, were divided up by the West and the Soviets and used as pawns in the Cold War. Most Muslim countries were favourable to the US and the West, or at least West-leaning at the time. The West also put into power, or helped put into power, several pro-Western governments, sometimes even when the pro-Western governments were dictatorships that replaced democratic governments who weren't favourable to the West. The US helped fun the Taliban in its fight to get Russia out of Afghanistan --- America trained bin Laden, may God burn him in Hell for eternity, and then, when they had no more use for him and his organisation, just left them. A lot of Americans are confused as to why Muslims seem to hate the West. Well, a certain amount of anger is warranted.

Not to mention the creation of Israel. I'm not debating the need for Jews to have a homeland (even though Christians and Muslims also consider Jerusalem one of their top holy sites, and that Jews aren't supposed to set foot on the Holy Land until the Messiah comes {per my Jewish ex}), but suddenly all these different tribes and groups of people were told, "Here's this line. You over there, you're Israeli. You over there, you're not." Not everyone WANTED to be a part of Israel. Not everyone identified with the Jews, and they didn't want to be split apart from the language and culture that held them together because of a line drawn by a foreign power. The Native Americans didn't want to have the land that they'd lived on for thousands of years taken from them by the Europeans, simply because the Europeans decided that THEY wanted to be there. Similar concept. I will point out that all this is as accurate as I know of; if any is wrong (and I do need to brush up on my history), it's my fault and I'm sorry.

Now, there's a lot of anti-Jewish sentiment amongst Muslims, and it's wrong. The battles fought by the Prophet (peace be upon him) were political, not religious. If I'm not mistaken, the battle that people get in a fuss over is the Battle of the Trench. What happened was that the Prophet had beens asked to come to Medina to be a neutral mediator between three Jewish tribes (the Nadir, Qaynuqa, and Quraiza). He set out the first constitution, that required everyone to live in peace, said that no one could make an alliance with enemies of the city, gave security to everyone and their possessions, and required that if one tribe was attacked, the others had to help them (thus providing everyone with security). Some Jews started converting to Islam, which caused a lot of tension, and two tribes (the Nadir and Qaynuqa) ended up being expelled from the city.

The tribes ended up attacking Medina, and dug a trench around the city so that no one could escape. The way that it was set up had the Muslims at the front lines, with the women and children toward the back, and then the Jews who hadn't been expelled. At the same time, the expelled tribes were putting a lot of pressure on the other tribes to betray Muhammad and let them into the city the back way. Several leaders didn't want to, but were overruled. The Prophet got wind of the plot and dispatched some men to guard the rear where the Jews would have come in --- the rear where the women and children were, who would have been the first to get attacked or held hostage.

Now, the Muslims won the battle, and then they had to deal with the Quraiza's treason against the state. Muhammad asked THEM to choose a judge for them, and they went with an older Jewish leader, who ruled in accordance with Rabbinical law, which said that all men of fighting age be put to death. Between 300-800 men were executed because of that, but it wasn't the Muslims who ordered their deaths. They were judged by their own laws.

That's caused a lot of tension between Judaism and Islam, because people forget that it was political in nature, not religious. Also, people need scapegoats, and the tribal culture in the Middle East is still alive and strong, despite Islam coming along and saying that the only difference between people, the only thing that makes one person better than another, is how pious and faithful they are. Black, white, Arab, non-Arab, Jew, Muslim, Christian ... It's your faith and piety that matters, nothing else.

But because of that culture, which said that no matter what your brother does, you stick by him (which is why Afghanistan won't give up bin Laden, as my Afghani friend explained), culture reasserted itself and people forgot that the Prophet always opted for forgiveness, rather than punishment, and always went with the lightest punishment he could. Cultural and tribal tensions built up again, and people went haywire.

Why the history lesson? Because Islam teaches that you get along with people, and it doesn't teach hate. Culture and tradition got in the way, and there were (and still are) the abuses of power that go on in any institution. You may know some or all of this, but I'm hoping that others who don't know this will read it and understand.

So, once more, I'm sorry that I didn't realise that you weren't attacking me. It either wasn't clear to me, or once I got told that I hate Western values, despite no one here knowing my personal experiences or opinions or feelings (I'm a veteran of the US Army, by the way), I was too angry to think clearly. That was my fault, and I hope that you can forgive me.

[LarissaFae]

Jewish Arabs believe in Allah. Arab Christians believe in Allah, and call Jesus Allah. If you believe in the God of Abraham, you believe in Allah, because "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God." Interestingly, the "-ah" ending also makes the word feminine, as Arabic has no gender-neutral pronouns, and the masculine "hu," meaning roughly "the," placed in front of Allah comes the closest one can get in Arabic to achieving gender neutrality.

No, they don't. Jewish Arabs speak Hebrew when they speak of God, because they are Jews. Arab Christians speak whatever language their country speaks and they don't say "Allah", because they are Christians. Jews believe in one god; Christians believe in God and Jesus as a part of the goodhood. Jesus is never referred to as "Allah". Adonai and Elohenu and other terms used by Jews always refer to one god. Judaism was a monotheistic religion for at least 1,000 years before Islam.

Please, Larissa -- don't claim knowledge you don't have.

My apologies, and thank you for correcting me. I was simply repeating what a reliable source had told me, and I'll make sure I correct them when I see them again. My main point is that Allah isn't a different God than the Jews and Christians. Though I really do think that Arabic-speaking Christians would use "Allah," because it's the Arabic word for "God."

And yes, having dated a Jew prior to converting, and because of basic history classes, I do realise that Judaism was and always has been monotheistic, and was the first of the Abrahamic religions.

[strangebird]

I don't have enough cake to give you for that awesome post.

[LarissaFae]

Well that explains why you're so anti-Islam. :)

Strangebird, the "quote" button in the lower right-hand corner of each post lets you quote. I'd appreciate it if on, you could please not make generalisations like that, assuming that Sally being Jewish is the reason that she has issues with Islam without her telling you so, and that two, you could please use the "quote" function, or at least indicate who or what post you're replying to.

I know you make be trying to lighten things up (I do see your smileys), but I think that this topic, and the way your phrased yourself, is a bit too touchy right now.

*hugs* I'm just sick of all of us fighting right now, and I'd really like to get back to intelligent, mutually respectful discussions. ;)

[LarissaFae]

I don't have enough cake to give you for that awesome post.

You're about two seconds from getting my latest post. :P *hugs* Thank you for the cake. My history may be a little rusty, but I'm open to being gently and respectfully corrected on it.

[strangebird]

Well that explains why you're so anti-Islam. :)

Strangebird, the "quote" button in the lower right-hand corner of each post lets you quote. I'd appreciate it if on, you could please not make generalisations like that, assuming that Sally being Jewish is the reason that she has issues with Islam without her telling you so, and that two, you could please use the "quote" function, or at least indicate who or what post you're replying to.

I know you make be trying to lighten things up (I do see your smileys), but I think that this topic, and the way your phrased yourself, is a bit too touchy right now.

*hugs* I'm just sick of all of us fighting right now, and I'd really like to get back to intelligent, mutually respectful discussions. ;)

I'm aware of the quote button and pretty much over the Aven forums. Have fun with it.

[LarissaFae]

Well that explains why you're so anti-Islam. :)

Strangebird, the "quote" button in the lower right-hand corner of each post lets you quote. I'd appreciate it if on, you could please not make generalisations like that, assuming that Sally being Jewish is the reason that she has issues with Islam without her telling you so, and that two, you could please use the "quote" function, or at least indicate who or what post you're replying to.

I know you make be trying to lighten things up (I do see your smileys), but I think that this topic, and the way your phrased yourself, is a bit too touchy right now.

*hugs* I'm just sick of all of us fighting right now, and I'd really like to get back to intelligent, mutually respectful discussions. ;)

I'm aware of the quote button and pretty much over the Aven forums. Have fun with it.

Hon, I wasn't attacking you, and I don't want you to leave. I just wanted you to be clearer to whom you were replying, for one, and to be respectful of others, for two. From the way you were replying, and I think you also mentioned that quoting gave you problems (but if that wasn't you, I'm so sorry), I thought that you might need a bit of help. I'm sorry I upset you.

[strangebird]

Please don't get didactic and tell me how to be respectful. I'm tongue in cheek and that's who I am. I'm frankly too busy for all of this to be honest. Have fun with it, you're not the reason I'm leaving nor is anything I've said, I just don't like it here.

[LarissaFae]

Please don't get didactic and tell me how to be respectful. I'm tongue in cheek and that's who I am. I'm frankly too busy for all of this to be honest. Have fun with it, you're not the reason I'm leaving nor is anything I've said, I just don't like it here.

Oaky, I'm sorry. I just thought that the tongue-in-cheekness wasn't quite appropriate, especially with the sensitivity of the issue.

[PiF]

Well that explains why you're so anti-Islam. :)

up until this quote strange ^^^^ I thought you were articulate and informative

then that quote displayed an ignorance and assumption that is being levied by you at others

your a jew so your anti islam?...really...you can do better

[strangebird]

I was joking and jesting. I don't know you or care if you think I'm articulate and informative. If you can't get a joke, don't get a joke. Sally and I were chatting along quite happily in another thread. Totally done here. No time to waste like this.

[PiF]

bye then

[strangebird]

Toodles!

[oneofthesun]

Uh. Believing in one God does not, in fact, mean you 'automatically' must believe in any of those three things.

Slight rephrase: Practicing a religion that only believes in one God means you automatically believe in those things. If you don't you're trying to have your cake and eat it too, as put on another thread. Just like Catholics who don't think the Pope has the right to tell them what to think when in fact that is exactly what they signed up for.

[LarissaFae]

Uh. Believing in one God does not, in fact, mean you 'automatically' must believe in any of those three things.

Slight rephrase: Practicing a religion that only believes in one God means you automatically believe in those things. If you don't you're trying to have your cake and eat it too, as put on another thread. Just like Catholics who don't think the Pope has the right to tell them what to think when in fact that is exactly what they signed up for.

Not ... really. And please note that I'm going to be talking about ideal actions and situations, because the reality is, sadly, far worst.

1) That anyone who doesn't believe in said God is wrong. This leads to the view that nonbelievers need to be converted.

Islam (since that's what this thread is about) doesn't say to go out and convert people, it says to simply present our views and leave it at that. If people see the truth that we see and convert, fine and dandy. If not, to them their beliefs and to us ours. The line about no compulsion being in religion was revealed when parents were wondering if they should force their children to convert to Islam. You can't force faith; you can simply present your views as sweetly as possible, and leave it at that.

2) That there is only one right way of living. However since different people interpret the "will of God" in different ways, this leads to the religion becoming split up into various sects that disagree with each other. It also leads to people who don't fit that one right way (homosexuals for example) being persecuted.

Islam also teaches that those who follow their scriptures (it mentions the Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Sabians, but leaves room for other beliefs as well), who fight FOR good and AGAINST evil, and do good deeds, will have their reward from God. Islam teaches that there were ... I want to say 240,000 prophets, sent to all societies and all peoples, so that no one was without the call to one God, but that those teachings got distorted over time. But an honest mistake isn't going to automatically send someone to Hell. It's believing and rejecting that belief, even though you know it's the truth, that does that --- and even then, only God can decide who ultimately goes where, and no human has the right to tell someone that they're going to Hell or Heaven (even though that happens far too often).

Now, I disagree with most religions' views on homosexuality, and that disagreement is ultimately between me and God, and only me and God. I don't believe that it's unnatural, and I don't believe that it's wrong, and I don't believe that anyone should be persecuted because of it. Shariah law (which needs a major revamp and updating, like what used to happen in the classical Islamic age) says that for people to be found guilty of fornication or adultery, that FOUR reliable witness to the actual event (as in, penetration) must be called forth to testify. They must be known in the society, and trusted, and honest. If you bring less than four, or any of them are found to be dishonest or unreliable, then you AND they are punished for slander, for essentially stealing someone's good reputation. So really, unless people are screwing in the streets, it's supposed to be VERY difficult to get that conviction.

Shariah law also doesn't apply to non-Muslims. It's a way for US to live, not anyone else, and Muslims aren't supposed to force it on non-Muslims. And it needs to be re-thought and reviewed and updated.

3) If you want to personalize your one God in any realistic way, you have to pick a gender. This leads to the gender that God supposedly isn't being thought of as "less" somehow.

As I've said before (but not to you), God is, in Arabic, often called "Hua Allah." Arabic doesn't have a neuter gender. It's like French or German, with the (feminine) table or the (masculine) dog. "Hua" is the (masculine) whilst "Allah" is actually a feminine word, and entirely singular --- you can't make "Allah" plural. So, saying "Hua Allah" is essentially saying "The (masculine) (feminine) God," which is as close as you can get to gender neutrality in Arabic. God is referred to as male simply because for eons, in every culture that I know of, the masculine has been the default pronoun to use. To a group of men, you say, "Hey, you guys." You say the same to a group of men and women, and to a group of women, even though "guy" is masculine. These days we're more aware that that's more than a bit sexist, but in ancient texts and societies, that's still the rule.

Islam teaches that men and women are equal in their rewards, their punishments, etc. Culture twists that all around.

I've got a movie to go see, so I'll be back later. :P

[oneofthesun]

What is the point of talking about ideals? As other people have said, it's what people do, not what some book says, that's important. If the Islam practiced today is so far away from what it's supposed to be, then why follow it?

[Sally]

Uh. Believing in one God does not, in fact, mean you 'automatically' must believe in any of those three things.

Slight rephrase: Practicing a religion that only believes in one God means you automatically believe in those things. If you don't you're trying to have your cake and eat it too, as put on another thread. Just like Catholics who don't think the Pope has the right to tell them what to think when in fact that is exactly what they signed up for.

Most religions evolve over time. Certainly Christianity has; mainly it has added belief "hurdles" over several millenia. Judaism started out quite early being a religion that encouraged discussion and argument, and Jews have definitely argued over three millenia; the Talmud is one long argument taking place over three centuries. We have a number of different sections in Judaism, but only the ultraOrthodox hew rigorously to the Talmud, which in itself does not hew entirely to the Torah. It seems that Islam sticks pretty closely to the Qu'ran and hasn't changed, but it has been affected by culture over time.

So no, I don't see any automatic adherence to those three things. There's a lot more nuance involved.

[LarissaFae]

What is the point of talking about ideals? As other people have said, it's what people do, not what some book says, that's important. If the Islam practiced today is so far away from what it's supposed to be, then why follow it?

Because the ideal is how it's supposed to be, what we need to go back to. America was based on the ideals of freedom of speech, equality for all, freedom of religion ... No, we're not quite there (I'm American; that's why I'm talking about America), but does that mean that we should abandon our ideals and live however we want, just because we're doing some things wrong? No, it's up to Americans to go BACK to those ideals, and the further we get from them, the harder we need to fight to get them BACK.

Islam is straying, has strayed, from it's original ideals. A large portion of Muslims are ignorant of their religion, and take the words of imam and sheikhs and scholars who, at times, are themselves either ignorant or deliberately twisting Islam's message. That DOES NOT MEAN that people should abandon Islam. It means that we Muslims who ARE more educated about our religion need to fight back against the people who have hijacked our religion, and educate our fellow Muslims.

I don't practice the Islam that "Muslim" terrorists practice. I don't practice cultural Islam, which sometimes allows forced marriages, underage marriages, and spousal abuse. If anyone tells me that those are the true Islam, I will fight back and educate them on what Islam really teaches.

You're right, it's what people do that's important. And what I'm doing is educating people in order to bring them back to what Islam SHOULD be. I'm living my life as true to what I believe God wants for me, and I'm constantly, in accordance with what the Qur'an commands, seeking knowledge. I'm not always good at it, and sometimes I'm bad at it, but rather than laying down and letting other people walk all over me, rather than abandoning the only spiritual path that's ever really fulfilled me, I'm DOING something about the bad shit that's been going on.

Not everyone is practicing a cultural or twisted Islam. These are the Muslims we need to look to for education about Islam, not terrorists, not people replacing Islam to suit their culture. Muslims need to start being more active in condemning horrible acts, even if it means going against other Muslims --- a cultural practice that Islam forbids, by the way. We need to make more noise than terrorists and ignorant fools, and the media needs to look more toward us, and less toward idiots.

So no, I'm NOT going to abandon my faith. I'm going to make it, and its practitioners, better. I'm going to DO something, rather than sit by and watch.

By the way, Toy Story 3 was awesome. Not as good as How to Train Your Dragon, but still awesome.

[daveb]

Well said, LarissaFae. :) (Not just referring to the Toy Story/Dragon comment! :lol: I actually haven't seen either yet, but want to.)

There should be more Muslims like you. There needs to be more education available to children and adults in the Muslim world, more contact between the Muslim world and other cultures, and less violence and ignorance (all around).

As I said in another post, I'm an atheist, so I won't be doing any praying, but I will keep hoping. And you keep speaking out! :D

[LarissaFae]

Well said, LarissaFae. :) (Not just referring to the Toy Story/Dragon comment! :lol: I actually haven't seen either yet, but want to.)

There should be more Muslims like you. There needs to be more education available to children and adults in the Muslim world, more contact between the Muslim world and other cultures, and less violence and ignorance (all around).

As I said in another post, I'm an atheist, so I won't be doing any praying, but I will keep hoping. And you keep speaking out! :D

:redface: Aww, thank you. I try. I'm lucky that I've found a great masjid and a great Imam, as wel. We do a lot of education and interfaith events.

And besides, what's a prayer except a hope directed at a higher being? So thank you for your hopes. I hope we can make them into reality.

[Sally]

Larissa, you are admirably broadminded -- or clear-minded -- or something, you know what I mean to say -- it's a compliment! Yasher koach, in Hebrew (may your strength increase). (It's late and I shouldn't still be typing.)

[LarissaFae]

Larissa, you are admirably broadminded -- or clear-minded -- or something, you know what I mean to say -- it's a compliment! Yasher koach, in Hebrew (may your strength increase). (It's late and I shouldn't still be typing.)

Thank you so much. *hugs tight* I'm really sorry that we haven't been getting along; it's got nothing to do with religion. I hope we can be friends. :D