Ketololan Islam dan orang Islam itu emang ga ada tandingannya
12:25 am | Posted by Sarah A
The Evil Eye and Other Strange Superstitions that Still Exist Today in Muslim
Societies
1/27/2012
SOURCE
About a month ago, my mom was packing to go on a trip. While she was trying to
figure out what she needed, she realized that she could not find one of her
purses. After looking everywhere with no luck, she started freaking out. She
came downstairs really frustrated and said: “I think the devil is playing
tricks on me! I can’t find my bag and I know I saw it this morning. He must be
hiding it somewhere to mess with me.”….. It took every bit of self-control for
me not to burst out laughing. She was really serious! She proceeded to recite
verses of the Quran to ward him off. I tried to tell her that the “devil” was
not messing with her, but she got mad and said: “You know this stuff is real
right? It’s in the Quran”…. Of course mom. It MUST be real because this ancient
book said so. I wanted to say more so badly but I decided to let it go. She
eventually realized that she put the purse inside another bag to save space,
and then gave
credit to god (of course) for helping her find it.
Now, my mother is an educated professional with a graduate degree. She is
generally not an irrational person by any means, but somehow she manages to
block off her logical side when it comes to religion. It is deeply ingrained in
her and she would never for a second think that it is not real. Many Muslims
are the same way. There are just certain superstitious things that they truly
believe in just because they are in the Quran and Hadith (Teachings of
Mohammad).
Here are some examples of the biggest issues I have seen:
The Evil Eye
The Evil Eye is probably the most popular superstition that I see in the Muslim
world. It supposedly comes when someone admires something you have but does not
say a blessing, and then harm happens to you or the item they liked. For
example, if someone admires your car but does not say “Masha’ Allah” (which
basically means “with god’s will anything is possible”), and you get in an
accident the next day, it would be their fault. Or if someone admires your
beautiful wife and then she gets a cut on her face, it would be their fault as
well. Because of ideas like these, people are always saying “Masha’ Allah” all
the time so they don’t cause harm to others or themselves.
Warding off the Evil Eye
When I was about 11 or 12, my parents got into a big argument. They did not
speak for days, which was very uncharacteristic of them because they were
always very affectionate towards each other and they never argued in front of
me or my siblings. My grandmother was convinced that the evil eye is what was
causing their fight. Someone just had to be jealous of their relationship. She
came over and started reading verses of the Quran in our living room to ward
off the evil eye. It didn’t work the first day, so she came over again the next
day and did the same. Later that night my parents worked things out. My
grandmother was so happy because in her mind, it worked! Reading the Quran
verses got rid of the evil eye and my parents were back to themselves again. Of
course she gave credit to “god”, not to the fact that they sat down to discuss
the problem and then reached a compromise.
Muslims believe that there are some things that you can do to help protect
yourself from the evil eye. Here are some of the ideas they usually suggest:
* Put a small Quran in places like your living room or car. You can
also wear a necklace with just a few key verses from the Quran to help protect
you. This is especially done for kids because they want to keep them “safe”.
* Don’t always tell people when something good happens to you just in
case someone is jealous. It is not worth the risk of the evil eye.
* Always say “Masha Allah” (with god’s will anything is possible) when
you see something you admire so you don’t accidentally put the evil on someone
or on your self.
Obsession with being right handed
Mohammad believed that the devil was left handed. He had this obsession with
doing everything with the right hand, foot and side, because anything on the
left is associated with evil. He said that you should always use your right for
anything “honorable” (writing), and your left hand for anything that is not
(going to the bathroom etc.).
I have an uncle who is left handed, and when he was younger, his family would
tie his left hand behind his back so he would not use it for eating or writing.
Needless to say, that did not make him right handed, it just made him resent
the idea that he was left handed.
Here are some more things that Mohammad taught his people to keep “Satan” away:
* When you put your shoes on, always start with the right foot then the
left.
* Never eat with your left hand because that means the devil is eating
with you.
* Always spit to your left because that’s where the devil stands.
* When you go to the bathroom, you should enter with your left foot,
but when you leave you should use your right (since the bathroom is an
“unclean” place).
* When a man pees, he should never hold his penis with the right hand.
(yes he actually said that)
* Mohammad also believed that if you wanted to make sure bad dreams
don’t harm you, spit on your left side. I did not even know this teaching
existed, but apparently it is in the Hadith:
A good dream that comes true is from Allah, and a bad dream is from Satan, so
if anyone of you sees a bad dream, he should seek refuge with Allah from Satan
and should spit on the left, for the bad dream will not harm him.” (Bukhari
Book 87 #115)
Fortune Telling
Islam says that fortune telling is true but they try to discourage people from
it because fortune tellers “work with the devil” to get their information.
Although they are not supposed to find out their future, many people still
speak to, palm readers, card readers, and coffee fortune tellers.
My grandmmother went to see a fortune teller when she was in her 20′s and the
teller told her that she would not live past 60. The closer my grandmother got
to that age, the more scared she became. Then age 60 came but nothing happened.
Still, she thought every year would be her last. She ended up living until she
got to her late 70′s, and I am pretty sure that if she did not have this fear
that she was dying, she would have lived a happier, more enjoyable life.
Witchcraft
The Quran and Hadith (Mohammad’s teachings) are filled with witchcraft. It is
even said that witchcraft could kill and that the person performing the spell
should be tried as a murderer and executed. Mohammad even thought that he was
“bewitched” at some point.
7 Dates a day keep the “spells” away
The “prophet” Mohammad had an interesting way of warding off evil and
protecting himself. He ate 7 dates a day…
He who ate seven ‘ajwa’ dates in the morning, poison and magic will not harm
him on that day.(Sahih Muslim Book 23, #5081).
More Funny and Strange Things Mohammed Believed
These are some things they didn’t exactly teach us in school… Probably because
they sounded even dumber than the examples above. I found them in an article
while doing some research for this post. I looked up the references in the
Hadith, and they actually exist!
This list really made me laugh:
* If someone oversleeps, it is because Satan urinated in their ear.
* You should try your best not to yawn because it is caused by Satan
and he will laugh at you every time. But it is OK to sneeze because god likes
sneezing.
* Keep your doors closed because Satan does not open closed doors.
* Satan comes out at night so don’t let your kids out of the house
after sunset.
* Satan hangs out in the upper part of your nose when you sleep at
night, so if you wake up to go to the bathroom, always wash your nose and blow
it to get rid of him.
* And last but not least…A child will always resemble the parent that
climaxed first during sex (when conceived).
And people wonder why we don’t take religion seriously….
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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