Campaign: a planned and organized series of actions intended to achieve a specific goal especially fighting for or against something or raising people’s awareness of something.
And in this case, that something is a clearer understanding of the religion of Al-Islam.
As cognitive creatures we can no longer lay blame when used as an “Imaging Machine”, solely on News Media outlets, for the “Mask” that has come to cover, what should be viewed in this country, as the face of Islam.
We should see that we are being asked to stand up for and represent Islam Proper. We are being asked to clarify misused and misunderstood Islamic terms such as “Jihad” or “Jihadist”, to give a true understanding of what qualifies a martyr and the real benefits of achieving that goal.
The Barbara Walters’ special “Heaven Where Is It? How Do We Get There?” is an example of what can happen when the “imaging machinery” utilizes ignorance (intentionally or un-intentionally) to miss-represent. In this special Barbara Walters sought out a representative of each major way of life, religion and non-religion to answer her question “Heaven Where Is It? How Do We Get There?” Walters traveled to the Himalayan Mountains to visit the home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She travels to Washington DC to meet with Cardinal Theodore McCormick of the Roman Catholic Church. She went to the New York Jewish Theological Seminary to meet with Rabbi Neil Gilman, spoke with Reverend Calvin Butts, Pastor of New York’s famed Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, The National Association of Evangelicals’, President Pastor Ted Haggard.
Walter journeyed around the world - to India, Israel and throughout the United States. She spoke with many people of different religious and scientific beliefs, each with strong opinions and answers to her question. Each of the various answers and having an understanding of the various religion and non-religion I could almost accept the answer - and if I profess either of the various ways I would have been proud of each one of the representatives.
But when it came to the ones that was to relay the Islamic understanding, or give a Muslims' answer or opinion, an opinion that is suppose to represent my rational, I almost kick in the television (tell-lie-by-vision).
Supposedly Islamic Representative #1 Islamic scholar Feisal Abdul Rauf gives a statement that allows the focus to be placed on the physical animalist image of sex.
Supposedly Islamic Representative #2 - (hold on to your hats now) the attempted suicide bomber Jihad Jarrar, of Islamic Jihad, who is incarcerated in an Israeli prison. He also leads way towards darkness by stating, (by way of translation): “the lord promised the martyr who lost his life and lost the world on earth, that he promised him 72 virgin in paradise as honor, as respect for him.” He goes as far as to tell Walters that only Muslims will go to heaven and she's going to hell.
Now mind you this program aired in a time where demonizing Muslims seems to be the patriotic thing to do in this country. So quite possible a lot of clarifying point that should have been made by Feisal Abdul Rauf ended up on the editor floor.
I hope that there was a mention of what or something similar to what Imam W. D. Mohammed enlighten us with so many years ago that “man is mind” I hope it was said in a way that could have led her and the viewers to “fallow the logic to its logical conclusion” Because the statement made by Imam W. D. Mohammed “man is mind” gave me a more palatable understanding an understanding that if shared with Walters and her viewers that would clarify the animalistic view and miss presented physical prizes (if you will) that was given.
I’m sure if any of the true students of Imam Mohammed was asked, they he or she could state in very simple language that – to make it to any plane of Heaven you would have achieved the highest state of mind, and knowing that there will be work/worship there then there will also be production there. Also- seeing that G-ds creation never stops and has no end, then the process of bringing about anew will never stop. The right mind would engage only with that that brings about righteous pure production; it would only mate with or enter into, “something that has never been touched or entered into before” and that blessed mind will be allow to produce with all that has been perfected for it.
Also the term martyr, as I understand it, it’s a sin in the religion of Islam for one to kill him or herself as it is also a sin to take the life of any innocent creature. A martyr (from the English dictionary) somebody who makes sacrifices or suffers greatly in order to advance a cause or principle - somebody who chooses to die rather than deny a strongly held belief, especially a religious belief.
Killing yourself for any cause does not make you a martyr, it makes you sick! Suicide is not a synonym for martyr. One of the most popular sayings in the religion of Islam is “The ink of a scholar is more sacred than the blood of a martyr” OR “One learned man is harder on devil than a thousand ignorant worshipers”. Again, killing yourself does not make you a martyr.
How can you claim to be a fighter for peace when your last act brings about the sound of an explosion alone with murder and mayhem ka-boom?
This is the “Mask” that must be removed, the representation that must be replaced.
Because of the sense of “change” is in the air with this year’s history making presidential campaign season, for those of us who can see know that we have to ride this wave. We too must campaign. Campaign for correct representation, we are being ask by the same media that uses that mask to send out that image, to clarify. Make it make sense.
The likes of talk radio host and host of FOXs Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity, talk radio host & founder of the E.I.B. Network Rush Limbaugh, talk radio host Mark Levin, Glen Beak etc… all have asked, “where are the moderate Muslims to dispute these things”.
Things like the uproar over the so-called drawing of the Prophet Muhammad could have easily been dealt with by the students of Imam W. D. Mohammed.
We have brothers and sisters among us that could put the babies in their cradles and let them have their bottles full of milk (their explanations).
We have Qasim Ahmed, Yahya Abdullah, Faheem Shuaibe. We have Dr. Nasir Ahmed, Plemon El-Amin, Hatim Hamidullah. We have sisters in this community that could show the world the liberating freedom that Islam has awakened her to. We have brothers that didn’t know what to think or how to think, couldn’t read left to right. But now not only reading left to right but coming back strong with right to left. We have eight, nine, ten year olds leading the Taraweeh prayers during the nights of Ramadan.
We have the best candidates we are the best candidate.
So you see its time for us to embark on this campaign. It’s not a campaign to run for office or take to the street chanting “Ask Us About Us”™. No! It’s an inward campaign that calls out from within us the need to be the replacement for that “Mask”. We have to assume our post. We are wartith-deen-muhammad (spelled intentionally that way for the similarity) the one to inherit the mission of Muhammad (PBUH). Keep in mind now if you don’t know, learn. Then share what you have learnt.
Imam W. D. Mohammed said once “You should love this enough to keep your ignorant self away”
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
On Imam W. Deen Mohammed - Past, Present and Future (The Next Evolution)
By Mubaashir Uqdah mailto:Uqdahmubaashir.uqdah@verizon.net
THE FUTURE -Education (BIRD #1)
The first bird of social resurrection and enlightenment is enlightened education.
It is imperative that we are clear about what we mean by enlightened education.
Enlightened education can mean different things to different communities. We must know what it means for our community.
Typical Islamic and American educational curricula are not sufficient for the type of individuals that this school system must develop. "Follow the logic to its conclusion," our Imam said.
If we are producing new minds, a new culture, and a New Africa, then a new educational system must be designed to reproduce and enhance the new minds that must implement this logic.
Carter G. Woodson wrote a book titled, "The Miseducation of the Negro." The premise of this book is that we have been trained under the guise of education, but not really educated.
Woodson asserts that our miseducation is that we were taught the knowledge and skills to build the world for others, but not how to apply the knowledge and skills relevant for our own advancement.
He used the example of a dog that is highly trained to bring back food for his master, but does not know how to use those same skills to feed itself.
Imam Mohammed called education our number one priority and he said at the 2006 Ramadan Session: "Education is the greatest tool for advancing the society." We do want to advance our society, don't we? Are you a part of a society or are you just a part of a Masjid? What kind of education do we have going on in our Masajid?
What is its focus? Are we training our students to be good tools for other people's constructions or beautiful props in other people's plays, or do we have a real story to write?
As we think about our educational system, the Clara Muhammad and W. Deen Mohammed Schools — do not forget the message of Carter G. Woodson.
In the domain of education, there are many goals to achieve; many tasks to undertake. At the top of this list must be the creation of an authentic Clara Muhammad School System (CMS) Educational Curriculum.
Imams, educators, parents, take note: We must be able to reproduce the mind of Imam Mohammed in this current generation of believers, both new and old, and the next generation of young Muslims fortunate enough to have an interest in Al-Islam and this community.
We are not born knowing the teachings of Al-Islam and the commentary of Imam Mohammed. If the knowledge body of Imam Mohammed is not taught systematically, it will not be learned systematically. If we do not learn it systematically, then we cannot reproduce that knowledge body systematically.
If we cannot systematically reproduce that knowledge body in ourselves, then we cannot systematically reproduce the New Mind, which is the basis of the New Culture of New Africa and the model communities we seek to build.
If there is no system of education, then our education is left to haphazard chance, to a gamble. Would we gamble with the life of our child? How can we gamble with G-d's Gift of compensation for our ancestor's 400 years of horrifying slavery?
Allah carefully designed everything in the creation (Qur'an Surah 22:73) and put at least one purpose in the design of each thing. This is a pattern of creation; this is a Fitrah. Our educational system must be built according to this Fitrah, with design and purpose.
The success of our educational enterprise is measured by the product it produces relative to the design and purpose of the educational system.
The goal of the community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed is to produce the new minds that will create the new culture — model communities - New Africa, new society, which will serve as the womb of birth and reproduction of generations of new minds.
These minds will become the vanguard of the band of people arising to work together with all right-minded people, inviting America and the world to embrace the good and reject the bad. Our educational system must be designed to accommodate these purposes.
A curriculum is the path taken to reach the goal of an educational system. The curriculum of the Clara Muham-mad/WD Mohammed School System is the systematic roadmap from a student's starting point in our system to their birth as a new mind with the rudimentary skills and understanding needed to advance the life of their individual and collective identity.
In between the beginning and end of the journey along this roadmap are courses they must take, checkpoints they must reach, requirements and standards that must be met, because these are indicators that the student is progressing toward the destination.
Our curriculum must chart courses that develop the knowledge, understanding, and skills required to manifest the vision Allah provided through Imam Mohammed.
What are the essentials of this curriculum, at least, for the next 5 to 10 years? What must we develop in our students (all of us are students of Imam Mohammed) to move along the roadmap to the destination that we envision?
In addition to the curriculum ideas described below, please review an article I wrote in 2006, titled "Curriculum for the Clara Muhammad Schools."
Also, please note that the first curriculum refers to Imam Mohammed's commentary, however this includes the study of the Holy Qur'an and the life of the Prophet. Because Imam Mohammed's commentary centers on the Qur'an and example of the Prophet.
Curriculum Essentials1)
The first curriculum essential are courses that teach us the language of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. This essential includes understanding the meanings and interpretations of the symbols, parables and stories in the scriptures (Qur'an, Bible, others), the interpretation of the signs in the creation (animate and inanimate), and the interpretation of the rituals in religious traditions and practices.
This curriculum essential includes not only learning the meaning and interpretations of things taught to us by Imam Mohammed, but the logic and method of thinking of the new mind which enables the student to read the signs and extract wisdom independently of the direct teachings of Imam Mohammed.
This curriculum essential must also include exercises and training in expressing the concepts and practice in applying the teachings in different forms (for example, the cultural, political and business expression of an idea; etc.)
This curriculum essential also must include learning to read Qur'anic Arabic. We must be able to see Qur'an with our own eyes. All of us do not need to become fluent Arabic readers, reciters and conversationalists. But all of us need to/must become proficient enough with Qur'anic grammar and use a good Arabic/English dictionary to be able to read the Qur'an and see what it is saying using our own eyes and brain.
When we are able to do this, we will see, as the excellent Arabic professor, Imam Salim Mu'Min has said, "Imam Mohammed's teachings is the Arabic language of the Qur'an."
This curriculum essential is mandatory, because in these courses are the ingredients out of which Imam W. Deen Mohammed was produced and out of which that new mind — the knowledge body called Imam W. Deen Mohammed — will be reproduced over and over again. Out of these courses will also evolve the applied knowledge needed to manifest the new culture.
2) A second curriculum essential are courses that cultivate the original human nature of the individual. This essential includes learning and training in knowledge and practices that purify and feed the soul of the individual. This essential is moral and spiritual training.
Courses in prayer, dhikr and du'a (in a WDM sense), meditation, reflection and contemplation are a part of this curriculum essential. This essential also must include courses and training that cause the student to experience the benefits of charitable acts on his/her soul as a result of helping others.
Self-mastery must be a course in this curriculum essential. Its goal is to awaken within the original nature of the student the exhilarating consciousness of the power of the self, when it discovers the virtue of having the discipline to plow through adversity and struggle to reach a goal and achieve a victory.
This curriculum essential is required for our educational system, because we have Deen taught that Allah created the human being in the best of forms and as Imam Mohammed believed: If we can return the human being back to his original nature and form, he will become a superman in this world and will be a great force for manifesting our vision and remaking the world.
To build New Africa and model communities, we must be natural human beings living on a moral foundation. If our souls are not alive with the Ruh (Spirit of Allah), then we are nothing.
3) A third curriculum essential are courses in the study of Bilalian (African American) history and heroes and Islamic history and heroes. After learning who we are as humans and members of the human family first, we must learn our ethnic and cultural history.
We must be taught our role and purpose in the world, as a consequence of 400 years of slavery (as described by Imam Mohammed).
We must be taught the lessons of our leaders and the lessons of our people's responses to our condition. We must be taught about the negatives in our mentality, culture and emotional makeup.
It is very important that the student is fully aware of the kinds of thinking, feeling and behaving that must be avoided.
4) A fourth curriculum essential are courses in the knowledge of others: Social Studies, History and the Humanities. Our students must have knowledge of the peoples in our society and world. We must know something about other cultures and religions.
Our students must be taught an appreciation for the history and ways of others. To be together as one human family is our destiny, we must be prepared with the interpersonal skills and knowledge to get along with other people.
We must be able to get along comfortably with others, because we must build alliances with other right-minded people and faith communities in the struggle against the schemes of Satan and the building of paradise on earth.
This essential includes learning about the history of Islam, the life of Prophet Muhammad and all of the Prophets and great religious people and ideas that have shaped our world.
THE FUTURE -Education (BIRD #1)
The first bird of social resurrection and enlightenment is enlightened education.
It is imperative that we are clear about what we mean by enlightened education.
Enlightened education can mean different things to different communities. We must know what it means for our community.
Typical Islamic and American educational curricula are not sufficient for the type of individuals that this school system must develop. "Follow the logic to its conclusion," our Imam said.
If we are producing new minds, a new culture, and a New Africa, then a new educational system must be designed to reproduce and enhance the new minds that must implement this logic.
Carter G. Woodson wrote a book titled, "The Miseducation of the Negro." The premise of this book is that we have been trained under the guise of education, but not really educated.
Woodson asserts that our miseducation is that we were taught the knowledge and skills to build the world for others, but not how to apply the knowledge and skills relevant for our own advancement.
He used the example of a dog that is highly trained to bring back food for his master, but does not know how to use those same skills to feed itself.
Imam Mohammed called education our number one priority and he said at the 2006 Ramadan Session: "Education is the greatest tool for advancing the society." We do want to advance our society, don't we? Are you a part of a society or are you just a part of a Masjid? What kind of education do we have going on in our Masajid?
What is its focus? Are we training our students to be good tools for other people's constructions or beautiful props in other people's plays, or do we have a real story to write?
As we think about our educational system, the Clara Muhammad and W. Deen Mohammed Schools — do not forget the message of Carter G. Woodson.
In the domain of education, there are many goals to achieve; many tasks to undertake. At the top of this list must be the creation of an authentic Clara Muhammad School System (CMS) Educational Curriculum.
Imams, educators, parents, take note: We must be able to reproduce the mind of Imam Mohammed in this current generation of believers, both new and old, and the next generation of young Muslims fortunate enough to have an interest in Al-Islam and this community.
We are not born knowing the teachings of Al-Islam and the commentary of Imam Mohammed. If the knowledge body of Imam Mohammed is not taught systematically, it will not be learned systematically. If we do not learn it systematically, then we cannot reproduce that knowledge body systematically.
If we cannot systematically reproduce that knowledge body in ourselves, then we cannot systematically reproduce the New Mind, which is the basis of the New Culture of New Africa and the model communities we seek to build.
If there is no system of education, then our education is left to haphazard chance, to a gamble. Would we gamble with the life of our child? How can we gamble with G-d's Gift of compensation for our ancestor's 400 years of horrifying slavery?
Allah carefully designed everything in the creation (Qur'an Surah 22:73) and put at least one purpose in the design of each thing. This is a pattern of creation; this is a Fitrah. Our educational system must be built according to this Fitrah, with design and purpose.
The success of our educational enterprise is measured by the product it produces relative to the design and purpose of the educational system.
The goal of the community of Imam W. Deen Mohammed is to produce the new minds that will create the new culture — model communities - New Africa, new society, which will serve as the womb of birth and reproduction of generations of new minds.
These minds will become the vanguard of the band of people arising to work together with all right-minded people, inviting America and the world to embrace the good and reject the bad. Our educational system must be designed to accommodate these purposes.
A curriculum is the path taken to reach the goal of an educational system. The curriculum of the Clara Muham-mad/WD Mohammed School System is the systematic roadmap from a student's starting point in our system to their birth as a new mind with the rudimentary skills and understanding needed to advance the life of their individual and collective identity.
In between the beginning and end of the journey along this roadmap are courses they must take, checkpoints they must reach, requirements and standards that must be met, because these are indicators that the student is progressing toward the destination.
Our curriculum must chart courses that develop the knowledge, understanding, and skills required to manifest the vision Allah provided through Imam Mohammed.
What are the essentials of this curriculum, at least, for the next 5 to 10 years? What must we develop in our students (all of us are students of Imam Mohammed) to move along the roadmap to the destination that we envision?
In addition to the curriculum ideas described below, please review an article I wrote in 2006, titled "Curriculum for the Clara Muhammad Schools."
Also, please note that the first curriculum refers to Imam Mohammed's commentary, however this includes the study of the Holy Qur'an and the life of the Prophet. Because Imam Mohammed's commentary centers on the Qur'an and example of the Prophet.
Curriculum Essentials1)
The first curriculum essential are courses that teach us the language of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. This essential includes understanding the meanings and interpretations of the symbols, parables and stories in the scriptures (Qur'an, Bible, others), the interpretation of the signs in the creation (animate and inanimate), and the interpretation of the rituals in religious traditions and practices.
This curriculum essential includes not only learning the meaning and interpretations of things taught to us by Imam Mohammed, but the logic and method of thinking of the new mind which enables the student to read the signs and extract wisdom independently of the direct teachings of Imam Mohammed.
This curriculum essential must also include exercises and training in expressing the concepts and practice in applying the teachings in different forms (for example, the cultural, political and business expression of an idea; etc.)
This curriculum essential also must include learning to read Qur'anic Arabic. We must be able to see Qur'an with our own eyes. All of us do not need to become fluent Arabic readers, reciters and conversationalists. But all of us need to/must become proficient enough with Qur'anic grammar and use a good Arabic/English dictionary to be able to read the Qur'an and see what it is saying using our own eyes and brain.
When we are able to do this, we will see, as the excellent Arabic professor, Imam Salim Mu'Min has said, "Imam Mohammed's teachings is the Arabic language of the Qur'an."
This curriculum essential is mandatory, because in these courses are the ingredients out of which Imam W. Deen Mohammed was produced and out of which that new mind — the knowledge body called Imam W. Deen Mohammed — will be reproduced over and over again. Out of these courses will also evolve the applied knowledge needed to manifest the new culture.
2) A second curriculum essential are courses that cultivate the original human nature of the individual. This essential includes learning and training in knowledge and practices that purify and feed the soul of the individual. This essential is moral and spiritual training.
Courses in prayer, dhikr and du'a (in a WDM sense), meditation, reflection and contemplation are a part of this curriculum essential. This essential also must include courses and training that cause the student to experience the benefits of charitable acts on his/her soul as a result of helping others.
Self-mastery must be a course in this curriculum essential. Its goal is to awaken within the original nature of the student the exhilarating consciousness of the power of the self, when it discovers the virtue of having the discipline to plow through adversity and struggle to reach a goal and achieve a victory.
This curriculum essential is required for our educational system, because we have Deen taught that Allah created the human being in the best of forms and as Imam Mohammed believed: If we can return the human being back to his original nature and form, he will become a superman in this world and will be a great force for manifesting our vision and remaking the world.
To build New Africa and model communities, we must be natural human beings living on a moral foundation. If our souls are not alive with the Ruh (Spirit of Allah), then we are nothing.
3) A third curriculum essential are courses in the study of Bilalian (African American) history and heroes and Islamic history and heroes. After learning who we are as humans and members of the human family first, we must learn our ethnic and cultural history.
We must be taught our role and purpose in the world, as a consequence of 400 years of slavery (as described by Imam Mohammed).
We must be taught the lessons of our leaders and the lessons of our people's responses to our condition. We must be taught about the negatives in our mentality, culture and emotional makeup.
It is very important that the student is fully aware of the kinds of thinking, feeling and behaving that must be avoided.
4) A fourth curriculum essential are courses in the knowledge of others: Social Studies, History and the Humanities. Our students must have knowledge of the peoples in our society and world. We must know something about other cultures and religions.
Our students must be taught an appreciation for the history and ways of others. To be together as one human family is our destiny, we must be prepared with the interpersonal skills and knowledge to get along with other people.
We must be able to get along comfortably with others, because we must build alliances with other right-minded people and faith communities in the struggle against the schemes of Satan and the building of paradise on earth.
This essential includes learning about the history of Islam, the life of Prophet Muhammad and all of the Prophets and great religious people and ideas that have shaped our world.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"Being A Muslim Makes Me A Better Christian"
By Patrick Oppmann SEATTLE, Washington
Ann Holmes Redding has what could be called a crisis of faiths.
For nearly 30 years, Redding has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. Her priesthood ended Wednesday when she was defrocked.
The reason? For the past three years Redding has been both a practicing Christian and a Muslim.
For nearly 30 years, Redding has been an ordained minister in the Episcopal Church. Her priesthood ended Wednesday when she was defrocked.
The reason? For the past three years Redding has been both a practicing Christian and a Muslim.
"Had anyone told me in February 2006 that I would be a Muslim before April rolled around, I would have shaken my head in concern for the person's mental health," Redding recently told a crowd at a signing for a book she co-authored on religion. Redding said her conversion to Islam was sparked by an interfaith gathering she attended three years ago. During the meeting, an imam demonstrated Muslim chants and meditation to the group. Redding said the beauty of the moment and the imam's humbleness before God stuck with her.
"It was much more this overwhelming conviction that I needed to surrender to God and this was the form that my surrender needed to take," she recalled. "It wasn't just an episode but .... was a step that I wasn't going to step back from."
Ten days later Redding was saying the shahada -- the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Mohammad as his prophet. But Redding said she felt her new Muslim faith did not pose a contradiction to her staying a Christian and minister.
"Both religions say there's only one God," Redding said, "and that God is the same God. It's very clear we are talking about the same God! So I haven't shifted my allegiance."
The imam at the Islamic Center in Seattle, Washington, where Redding prays said she brings the best of both traditions to her beliefs.
"Coming from an example of wanting to be Christ-like and coming from the perspective of wanting to follow the best example -- the example of our prophet Mohammed -- it all makes sense then," Benjamin Shabazz said.
There are many contradictions between the two religions. While Islam recognizes Jesus as a prophet, Christianity worships him as the son of God. James Wellman, who chairs the department of comparative religion at the University of Washington, said that while it is not unusual for people to "mix and match" beliefs, it is almost unheard of for a minister to claim two religions.
"When you take ordination as a Christian minister, you take an explicit vow of loyalty to Jesus. It's hard for me to understand how a Christian minister could have dual loyalties," Wellman said.
Redding said she sees the theological conflicts but that the two religions, at their core, "illuminate" each other. "When I took my shahada, I said there's no God but God and that Mohammed is God's prophet or messenger. Neither of those statements, neither part of that confession or profession denies anything about Christianity," she said.
To her parishioners and family, though, Redding has turned her back on her faith and office. There was, she said, "universal puzzlement" at her decision to convert to Islam but still remain an Episcopal minister.
"I have people who love me very much who really don't want me to do this, and I love them very much. And I would love to be able to say, 'Because I love you I will renounce my orders' or 'I will renounce Islam' ... I hate causing pain to people who love me, that's not my intention," Redding said.
The Episcopal Church also rejected Redding's religious choice.
"The church interprets my being a Muslim as 'abandoning the church,' " she said. "And that [there] comes an understanding that you have to be one or the other, and most people would say that. It simply hasn't been my experience that I have to make a choice between the two."
The Diocese of Rhode Island, where Redding was ordained, told her to leave either her new Muslim faith or the ministry. A diocese statement said Bishop Geralyn Wolf found Redding to be "a woman of utmost integrity. However, the Bishop believes that a priest of the Church cannot be both a Christian and a Muslim."
Even though she has been defrocked, Redding said she is not capable of turning her back on either faith. She said she wants to continue speaking about and teaching religion and perhaps even travel to the Hajj, a journey to Mecca that every Muslim is supposed to make in their lifetime. Redding said she does not want her belief in two religions to diminish the value she holds for both Christianity and Islam. Each faith by itself is enough to fulfill a person spiritually, she said.
"It's all there. I am not saying you have to go somewhere else to be complete. Some people don't need glasses, some people need single lenses. I need bifocals."
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