Friday 21 June 2002

Pic of the day: Sunshine and flowers. It's not all doom and gloom, you know!

Thank Allah! It's Friday

It seems for the common Muslim, the Friday prayer has a similar importance as the Sunday mass for most Christians. I find it slightly ironic that the two major spin-offs from Judaism each has taken a different "holy day", yet they have preserved the underlying structure of a 7 days week with one sacred day. It is as if they have recognized the wisdom in the Sabbath, but are ashamed to admit it...

Of course, in our increasingly secular society, the "holy day" is becoming more and more a "holiday", a day of superficial distraction, and recreation is cut loose from creation. The spirit is smothered in entertainment, and the cost of it all makes worry eat the soul like rust.

***

Yet I am not opposed to a secular society. On the contrary, I appreciate it. As a heretic I would likely have been in trouble through most of history. In fact, I wouldn't mind an even more secular society. Less religion in politics, for instance. (But not less morality - yes, that is possible.) This is where my headline today comes in.

Allah is God. Actually, Allah is the God of Moses and of Jesus. Corresponding to the Hebrew El, kind of like God's family name, it is less personal than Yahweh, Jehovah or however you want to pronounce the secret name. So basically it means God. Arab-speaking Christians pray to Allah too. (Unless they pray to Jesus, but don't get me started on that now.)

The nifty thing is that if you set in the Arab word, you suddenly make visible the theocratic bent in some supposedly secular societies, most notably the USA. "In Allah we trust." "One nation under Allah." Would you really feel comfortable with that? No? Then don't do it unto others. I'm sure when the Lord comes down from on high, with the last trumpet, with his holy angels etc., he is fully capable of setting up his government with no input from you. And in the unlikely case that he doesn't come, then it was probably for the best that you kept your hands off. Allah knows misguided religion has caused enough trouble throughout history, and still does.