Trivia Fact of the Day
Cidu Bill on May 20th 2008
In the Muslim faith, anybody born to a Muslim father, regardless of the mother’s religion, is a Muslim (which might have implications in the case of Barack Obama); while Judaism uses the opposite rule, that a child is Jewish or non-Jewish depending on the mother — under the logic that you can be 100% certain who the mother is, but…
(None of this is to say, of course, that parents can’t and don’t raise their children however they see fit; but this is what Muslim and Jewish law dictate)
Filed in Barack Obama, Bill Bickel, Islam, Judaism, Muslims, religion, trivia | 13 responses so far
Reema May 20th 2008 at 02:12 pm 1
That is not true at all. A Muslim becomes a Muslim only with the testification of faith after puberty. Even if one has Muslim parents, he has to choose the faith for himself and make the testification of faith. Having Muslim parents does not make one a Muslim. Somehow I feel that these stories are put out there to scare everyone from voting for Obama. Believe me, if the Muslim world believed that Obama was an apostate, you would have heard something from the Muslim world, not from Americans who are trying to find a reason why Obama shouldn’t be president.
Chennette May 20th 2008 at 02:20 pm 2
Wow. No idea where this info comes from - Muslims believe everyone is born innnocent (and by extension Muslim but that is only until puberty). Your parents only matter in that they raise children with certain beliefs, which you may choose to follow or not. Being a Muslim is not a hereditary matter, but a question of belief, choice and practice.
Cidu Bill May 20th 2008 at 02:26 pm 3
The article I mentioned in the original post was by somebody who I figured should know what she was talking about — but what you guys say fits what I’d always believed as well, so I’m stumped.
Chennette May 20th 2008 at 02:31 pm 4
Addition after some puzzling and reading that article - wonder if this is mixed up with the fact that Muslim men are allowed to marry Christian or Jewish women, but the children should be raised as Muslim? This does not mean the children will BE Muslim of course, as they are responsible for their own actions and decisions.
The author of that article says most Muslims agree, and this is what Islamic jurisprudence says, but doesn’t cite any specific evidence of that. I for one, and Reema above were clearly taught otherwise.
Reema May 20th 2008 at 03:38 pm 5
The NY Times also ran an article similar to the one you link to. Here are some of the letters they received in response to that article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/opinion/lweb14muslim.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Rasheed May 20th 2008 at 05:00 pm 6
Well, she seems to be trying to pin it all on Osama and Al-Qaeda, and I have no idea where a lot of their beliefs come from. They have picked & chosen what they want the rules to be, and made up the rest as they went along. They’re not even Wahabi, they’re even beyond Wahabi principles and conservatism. So I do concede that if Obama is elected, he may very well be rejected by the Middle East, but only out of ignorance.
Winter Wallaby May 20th 2008 at 05:33 pm 7
The Muslim-though-the-father idea appears in other articles. From a web site on Half-Jewish issues:
And from a web site on Muslim intermarriage:
Neither source appears particularly definitive, but conversely, it’s not like the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) just pulled the idea out of nowhere. I suspect the issue is variations in sharia law from community to community.
I’m so confused! First McCain tells me that Hamas will love it if Obama is elected, since Obama is so friendly to radical Muslims. But now I hear that Osama wants Obama to win because Obama is so repulsive to radical Muslims. But I thought Obama was a “secret Muslim.” How can he be a repulsive apostate when he’s a secret Muslim? And how does he have time to both be a secret Muslim, and a secret radical black separatist Christian? Too confusing. . .
anonymous May 20th 2008 at 06:05 pm 8
i grew up being told, by casually practicing muslims that anyone whose father was nuslim is considered to be a nuslim, everything I’ve read supports that too.
but lets go ahead and throw that out the window, the question becomes, when did BHO reach puberty? was it while he was reciting the testification while registered as a muslim in school in jakarta?
throw that away too, he recited the shabadah ftr years while in muslim school, did he remember it as an adolescent and reject it then? Or has he heard it and rejected it sense then? either answer makes him an apostate, you too.
WTF May 20th 2008 at 06:42 pm 9
Trivia fact of the day????
That’s a pretty bizzare title. I hardly think the matter is trivial.
Carl May 21st 2008 at 07:50 am 10
So, anonymous, how long have you been making up nonsense?
Rasheed May 21st 2008 at 11:16 am 11
Well, this all has more to do with the Man being Head of House, and thus having the right to raise his children as Muslim. When I was a kid, I’d go to Catholic church with my Mom, but never took Communion, or was Baptized. I don’t think there was a specific ban on any of it at the time, just wasn’t discussed. At the time, being Muslim to me just meant “no pork.” I wasn’t really exposed to Islam at large until I was 12. However, it should have been my Dad’s right (and responsibility) to teach us about Islam. Now we have one Muslim, one agnostic Muslim, and two toe-in-water Catholics at Lent.
Andrew Sep 3rd 2008 at 01:01 am 12
I was born of a Christian mother and a Jewish father. Jewish law says that a child should take his mother’s religion, which makes me Christian. The trouble is that Christianity says that a child should take his father’s religion, which takes me back to Judaism. Anyone in my position is a paradox because of this rule. My parents just decided to raise me Jewish, but Israel does not recognize me as a Jew.
dd Sep 3rd 2008 at 03:32 am 13
Christianity says children should take the father’s religion? Are you sure?