Posted on 11/20/2001 6:00:49 PM PST by Ronin
Hello,
My name is Furi Setio Rini and I am a Muslim woman. I am 20 years old and live in Jakarta, Indonesia. I am attending my third year of medical school at Trisatki University. My friend, Ronin, asked me to write this because he is very disturbed about the hatred of Islam that he is seeing on your board.
What can I say about me? Well, I think I am an average Indonesian girl. I like movies and music. I love to shop for new clothes. Sometimes I eat too much. I do not like the music that is too loud. I don't like politics and I don't understand them.
I have to laugh when I hear western people talk about Muslim women. Somehow they think that all of us are beaten by men and treated like animals. If you had ever seen my father, my brothers and me, running away from my mother when she was angry, you would know how silly that is.
I have never worn a veil. I wear make up and I use lipstick. Except on the days I go to Mosque. On those days I clean myself as much as I can. I do not believe that it makes much difference to God, but I want him to see me with my true face, and heart.
I have two brothers. One of them is older, the other is younger than me. I guess that they are like brothers everywhere. Sometimes I love them. Sometimes I hate them. Sometimes I wish I could kill them. But no, that is a lie. Even when I think I hate them, I love them. They are my brothers, my family. I love and respect my father and my mother. I adore my father and hope to find a husband just like him.
I have not been kissed yet. And I have not been held as a woman wants to be held. Yes, I want it. Yes, I dream about it. But I can wait until I find the man I will marry. And no -- it will not be a marriage arranged by my parents. I will choose my husband, and he will choose me. We will marry because we love each other and want to spend the rest of our lives with each other. God willing.
I am studying to be a doctor. It is my best dream and ambition to be a doctor in a small village where doctors are rare. I want to be able to help the most common people of my country. I want to make life better for them. I want to bring happy and healthy babies to loving mothers and proud fathers. I want to give comfort to the old people who have so much to teach us. I want to share my love with true and real results.
I am not perfect. I am quite lazy sometimes and I have to force myself to studies on days when it is too hot, or at times when there are so many other interesting things to do. But this is a story about Muslim women, so maybe I should talk about that a little. What is Islam to me? This is a question that is very hard for me to answer. Islam is in my blood. I pray to God each day. I ask for health and happiness for my family, my friends and my country. More than that I cannot say. I love God and I pray to Him daily. . Is that any different from you?
I pray to God each day for wisdom. But the newspapers and the television and the radio shows me nothing but images I do not want to see. I can't stand the pictures I see.
I hate war. I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!
I hate it almost as much as I hate pediatrics class. Not because I hate newborn babies, I love them. I want my own babies. But, I hate learning about the illnesses and the horrible conditions that can happen when a baby gets sick.
My heart cries. Sometimes, just opening the textbook is a horror. To see a stillborn baby makes a small death inside me. But I must learn, because if I cannot learn to treat them and make them well, more babies may die. I cannot think of anything worse.
I think that most Indonesian girls are like me. And, most Indonesian boys are like boys everywhere. They like cars and sports. They play music too loud. When they think they are so cool and exciting, they are usually very boring. The television and radio you see is not showing you the proper vision of my country or my people. We live and we love. We go to restaurants, movies, and clubs.
I do not drink alcohol, but I do not find that a hardship. (I did have a glass of red wine once. It did not taste very good.) My father and my brother smoke cigarettes, but I don't. No, we do not eat pork.
Men say that the words of God are in the Holy Quran, the Christian Bible and in the Jewish books. I do not know about that. I read the Holy Quran and try to live my life in the teachings that it contains. But inside my heart I know the only commandment of God is love. I love God. And I know that God is love.
So, this is my testament. It is not very profound.
I am a Muslim woman. I love God. God is love. I love you all.
Furi Setio Reni
blah blah blah islam is peace blah blah blah islam is good blah blah blah DIE ALL NON BELIEVERS!
Also, ask her why one's religion is placed on id cards and why having muslim on an id card gives one more or special privilege!
I have been sitting here for the past hour or so comparing the Qua'ran passages given to the actual text of the Qur'an. In every case, the passages were misquoted or taken out of context.
While I do believe that a goal of Islam is to see that every person on earth lives under Islamic law and thus the spread of Islam must be checked, I do not believe that misquoting the Qur'an will be of any help.
I have been very open minded about people of other faiths and Islam--until 9/11. I hasten to add, however, that this was not entirely because of my compassionate heart--it was more because of simple ignorance. After 9/11, I began to actually study the Quran and other Islamic writings. What I found horrified me. There is a strong basis for what the Taliban has done, is doing, and will attempt to continue doing in that book! They are acting in accordance with their teachings!
Look at who and what is behind today's terror. They are Spaniards, they are Indonesians, they are Philippinos, they are French, German, Saudi, Afghan, Pakistani, Somalian, Sudanese. One cannot simply say "it is the Arabs," or "it is the Middle Easterners." They come from everywhere, and in all colors, and from every walk in life. However, they have one thing in common: their religion. I can only conclude, then, that it is Islam that is at war with us, not the Middle East or the Arabs. It is Islam. I see no point in trying to candycoat this truth. Others can be politically correct if they want, but I'm going to call it as I see it.
How silly and, frankly, unsensitive of us to be angry at the people who want to destroy us. I just can't imagine what came over us. Just because Islamic terrorists murdered thousands of innocent souls in NYC and Washington DC, what right does that give us to think badly of Islam? Gee, can you ever forgive us for not assuming the fetal position, sucking our thumbs, and begging forgiveness from Islam for being Christian and Western?
That is a certainty.
Makes you wonder what she'd say if she did, eh?
"I hate it! I hate it! I hate it!"
Wanker - I've spent time in Sauidi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Both countries treat their people like dirt. As for the people themselves, who knows, I don't speak their language and they didn't speak English. The only folks you deal with over their, when you're on business, are ex-pats. That isn't a good barometer to use to assess the natives. So how does one get to know what the natives feel or think when they don't speak English?
Christians in Indonesia are being beheaded by these so-called laid-back Muslims. Doesn't it bother your friend in the least that her religion is doing this? If she is a nice person, she could become a Christian or something else, but they'd behead her too if she did.
First of all, yours was a thoughtful, well-meant project, and, despite what you see here, may very well lead folks to at least consider the human dimension of their anger.
That said, FReepers are only human. Seven thousand of our countrymen lie dead in rubble in our own country, slaughtered senselessly by men who proclaim their holy zeal. There is a community that, through its indifference, supports this kind of outrage. That community is largely Muslim. In times of high emotion, it is asking a lot for us to separate one atypical Indonesian girl from the horde of Muslims who want us dead.
My comment "Please forgive us if we consider you barbarians" was meant literally. Please forgive us. But we DO consider you barbarians. And probably will until the dust settles around 1 World Trade Plaza, and the last bodies are buried.
We can try really hard to understand the Muslim point of view. But right now, I'm not willing to put forth that effort. I would suggest the Muslims try to understand OURS.
Me, neither. You?
Dan
(c;
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