1. Introduction: The Paradox of Devotion We often speak of religious devotion as a climb toward the light, a series of steps that surely lead to peace. But for a young girl growing up in a devout home in Iran, the climb felt more like a descent. A Muslim encounter with the supernatural often starts with a search for purity, but for her, the rituals offered no refuge from her past. Having survived sexual assault by a relative at a tender age, she carried a “defilement” she felt she could never outrun. Driven by this internal agony, she threw herself into the heart of her faith, wearing the chador and performing rituals with frantic precision, only to find that the more she prayed, the more a specific darkness seemed to answer. 2. The “Empty Drum” of Ritualistic Performance The narrator’s transition into deep religiosity was marked by what she calls… read more
Jesus in Islam
Beyond the Sunday School Stories For many, the Bible and Quran are familiar in name only. We may know the most famous stories—Noah’s ark, Moses parting the sea, or the night journey of a prophet—but this surface-level awareness often obscures the more complex and challenging realities embedded within these texts and their histories. The common narratives we inherit are often simplified, smoothed over, and sanitized.