[Sauron]

Originally Posted by al Furqaan
i think chinaman, tehsin, and others are automatically [and falsely] attributing importance to shafin's posts.

shafin is not, at least from my understanding of this thread, making his imaan contingent on which celebrity also follows islam. in that case, chinaman is absolutely correct - there is a MASSIVE problem with that picture. however, i believe that that is NOT the case.

today, i feel that it is quite important, that celebrity muslims get publicized. this lends islam a 'normal' face. although we may be muslim, and not the kind that you see on the news 24/7, the majority of non-muslims will attribute islam to genocidal mania. they have no reason not to.

with celebrity muslims, you are able to show the human side of islam...the everyday side of islam. dave chappelle is muslim, so you can say "see muslims smoke weed and can make lewd jokes too...a muslim isn't exclusively a fanatic"

now i am not condoning drug use and lewdness, but i am attempting to make my point.

and if all else fails to convince the prophet (saw) used to pray "oh allah, guide amongst the disbelievers whoever you like more from abu jahl and umar"

in other words, the prophet recognized that abu jahl and/or umar's celebrity status would lend EARTHLY credibility to islam. key word, earthly.

Great post. Very well thought out and precisely presented.

I started out reading this thread without any strong feeling either way. But after reading all the posts, in my mind, this one stands out. Good job al Furqaan!