When I went to Thailand three years ago, in the hotel, I opened the bedside drawer and found a book about Buddha and his teachings…
Recently in London, in the hotel, I opened the bedside drawer and found a copy of the Bible…
Over the past years, in hotels in Arab and Islamic countries, I opened the bedside drawer and found nothing…
Why?
funny thing
I’m the kind of persons who forget stuff in hotels 🙂
Because our holy book is so holy and passionating that we may never forget it anywhere.
Great thought MMM … brings up a lot in my mind .. but in the end leaves me speachless .. the bottom line .. seems we lost respect to ourselves .. lost the pride in the very thing that one day brought us glory .. and now we are trying us to conceal us hide so we don’t get labelled as terorists or any of its synonyms .. anyways .. or maybe to get away with the title champions of the free/modern/open-minded/etc. .. oh well!! It seems a loooooooong way to go before we wake up 🙁 thanks for the thought!
Simple. Non-muslum are not allowed to touch the holy book. It is as simple as that.
(I don’t want to get into a long discussion what if a muslum goes to a hotel, we know at least in tunisia, the majority of hotel visitors are usually foreigners and non-muslum)
There’s a nice long story behind the reason why some religious people a long time ago tried to pass the word of their God on to others by placing Bibles in hotels which can be read and taken home if they want.
As a Buddhist, this is my first time hearing about a book of Buddhism in a hotel. I wonder if it may be a westernized tradition with an eastern twist to it? Dunno…
I would think that most know The Holy Quran by heart?
But it’s most probably as Satchel says.
Marouen & Well, the books weren’t forgotten there, they were put there on purpose to spread the religion.
Firas, I’m scared to think that is the truth. But sometimes, it’s the only reason I find.
Satchel, I know that it’s not allowed for non-muslims to touch the Koran, although I think for reasons of spreading Islam, it should be allowed. But it doesn’t have to be the Koran in the drawer, it could be a book about Islam with some verses from the Koran and their meanings. I don’t think there would be a shortage of ideas if they wanted to do something to try and spread Islam or at least an understanding of Islam.
Jenn, I personally am interested in that nice story if you have the time to tell it or provide a link to it.
And yeah, it seems that the Buddhism book in the hotel idea was picked up from the west. I actually read the beginning of the book, and wished I could take it with me to finish it, but they asked people not to.
well there usually is a sticker pointing to the direction of the kaabeh instead.
Onzlo, not always, but then again that’s only of use to a Muslim who needs to pray and doesn’t know where the direction of the Kaabeh is.
Why don’t we have an effort aimed at non-muslims to at least spread a better understanding of our religion?
I didn’t know that non-muslims are not allowed to touch the Koran…what a surprise!!!
My husband (tunisian and muslim) keeps his holy book in a drawer in our bedroom and so many times I take it and try to read (I’m learning to read arabic). Obviously it’s a bit difficult for me to read and understand but he sits close to me, reads with me and explains what I don’t understand and so we start talking about islam, the Prophet and his teaching and I absolutely love it, even though I’m a Catholic. I surely agree Koran should be found in every bedside drawer of every muslim country hotel.
I’m just curious…who said non muslim are not allowed to touch the Koran…is it written anywhere?
Vos commentaires me laissent perplexe.
A commencer par ceux qui parlent de “diffuser l’Islam” jusqu’
K-pax, I agree with you on the points you mentioned. It’s true we’re way past the time of religious conquests, respect for ourselves and our religion can’t be measured by this, and for people who are interested, I think they should be able to read the Koran.
Anyway my point isn’t really that, my point is that by leaving a little book about Islam, it could be a good way of spreading a better understanding of the religion especially in these hard times.
If the person is interested in knowing more or in converting; that’s another story, but just getting an idea is quite enough.
When in Thailand, the book about Buddha and his teachings really gave me a better understanding and more interest in Buddhism.
I haven’t converted to Buddhism, but I have a big respect for it. I don’t see why we can’t do the same for Islam.
I know it’s not a life or death issue, it’s no really big deal, it’s not going to solve the problems to humanity’s problems, but well it was just a little thought that I thought was worth sharing.
http://ask.yahoo.com/20030415.html
Thanks for the link Jenn 🙂 I appreciate it 🙂
as Satchel said it is because non-muslims are not allowed to touch it, heck muslims who have not done wudu are not allowed to touch it. the bible (i think) is not put there to spread the religion at least not anymore.
as for spreading islam, it is done through proper dawa and not a small manual that may lead to greater confusion. add to this the fact that any such publication will inevitably contain the words of Allah swt, if not his name. This can easily be tossed out or defiled or God knows what by any of the guests.
I also didn’t know non-Muslims aren’t allowed to touch the Koran. How can people convert without being allowed to read the Koran?