Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt… Col 4:6
Author: Mona Sabah
Author, Speaker & Ambassador of Christ. Saved by Grace Alone, by Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, as revealed by Scripture Alone, to the Glory of God Alone!
A much shorter post for last week. Of course, I was doing fairly well – falling behind a day or two and then catching up on the weekends (mainly on Saturday). Then we moved into the 3rd week of the reading and we had a conference to go to in Texas for 2 days. Of course, it was on a Friday and Saturday (my big day of catching up!). We came back exhausted and the kids wanted to talk that evening.
There are some things that have to wait – no matter what is going on around you. So, I ended up falling even more behind! I was still on Wednesday’s reading list by the time Sunday came. Sundays are all about doing things with our church family, so it was a big blessing.
This week, I am spending time catching up. I changed the order of reading (again!) to go through the minor prophets (called “minor” not because of their message, but because of the size of the books that are called by their names). I set aside the longer books of Ezekiel and Daniel for this week (Week 4). It’s been going fairly well and consistent. I am feeling a bit less passionate because of falling so far behind. HOWEVER, I am reminded by my bookmark that I am able to read the beautiful word of the Lord and actually understand all the different exiles that were taking place! So amazing to be able to finally “get it!” I believe 100% that it’s due to reading altogether and not forgetting what happened just last week in the Biblical sequence of events.
SO… onward we go!
Week 3 Books: Song of Solomon, 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings, 2 Kings (I really slowed down in my reading through 1 & 2 Kings to get a better understanding of the Kings and the exiles), Ecclesiastes, & Obadiah
Today’s reading: Ezekiel & Daniel (I hope I can get through both and then I will go to the NEW TESTAMENT! YES!!!)
What a week! Not only was I less organized about my Bible reading, but the stress from work almost did me in!
Goes to show you — unless you make time for your Bible reading as a discipline, the day will just wash away any intentions you had of sitting down for 2 hours.
My week 1 was organized, I had focus, I had a plan BUT week 2 looked nothing like week 1. I started off the week ahead, but I know that my Mondays seem to be insane. I have work from 8-5, then a quick dinner, then Bible Study until 9pm. I don’t tend to have any time for sit down Bible reading. Last week, it was Memorial Day and we decided to not meet so we could read. That helped me out quite a bit and I spent time in the Word. I was feeling pretty good and was ahead!
Then… the rest of the week happened! We had meetings with people in the evenings and I found myself tired and reading just a bit. I caught up by Friday and had a chance to listen to one of the books – cannot remember which one, but that was a nice change. I have to say — I found out that I read a lot faster than the audio. We turned the audio up to 1.5x and it was much better, but still pretty slow. Audio Bible doesn’t really save you much time, but allows you to relax and listen while you read along.
The weekend was non-existent. I had a speaking engagement on Saturday and read for maybe an hour. Sunday, we were at church and then had other commitments until 8pm. I got maybe an hour done then as well.
All in all, I am about a full day or so behind and I’m okay with that! 😁
I adjusted the chronological reading to read all the Psalms for the week at one time – that helped me from jumping back and forth (which was getting on my nerves!). I also started taking better notes so we can discuss questions during our Monday night meetings.
I’m still trucking along! I hope you are too!!!!!!
Books read last week:
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, Psalms (most of them), 2 Samuel & Proverbs
Can you tell I’m excited???
Keep doing this! It’s so satisfying to pick up the Bible and see your bookmark at the 1/2 way point!!!
Today’s reading: Ecclesiastes
My edited reading plan on the side!
If you’re still thinking about this – don’t delay. Start reading today. Even a little bit of Bible reading will be a blessing in your life. Let me know if you have questions! Join me on FB or Insta @monasabahbooks
Well… it’s been a week! I thought it was going to be very difficult and honestly, that’s why I needed to get some of my brothers and sisters holding me accountable for reading the entire Bible in 30 days. It was a daunting task.
I decided to ask the Lord for help — it’s amazing what happens when you pray FIRST, isn’t it? I asked God to help me make time and to actually make this a priority. Given that I work full time and also do ministry and crafts and make YouTube videos for fun… I wasn’t sure how much of extra stuff I would be able to get into my day. I had visions of me toiling over books and chapters in the Bible going past midnight.
This was NOT the case!
I was able to find pockets of time in my day – I ate lunch and then sat down to read for about 20 minutes. I found a small spot after dinnertime to read with my daughter (how wonderful to be able to read the Bible together since she’s doing this as well). There was, of course time in the evening but maybe an hour and a half. That might sound daunting, but when you start reading and have a love for the word of God, something happens – you lose track of time and end up getting ahead some days.
I read ahead knowing that some of my days are busier than others and then I evened out on Sunday because that seems to be when we are most occupied. All I know is that in 1 week, we both have been able to read Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, & Judges!!!! AMAZING!!! I thank the Lord for allowing me to stay on task, on focus and for giving me the time to do this.
How did your week go?
Was it easy? Was it terrible to find time? Are you ahead, behind on the reading schedule? Are you on your own timeline and schedule? I would love to know more!
About 2 weeks ago, I met with two women who are full of wisdom and understanding. They both know their Bible inside and out. There are reasons why I want to hang out with people like this:
They LOVE the Lord
They want to know more about Him as revealed in Scripture
They show that they are followers of Christ not only because of what they say, but the way they conduct their lives – they place Christ first.
When I mentioned off-hand that I would like to be a bit more disciplined in my Bible reading, one of the women said that her husband was challenged years ago with reading the Bible Chronologically in 30 days and then, her husband challenged her! After my jaw came up off the ground, I asked her why would you want to run through the Bible in that way?
Here are her reasons:
In a 1 year plan, you can’t remember what you read in January/February by the time you get to the summertime. For me, I can’t remember in just a few weeks!
In typical reading plans, you get bogged down in the book of Leviticus or Numbers — in a 30 day plan, you don’t have time to get bogged down.
30 days gives you a great overview when you are reading in Chronological order. Your mind starts to put the pieces together of what happened when.
Honestly, all those reasons made total sense to me. She then added “you can do anything for 30 days!” and that was the clincher. I struggle through the 1 year plans – they usually take me 2 years to complete. I not only lose steam but I lose concentration. I thought “why not?”
Next, I asked HOW…
Surprisingly, she suggested that if you read about 2 hours per day, you can keep up fairly well. Her method was to read for 1/2 hour in the morning, 1/2 hour at lunchtime and then 1 hour in the evening. That doesn’t work for everyone and I have busy days (due to working full time) and some busy weekends. So, you can use the 2 hours as a rule of thumb and maybe read a bit more on one day or less on another, depending on your schedule.
So, I decided to do this BUT I need accountability. It’s so much easier to do something like this if you know others are doing it with you and that’s where YOU come in! 🙂 If you are interested, reach out to me on FB @monasabahbooks. I will share which chronological plan I am using and we can keep one another ENCOURAGED!!!!
Every week, I plan to ask:
What were some milestones you reached that told you things were going well?
What roadblocks or setbacks did you face?
What did you learn after you reached these milestones, roadblocks, or setbacks?
What would you do differently if you could start all over?
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. ~ Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV
I’ve tried dieting. I’ve even tried counting calories or trying to lose weight. It seems like the harder you try, the more obstacles you face. It seems like it’s a never-ending battle for me.
Many Muslims around the world are fasting for Ramadan. During the month, they abstain from both food and water from sunrise to sunset (they can feast at night). I have written posts about all the rules and regulations in the past (here, here, and here) In my former life as a Muslim, I tried to keep the fasts but I came up with many excuses to be excused from them. None of the excuses were good enough- a “good” Muslim will do their best to ensure that they fast for the 30 day timeframe.
I think it was a mental exercise in discipline for me. At the end of the day, I just didn’t understand why I had to fulfill this particular requirement since I could just do good works to make up for my lack of desire to abstain from eating. Of course, I was admonished by others for having this terrible attitude!
When Jesus Christ saved me in 2007, I began to read the Bible. It was the beautiful Gospel of Matthew that caught my attention. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus Christ says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied.” I spent time thinking about this verse because I had never heard anything like this before. Over 1.6 billion Muslims around the world— even in your own neighborhood hunger and thirst physically… but do they hunger and thirst for righteousness?
If you ask them, I would like to believe that they would say yes.
The truth is that apart from Christ, we have no righteousness of our own (Isaiah 59:1-17 and Romans 3). Our good deeds are “like filthy rags” according to the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 64:6). The filthy rags are also translated as “polluted garments” that refer to a woman’s menstrual cloths. This is very significant because in Islam, it is “haram” or sinful for women to pray or fast when bleeding (see islamqa.info/en/answers/70438/rulings-on-menstruation). So, to read that my good deeds are just as worthless as me praying to Allah during a time of being spiritually unclean was eye opening. In other words, it doesn’t matter what works you do to try to get on Allah’s good side. The Bible is very clear.
Only God is HOLY
Man cannot enter Heaven or be in the presence of God on his own works. Man (or woman) are not righteous. We are mired deep in sin.
So what can we do?
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, look no further than Christ. We Christians say that we are righteous only through faith- – and even that faith we have was given to us by God. Isaiah 61:10 states “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness…
In the Gospel of John (4:14), Jesus states “But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
In John 6:48, Jesus states “I am the bread of life.”
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, look to Christ. Only He can give us spiritual satisfaction and life eternal. Amen.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ~James 2:19
We spent this morning discussing the beliefs of some in the Church who profess to show their faith without works and those who show their faith through works.
The interesting thing about this discussion was that there are those who believe only in their own works. There are many religions that claim that human beings can work their way to heaven. Islam is one of those that proclaims this very loud and clear. Surah 16:97 states “Whoever does good, whether male or female, and is a believer, We will surely bless them with a good life, and We will certainly reward them according to the best of their deeds.” Your reward is solely based upon how well you have followed the 5 Pillars of the Muslim faith and how many good deeds you have done.
When I was a Muslim, I used to wonder (and ask others) “what is good?” How do you know? What I might think is good might be considered bad to another. What is meant by a “good life” in the verse above? What does that “good life” look like? Is it prosperity? Is it a guarantee of entering Paradise? How do you know how many good deeds you need to enter into heaven? As someone who was very goal-oriented, I needed to know just how many good deeds I needed- just like I needed to know how many points I needed on my next exam to get an A grade and pass my course. I wanted to get an A on the ultimate course of life and make it into heaven. That was a great desire of mine because much of the Quran speaks about hellfire and damnation.
The basic tenet of Islam, however, is the belief in ONE God, Allah (this is called the “TAWHEED” or oneness). The Shahadah (statement of belief, confession or creed) states that “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his Rasul (messenger).” If someone simply recites this statement in the presence of another Muslim, they become a Muslim right on the spot. The big question, however, is “Does this statement get me into Paradise?” The answer is a resounding “NO.”
The verdict is still out in Islam on how exactly one gets to enter into Paradise and who will enter Paradise. This is an even more difficult task for women, since Muhammad said that women don’t have good odds of entering.
“Verily, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths (grade) of the Fire; no helper will you find for them” [an-Nisa’ 4:145].
But if what you meant by hypocrites is those who fall into some acts of hypocrisy, such as lying or betraying a trust or breaking a promise; or he fell into some kind of minor shirk, such as showing off or swearing by something other than Allah; or who fell into some major or minor sin – such a person does not become a kaafir just by doing that thing. It does not put him beyond the pale of Islam and he will not spend eternity in Hell because of it, if he dies believing in Tawheed. Rather his case is up to Allah: if He wills He will punish him for his sin, then admit him to Paradise because of his belief in Tawheed, or He will bestow His grace upon him from the outset and admit him into Paradise and forgive him for the sins that he committed. Al-Bukhaari (6933) and Muslim (1659) narrated that Abu Dharr said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Jibreel appeared to me at the side of the harrah and said: ‘Give your ummah the glad tidings that whoever dies not associating anything with Allah will enter Paradise.’ I said: ‘O Jibreel, even if he steals and even if commits zina?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ I said: ‘Even if he steals and even if commits zina?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ I said: ‘Even if he steals and even if he commits zina?’ He said: ‘Yes, and even if he drinks alcohol.’ And Allah knows best.”
Islam Question & Answer
That answer would not give me much hope, since I have said and done hypocritical things in my life!
The passage above references the Tawheed (oneness of Allah). If you look at all the answers in the link, the first answer states that anyone who commits “shirk” (adding partners to Allah) will be in hell-fire.
“Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin. [an-Nisa’ 4:48]. “
This brings us back to the verse from the book of James. It is not enough to simply believe that God is one. James states that “…Even the demons believe—and shudder!” James was referring to Deuteronomy 6:4 which was a creed for the Jews ““Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” Just because you believe in the God of Moses or Abraham did not mean that you were saved from hellfire. A “saving faith” means that you don’t just recite a creed or a confession and go on with your life. Your faith needs to rest in more than that.
That faith also doesn’t rely upon your own “good” works because how does one know they will ever be good enough to please God? Your faith needs to rest in more than that.
The demons shudder because they have knowledge (and faith, dare we say?) that there is only ONE God. However, their fate is not heaven, but hellfire. The truth is that they are utterly condemned and they understand this as a reality… that’s why they shudder.
So what does our faith need to rest upon?
It’s not a creed. It’s not a statement. It’s not a confession. It is a Person.
We believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The only work that will save us and make us right with God is the work Jesus Christ completed on the cross at Calvary over 2000 years ago. He is the only one who is the way to heaven.
If you own an iPhone, then it has already alerted you that today is Ramadan! That’s not altogether true because Ramadan starts in the evening on the 9th month of the Islamic calendar. Muslims use a Lunar year – they look at the shape of the moon to help them determine the start and stop of certain holidays. However, Ramadan is not just a holiday but a month long activity.
For me, Ramadan was a curiosity and kind of a mess. I never looked forward to it but truly detested it. It was a time of people asking me how I was doing while fasting. It just felt like I had a big sign on my chest that told everyone that I was not fasting like a good Muslim should. The image above was a ready made media marketing image that says “Ramadan is about breaking habits not putting them on pause.” That’s another burden that was placed upon me. I had to take a look at my life and abstain from EVERYTHING! No thinking bad thoughts, no lying (although I had to because I was not fasting and did not want to shame my family or myself, so I lied throughout Ramadan!), no smoking (not a problem, since I never smoked — but many do!), no nothing.
Ramadan is a time of physical fasting which means ABSOLUTELY no food or water from sunrise to sunset. It also means another type of fasting – taking a break from your regular routines and doing more spiritual reflection. It is a time of spiritual improvement and stopping yourself from sinning. It is a time of introspection and seeing how you can become a better Muslim.
In itself, it’s not such a bad idea. Shouldn’t we all take a hard look at ourselves and see what we can improve?
Psalm 51:5 tells us that “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” That means from the very moment of conception, we are immersed in sin. I always compare this to the fictional character of Shrek – he was an ogre who was born into a swamp. He didn’t realize any of this until he left. He was immersed in this swamp and it permeated his very being. We tend to think we are alright, some may even say “I’m a good person” but the truth is that we are all born into a broken world that wants to continue to sin against a Holy God. Proverbs 20:19 states “Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?”
Job 14:4 states “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.” He is lamenting the nature of mankind. He knows that like the grass, man will wither and die (Job 14:2). Our life is short. We are not able to “pull ourselves up from our bootstraps” and make ourselves clean. Only ONE can do this and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
In his letter to the Church in Galatia (Gal 3), the apostle Paul says “10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”d12But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirite through faith.”
It is the truth. The law exists to show us boundaries of transgressions. It is there to show us how guilty we are. The law cannot help us. This is the reason we need a Savior. Who can help us from God’s law? God Himself. It is through the death on the cross that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. This means that Jesus took on the penalty of our sin and justified us in the court of God. Through Christ alone can we say “we are good.” We put on His righteousness as a cloak and He covers all our unrighteousness and impurity. In other words, we put on the pure Christ and He allows us to be made right through Him with God Almighty.
Today, if you are feeling like you can never make up for all the lies, cheating, terrible words, or sins you have committed, would you take a deeper look into the life-saving, life-giving message of the Bible? It is not just a book of laws to put chains around you and shackle you down. It is the true freedom and a message that is beautifully proclaimed about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray that you will open a Bible today and see what the Lord Jesus has done. It is truly GLORIOUS.
Bring a friend and join me for this important talk about how to reach Muslims with the Good News of the Gospel! I will cover the big topics in my book and also address Q & A
Books will be available for sale at the event!
How do I learn more about a practical way to reach Muslims in my area? Mona Sabah, a Former Muslim presents an intimate view to her past with examples of culture, traditions, beliefs and the religion of Islam. The interactive book provides research and guidelines on how to share the Gospel at the end of each chapter along with questions for practical application. This is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about how to connect with the Muslim community for Christ with gentleness and respect. Mona Sabah was born and raised in the Middle East, went to school in Pakistan and then moved to the United States. She has worked in the Human Resources field and teaches Management, Leadership and Cultural Diversity. Mona became a follower of Jesus Christ at the age of 35. She published her testimony “From Isa to Christ: A Muslim Woman’s Search for the Hand of God” in February 2017.
Do you take notes when you are reading the Bible or do you curl up on the couch and read it in the same way you would a great novel? There is a time and place for both ways, but reading and studying are not the same thing. In order to study your Bible, there needs to be some processing and active learning. When I sit down to study the Bible, I pray, I write down the entire passage (into a journal), I draw pictures to help me remember, I also jot down other verses that might be important. This is the same way I take notes during sermons! My Bible is full of drawings to capture the main verses the Pastor uses to illustrate his points.
My drawings are quick sketches of the main ideas so that I can refer back to the verses and also be able to take a mental photograph of what the sermon was on a particular day. If I spend time during the week in my sermon notes, I find that my retention of the sermon points increases!
This might be a way to teach your children how to take notes in church or for their own Bible Study. There is a handout that you can use for yourself – I’ve included a free pdf printable here!
I hope this tool is something you will use today to take better notes, have a better understanding and to dig deeper while helping to model respect for God’s Word! May your Bible study grow deeper and bear much fruit for the Kingdom!
No Scripture is exhausted by a single explanation.
The flowers of God’s garden bloom not only double,
but sevenfold;
they are continually pouring forth fresh fragrance.
*Exerpt from “Half in Islam Whole in Jesus – A Woman’s Worth” Chapter 3 Cultural Traditions – published January 2020 by Mona Sabah.
Half in Islam, Whole in Jesus – A Woman’s Worth by Mona Sabah
In 2001, TIME magazine published an article that stated: “For his day, the Prophet Muhammad was a feminist. The doctrine he laid out as the revealed word of God considerably improved the status of women in 7th century Arabia. In local pagan society, it was the custom to bury alive unwanted female newborns; Islam prohibited the practice. Women had been treated as possessions of their husbands; Islamic law made the education of girls a sacred duty and gave women the right to own and inherit property. Muhammad even decreed that sexual satisfaction was a woman’s entitlement.”
The factual truth is that Muhammad helped the status of women during the pagan times and his belief in following one God was a direct departure from what the society dictated. Pagans in Arabia included those practices listed in the article as a form of idol worship, mixed with a desire to have sons to increase their family’s wealth and power. However, much of Islam’s policies on women began and ended in the 7th century. The Arab culture today firmly clings to the ancient tribal structure along with recognition of the father of the family as the patriarch and authoritarian. The women in a traditional Arab and Muslim family are subject to all the patriarch’s actions and to restrictions, including education, finances, marriage, along with any contact with outsiders. The result is controlled isolation. The author of the TIME article redeemed herself a few paragraphs later by stating that fourteen centuries later, there hasn’t been much improvement, in fact “under Islam today, it is clear that the religion has been used in most Muslim countries not to liberate but to entrench inequality.”[1]
When I was a Muslim, I was invariably asked by American women about the status of women in Islam. I would always give a similar robotic response as the author above. I would tell people that Muhammad was ahead of his time. He prohibited female infanticide which was a pagan custom (where instead of aborting a child in the womb, women would give birth and then bury the living unwanted child in the desert sand while their tribe moved to a different location). There are Bedouin stories about how the cries of buried infants used to haunt the mothers who practiced this tradition. Muhammad banned this practice and said that children were a blessing from Allah – even female children. Surah an Nahl (The Bees in Arabic) addressed this pagan custom:
“And when the news of [the birth of] a female [child] is brought to any of them, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief! He hides himself from the people because of the evil of that whereof he has been informed. Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in the earth? Certainly, evil is their decision” (Quran 16:58 & 59).
This tradition was played out in my life when my aunt came crying out of the delivery room with news that my mother had given birth to a third daughter. She was visibly upset and thought that my father (who has no sons) would have been terribly upset. My father simply told her in front of me that it was Allah’s will and that all children (girls or boys) were a blessing from heaven. Still today, Muslims believe that the Quran is unclear on its stance for abortion. There is debate today that affects modern Muslim women who wish to abort their children and are unclear on rulings from the Quran due to confusing language. An article from the Muslim Institute titled “The future of abortion rights in Islam”[2] shares the frustration of what is a proper ruling on the matter. However, the Muslim Brotherhood published a statement[3] to clarify Islamic ruling by stating:
“A closer look at these articles reveals what decadence awaits our world, if we sign this document:
1. Granting girls full sexual freedom, as well as the freedom to decide their own gender and the gender of their partners (ie, choose to have normal or homo- sexual relationships), while raising the age of marriage.
2. Providing contraceptives for adolescent girls and training them to use those, while legalizing abortion to get rid of unwanted pregnancies, in the name of sexual and reproductive rights.
3. Granting equal rights to adulterous wives and illegitimate sons resulting from adulterous relationships.
4. Granting equal rights to homosexuals and providing protection and respect for prostitutes.
5. Giving wives full rights to file legal complaints against husbands accusing them of rape or sexual harassment, obliging competent authorities to deal husbands punishments similar to those prescribed for raping or sexually harassing a stranger.
6. Equal inheritance (between men and women).
7. Replacing guardianship with partnership, and full sharing of roles within the family between men and women such as: spending, child care and home chores.
8. Full equality in marriage legislation such as: allowing Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, and abolition of polygamy, dowry, men taking charge of family spending, etc.
9. Removing the authority of divorce from husbands and placing it in the hands of judges and sharing all property after divorce.
10. Cancelling the need for a husband’s consent in matters like: travel, work, or use of contraception.
These are destructive tools meant to undermine the family as an important institution; they would subvert the entire society and drag it to pre-Islamic ignorance.”
The Muslim Brotherhood further encouraged all women’s organizations, the leaders of Muslim countries and their United Nations representatives to reject and condemn these types of actions and to repent of this as an act against the standards of Islam. So, it seems that while one side is trying to cater to modern issues and women’s rights, the other (and perhaps more forceful) side is saying the opposite to the Muslim world. There exists a great dichotomy that causes confusion.
[1] Beyer, L. (2001). “The Women in Islam.” TIME Magazine. http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185647,00.html
[2] Shameen, N. (2013). “The future of abortion rights in Islam” https://musliminstitute.org/freethinking/islam/future-abortion-rights-islam
[3] March 14, 2013. Muslim Brotherhood Official Statement. http://ikhwanweb.com/muslim-brotherhood-statement-denouncing-un-women-declaration-for-violating-sharia-principles/
