I'm still alive

I have not been active on the blog for a while. I became busy and lost interest in writing. Because of not doing anything with the blog, google thinks I'm dead. So I had a little trouble getting in my account.

I setup this blog using email system A and as a recovery method I used email system B. And I remember all my passwords for system A and system B.

When I logged to the blog with the correct password after being inactive for a long time, google thinks there's something fishy going on with my account. It sent me a recovery code to system B. I login to my email account on system B and find out that system B thinks something fishy is going on. System B sent a recovery code to system A to verify that this is the same person since I haven't log in to my account for a long time. So, I was trapped between system A and B sending recovery email to each other, despite me knowing all the passwords to my account. Annoying!

End of the Year 2014 Report

Total number of posts for 2014 was 67 or as much as number of posts made in 2013.

Most of my visitors are from the following countries: North America (USA, Canada), Europe (UK, France, Germany, and Eastern Europe), South/East Asia (India, Pakistan, Australia, and South-East Asia), Russia, Ukraine, Middle East and others.

Most of my traffic originates from google search.

Even though I didn’t write much about Muslim sects or school of thoughts this year, still a lot of folks have arrived on my blog while searching for keywords relevant to them, such as Sufis, Zaydi, Nusayris, Alawi and Yazidi

Readers are interested to read a variety of topics here, too numerous to identify them all.

The majority of my posts were about Islamic Extremism or Terrorism because the war in Syria has dominated most of the reporting out of Middle East.

On the other religion segment, I was exploring Atheism and Paganism. I hope to continue the discussion this year.

I’ve also written a number of posts about women: Silly girls aspiring to be Jihadi, contesting in beauty contest, feminism, fighting for human rights as well as Islamic rights and others.

Philosophical discussion about God’s existence and the necessity of religious beliefs.
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2014/01/does-god-really-exists.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-one-true-religion-truth-or-fantasy.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2014/12/would-religion-exist-if-god-didnt.html

I guess I’m back to blogging

I was away briefly, but now the weather is turning winterish, so my outdoor activities are limited.

I’ve been making notes about a few things I wish to blog in the future. I’m also reading news, picking up interesting stories about human, reconnecting ideas of the past with the future, analyzing the flaws in arguments and re-thinking/entertaining the possibilities that maybe everything we know about religions is probably false.

Changing and Re-tweaking the Blog for the Future and Beyond

This is going to be tricky. Three and a half years ago, I did something with the blogger template to get a great layout without any coding whatsoever. The software changed when I wasn’t paying much attention. I’m not entirely sure I can navigate the blogger to make the necessary changes. I’m almost certain I’ll break something if I try to remove the headers, labels or move things around ..etc. I should proceed with caution when tempering with the layout.

On the content: I’ve finally decided topic of interests which I’ll be pursuing (as of now):

As you can see, I’m big on writing about politics, current events, and social issues. And that’s because as humans, we are always interested and attracted to what other human are doing with their life.

Book reviews: I’m not much of a book reader. I’ve no time to read books especially when everything you need to know can be googled easily, but still, a book review segment may be helpful in identifying good books that could potentially be read by others (not me personally). I could envision how this could easily become a community service where I tell my visitors about interesting books; they in turn read the book and share what they have learned with others who might benefit and I don’t have to waste my precious time.

Article reviews: Hopefully, I’ll be doing more of this in the future. Academic articles are shorter, straight forward and to the point so they can be digest easily and have proven to be very useful, at least to me.

Women. This is a fairly interesting topic. Women in most part of the world are still seen and treated like a second class citizen. In the Islamic context, I’m interested to see how they are viewed, historically and also in the modern time, socially, culturally and religiously.

Philosophy in general has added another perspective/dimension to most religion in the world. The use of philosophy in the Islamic faith has proven to be very useful and seen as an inseparable part of the religion.

Al-Quran: The only Islamic literature that many consider reliable and trustworthy. Widely read in the Islamic world but very little is understood or acted upon. While the book is in an unfamiliar language not spoken by many, the faithful believers have found solace and guidance and the unfaithful/ evil-doers have found justification for their cause and to act sinfully. The book has also been used by many to deal with social ills and to heal a wide range of physical and mental disorders and demonic possessions.

Comparative Religion: Religious people tend to view their faith as the best and the most correct version of the truth. I find this mentality of ‘us-vs-them’ exists across all faiths via what we officially call religious sects. When someone doesn’t like or agree with your interpretation or version of anything (ideas, events, practices) they then provide an alternate ideology and band together with similar minded individual. They gain traction and become an established sect and get more followers and become even more influential. I started this blog to investigate the origin of some of the Islamic sects. I don’t see why the good work has to stop just because I’m changing the overall direction of the blog.

Rationality: Does rationality exist in the Islamic faith? Yes? No? Is rationality useful or not really?

Psychology: This should be a topic of interest for many and not just a branch of study for the experts. Unfortunately we don’t spend enough time studying other human who are just like us. Religion sometimes creates artificial barriers that keep us even more insular and divided: You go to different places of worships, dresses differently, mingle only with people of your own race/religion and avoid others simply because they worship a different god which happens to be the same god as yours via different practices which don’t seem to be any less useful than yours.

Science-vs-creationism: I hardly ever post on this. I’ve sat down and tried writing something but this is not an easy task. I can see why religion takes a very simplified approach to explain mystery of the creation or natural occurrence and makes everything easy for us; Adam was created from clay, Eve burst out from Adam’s rib, they ate something and got thrown out from the heaven, there’s demon that’s attached to your soul whose only mission in life is to misguide your soul, the angels control the air, wind and rain, natural disasters could be seen as a punishment, the world is not supposed to be that old if we came from Adam and Eve. Nowadays, we know more about the creation of the human and the universe than our ancestors. We now know that we are not the only race of human to ever live on earth. We also know that the creation of everything is not a simple as we are lead to believe and that the weather pattern is a little more complicated and that every living being is self-sustaining without ever needing interference from angels or higher power.
The next question would be on how to integrate our new found knowledge with our faith. Is that even possible?

These are all the topic of interests I have as of now. I’m going to think about them, sleep on it and start working when I’m ready ...after I figure out how to work the template.

Why am I not posting sects’ related information?

I’m not posting many sects’ related posts. The last few posts were written a while ago. I’m not losing interest. Reading about them is one thing. Writing about them is something else. I’m very busy and can’t really spend that much time reading, researching or writing about them in a format suitable for the audience.

Since I’m not longer meeting the objective of this blog, I should probably modify the headers of my blog to reflect what I’m actively engaged in. Rest assured that nothing will be deleted. The content will not be changed or removed, but the look and feel maybe. The current headers should be on the right side with other labels in the similar group.

I think this modification is very much needed because I’ve expanded my blog to include things not planned originally when I started blogging in 2011. My newer materials are more about current events, ideas that shape Muslim thoughts, a little bit of general philosophy of religion and random things.

I’ve been meaning to move away for a while. By studying the development of Muslim sects, I didn’t get the clarity I hoped. Back then it was a different mindset. I was narrowly focused on tracing the historical origin of Muslim sects. It was a good exercise in writing, and brought a lot of visitors, but I’m becoming severely bored.

I probably need to sit down and think of the future direction of my blog. I’m not completely dissatisfied with the quality of my posts..well maybe a bit on the writing mechanism …I think I can do better. Best is to have a central theme, and then write as many posts as possible. Stay tuned. My blog will be undergoing some changes in weeks or more realistically in a few months.

A comment turned into a topic by itself

I was trying to respond to a comment left by one of my readers here. Predictably something short should suffice but unfortunately it turned into a lengthy piece and I had to make a topic out of it.

My reader believe that two people can disagree with each other and have a healthy discussion. And he further believes that having a disagreement is a learning process to gain a much deeper understanding and insight.

I said “Not so fast”. Here's my comments to him which doesn't fit into the comment format.

I guess everything depend on the 'level of disagreement'. Most people don't have problem when you disagree with them about something very trivial or shallow. For eg. If you and your friend disagree about which soccer team is the best in the world..then I'm sure he/she wouldn't mind or even care that your opinion is very different from his/her. Furthermore, you and him/her can have a very healthy discussion on the specific details about both of the teams without ever jeopardizing or losing the friendship

But try disagreeing on very important issues or issues which are at the core/heart of the other person. Since my blog is mainly geared on religious topics, I think you would agree with me when I say that if you disagree with your Muslim friend with any of the following 'religious topics', I'm very sure there'll be some changes in your relationship with him/her and he/she probably will not look at you in the same way (favorably).

Interesting topics to discuss with your soon to be 'ex-friend'

• Reject the whole concept of God. God doesn't exist. There's no Allah. It's all a myth and a fantasy.
• Muhammad is not a Prophet of God. He's just a wise man who preach goodness but not necessarily a messenger of God because of point #1
• The Quran however inspiring it is, it's just a book. It's not a revelation from God because of point #1 and point #2.
• Homosexuality is alright. We shouldn't be forcing anyone to live according to our way of life based on scriptures because of point #3, point #2 and point #1.

Please report back to me on the result of this social experiment. I don't think religious people are very tolerant. It's always either my way or no way.

Not getting post out on time

I've been writing a blog entry for 7 days now (since the new year day), not a lengthy piece..maybe 1.5page, and it still isn't getting done. I know what you are thinking!

Sadly, yes. I sometimes spend more time than necessary or needed especially when I'm stuck on something. I don't like getting stuck or have nothing to show for.

Anyway, end of rant. I'll probably put the article aside and work on something else for a while until I'm inspired...

Year 2012 and 2013 in summary

Notable articles in

2012
January: Batriya sect, Khawarij and Ibn Arabi the Sufi
February: Zaydi sects and a propaganda documentary
March - June: Mutazila sect
July: Syrian sects
August: Safavid

2013
March: Islamic politics or the Iranian Wilayah al-Faqih system
April - May: Islamic terrorism
June: Iranian Presidential election and the Shia of Iraqi vs Iranian
November: Criticism of Iranian leadership

Restructuring work

The bad news is I've not done any restructuring on my blog since 2012. Probably missed this one due to the blog shutoff between august 2012 - Feb 2013.

Good news is thanks to the shutdown, I didn't get to write a lot of articles so the restructuring work should be easy.

So far, I've update the index under the Zaydi and Battriya sects here
'
Couple of articles have been added under the index Batinis especially about the Qaramite sect

Couple of update under the Kharajites and Waqifa sects

As far as what's not being updated are articles about Shia, Sunni, Mutazila or Salafi. Articles on these sects tend to grow the most on my blog because I've most interest in writing them. You should be able to get to everything about these sects via the header on the top of my blog.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/index-to-shia-pages.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/other-sects.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/kharajite-sufi.html

Unpleasant tasks ahead

End of the year is generally when I restructure my blog.

The process takes a long time and sometimes that's not very pleasant for me.

Afterward, I create a summary of written articles, what I've accomplished this year and what my visitors like to see on my blog.

While I can see the value of going back through each of my posts and linking them to indexing pages for easy retrieval but this work can also be a waste of my time; my time could be better spent writing new articles rather than revisiting old work. Besides, my earlier research about Islamic sects has almost nothing to do with most of my recent posts which are generally about politics, social, current events and sometimes completely random stuffs.

I definitely will continue my work in researching other sects but I don't plan to delve too deep into any single sect. I do feel the need to keep my sects related materials only at introductory level.

I also believe that some ideas (religious or non) are very interesting and I pursue them because doesn't matter what is the origin of it, if it's worthwhile then we should learn and know it.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/restructuring-blog.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-taking-longer-than-i-originally.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-done.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/end-of-year-report.html

Noteworthy comments

I sometimes get very interesting and thoughtful comments from my readers. I, of course, don't get to respond them in a timely manner because I sometimes disappear from my blogs for days or weeks, I'm busy working on other interesting topics, due to a diversity of topics on my blog I may not be in the mood or ready for that comment or I may ignore it for a while...only because I know I'll respond better when I'm not tired, hungry, sad or lazy.

A recent noteworthy comment that you may want to check out is in this topic

I do appreciate my readers who take the time to read and respond to my articles. Don't get upset if we don't see eye to eye on most issues.

Need to be motivated

to work on my blog.

I haven't been blogging as often as I could/should. I think I wasn't motivated enough. Blogging requires dedication. I'm lacking that too. 2013 seems to be the shortest year I've had experience. While I'm pleasantly satisfied with the many tangible milestones I've accomplished this year (in my life); I'm not very happy with the state of my blog.

In the past, I used to be able to write three articles per week at the minimum. Three complete articles. I was also reading a lot. Nowadays, I'm not able to get even a single article written. Often time, after finishing writing a post, I don't feel like posting it. Articles get queued up in the blogger interface; I lose interest and do not revisit them again.

The first step in getting this blog on track is de-cluttering the queue. I need to look over the drafts and salvage what I can. This may take a few weeks at most.

Then, I need to make a list of articles and books that I have been reading especially for my blog. I'm thinking that rather than starting with something new, it's better if I can revisit and expand on some of my old discussions.

Reading. I'm going to start slow. A few pages per day. Set small goals. Don't make reading, a joyful experience, into a burden.

Writing. Don't be lazy. Force yourself to write a paragraph or two of your ideas and thoughts.

Thinking. Don't be scarred to be controversial. If you are not controversial then you are probably not thinking much.

More..coming soon.

Still Here

I'm still here. I really want to blog everyday, but sometimes I can't write anything. And if I'm not in the mood, I don't force myself.

Anyway,

I've recently come across a post from an anonymous poster on ShiaChat who confessed to have converted to Islam. I was totally surprised. Never expected him to ever become a Muslim.

Based on my reading of his posts, he always come across as someone who is pretty confidence about his faith/a lack of faith. Whenever he argues something, he's rarely emotional. I would put his ideology as a staunch but a sensible atheist.

And from my limited personal experiences with atheists, they don't suddenly convert to a religion. No matter how great an argument you think you are making, they are not going to buy into it.

That makes me wonder if he was an agnostic all along.

Blog Back Online

6 months ago, I deactivated my blog. Back then, I lack the time to read/post anything. I was also travelling a lot. I had to significantly reduce my online time/presence.

And from time to time, I was getting some requests from readers. I guess some people find my writing interesting.

I've reactivated my blog so people can read/benefit from some of the materials here. Depending on my schedule, I may or may not post anything here. Realistically speaking, most of my future posts will be ranting/venting. My heart doesn't seem to be in researching other sects or bloging for that matter. Too many sects, too little time.

We are on now!

Away!

Blog will not be updated until further notice.

You're wasting your time leaving spams on my blog

A single click. That's how long it takes me to trash your garbage comments.

To all the genuine comments, I don't have time to respond to your comments/feedback since I've been away for a while. I'm busy working on new new stuffs.

Took a month off from blogging

Did some travelling and other things. But I am back for a few weeks. I am still expected to travel in May. So, I will probably be going away again.


The other thing I am working on is setting up another blog for a few people. This blog is going to be a collaborative work among the Malay Speaking Syiah. Here is the url  http://kenalisyiah.blogspot.com/



The aim of the Kenali Syiah (Know Syiah) blog is to introduce the teaching of Ahl al-Bayt (Shiism) in the Malay Language. As you are aware, the paranoid Malaysian Government forbid publishing or disseminating Shia related materials in any language. My collaborator hopes that this blog will introduce the correct teaching of Shia Islam to the Malay speaking world.


I am not really writing articles for the Kenali Syiah blog. I format articles, publish them online and re-arrange the content of the blog. The people who write these articles wish to remain anonymous.

Going on Vacation

I am taking a break from blogging. I should be back in mid summer this year June/July 2012. I don't expect anything new to be added here until I return.

Take care you all. And have fun.

My blog is changing in completely unexpected ways

I don't think I will be able to write anything about Alawi any time sooner. I am not finding good sources. Most historical information about them are conflicting. I'll only have something interesting to post if I find more information about their doctrine. Otherwise, I just have to move on. I've placed the sect label to the side with other sects.

I am also not posting much about Ismailis. I need to look for something interesting about them to post.

After Mu'tazilah, I am thinking about reading the Batini teaching and the Qaramite sect. I haven't discuss much about them.

On the Sunni front, I really wish I could return back to reading the following paper http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/11/two-opposing-doctrines-of-faith-in.html

So, far I've managed to introduce over 30 sects. My original plan was to first look into sects like Shia, Ismailis, Zaydi, Ghulat and Sunni. I've expanded my plan to include more sects including the extinct sects. Just because they are gone, doesn't mean we don't need to know about them.

And I've definitely not been doing anything on the obscure sects.

Feedback from a Reader

One of my readers commented (through email) that she finds it interesting that I am now reading and doing a piece about Mu'tazilah. According to her, many non-Muslims are not even aware that there is/was a rationalist group among the Muslims. She used the term monolithic to describe the non-Muslim perceptions about Islam/Muslim community.

I agree with her. Based on my experience, non-Muslim sometimes are not aware of the divisions within the Muslim community. And even if they know about the divisions (Shia/Sunni), they do not understand the causes of it or the theological differences.

I thank her for her comments.