Lost Arts Radio Show #275 - Special Guest Raquella Levine

Many women, both in the Feminist Movement and in the general population, have turned to Islam for its strong sense of community, clear moral beliefs and the security and comfort of a system of complete and detailed guidance in every aspect of life. Raquella Levin (www.phoenixrisingexmuslim.wordpress.com) was one of those who converted to Islam as a young woman and mother. Her experience was not what she expected, and was in fact so far from what she was sure life as a Muslim would be, it took her years to realize the full implications of what had happened to her. Now, as an ex-Muslim (leaving the religion is a capital crime according to Islamic scriptures), she wants to tell her story to save other women from having to go through what she experienced.

Lost Arts Radio listeners will remember that we have had other women on the show as guests who were born into Islam, left the religion and shared their experienced with us so that we could learn what Islamic life for women is like. Personally, since I have Muslim friends who are incredibly kind and honorable people, I had to understand more about Islam, to resolve this apparent paradox.

So I went to the source, and studied all three Islamic scriptures, the Koran, the Sira and the Hadith. I have no issue with Muslim people, I see them as essentially the same Spirit and consciousness that is the real identity inside all of us. To me, it seems clear we should love each other as our self. There is a reason for this. At a deeper level, any other person is in essence our own self in another form, looking out from their own unique experiences and body. I am not speaking about a belief, but about how things really are at a deeper level. It is the reason that how we feel toward or treat others, is how we feel about and treat ourselves, unconscious though it may be until we see it working.