Preferred vs. Required in Islam

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I just received a phone call from a Christian friend of mine inquiring about the reason that Islam prohibits sleeping on your stomach. I explained to him (as per my limited knowledge and please excuse me if I am wrong) that the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) stated that it is preferred if you sleep on your right side.

The medical rationale (and this is only conjecture as I am a layman) is that sleeping on your left side places too much pressure and stress on your heart. Sleeping on your back causes you to snore and I do not know what sleeping on your stomach does (as I am not a doctor) :-) Thus, it is preferred to sleep on your right side but it is not prohibited to sleep on another side.

He stated what is the difference. The Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) was a role model for Muslims and we aim in our quest to become better people by emulating him and his actions. Thus, there are things that are directly prohibited in our religion (ex. drinking alcohol, cursing, etc...) where if we do them, we acquire sins. Meanwhile, there are other things that are preferred to be done and if we do them, then we acquire good deeds in our book, but if we do not do them, then we do not acquire sins. An example that is relevant during Ramadan is the Taraweeh prayers.

Hope that the above explanation will suffice to those of us that aim to educate non-Muslims about our religion.

Practising Rather Than Preaching

I am ashamed by a simple email at work that was sent by "The admin. dept." Firstly, never trust emails that refer to a department rather than a person. Secondly, it did more harm than good. The email was informing all the employees of the company that in RESPECT for Ramadan no one is allowed to eat or drink on company premises, not even in the pantry area of our offices. Imagine the irony!

This simple email memo does Muslims a lot more harm than good and goes directly against the spirit of Ramadan. We expect non-Muslims to respect our religion by observing it!!! That is horrific and unacceptable. And we wonder why other nationals criticize Muslims as being fanatics and having spread the message via the sword.

As long as non-Muslims are discreet and considerate during Ramadan (e.g. closing the pantry door and quitely eating during lunch over there), then it shows that they respect the Muslim practice of fasting during Ramadan. Obviously someone who violates these rules should be given a private stern warning by The Admin Dept. However, to impose this stupid rule upon all employees makes non-Muslims frown upon the Muslim practice of Ramadan.

We have been led by demagouges for way too long. We should concentrate on practicing our religion in a private manner rather than paint our religions on our sleeves. That is more consistent with the spirit of our religion.