What an amazing evening. I was sitting talking to Stacy and others at the reception and someone came up behind me and gave me a standing mini-hug, I turned and there was Taslima.
And after her came a bunch of other exes. It was exciting. Things are happening.
Taslima told a funny story about Mohammed bargaining with Allah to cut down the prayers from 50 a day – 50!! a day!! – to something more tolerable. 40? No no. 30? No no. 20?
Mohammed was a merchant.
It took me a few seconds to realize that by “other exes” you meant “ex-muslims.” I was going “Wait, what? … Oh. Duh.”
Sounds like a theme borrowed from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, where Abraham bargains god down from 50 righteous men to ten. I think it’s supposed to illustrate both the shrewdness of the prophet and the reasonableness of god. It’s a bit odd, though, as it comes out of a culture that also tends to glorify mindless obedience.
Good point. The same applies to interpretations of the Abraham and Isaac story – it’s not a fanatic almost murdering his son because “god” told him to, but somehow the opposite of that.