My friend converted to Islam a few years ago. I initially supported her decision but as time has gone on it has become clear that the people she is involved with are at best a questionable group and at worst... who knows. I cam here because I have heard of Rick Ross in cult-related news before... and was hoping to find help in dealing with this increasingly bad situation.

Said friend has a four year old daughter who I am also very concerned about for various reasons, including self-image, nutrition, and socialization. "Friend" recently married another convert, who got involved with the group while serving a prison sentence for domestic violence.

I was looking around the site here and found the warning signs link which is very informative. It is also somewhat disturbing to me. I noticed that of the warning signs of people involved in a potentially dangerous group, my friend displays all of them.

Please, any help or advice you can provide would be much appreciated.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Just a quick thought - perhaps you can speak to an imam of a mainstream and tolerant Islamic mosque in the area to speak to the person involved. Since the imam would be learned in Islam, their argument would hold more weight. I am assuming that the person is involved with a Nation of Islam-type of cult. If so, it is my understanding that mainstream Muslims consider these cults as detrimental to mainstream Islam, which teaches tolerance and understanding. So you may find an ally in a tolerant imam.

Just as an aside, it should be noted that every major religion has cultic extremists; eg: Opus Dei cult (Catholic), Jehovah's Witnesses (Protestant), Kach (Jewish), and Bharatiya Janata (Hindu). They are all very similar in that they declare that their faith is the only "true" one, their practice/interpretation of their faith is the only "pure" one within that particular faith, are elitest, secretive, and demand total obedience to their doctrines from their members.

Matt

Thanks for the replies. From what I can tell of the group that she is with, they follow the Sunni school of thought regarding Islam and are amongst themselves extremely strict in obedience to the Hadiths and Sharia law and very highly intolerant of anyone who is not as strict in observance (including other Muslims). They are very "millitant" or lack of better word and extremely "anti-American" in their ideas. She believes that the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 were done by the American government as an excuse to persecute Muslims if that helps with seeing exactly what their perspective is. I've looked through the links here but aside from the wonderful information provided I'm wondering if there is anyone who has dealt with this type of situation specifically that would be willing to discuss their experiences. Thank you so much.

If I may be so bold, it might be best not to use her views on 9/11 as a determinant as to whether she is in a cult or not. Many people here in NYC feel that what happened that day has not been properly studied or explained, including the Fire Dept. Applying basic physics to the collapse of the World Trade Center indicates that both buildings went into complete freefall. The only way that buildings can go into freefall is when they are controlled demolitions, not as a result of relatively small fires. More information here:

[www.archive.org]

Matt

Please tell me you don't believe in some kind of anti-government conspiracy theory etc.

The WTC went down due to the planes and subsequent fire.

No one seriously believes otherwise, other than the various conspiracy theorists.

Sorry Rick, we may have to agree to disagree about this.

The physics simply are not consistent with a collapse due to structural failure. Running through the numbers indicates that the Towers went into complete freefall, consistent with what happens to buildings that experience controlled demolitoins. The fires that were burning were small and relatively cool, not nearly hot enough to melt steel.

Matt

This discussion is not really on topic.

But just for the record no investigation I know of supports that theory.

There has only been on serious study about what happened 9/11 and that, frankly, is a problem. But surely no one seriously doubts that planes *were* flown into the buildings?

My friend's belief has nothing to do with what caused the buildings to fall. She simply believes that the gov't ordered the planes to be flown into the buildings as an excuse to persecute muslims. It is this emphasis on persecution that worries me more than what she happens to believe about 9/11.

It should be noted that I have yet to find any "mainstream" follower of Islam who thinks that America was behind the attacks. Most will be quick to say that it was radical extremists acting wrongly in the name of Allah and defacing the name of Islam.

Forgive me as I am new here but I didn't know that this site went for conspiracy theories.

Texas Christian:

Every now and then someone floats a conspiracy theory.

But this site and message board is not about conspiracy theories.