The Unofficial "Ask a Muslim" Thread.

[gst528i]

There are no religious roots to that, I believe it is a political/social dispute that turned to "Us vs Them" type of dispute, Muslims vs Hindus/Buddhists.

I was alittle confused on that statement. Did u mean there is no root between Hinduism and Buddhism ?

[Matt]

Ive read the bible a number of times (used to have alot of time to kill) and there is one thing that sticks in my mind. It tells the reader that there is only one God, we must pray to him and him alone, we must worship him and him alone. However i notice for example that catholics pray to Jesus, the apostles, and mainly the virgin Mary, their churches are full of statues, that they pray to. This is one of many reasons why i turned my back on the catholic church.

My question is this, are the teachings in the Quran Simlar?? And do you pray to God and God alone, if its a stupid question then im sorry..

[smokethedays]

i'm really not religious at all, but wouldn't it be offensive for someone who is not muslim to pray to the muslim god for anything? and if the same man prayed to his own god for the muslim man, wouldn't he find that offensive or worthless to pray to a different god?

very good thread too

Although this wasn't directed to me, but there is only one god. Call him Allah or god. Allah is the translation of god into Arabic, and Allah means The-God.

I don't see any offense in that specially that none of us seen their god, we just pray to the creator of us all. We humans created different names although there is only one god.

[smokethedays]

I was alittle confused on that statement. Did u mean there is no root between Hinduism and Buddhism ?

Sorry about that, I meant there is not religious roots/reasons for Muslim hating Hindus or Buddhists.

[smokethedays]

Ive read the bible a number of times (used to have alot of time to kill) and there is one thing that sticks in my mind. It tells the reader that there is only one God, we must pray to him and him alone, we must worship him and him alone. However i notice for example that catholics pray to Jesus, the apostles, and mainly the virgin Mary, their churches are full of statues, that they pray to. This is one of many reasons why i turned my back on the catholic church.

My question is this, are the teachings in the Quran Simlar?? And do you pray to God and God alone, if its a stupid question then im sorry..

There are no stupid questions my friend.

In Islam and the number one "pillar" of being a Muslim is that you must believe there is only one god, one creator. The virgin Mary, Jesus, and the apostoles are not gods and shouldn't be worshipped.

The main difference between Islam and Christianity is that Jesus is believed to be the son of god, while Islam says that god is god, he do not reproduce like humans. Jesus is a prophet, and he is the son of Virgin Mary.

[T_Own]

Although this wasn't directed to me, but there is only one god. Call him Allah or god. Allah is the translation of god into Arabic, and Allah means The-God.

I don't see any offense in that specially that none of us seen their god, we just pray to the creator of us all. We humans created different names although there is only one god.

i understand all of this, but all people do not think that way. isn't the point of a jihad that god/allah wants them to go to war or over religion? so they must believe they are better than other groups, or that their version of god is the greatest, right?

[smokethedays]

i understand all of this, but all people do not think that way. isn't the point of a jihad that god/allah wants them to go to war or over religion? so they must believe they are better than other groups, or that their version of god is the greatest, right?

hmm...I c your point now.

Jihad is a debated trem amongst Muslim clerics. Jihad means struggle, and its four diferent types:

1- Jihad of your self (spirit) you have to struggle against you spirits whims and free it of humans desires.

2- Jihad of the tounge, struggle with your words and knowledge for truth tellling.

3- Jihad of the hand, struggle to control your physical doings.

4- Jihad of the sword, which is the interest of your question.

Jihad of the sword is intended to defend the Islamic state against the foes of Islam. And to be used against any one who does not allow the spreading of Islam through INFORMING where the choice is up to the informed whether to believe or not. Force is out of question.

It is not against other religions, nor intended to force conversion.

Unfortunatley the word Jihad was mis-interpreted by many extrimists to mean a plain warfare against any non muslim.

[moregunsthanroses]

Pretty informative thread can't think of any questions ATM but I'll be sure to come back if I can think of one.

[Lemonada8]

ok i do have a ?, dunno if it has been answered already tho...

the red cross for the US is a cross, the red cross for hte muslims is a red cresent moon... why is that?

[MuscleScience]

I have a question.

I know that Muslims are not suppose to drink alcohol, is there any exception for drinking alcohol for its reported health benefits if it is used in a healthy manner. For example moderate alcohol drinking is has been reported by some studies to have a significant impact in increasing ones HDL (good cholesterol)

Now say that this person does have a good diet and exercises but feels that they do not want to take medications to control their cholesterol, but rather have a glass of red whine or a beer to control it instead. Is that acceptable or is it still forbidden?

[BuffedGuy]

Brother SmokeTheDays, may God reward you immensely for your efforts and sincere intention. Having said that, I am going to kindly ask you to please not hijack my thread. I know it's your full right to do that, and I can't stop you if you do that, but I'd really appreciate it if you open up another thread. I really wanted this thread to be just for me to answer. If you could do that, it would be very kind of you. It has nothing to do with you personally brother; I am just a perfectionist and always want to have everything my way. I believe our views are a bit different on some matters so it will real mix up this thread if we are both answering. I want this thread to be specifically for orthodox Islam, and since I am close to many Islamic ulema (clergy), I always make sure that I get information that is accurate according to them. I really want to make sure that everything is 100% accurate to the best of my capability.

You can open up your own thread, God Willing.

Forgive me if you took offense to this, as none was intended.

To everyone else: I will answer your questions shortly, God Willing. Just going for a quick bathroom break.

[Fire Man]

Muslim religion has almost nothing incomon with Hiduism or Budisum, its just the cultural relation bettween diff. countries and ppl that are neighbours. West asia are neighbours with middle east. Pakistani, Bangladesh, India, Srilanka have all almost the same languages but diff religions.

Muslim religion is the closest to Judaism and Christianity. Its mostly like this Moses came and said his part ppl followed him, Jesus came some jews and other ppl followed Jesus, Muhammad came some jews, christians, and other ppl followed Muhammad and became muslims. Muslims believe almost exact same things as Jews and Christian just The muslims believe it through the Quran. The Quran is just what muslims believe is the last massege from God to humans.

The things that you hear about muslims in the media is mostly about connecting culture to religion totally diff things, ppl use stuff from diff culture and say it from the muslim religion.

One thing how they show in Afganistan, that the Talaban dont let women work or go to school. They connect this with the muslim religion but that is totally wrong as in the Quran a women was considered a citizen and a human before they were in western society.

Muslim religion is the most peacefull religion, The only way you are allowed to kill another human in the muslim religion is if you know someone is going to kill you, war, someone invading your land and ppl (some diff derives of muslim believe a lil diff)

[xlxBigSexyxlx]

Muslims claim, that a proof that the Koran was from God is that it contains scientifically accurate information about Embryology, yet in 86:6-7 the Koran says, "man was created from ejected liquid- Proceeding from between the backbone and the ribs". This echoes the scientific error of Hippocrates who believed semen originates, from the brain down the spinal chord, before passing through the kidneys and finally out of the body. (Hippocratic Writings, Penguin Classics, 1983, p. 317)

Question: Do you reject modern science and believe the Koran when it says sperm originates from the mid-gut section of a man's body.

[Fire Man]

Brother SmokeTheDays, may God reward you immensely for your efforts and sincere intention. Having said that, I am going to kindly ask you to please not hijack my thread. I know it's your full right to do that, and I can't stop you if you do that, but I'd really appreciate it if you open up another thread. I really wanted this thread to be just for me to answer. If you could do that, it would be very kind of you. It has nothing to do with you personally brother; I am just a perfectionist and always want to have everything my way. I believe our views are a bit different on some matters so it will real mix up this thread if we are both answering. I want this thread to be specifically for orthodox Islam, and since I am close to many Islamic ulema (clergy), I always make sure that I get information that is accurate according to them. I really want to make sure that everything is 100% accurate to the best of my capability.

You can open up your own thread, God Willing.

Forgive me if you took offense to this, as none was intended.

To everyone else: I will answer your questions shortly, God Willing. Just going for a quick bathroom break.

With all the respect brother it was your Thread, but it did not say that this thread is only for Orthodox Muslim and that you want to answer all the questions.

[smokethedays]

ok i do have a ?, dunno if it has been answered already tho...

the red cross for the US is a cross, the red cross for hte muslims is a red cresent moon... why is that?

Cresent moon is an important astrological sign for Muslims, the moon is how Muslims determine when Ramadan (the fasting month) begins and when it ends. It has been used as a symbol of Islam since Muhammed times. I hope that answers your question.

[smokethedays]

Brother SmokeTheDays, may God reward you immensely for your efforts and sincere intention. Having said that, I am going to kindly ask you to please not hijack my thread. I know it's your full right to do that, and I can't stop you if you do that, but I'd really appreciate it if you open up another thread. I really wanted this thread to be just for me to answer. If you could do that, it would be very kind of you. It has nothing to do with you personally brother; I am just a perfectionist and always want to have everything my way. I believe our views are a bit different on some matters so it will real mix up this thread if we are both answering. I want this thread to be specifically for orthodox Islam, and since I am close to many Islamic ulema (clergy), I always make sure that I get information that is accurate according to them. I really want to make sure that everything is 100% accurate to the best of my capability.

You can open up your own thread, God Willing.

Forgive me if you took offense to this, as none was intended.

To everyone else: I will answer your questions shortly, God Willing. Just going for a quick bathroom break.

Oooops sorry man, no more answers from me.

[BuffedGuy]

assalamu alaikum

Wa alaykum as-salam.

Where do you stand when it comes to the bible (old testament and new) and its teachings??

Peace be unto you, Matt.

As the brother said, we believe in all of God's prophets and books, starting from Prophet Adam to Jesus to Muhammad (peace be upon them), and all the holy scriptures that came through them. Included in this is the Old and New Testament. According to us, the Quran is the Final Testament.

However, we believe that all of these previous scriptures have been corrupted and tampered with, including the Bible. So although we believe 100% in the original Bible, we believe the current Bible has been corrupted and contains some truth in it but also a lot of forgery. The Quran is highly critical of the scribes who copied the Bible over hundreds of years. The Quran accuses them of adding and deleting words as they saw fit, thereby completely changing the Bible.

We believe that they did this in order to promote their own ideologies and to refute other sects. For example, the proto-orthodox groups would influence the Bible so that they could use it to refute the adoptionists. Basically in the first couple hundred years after Prophet Jesus [as], his followers debated the nature of Christ, i.e. whether he was human, godly, or both. In the end, those who believed in Trinity won out, defeated the other groups (including those who held that Prophet Jesus [as] was a man), and became the predominant Christianity we know today.

So Muslims trace their lineage to those early followers of Jesus [as] who believed that he was a human--one of excellent station but not God.

Anyways, I think I am rambling now, but the point is that we *do* believe in the early Bible, but we believe that the *current* Bible is so tampered with that it is impossible to tell what is authentic and what is not. Therefore, the Final Testament, i.e. the Quran, supersedes and abrogates the Bible. So at the end of the day--although we believe in the original Bible (which we don't have a copy of)--we don't believe in the current one. We don't reject it altogether, however, because it may still contain some elements of truth in it.

One last point: we believe that the original Bible was the literal Word of God, and not written by men at all. I believe that Christians believed that God inspired men, who then wrote the Bible, each with their own styles. (Well, Christians differ on this matter.) We Muslims believe that the original Bible was 100% the Word of God, with zero input from man.

Lastly, I want to say that I realize that this answer may offend some Christians. I apologize for that, but I am just stating our theological view. To make you feel better, we Muslims believe that *some* of the Bible is divine, whereas Christians don't believe *any* of the Quran is divine. It's just religious theology and hopefully we can discuss it without any bruised feelings. Forgive me if I offended you.

Here are some relevant Quranic quotes on the topic:

"Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: 'This is from God,' to traffic with it for a miserable price! Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby." (The Noble Qur'an, 2:77-79)

“To thee (Muhammad) We sent the scripture (Quran) in truth confirming the scripture that came before it (i.e. the Old and New Testament), and guarding it (the Quran) in safety.” (The Noble Qur'an, 2:97)

In the Care of the Lord,
-Saladin.

[*RAGE*]

I heard if you not Sunnie you are not shiit. lol

[BuffedGuy]

Cresent moon is an important astrological sign for Muslims, the moon is how Muslims determine when Ramadan (the fasting month) begins and when it ends. It has been used as a symbol of Islam since Muhammed times. I hope that answers your question.

Dear brother SmoketheDays,

Again, please do not take offense, but this is the reason why I didn't want anyone else fielding questions.

Astrology is strictly forbidden and considered polytheism in Islam. It is considered 100% pagan. The reason is that as a part of pure monotheism, a Muslim must keep all of his faith in God alone. When people believe in astrology, they start relying on the stars, and they even think that they can know their future through it.

The Prophet's disciple said:

"God created these stars for three purposes (alone): to adorn the heavens, to stone the devils, and as signs by which to navigate. Whoever seeks anything else in them is mistaken and does not benefit from them, and he is wasting his time and effort in seeking something of which he has no knowledge.” (Saheeh al-Bukhaari, Baab fi’l-Nujoom, 2/240)

We must rely 100% on God alone, not on the stars. The belief that the stars have an influence in our affairs is a form of polytheism (according to Islam) because it is saying that the stars decide--or have a say--in the affairs of man. Yet, the pure monotheism of Islam dictates that God alone decides and nobody has the knowledge of His Decree except Him alone. This is knowledge of the Unseen, which belongs to God alone, and to ascribe this Knowledge to other than God is a form of polytheism because it gives the Attribute of God (Knowledge of the Unseen) to other than God, i.e. the stars.

God Almighty says in the Quran:

“Say: None in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen except God.” [Quran, 29:65]

The grammatical structure used in the original Arabic-–starting with the negation laa (translated here as “none”) followed by the word illa (“except”)--is one of the most emphatic ways of expressing exclusivity. So if a person claims to know the unseen, he is effectively disbelieving what the Quran says so cannot be a Muslim.

Prophet Muhammad [s] said:

"God said: ‘This morning one of My slaves became a believer in Me and one became a disbeliever. As for the one who said, 'We have been given rain by virtue of God and His mercy,' he is a believer in Me and a disbeliever in the stars. But as for the one who said, 'We have been given rain by such and such a star,' he is a disbeliever in Me and a believer in the stars.'' So the one who attributes rain to the stars is saying that the stars caused the rain [as opposed to God or in conjunction to God, all of which is polytheism]." (Sahih al-Bukhari)

More to come, God Willing...

[BuffedGuy]

Cresent moon is an important astrological sign for Muslims, the moon is how Muslims determine when Ramadan (the fasting month) begins and when it ends. It has been used as a symbol of Islam since Muhammed times. I hope that answers your question.

Secondly, my dear beloved brother, the crescent moon is not a proper symbol for Islam. Nor was it *ever* used in the time of Prophet Muhammad [s]. Nor was it used by Rightly Guided Caliphs after him, nor was it used by the Umayyads who came after them! Historians say it most likely came from a Non-Muslim enemy, whom the Muslims fought, and was then eventually passed to the Muslims, perhaps when those people converted to Islam.

The crescent is a baseless symbol, and Islam categorically rejects such symbols. Islam has no symbol, as such imagery is considered a part of polytheism. In fact, Prophet Muhammad [s] said that Prophet Jesus [as] would break the symbol of the cross when he returns to this world, so why would we adopt another symbol for ourselves, when all of that is forbidden to us?

When people take such symbols, it creates love and veneration in their heart for that object, and Islam was sent to command humanity to unify all that love and veneration solely for God and none other than Him.

Again, my dear brother, please forgive me for saying all of this. Please understand it is my religious duty to correct such information, and do not take offense. I love you as a brother in Islam and for the Pleasure of God. May God unite our hearts on the truth!

In the Care of the Lord,
-Saladin.

[T_Own]

buffedguy, do you have a different opinion on the questions i asked earlier?

[BuffedGuy]

To reiterate what I said about Islam's stand on astrology: to rely upon and put one's trust (tawakkul) in anything supernatural (other than God) is considered Major Polytheism. This could be an idol, a star, a dead saint, an omen, an amulet, etc.

God says: "… and put your trust in God (alone), if you are believers...” (Quran, 5:23) and “put your trust in the Ever-Living One Who dies not, and glorify His Praises, and Sufficient is He as the All-Knower of the sins of His slaves.” (quran, 25:58)

Putting one’s trust in God is one of the greatest acts of worship.

Even putting one's absolute trust and reliance (tawakkul) in worldly (i.e. non-supernatural) matters is Minor Polytheism. So the one who puts his complete trust and reliance on medication whilst he is sick, thinking that the medicine is what cures him, then this is considered by Islam to be Minor Polytheism. Rather, the Muslim must say and think that God cured him, and then (summa) the medicine cured him by the Will and Decree of God. [The term "summa" does not exactly translate to "then"; rather, in this case, it means that the second clause is subjected to and inferior to the former clause.]

So although most Muslims steer clear of Major Polytheism, we inadvertently sometimes fall into Minor Polytheism. For example, some of the Muslims will start to lose in a battle with the enemy, so they resort to breaking the Law of God by targeting women and children. They believe in their hearts that they can affect the situation--and attain victory--through these tactics. So they have placed their reliance and trust (tawakkul) in military arms and tactics instead of in God alone. If Victory is from God, then how can victory come by flouting Him? Or some of the so-called Muslim governments put their trust and reliance in other countries like America or the former USSR, thinking that nobody can protect them except those countries. In their heart they believe this so much that they are more worried about attaining the good pleasure of these countries rather than the Good Pleasure of God Almighty. On the other hand, the believers put their complete trust and reliance in God alone, and not in military arms and tactics, not in medicines, not in other people or other nations, etc.

This is a part of the pure monotheism enjoined by Islam.

and all Praise is due to God alone!

[BuffedGuy]

buffedguy, do you have a different opinion on the questions i asked earlier?

I'm working on them. Sorry, got distracted with the recent posts. Give me a few minutes, God Willing.

[T_Own]

take your time man

[BuffedGuy]

Peace be unto you, gst.

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Why do muslims hate Hinduism and Buddhism which are closely related to each other?
Is it just due to the Kashmir dispute? or more

In Islam, we are enjoined to judge people by their individual actions, not by the actions of their colleagues, family, co-religionists, etc.

As the Quran says:

"Every soul will reap the fruits of its own deeds; no soul shall bear another's burden." (Quran, 6:164)

Therefore, an individual Hindu should be judged on his own actions, not the actions of other Hindus. Same with a Buddhist.

That is what Islam enjoins. As for individual Muslims, then all I can say is that sometimes some Muslims don't live up to Islam, just as some Christians don't live up to Christianity. Just because a Christian does a certain bad thing, it doesn't mean that all of Christianity is like that. And of course the same thing with Islam.

As for why some individual Muslims might be unusually harsh towards Hindus, then this is due to the historic rivalry between Muslim Pakistanis and Hindu Indians. I don't think I have ever seen a crazier hatred than I have seen with these two groups. However, that was decades ago...things are now cooling down, believe it or not. Both Pakistanis and Indians are wisening (sp?) up to the fact that they are just throwing both of their countries into ruin by having this rivalry. And trust me, it is not a one-sided hatred; both sides fervently hated each other, and many still do.

India and Pakistan used to be ruled by Britain; then the British jumped ship, leaving behind a huge power vacuum. In the fight for spoils, Muslims and Hindus (as well as Sikhs) fought each other, all committing atrocities against each other.

I, and others, are hopeful that the situation will improve soon, because both are realizing that they have nothing to gain by this rivalry. However, certain trouble-makers are of concern in both countries, such as the fundamentalist Hindus in India and the army in Pakistan (who benefit from a state of war alert); if the rivalry were to end, the army--which controls Pakistan--could no longer keep its complete power over Pakistan. The army came to power basically by scaring the people that India was this great big threat (and India did play the part quite nicely).

Still, things are getting better, although the Mumbai attacks do set us back a bit.

As for Buddhists, I've never met a Muslim who had this attitude towards them. Most Muslims are largely ignorant of Buddhism and it is a non-issue for Muslims, since we have had very little interaction with them historically. Furthermore, although Muslims and Christians have lively discussions about religion, put a Muslim and Buddhist in the same room and you will have an awkward silence.

Hope that helps!

In the Care of the Lord,
-Saladin.

[auslifta]

1)are women considered to be of a lower standing then men?

2)Jews and Muslims (and Christian) alike were told by their religions not to eat meat from the pig, as a long time ago, because pork could not be stored safely for consumption. Now with proper refridgeration it is totally safe, why do muslims and jews continue not to eat pig?

3) I read that in the quran Mohammed enjoyed fermented dates? Why is alcohol not permissable?

4)Why do women have less rights in muslim governed countries?

5)Do muslims believe all religions and men are equal?

Thankyou for your time.

[auslifta]

one more too sorry, the curved sword worn by muslims, isnt this the sword used to behead anyone that didnt convert to muslim? What is its importance as worn on a chain?

[HORSE~]

BuffedGuy you are truly an inspirational person and deserved to be commended for the time you have taken to help others to better understand your religion, customs and practices!!!!


Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge my friend and may GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS!!!!


Truly an inspirational thread!!!!

[FallenWyvern]

Greetings BuffedGuy!

I would like some clarification on this post.

The single most important factor is America's foreign policy and Israel. Solve these two problems and the problem would disappear.

What foreign policy specifically does America need to change? What does Israel need to do?

Secondly, what would you say to those who believe that single most important factor to these problems is the Muslim community's inability to to self regulate their own "extremist radicals"? After all many believe that US and Israel's actions are just reactions.


Sincerely,

FW

[BuffedGuy]

Peace be unto you, gst528i.

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

You posted this in another thread, but I'm going to answer it here and just link you to it, God Willing.

You know i have always heard ( the quotations in this thread and my GF) that the quaran has some very insightful writing in it. What i always fail to understand is if this book is full of peace and knowledge and insight where do the poeple get their anger from. How to the extremist use this book to teach false jihad (if you may). How can it teach to be intolerant of other religions.

You asked three questions:

1) Where do these people get their anger from?

2) How do the extremists use this book (the Quran) to teach false jihad?

3) How can it teach to be intolerant to other religions.

First question: These people do not get their anger from the Quran. Rather, they are those who involve themselves in politics all the time, and so their blood is always boiling over that. I have spent a lot of time trying to refute these extremists and they are *always* talking politics. Whilst I like to focus on religious and theological issues, they always focus on politics. Every time I steer it away from that topic, they say "are you saying Islam has no role in politics?!"

There are certain groups of Muslims who shun the talk of politics and just focus on religious issues, theology, and spirituality. These Muslims are mocked as "sissies" by the extremists. So if it were the Quran or the Islamic religious texts that were causing the hatred, it would be the theological students who would be teeming with anger and intolerance. However, they are mostly cool-headed, and the extremists even accuse them of passificism (sp?) and cowardice.

In fact, there is a joke they say to our type and the religious clergy, which is: "dear shaykh (in sarcastic tone), please tell us: we are urgently needing to know how much menstrual blood is considered unclean?" This sarcastic question is supposed to mock the religious-minded people that they are always worried about theological issues that have no relevance to the real world we live in. In their words: bombs are dropping on our heads, and you are worried about menstrual blood!

So the cause of hatred is the political situation of the Muslims, whereby they are subjugated and humiliated by America and Israel. This creates a burning hatred in the hearts of these people, who want to do anything to stop it, and also to free themselves from the "useless" Ulema (clergy).

More to come, God Willing....

[BuffedGuy]

OK, this is a continuation of the previous post...

2) How do the extremists use this book (the Quran) to teach false jihad?

The Quran has very clear verses about Jihad, as follows:

"You may fight in the cause of GOD against those who attack you, but do not aggress. GOD does not love the aggressors. You may kill those who wage war against you, and you may evict them whence they evicted you. Oppression is worse than killing. Do not fight them at the Sacred Masjid, unless they attack you therein. If they attack you, you may kill them. This is the just retribution for those disbelievers. If they refrain, then GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful. You may also fight them to eliminate oppression, and to worship GOD freely. If they refrain, you shall not aggress; aggression is permitted only against the aggressors." (Quran, 2:190-193)

"But if the enemy incline towards peace, (then) you incline towards peace! And trust in God, for He is One that hears and knows (all things)." (Quran, 8:61)

"God does not forbid you from showing kindness and dealing justly with those who have not fought you about religion and have not driven you out of your homes. God loves just dealers. (The Noble Quran, 60:8)"

"And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for God. But if they desist, then let there be no hostility except against transgressors." (Quran 2:193)

"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error." (Quran, 2:256)

"Say, 'The truth is from your Lord': Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it)" (Quran, 18:29)"

"If it had been thy Lord's will, they would all have believed--all who are on earth! Will you then COMPEL mankind, against their will, to believe [i.e. when God Himself did not do that]?" (Quran, 10:99)

The above is all from the Quran.

Prophet Muhammad [s] also gave details on the Quran, and these words for us are considered canonical. There is too much to post on it, but I will post some:

Saheeh Bukhari

Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 257.

The Prophet found a woman who was killed. Allah's Apostle disapproved the killing of women and children.

Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 258.

During some of the Ghazawat (military skirmish) of Allah's Apostle a woman was found killed, so Allah's Apostle forbade the killing of women and children.

Saheeh Muslim

Book 019, Hadith Number 4319.

Chapter : Prohibition of killing women and children in war.

A woman was found killed in one of the battles fought by the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him). He disapproved of the killing of women and children.

Book 019, Hadith Number 4320.

Chapter : Prohibition of killing women and children in war.

A woman was found killed in one of these battles; so the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) forbade the killing of women and children.

Maliks Muwatta

Book 021, Hadith Number 008.

Section : Prohibition against Killing Women and Children in Military Expeditions.

"The Messenger of Allah [s] forbade those who fought ibn Abi Huqayq to kill women and children. He said that one of the men fighting had said, 'The wife of ibn Abi Huqayq began screaming and I repeatedly raised my sword against her. Then I would remember the prohibition of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so I would stop. Had it not been for that, we would have been rid of her.'"

Book 021, Hadith Number 009.

Section : Prohibition against Killing Women and Children in Military Expeditions.

The Messenger of Allah [s] saw the corpse of a woman who had been slain in one of the raids, and he disapproved of it and forbade the killing of women and children.

Book 021, Hadith Number 010.

Section : Prohibition against Killing Women and Children in Military Expeditions.

Abu Bakr [the Prophet's best disciple] told his troops: "I advise you ten things. Do not kill women or children or an aged, infirm person. Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees. Do not destroy an inhabited place. Do not slaughter sheep or camels except for food. Do not burn bees and do not scatter them. Do not steal from the booty, and do not be cowardly."

Post to be continued, God Willing....

[BuffedGuy]

Dear gst528i, as you can see, the verses and texts above are very clear and categorical. So then how do the extremists use the Quran to justify their terror? They don't. I get into debates with extremists a lot, and they don't rely on the Quran as their defense. Rather, it is me who is always quoting scripture for them. They usually rely on gory pictures of Muslims being killed, tortured, etc. That is their justification.

I agree that they quote scripture in their ridiculous propaganda videos. But they of course selectively quote verses. So a verse will say to wage war, and they will quote that, without quoting the rest of the verse which limits it to only those who are waging war against us and to incline to peace if the enemy inclines to peace.

And they also come up with convoluted arguments to get around all those explicit prohibitions on targeting women and children. For example, they will say "they are not innocent since they pay taxes to fund the military that attacks us" and "they vote for these people who send these armies to Muslim lands, and therefore they are just as guilty and we can target them for that".

Of course all of this extremist logic is unacceptable to us orthodox Muslims, and we can defeat them in argumentation easily (although it takes a lot of time to thoroughly route all their weak arguments and justifications).

Hope that answers your second question!

[BuffedGuy]

3) How can it teach to be intolerant to other religions.

I am really pooped right now (since I've written so much already), so please forgive me if I don't fill this post with quotes. I'll just say that the Quran does not teach intolerance towards other religions. Rather, it preaches that we are to respect the right of others to disbelieve in Islam, that we may not compel them to believe, neither by physical or psychological force of any kind. We are forbidden to curse or abuse the prophets, gods, idols, etc. of any other religion. So we cannot mock and belittle the gods of other religions, because the Quran logically says that then they will do the same to you...and well, how would that feel?

According to the Quran, the Non-Muslims are free to choose or not choose Islam, and we are to treat them with kindness and justice, mercy and forgiveness.

In fact, there is a very famous story of Prophet Muhammad [s] in which he used to walk past this old woman's apartment every day (it was on his way). She was a Non-Muslim and hated Islam. Every day she used to dump garbage on the head of Prophet Muhammad [s]. This went on for a long time. One day, however, the woman didn't throw garbage on him. Prophet Muhammad [s] got worried, since she was an old woman, so he rushed to her apartment to check up on her to make sure she was ok and not in need of any assistance.

So this is the attitude that Islam enjoins upon Non-Muslims.

Hope I answered the question. I have neglected T Own's post so I need to reply to that next, God Willing.

In the Care of the Lord and in the need for forgiveness,
-Saladin.

[amcon]

Ive read the bible a number of times (used to have alot of time to kill) and there is one thing that sticks in my mind. It tells the reader that there is only one God, we must pray to him and him alone, we must worship him and him alone. However i notice for example that catholics pray to Jesus, the apostles, and mainly the virgin Mary, their churches are full of statues, that they pray to. This is one of many reasons why i turned my back on the catholic church.

My question is this, are the teachings in the Quran Simlar?? And do you pray to God and God alone, if its a stupid question then im sorry..

just be very specific here catholic's teach wrong (when they say pray to saints and others) we - the gentiles or non jews - are to pray to Jesus he inter seeded for us so we could be washed of adam's Sin... why? God can not look on sin(notice the dif between the capitol "S" and the lower case "s" lower case "s" is sin we do every day ...) not taking a shot at you but if you read the bible it is littered all through out the new testiment... fyi

cathlics teach religion not Gods word

[gst528i]

The above posts make alot more sense. I see all these great qoute from your bible and there's one thing that has always bothered me about the religion of islam. So much that i have sometime even thought of dumping my muslim gf. While i my self consider to believe in god but not religion i have reaserched other religions to find one that may be fit for me. So far it is futile. However one thing about islam that itched me till today has been how one of the prophets lead their lives. REALIZE THIS, THIS IS NOT MY OPINION OR WHAT I THINK IF ISLAM. I have read the following in not only books, articles papers and some compelling evidence. But i have not found a Muslim person to talk to about. MY GF SHUT ME OFF WHEN I TALK ABOUT THIS. So if you will help me understand this.

Initially, I believed what many Muslims asserted: Muhammad sexually consummated his marriage to the nine year old Aisha following her first menstruation. HOWEVER, after reading brother Sam Shamoun’s articles (1, 2), I realized that the Quran, the Hadith, and Muslim scholar’s writings state that a Muslim husband can engage in sex with a child-bride before she has her first menses. Further, Muhammad actually did just this – he had intercourse with Aisha prior to her first menses!

This increases the weight and scope of my argument and places Muhammad and Islam in a far darker, more disreputable, light. Many Muslims don’t know this and by their own standards Muhammad did the wrong thing in having sex with a child. Muslims have to answer for their continued support for Muhammad because he transgresses their standards. When children are allowed to be used for sex then that is sexual exploitation; so why do they support the creator and establishment of a system that entrenches the abuse and sexual exploitation of children?

I am not trying to use cheap polemics. Surely you realize that for children there are painful ramifications behind Muhammad’s action. They need to be discussed in detail and in context. It might be offensive to some but it needs to be discussed.

The above is taken from here : EDITED REQUEST OF OP

[BuffedGuy]

Oh I forgot answering part of GST's post. (Sorry T Own, I'm going as fast as I can!)

I know there is some things in there [the Quran] that tell anyone who is not a muslim doesnt go to heaven

Unfortunately many people do injustice to the Quran (not saying you) by claiming this. Basically, they take all the verses that use the word "believer" and "disbeliever" and then say "look how the Quran teaches superiority of Muslims and inferiority of disbelievers".

They have wrongfully claimed that the words "believer" and "Muslim" are interchangeable. The word translated in English to "believer" is the Arabic word Mu'min, NOT Muslim. The word Muslim is only used in the Quran 27 times. Meanwhile, the word Mu'min (believer) is used 602 times!!!

The Quran is very precise in its language and the student of the Quran knows that the fact God used two different terms has great consequences! In other words, the two terms are NOT interchangeable.

The word Mu'min means believer, good-doer, etc. So of course the Mu'min is superior! Is not good superior to bad? Is not the good-doer superior to the evil-doer?! This is common sense!

Some people are like "hey, why does the Quran contain so much criticism against Non-Muslims like Jews, Christians, polytheists, etc." ? Well, the Quran's HARSHEST criticism is for a group of Muslims! So the Quran praises some Non-Muslims and condemns others of them, and it praises some of the Muslims, and condemns some of them.

The HARSHEST condemnation is for a group of the Muslims called the munaafiqoon (the hypocrites). These may be people who pray five times a day, observe all the rites of Islam, etc...and in fact during the time of Prophet Muhammad [s], the munaafiqoon never missed prayer (although of course today the munaafiqoon are lax with prayer). This group of Muslims is promised Hell-Fire, and will be punished in a deeper abyss than the Non-Muslims.

As for the Non-Muslims, we divide these up into two: kaafir ad-dunya (disbeliever in this worldly life, i.e. Non-Muslim) and kaafir al-akhira (disbeliever in the hereafter). A disbeliever in this worldly life refers to someone who when asked what religion he is says that he is a Non-Muslim. In other words, he is a disbeliever of the tongue. But such a person may have a grain of faith in his faith...as small as a mustard seed...it is said in Islam that if you even have a grain of faith in your heart--as small as a mustard seed (which is really small)--you will enter Paradise.

So just because a person in this worldly life is a Non-Muslim, it does NOT mean that he will necessarily be one on the Day of Judgment. If God finds in his heart a grain of faith, then he is ok.

As for the people in this worldly life who claim by their tongues that they are Muslims, then they cannot guarantee that they are going to Paradise. So I cannot stand here before you today and tell you I will go to Paradise. The reason is that when our souls are raised, our tongues will be connected to our hearts, not our brains. So I will say what is in my heart, not what I believe simply from an intellectual standpoint. The Angel will ask me: "Who is your Lord?" If I am a sincere believer (Mu'min!!!!) than I will say "GOD" (may God make this happen to me!) ... but if I worshiped money instead of God, then I will say "money"...or if I worshiped my fame more than God, then I will say "fame"...or if I worshiped my desires and whims, then that's what I'll say is my Lord. And off to hell then! May God save me from that fate!

Having said all that, we *do* believe that anyone who hears about Islam in its pure and pristine form--and who has been given a firm grounding in what Islam entails--and if such a person rejects Islam, then yes we believe he will be condemned to hell-fire. This is because of the sin of associating partners with God (shirk, i.e. polytheism). We believe that Islam is the only way to preserve pure and absolute monotheism, since no other religion is so careful about it in ALL its aspects. God says in the Quran that He will forgive all sins, except shirk (i.e. polytheism). So it is not so much about believing in the religion of Islam specifically and Prophet Muhammad [s], but about believing in and practicing pure monotheism.

Nonetheless, MOST Non-Muslims--the vast majority--do not fall under this category. Rather, they have been presented a corrupted and adulterated form of Islam. All they have heard about Islam is through the media, which distorts Islam in the worst of ways. So it is not from God's Justice to punish to hell those who were given Islam in a corrupted fashion.

These people--who have either never heard of Islam at all, very little, or in a corrupted form--are considered Ahl al-Fatrah (People of the Interval). God says in the Quran that He will not condemn a people until He sends a Prophet to them and they openly reject that Prophet. Based on this promise, God will not punish those who never received the Prophet's Message. They are People of the Interval, because they were alive between the time that the Message was delivered and the time it actually reached their people.

So I believe that the vast majority of Non-Muslims--certainly most people on this site--fall under the category of Ahl al-Fatrah.

Having said all that, I *do* believe that Islam is the path to salvation and I encourage all interested to hearken to it.

In the Care of the Lord Most High,
-Saladin.

[T_Own]

np dude. if you really type all that you're gonna have some tired hands on your hands lol.

[BuffedGuy]

The above posts make alot more sense. I see all these great qoute from your bible and there's one thing that has always bothered me about the religion of islam. So much that i have sometime even thought of dumping my muslim gf. While i my self consider to believe in god but not religion i have reaserched other religions to find one that may be fit for me. So far it is futile. However one thing about islam that itched me till today has been how one of the prophets lead their lives. REALIZE THIS, THIS IS NOT MY OPINION OR WHAT I THINK IF ISLAM. I have read the following in not only books, articles papers and some compelling evidence. But i have not found a Muslim person to talk to about. MY GF SHUT ME OFF WHEN I TALK ABOUT THIS. So if you will help me understand this.

Initially, I believed what many Muslims asserted: Muhammad sexually consummated his marriage to the nine year old Aisha following her first menstruation. HOWEVER, after reading brother Sam Shamoun’s articles (1, 2), I realized that the Quran, the Hadith, and Muslim scholar’s writings state that a Muslim husband can engage in sex with a child-bride before she has her first menses. Further, Muhammad actually did just this – he had intercourse with Aisha prior to her first menses!

This increases the weight and scope of my argument and places Muhammad and Islam in a far darker, more disreputable, light. Many Muslims don’t know this and by their own standards Muhammad did the wrong thing in having sex with a child. Muslims have to answer for their continued support for Muhammad because he transgresses their standards. When children are allowed to be used for sex then that is sexual exploitation; so why do they support the creator and establishment of a system that entrenches the abuse and sexual exploitation of children?

I am not trying to use cheap polemics. Surely you realize that for children there are painful ramifications behind Muhammad’s action. They need to be discussed in detail and in context. It might be offensive to some but it needs to be discussed.

Dear gst528i,

Peace be unto you.

I must object to you calling Sam Shamoun as "brother". He is one of the most vitriolically Islamophobic nutters alive in the world. Like I condemn Muslim extremists, I think you should condemn Christian extremists, of which he is.

As for the claim that Prophet Muhammad [s] was a pedophile (a horrific claim), I have written a book on this subject. I will attach it.

I kindly ask you to remove the link to that site however, since I asked for no links to be in this thread. The reason is not that I am not brave enough to answer the arguments (since I have already addressed them all in the book I am linking you to), but rather because I want this thread to be about building bridges. Linking to such vitriolically Islamophobic sites will blow up those bridges. Sam Shamoun is a pathological liar. He is so blind with his hatred for Islam that he doesn't mind being intellectually dishonest.

I, on the other hand, do not hate Christianity, so I can manage to be fair about it. (In fact, of all the other religions out there, I like Christianity second most after Islam.) I certainly do not purposefully further an argument I *know* to be false, but Sam Shamoun does that. My friend has dealt with him a LOT, and knows how dishonest the guy is.

Let's stay away from nutters. I won't post diatribes from Al-Qaeda types, and I ask others not to post diatribes from these neo-con extremist nutters.

Anyways, here is the e-book, which answers all the arguments:

http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6053592/f/The_I...lass_House.pdf

Please do not post on this subject again, until you've read the book. I say this because I've answered everything in there about this topic (took me many months to write).

I apologize if in this post of mine I sound a bit angry, and usually I don't get so...but Sam Shamoun gets my blood boiling! And this baseless accusation--that Prophet Muhammad [s] was a pedophile--makes my head want to explode.

Again, sorry!

So please remove the link to that horrific site (which is full of lies and outright forgeries). If however you read the book and something is still un-answered, then please feel free to post here. But please read the book first. This is just about this one topic, since it will eat up ALL my time and I won't be able to answer other questions then.

Please do read the e-book.

Thanks!

In the Care of the Lord,
-Saladin.

P.S. Sorry T-Own!!!! lollll I'm on it!

[Bojangles69]

Just wanted to say thanks buffedguy I just got around to reading your response.

Extremely eye opening and yes I agree 100% with Doc M that you come off very educated/informative w/out sounding bias at all. You sound like you'd actually be a wonderful teacher of Islam (if not already).

Thanks!

[gst528i]

Oh I forgot answering part of GST's post. (Sorry T Own, I'm going as fast as I can!)



Unfortunately many people do injustice to the Quran (not saying you) by claiming this. Basically, they take all the verses that use the word "believer" and "disbeliever" and then say "look how the Quran teaches superiority of Muslims and inferiority of disbelievers".

They have wrongfully claimed that the words "believer" and "Muslim" are interchangeable. The word translated in English to "believer" is the Arabic word Mu'min, NOT Muslim. The word Muslim is only used in the Quran 27 times. Meanwhile, the word Mu'min (believer) is used 602 times!!!

The Quran is very precise in its language and the student of the Quran knows that the fact God used two different terms has great consequences! In other words, the two terms are NOT interchangeable.

The word Mu'min means believer, good-doer, etc. So of course the Mu'min is superior! Is not good superior to bad? Is not the good-doer superior to the evil-doer?! This is common sense!

Some people are like "hey, why does the Quran contain so much criticism against Non-Muslims like Jews, Christians, polytheists, etc." ? Well, the Quran's HARSHEST criticism is for a group of Muslims! So the Quran praises some Non-Muslims and condemns others of them, and it praises some of the Muslims, and condemns some of them.

The HARSHEST condemnation is for a group of the Muslims called the munaafiqoon (the hypocrites). These may be people who pray five times a day, observe all the rites of Islam, etc...and in fact during the time of Prophet Muhammad [s], the munaafiqoon never missed prayer (although of course today the munaafiqoon are lax with prayer). This group of Muslims is promised Hell-Fire, and will be punished in a deeper abyss than the Non-Muslims.

As for the Non-Muslims, we divide these up into two: kaafir ad-dunya (disbeliever in this worldly life, i.e. Non-Muslim) and kaafir al-akhira (disbeliever in the hereafter). A disbeliever in this worldly life refers to someone who when asked what religion he is says that he is a Non-Muslim. In other words, he is a disbeliever of the tongue. But such a person may have a grain of faith in his faith...as small as a mustard seed...it is said in Islam that if you even have a grain of faith in your heart--as small as a mustard seed (which is really small)--you will enter Paradise.

So just because a person in this worldly life is a Non-Muslim, it does NOT mean that he will necessarily be one on the Day of Judgment. If God finds in his heart a grain of faith, then he is ok.

As for the people in this worldly life who claim by their tongues that they are Muslims, then they cannot guarantee that they are going to Paradise. So I cannot stand here before you today and tell you I will go to Paradise. The reason is that when our souls are raised, our tongues will be connected to our hearts, not our brains. So I will say what is in my heart, not what I believe simply from an intellectual standpoint. The Angel will ask me: "Who is your Lord?" If I am a sincere believer (Mu'min!!!!) than I will say "GOD" (may God make this happen to me!) ... but if I worshiped money instead of God, then I will say "money"...or if I worshiped my fame more than God, then I will say "fame"...or if I worshiped my desires and whims, then that's what I'll say is my Lord. And off to hell then! May God save me from that fate!

Having said all that, we *do* believe that anyone who hears about Islam in its pure and pristine form--and who has been given a firm grounding in what Islam entails--and if such a person rejects Islam, then yes we believe he will be condemned to hell-fire. This is because of the sin of associating partners with God (shirk, i.e. polytheism). We believe that Islam is the only way to preserve pure and absolute monotheism, since no other religion is so careful about it in ALL its aspects. God says in the Quran that He will forgive all sins, except shirk (i.e. polytheism). So it is not so much about believing in the religion of Islam specifically and Prophet Muhammad [s], but about believing in and practicing pure monotheism.

Nonetheless, MOST Non-Muslims--the vast majority--do not fall under this category. Rather, they have been presented a corrupted and adulterated form of Islam. All they have heard about Islam is through the media, which distorts Islam in the worst of ways. So it is not from God's Justice to punish to hell those who were given Islam in a corrupted fashion.

These people--who have either never heard of Islam at all, very little, or in a corrupted form--are considered Ahl al-Fatrah (People of the Interval). God says in the Quran that He will not condemn a people until He sends a Prophet to them and they openly reject that Prophet. Based on this promise, God will not punish those who never received the Prophet's Message. They are People of the Interval, because they were alive between the time that the Message was delivered and the time it actually reached their people.

So I believe that the vast majority of Non-Muslims--certainly most people on this site--fall under the category of Ahl al-Fatrah.

Having said all that, I *do* believe that Islam is the path to salvation and I encourage all interested to hearken to it.

In the Care of the Lord Most High,
-Saladin.

SO let me get this right. The first statement that i put in bold, Does that mean that non muslims go to hell fire.
The later statement makes me think what you are trying to say is that if presented by islam, and one were to reject it, than they would go to hell fire?
When you say reject do u mean say it is false or not practice.
If one person were to learn about alot of religions including islam (like me) and found answers to questions but raised other questions and fails to practice islam in the sense of going to mosque, prayer etc he or she would go to hell fire? Even if this person were to live his life without committing sins.


P.S TAKE YOUR TIME ANSWERING LOL WE KNOW WE ARE ASKING ALIT FROM YOU HAHA
BUT YOU DID MAKE THIS THREAD YOU KNEW WHAT WAS IN FOR YOU. l