General Issues / Questions

Salam, There is a quote, i think its from Shakespeare "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" You have asked a philosophical question. The way I and many have seen it, evil is not created but it is a mere "side product". Darkness does not exist, light exists, darkness is simply the absence of light. Coldness does not exist, but heat does, coldness is the absence of heat. Similarly, evil does not exist by itself. It is the absence of goodness. Now, since Allah defined goodness, automatically, the opposites are labelled as evil. Allah did not create evil, but evil is the absence of his approval. There are many paths one can walk, Allah approved of only one way and clarified it and recommended the way for you for your benefit. Now, by classifying only one way as approved of Allah, the other ways are automatically labelled as evil, because Allah asked you to walk only the way He suggested. Another analogy may be something like, illiteracy is not created, illiteracy is the absence of literacy. So, one can not blame the schools/colleges/universitys/educational mediums as the creators of illiteracy, even though we know that their definition of "who is literate" is what tells you who is uneducated. Its all relative you see, just create one thing, and there will be another thing opposite of it. These are my opinion based on my observations and experience. I do not claim to know it all ) PEACE ------------------------- Student of Allah

Greetings and Peace, all group 4125 And who is better in the system than the one who submits himself to GOD, and he is a good doer, and he follows the creed of Abraham in monotheism? And GOD took Abraham as a friend. peace ~Abdul-Hadi

WELL salahedeen much can be said about rashaad khalifa but his version of islam is a much more humane and peaceful one then the version of shafi, hanbali, maliki and the other sunni criminals.

Its so nice to hear about quranist conference in stead of the always wahabi, suni conferences etc. bravo bravo bravo

If someone hates you then their hate will manifest subtly through all the things connecting you and them; there are a LOT of things connecting us all! The overwhelming majority of our troubles in society come from envy/greed manifested as malice. Envy-ing is indeed 'forbidden' / 'evil'.. according to the ten commandments.. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house or fields, nor his male or female slaves, nor his ox or ass, or anything that belongs to him." Which makes me wonder.. where does 'similar' instruction about the 'evilness' of envying / coveting appears in the Quran? 1134 And from the evil of those who blow on knots, Is the blowing on knots refered to black magic ? From my experience and understanding, people in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, many resort to con artists who claim to do black magic (to cause harm to others). I never understood this verse in a way that concludes that black magic works or exists, but the truth is that the people that would go to the extent of doing such things to cause harm to me are evil and wouldnt they harm me by other means should they have a chance ? Their blowing on knots is a sign of their evil character for me, not that the knot itself can do anything. I have noticed the evil not in the knots, but in those who blow on knots. Hence I seek refuge from those who blow in knots. Nafatsati fi'l uqod = (those) who breathe/blew the bond/contract/agreement/promise.. Perhaps it's not referring to 'magic' after all.. yet.. From the 'evilness' of those who breaches the agreement/contract/promises.. This could mean many things, ranging from those who violate the peace agreement, employer who violates the work contract by not paying the employee his/her due salary, those who performed fraud, deceit, promising something which never came true etc.. Now regarding this 'evil eye' thingy.. Quran makes it clear that it is purely a hoax.. "Whatever has befallen upon you of good is from God, but whatever has befallen upon you of evil, it is from yourself." (479) So please.. don't blame others for your mishaps... most of the time (if not always) it is due to your own fault... Salam / Peace

Peace That was an excellent post Raging. Thank you for opening up to something a few may consider intimate. And I do consider you very generous indeed. Im sure many of us here do similar things. I always stop for the homeless, donate money and food to the food-bank as well as money to the pet shelter. Do not mind going out of the way to direct someone if they are lost. But they are also other more subtle things you can do. For example I live on the third floor, and take the stairs a lot. I always close the stairwell door gently instead of letting it close on its own (is noisy because of the door-closure), to not disturb the people living on either side of the stairwell. I always open and fold any big boxes i need to recycle so they fit in the recycling dumpster rather than leaving them on the floor for the cleaning staff to deal with. At the grocery store, I always return my shopping cart/basket to where I got it from, rather than leaving it where ever is more convenient and saying they have employees to round up the carts (like many do). Just yesterday I was out biking, and quite fast at that coz I was on a trail, and I stopped because there was a girl on one side of the trail taking a picture of her boyfriend on the other side, so not to mess up their picture. And also charity/righteous acts come in being humble and in your attitude. Its easier to be considerate of others, when you feel you are equal to all people, including those that are homeless, cleaning staff, minimum wage grocery store employees. Its the acts you do that counts, not the years of formal education, the amount of money you make, or the fact that you were spared the circumstances that result in homelessness. But I am sure the majority ( like 99.9%) of us do little acts every single day but don't mention them, coz you come across sounding like a righteous snob, like I am feeling a little bit right now. So I completely agree with you Wakas. How about we give each other permission to be a little bit snobby, and share the considerate things we do, so we can get ideas from each other. Who knows, we may have been doing something very inconsiderate without realizing it, and this discussion may point it out to us. You had a great idea foralgerian. Thank you Peace Kukumber. That's a great idea, It could inspire others with things that they could do which they were unaware of doing. Great thread, great post! I'm glad someone had the thoughtfulness to remind and inspire via starting such a thread. Thanks raginggaijin

Salam, I like TYT. Its sad to see so much hatred built into people of different races, religion, etc. The hatred never stops. What I dont understand is, this is your first post in the forum and you chose to post a TYT video of ramadan ? (Welcome to free-minds anyways.) PEACE -------------------------- Student of Allah

Peace, (yes it's old ^^) It's true that Ahmed deedat was a quranist??? Can someone prove it ????

Salaam bro, True, I found your Dua is good and from AlQuraan but in your own words, but "Aameen" is not from AlQuraan P Mohammed M. Khan

InshaAllah, he is a little skeptical bout Islam cos theres alot of Muslims in my country giving us a bad name. brickwall So for now I try n act like a good Muslim n soon inshaAllah I wil giv him a copy of the Quran.

my understanding is that al kitab is "The Record" and al quran is "The Reading" of the record. If you translate literally the word AlKitaab as you did for AlQuraan, you will find the exact meaning. Al = The Quraan = Reading Kitaab = Book / Writing May Allah guide us all to His true path pr Mohammed M. Khan

you have no idea how many hadith and saying of sahaba and aysha about corruption of Qur'an.... Damn it. Salam, Not in defense of Raggin-Taggin(ragingaijini whatever) though, but if I end up doing that, cant help it. Sahabas and Ayesha's testimony regarding the corruption of Qur'an ? I dont recall hearing about any interview given by any one of them on the subject matter from any reliable source. I dont know about you, but public survey done by the biggest liars of human history is not where I get reliable testimonies from. I dont know who in their right mind will go around arabia collecting hearsay information about people's saying 2 centuries after their death where they can no longer defend themselves. And for surety , I dont know who would call a scripture corrupted based on these public survey documents. From what I see, the people that are striving to follow their own desire instead of seeking God will even dig that out of hearsay information. Ever heard of hypocrites ? They follow the message partly and reject it partly, they follow it as long as it coincides with their desires , their following is not for submitting to Allah. Am I attacking you ? No, nothing negative in my post applies to you unless I ended up defining your behaviors above. May Allah always guide you and increase you in knowledge PEACE ------------------------ Student of Allah

Salam Nerspi, I would say that they are very much real people, with real stories, in which there are lessons for us all... 12111 In their stories is a lesson for those who possess intelligence. It is not a narration that has been invented, but an authentication of what is between his hands and a detailing of all things, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe.

Slight glitch with the forum upgrade - as everyone mus have noticed. Might take a couple of more days before everything is fixed.

Salaam, I will reply under the assumption that you believe in God through the Qur?an, and would like to abide by the rules. The argument of ?just being a good person? holds its merit, but I personally believe that some forms of ?good? and ?righteousness? are subject to our social norms and values (and not necessarily endorsed by God). For example, what we see as ?good? in contemporary society, may not be good according to God. In the past, not many condemned slavery and they were led to believe that some races were made superior than others. Many viewed women as second class citizens and treated them like objects with no rights. The practice of sacrificing female babies was prevalent and the majority thought it was okay. These attitudes were deemed to be appropriate and shaped the social norms. Not many would feel any guilty conscience because they wouldn?t think there were committing indecencies. In contemporary society, gambling has been legalised in many parts of the world, excess alcohol drinking is viewed as enjoying life, and inhumane animal farming is perceived as normal. Additionally, high-interest loan (a form of usury in my opinion) has now been considered as a necessity ? that you cannot buy your car or house without it. Most people will not feel bad for working in institutions that partake in usury ? after all, the society thinks it?s okay. I leave it up to you to think whether the above are okay, as different individual will hold different belief. In my own personal opinion, those are unacceptable and yet the society (back then or now) accept it as okay. I could think I was being a good person, by being a CEO of a major financial institution that lends money at high-interest, which in turns enslave many people in debt. I could think I was doing my community justice by sacrificing my female babies, after all they were seen as bad omens. Basically, my perceptions of ?good? would be shaped by social values ? if I didn?t have any ?divine? guidance. The Qur?aan is against all the practices mentioned above, and I completely agree with that (though I am yet to understand the wisdom behind abstaining from pork and some other things). Anyway, what I am trying to say, you may be doing good in society?s eyes, and not necessarily in God?s eyes (assuming you believe in God). All in all, I don?t find in the Qur?aan any teachings that may harm me or the people around me if followed. So yeah? I guess on top of my logical thinking and reasoning (which is limited), I still need that ?divine? guidance in order to become a good muslim. I personally don't see the obligation to perform rituals (let's keep the ritual arguments out of this thread). However I don't see anything wrong with that as some people find rituals to be comforting and make them more aware of God's presence. So DIY rituals are okay, as far as I'm concerned.

salamunalaykom, thanks guys for all your answers...

Peace, My opinion is that it is not haram. The verse in question is only about making these alterations in worship of another god. If you read it in context, starting at about 4116, the context is talking about associating partners with Allah and doing these rituals for these associates. However, what is really in question, especially when considering something like tattoos, is vanity . Vanity is "excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc." (Dictionary.com). Also, modesty is in question as we are to dress modestly. So I feel as long as the tattoo serves a deeper purpose than simply parading around and showing off that you have/can afford/are cool enough to get a tattoo, it's fine. If you have a quote or symbol that strengthens your imaan in monotheism, or helps you to persevere in life without invoking another god, then I see no problem. Artistic tattoos can be a lot like a type of clothing, as long as it's not excessive to the point of immodesty in your society. Your community must be considered, as modesty is relative. Are tattooed people scarce where you are? Are you going to attract unwanted attention with your tattoo? Would majority of old people feel fear when seeing your tattoo? You have to consider these things as well. Personally, even as a traditionalist I never really had a good argument against tattoos. Especially when waxing and plucking of the hair is allowed and to me carries similar effects to tattooing. I'm considering in the future getting a few pieces that I feel will express myself, and also be conversation starters in order to explain my faith when people inquire. Allah knows best, and make sure you analyze your desires carefully, and also think practically about the long term effects. Read the Quran and ask for guidance. May peace be with you.

Spencer is a truly vile hate mongerer. What's ironic is that now he is saying that he takes no responsibility for having inspired the Norway terrorist, that his words are being misconstrued to paint him as a violent person!!! Let him wait then, we too are waiting for the Judgement. Common characteristics among those sectarian fanatics.... HATRED.. Osama Bin Laden also initially denies any relation to 9/11 bombings.. "I stress that I have not carried out this act, which appears to have been carried out by individuals with their own motivation." -- Osama Bin Laden, September 16th 2001 I say let's give those fanatics (from both sides) the stage where they could exterminate each others.. voodoo voodoo The world will be a better place without their presence.. Salam / Peace

Nope.. no such event appeared in any Jewish sources.. The only event which bears many resemblance to the 'massacre of Bani Qurayza' was the 'defense of Masada'. Perhaps that story inspired Ibn Ishaq to recreate the same story on different time and place.. Yet again.. I wouldn't blame it to the jews and atheists in this case.. as the sirah itself was written by an Arab during the reign of an Arab king (Abbasid dynasty) and it is widely regarded as 'truthful' by mainstream sunnis / shiite community. The chant of "Khaybar khaybar ya Yahud, Jayshu Muhammad saya'ud" (Remember Khaybar You Jews! Muhammad's troops shall return!) is so popular among them.. right? The muhammad hater will use that because it support their objective, it's normal and understandable. As the jews hater will also use that because it support their objective.. (let's kill all the Jews! Muhammad did that once!!) As matter of fact; I thanked them on exposing the possibility of 'historical fraud' within the sirah itself... Everyone has their own role to play in this world... no matter how 'insane' that is.. but it's a mechanism of 'check and balance' in this world. I even suspect that the stories itself was fabricated by the Abbasid to justify some of their wrong doings.. "Hey muhammad also did that... then there's no fault in us for doing the same thing"... Salam / Peace

Peace Wakas, If you ever remember the name, please let me know. I remember just hearing it from Arnold and Dr. Shabbir so I was quite pleased to hear it on the show. Peace