General Issues / Questions

Salaam every body. Recently, I read on some Christian site which claims that the prophet Mohammad (pbuh) had sexually molested a girl of 6 years old. They are calling him a paedophile? Can someone please explain this, is it true? And if so what is the justification for such a thing. Thank you very much, and please someone answer this question for me, as I am very hurt by what I have read. And I know in my heart that there is a plausible explanation to this, or a simple misunderstanding on the part of the Christians who do tend to fabricate many things. Please can someone provide info that disproves this argument. Thanks you very much. salaam

Peace everyone I want to know what different people on the free-minds forum feel is the right approach towards non-believers. What are the freedoms, limitations, controls, or lack of controls, regarding our treatment of them (if we are in majority, or minority). Please state your view of the 'code of conduct' we must observe. And also rate yourself as 'extremist', 'moderate', or something else. Sha

In the latest edition of Granta, Britain's showcase magazine, an essay by Murad Kalam, an American who converted to Islam and moved to Cairo, has this to say about Saudi Arabia "In Mecca, I found the same mixture of confusion, oppression and apathy I thought I had left behind in Egypt. But, as in Egypt, nothing worked, even at the blessed hajj, for we were visitors not to an Islamic state but to yet another cynical Arab kleptocracy which only pretended to adhere to the true ideals of Islam ... "The dreaded Saudi religious police, who enforce the rigid observance of Wahhabi Islam, patrolled the streets, beating or arresting anyone they caught missing a prayer; it was impossible ever to know if the native Meccans prayed out of genuine piety or to avoid a whipping."

Salaamun to ALL It is reported that, Al-Qur-an was revealed on the 27th night of Ramadan 610 A.D. Does anyone know what the corresponding Western month was at that time?

I can't access the arabic articles....apart from the one entitled ''Hadith'' all the rest come out in what looks like Russian script. Any advice. Omari

Peace Layth, I'd like to translate it into French, do you have it in English version? Thanks Marie

Peace all, I have uploaded a new artcile on the Mecca/Baka/Pilgrimage issue. This article supercedes my previous thoughts/writings on the subject... http//www.free-minds.org/articles/quranic/hajj.htm May God assist us in finding our way. Layth

Peace all, E6. Abraham and the Kaaba "Behold! We gave the site, to Abraham, of the (Sacred) House, (saying) 'Associate not anything (in worship) with Me; and sanctify My House for those who compass it round...'" Al Hajj 2226 Comment According to the Qur`?n, Abraham received the Kaaba from God in Mecca as a holy place for worship. There are no sources or historical evidence at all, either in the Bible or anywhere else, confirming that Abraham had ever been in Mecca. Besides this, according to Islam, Abraham and his son Ishmael built the original Kaaba. We know that the Kaaba was the holy place for the "Sabeans", whose religion was in Mecca before Islam (Islam l?ra och livsm?nster, Hj?rpe, AWE/GEBERS, 1979, p.30). The black stone which is walked round and kissed, as well as many other rites performed during the pilgrimage, were part of the earlier religion and were retained within Islam. In the early days of Islam, Allah was worshipped facing Jerusalem, but later, after one year and four months in Medina (the year 623), the direction of prayer was changed to the Kaaba in Mecca instead (2142-143 and The Holy Qur`?n, Ali, note 141). The above was found in http//debate.org.uk/topics/theo/chrquran.htm.

Bomb kills six at Iraqi mosque 09-01-2004 By Suleiman al-Khalidi BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - A bicycle bomb has killed six people as they ended Friday prayers at a Shi'ite mosque in central Iraq, in a reminder that few are safe from the swirling conflicts still threatening much of the country. Guerrillas earlier fired rockets into a Baghdad hotel used by Westerners, and hundreds of U.S. troops raided houses in Saddam Hussein's hometown overnight in the hope of capturing the organisers of such attacks. In Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad, unknown attackers strapped a gas cylinder packed with explosives to a bicycle and left it outside a small Shi'ite mosque -- close to people praying on the pavement because of lack of space inside. "At the end of prayers, it exploded," Iraqi police Sergeant Haki Ismail Mustafa told Reuters. Officials at a nearby hospital said they knew of 39 people injured. Baquba is in a largely Sunni Muslim area which is a hotbed of resistance to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. U.S. forces have mounted major operations in and around the town to try to capture insurgents. Shi'ites make up about 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people but were largely excluded from power under the rule of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni. There has been tension between the two communities as they jockey for power in the post-Saddam era. A car bomb attack after Friday prayers in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf in August killed more than 80 people, including one of the most senior leaders of Shi'ism. The Najaf assailants have not been identified but there have been whispers among Shi'ites that it was the work of Sunni radicals. Later attacks on Sunni mosques were blamed on Shi'ite militants. GUNFIRE EXCHANGED No one was hurt in the rocket attack on the Burj al-Hayat hotel in central Baghdad, used by Western businessmen and U.S. military contractors. Three rockets hit rooms around the fourth floor at dawn. "Three men driving in a car hit the hotel with rockets, smashing windows and the wall of the hotel," security guard Mishar Muhammed Isma'il told Reuters Television. Other guards said they exchanged fire with the men in the car before it sped off. In Tikrit, Saddam's hometown, U.S. troops raided houses in the hope of rounding up insurgents. About 300 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division backed by Bradley armoured vehicles and military aircraft searched for suspects, weapons and other incriminating material in some of the biggest raids conducted by U.S. forces in recent weeks. "It was a good night," Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Russell told reporters after about 30 people were taken into custody. "Tikrit will be a safer place tomorrow as a result." U.S. officials said they were still investigating what caused a helicopter to crash on Thursday, killing all nine U.S. troops on board, near the town of Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad and the scene of incessant guerrilla attacks on coalition forces. A witness said the helicopter was in flames before it went down and some reports said it could have been hit by a rocket. The deaths take the number of U.S. soldiers killed in either combat or accidents in Iraq since the invasion last March to almost 500. A U.S. military transport plane carrying 63 passengers and crew was was hit by ground fire shortly after take-off from Baghdad on Thursday but managed to return and land safely. The latest attacks follow a relative lull in violence. On Thursday the U.S. military freed 60 Iraqis after announcing an amnesty intended to ease resentment at the detention of thousands of guerrilla suspects. U.S. administrator Paul Bremer said those who did not have "bloodstained hands" would be released. About 500 of some 9,500 suspects detained by U.S. forces since April are to be freed.

Peace be upon all readers, I believe that the meaning for the "two easts and the two wests" by Ar-Rahman is very profound in so far as it describes another scientific miracle of the Quran. Geologists have noted in rock records that the alignment of various iron compounds in lava flows shows a reversal in alignment. They were at a loss to explain this until it was discovered that the Earth's magnetic field reverses every 200-250 thousand years. About as frequently as the ice ages. If all the compasses in the world started pointing south rather than north, many people might think something very strange, very unusual, and possibly very dangerous was going on. Doomsayers would have a field day proclaiming the end is nigh, while more rational persons might head straight to scientists for an explanation. Fortunately, those scientists in the know -- paleomagnetists, to be exact -- would have a ready answer. Such reversals in the Earth's magnetic field, they'd tell you, are, roughly speaking, as common as ice ages. That is, they're terrifically infrequent by human standards, but in geologic terms they happen all the time. As the time line at right shows, hundreds of times in our planet's history the polarity of the magnetic shield ensheathing the globe has gone from "normal," our current orientation to the north, to "reversed," and back again. From http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/magnetic/timeline.html Therefore when the Earth's magnetic field reverses as it has done many times in the past the East and West will be reversed therefore the Earth has two easts and two wests as God says. A profound proof of Divine authorship. Ar-Rahman being the eternal author of creation is making us aware of this in the Quran. Ar-Rahman be Glorified. It is also interesting that Although other mechanisms ? such as meteor impacts ? have been postulated, it is generally agreed that reversals occur because of some change in the dynamo process that generates the magnetic field.... Many authors have pointed out that the dipole part of the magnetic field has been weakening during historic times, and that if the present trend continues, the dipole field will go to zero in roughly 1500 years. Some people take this to mean that we are entering a reversal. Although this possibility cannot be discounted, many investigators believe that the trend will not continue and that the field will regain its strength, as it has many times in the past. From http//www.geolab.nrcan.gc.ca/geomag/reversals_e.shtml We have been in a reversal of the magnetic pole since recorded history and it has been roughly 250 000 years since the last reversal. The fact that the mention of the two easts and two wests occurs in a surah that deals with the coming of a day when the sky will turn to rose colored paint. A sign of the promise of Ar-Rahman. 5517 Lord of the two easts and the two wests. 5518 Which of your Lord's marvels can you deny? Ar-Rahman the Most Powerful, Most Merciful be Glorified. Peace be upon you, Oben See http//observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,837058,00.html http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3223739.stm about how the Sun may be involved in this process. ...

Salams, I may be totally wrong in what I say below so let me know... I was reading the following two verses the other day (681-82) "And how should I fear what you have set up (with Him), while you do not fear that you have set up with Allah that for which He has not sent down to you any authority; which then of the two parties is surer of security, if you know? " "Those who believe and do not mix up their faith with iniquity, those are they who shall have the security and they are those who go aright. " These two verses, where Abraham is speaking to his polytheistic people, made me think the following The people were doing something that was not authorised by God worshipping other 'gods'. Abraham says that he essentially fears unauthorised actions more than anything anyone other than God could ever do to him. He then asks who is in a safer position the people who do something unauthorised by God, or those who believe and do not mix up their faith with 'iniquity'? The word here in Arabic is 'Dhulm', literally meaning oppression. His opinion as to who is safer is obvious in the second verse. Now, I think it's reasonable to say that that which was considered to be 'oppression' in the second verse was that which was unauthorised by God in the first verse. Specifically it relates in this case to worshipping other than God (shirk). And I believe that it is reasonable to argue that in general these two verses are telling us that we are 'safer and more worthy of security' and more rightly guided if we just stick to that which God has authorised and not mix up our faith with that which has not been authorised. When discussing the hadith issue we can apply the same logic of these two verses. When and where did God authorise the use of hadith? If it is no authorised, then using them is tantamount to what Abraham's people were doing. I may be way off, but... Just a thought, HR

Salaamun alaikum all, I read somewhere on this forum a question asking what at-tauraat and al-injeel are. I'd like to raise the subject here, if I may. Lets go off on a tangent first and ask, 'what is as-salaat'. Well, I say 'as-salaat' is the ritual prayer practised by Sunnis. Most people reading this would be shocked. 'Why', do you take as-salaat to be ritual prayers when the context clearly denies this?' they would say. Good point, but why are people doing this with at-tauraat and al-injeel ? Why dissect salaat to the bone and leave at-tauraat and al-injeel alone ? At-tauraat and al-injeel when translated as 'torah and evangel' i.e. the Old and New Testaments and thus accepted as 'previous revelations' also yields another issue. The issue of Quranic exegesis. Can the Quran be interpreted correctly using the OT and NT ? If we to perform the same operation we performed on 'as-salaat' on at-tauraat and al-injeel, we would find the following Allah says at-tauraat contains 'hukum Allah'/Allah's ordainments, judgements, law' (Quran 5/43). If we say that the OT contains God's laws, then we would have to yield to some racist, barbaric laws. In the Quran, you won't find anywhere at-tauraat revealed to Musa. The first 5 books of the OT are attributed to Musa. At-tauraat rather is taught to Isaa and Isaa does 'confirm/tasdiq'. What it means to 'tasdiq' should be checked Quranically as well. 5/47 says that let the people of al-injeel judge by it. Does the NT contain ANY judgements which are Quranic ? If so, what seperates it from any other document also having Quranic elements ? 5/46 says that al-injeel is a 'sermon for al-muttaqeen'. The Quran itself is guidance for al-muttaqeen. If the Quran is fully detailed, why would al-muttaqeen need anything else ? 5/66 says if they establish at-tauraat and al-injeel, they would find God's provisions from above and below. Once again, contentually, you will find that this has nothing to do with the old and new testaments. 48/29 contains descriptions of the people with Muhammad ar-rasulullah. 2 of these descriptions are said to be in at-tauraat and al-injeel. Neither the OT nor the NT contain this. 9/111 yields a bargain made by Allah in at-tauraat and al-injeel, that Allah purchases the lives of the believers and thier wealth in return for the garden. Once again, you won't find this in the OT and NT. My conclusion At-tauraat and al-injeel cannot be the OT and NT. Accepting them as such is acceptance without evidence. While the Quran itself gives tests of its authenticty , the OT and NT doesn't recognise itself at all. Accepting it without evidence and without recourse to the Quranic text is dangerous for tafseer purposes. I would expect a counter-argument going like 'well, the Quran authenticates what is correct in the OT and NT'. That's good, but does it mean you're authorised to take the information which ISN'T authenticated as well ? The Quran doesn't only authenticate, but ASSERTS that at-tauraat and al-injeel contain descriptions of Muhammad's followers (48/29) promise made by Allah (9/111) and neither OT nor NT has it. My current view is that at-tauraat and al-injeel are both modes of operations practised by Isa. Once we understand that and practise it, we would be following the example of Isaa and achieve his victories (23/50 and 61/14). Please comment and criticse. thanks and salaam.

Salaam family, On the thread called Dhulqarnain's Mission, ThaPhenom provided a link to a salafi web forum. He said to go there if we felt up to the challenge. Well, I felt up to the challenge and went there and signe up and everything and you know what...It was not a challenge for me at all. They are the ones who weren't up to the challenge which is why I was there for only one day before they finally just kicked me out of their forum. Needless to say that I came with some serious issues with the hadith and with their entire doctrine which they could not handle. And do you want to know how they handled it? Instead of answering my posts and refuting them, they insulted me, attacked me, called me all sorts of very creative things and did everything they could to avoid the issues at hand. At first, they tried to shift the focus away from the questions and challenges that I've raised to aqeeda issues and my understanding of the Arabic Language. Instead of allowing them to steer off course, I stuck with the issues at hand, and when they see that I wasn't going to let them drag me into other debates that didn't have anything to do with the questions that I've raised, that's when the attacks and insults got heavier. One guy said that I was on crack lol . Is this how muslims supposed to treat other human beings? Well according to them, I'm a Kaafir which means I am not deserving of any respect at all. One guy even said may the wrath of Allah come down on me and my family. WOW!! The only time it looked as though the debate could become fruitful is when soemone tried to explain why we need hadith. And of course his explanation is the one that we are all familiar with how do we know how to make salaat, how do we know the rites and "rituals" of Hajj, blah, blah, blah. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I explained the issue of salaat as per the Quran and compared to the hadith, and I was only too thrilled to borrow the knowledge that our brother Truth has dropped on us in his thread The "Killer" Argument Against hadith. Oh, that was the last straw. So you know what they did? They started deleting every single post I did from that point on, and even went out of their way to delete all my posts that I've made earlier. Every last one. But guess what they didn't delete? All the things that people had to say only "after" they kicked me out. HHmmm. Before they kicked me out entirely, the Administator changed my avatar from a man in sajdah to a picture of a pile of poop with flies all around it. lol And he changed the name of my location from USA to Oscar the grouches toilet. lol lol That has always been the thing with them. When all else fails and they cannot defend their ass backwards logic, they resort to attacks and insults and they get real personal with you. I truly believe that I had their backs agains the wall. I did the same thing that DoctrorNo used to do....I made like twelve initial posts in one day. They kept sayin that I was wrong, my logic is wrong, my Arabic wrong, my sources are wrong because I went outside of the Ahl Al-Sunna wa Jamaa, etc. I kept telling them to bring their proof and refute everything that I said. My two biggest issue that I've raised were to explain the validity and authenticity of hadith as per Quran and to bring historical evidence that the hadith were written during the time of the Prophet. They Couldn't Do It!!!. So What do they do? They started off with insults and attacks, to changing my avatar, to deleting my posts, to kicking me off the forum. In fact, quite a few people have pleaded with the Moderator to kick me off after only reading my first couple of posts. It's just goes to show, you can defend something that's indefensable and you apply logic to something that's totally illogical. But one thing's definately for sure concerning them.... When you shut down the hadith, You Dismantle Their Entire Doctrine!!!. They can't handle that. From here on out, I'm going to study the hadith indepthly. The science of hadith and whatever else comes with it, because I intend to go worldwide and Expose that nonsense even Bigger than what Rashad Khalifa has ever done it!!! Because of what we are dealing with, the whole GOD Alone and Quran Alone movement should band together, put aside these petty squabbles and serve GOD as we know we are meant to do and earn our place in Paradise. It's time to get the ball moving and really let the world know who we are and what we stand for. We are definately at war with these people. They have totally mutated the teachings of the Quran and are misrepresenting it in the worse possible way. Dare I say that they're not even muslims at all. It's time to unify and solidify this movement and do what we say what we are all about. We have people to heal, a world to save, GOD to serve and Judgement Day to look forward to!! May GOD grant us the strength and the Patience to fulfill our duties that He's laid upon our shoulders. Salaam y'all, Damon.

Hi guys, Am having a discussion with a traditionalist and wanted to bounce something off you all... The Book refers to itself as Clear (Mubeen). However, by its very nature language involves the possibility of multiple meanings and the use of the intellect in order to discern the appropriate/intended meaning. Use of the intellect implies 'adding' something external to the Book. For example, God says that he who is blind in this world will be blind in the next. Clearly, this is not refering to physical sight... but to say that I have used my intellect and clarified that it is a figurative use of the word blind etc.. But if it needs clarification then how is it Clear? If it needs external input how is it Clear? Is it contradicting itself? In what sense is it Clear? wassalam, HR

peace be upon all, Hi all, I would like to announce that "The Natural Republic" has been set up and gradually upgrades going on. So pls feel free to visit and join the journey of a new era. If anyone have any suggestions pls do let us know in the forum section. Feel free to explore the portal. Here you can.. Post your own article in different category discuss various issue participate in the poll/survey promote your website/links and many moreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee So explore the portal while we will be adding new stuff very soon... enjoyyy.. peace www.thenaturalrepublic.org

Peace to you all, I am reading the posts on "establishing a God Alone state" and wondered what people here think of us targeting Iraq? We are in posession of the most powerful document that Iraq badly needs "a constitution" based on God Alone. Also, this is how I view Iraq which makes it attractive The country is near civil war There is no government There is no leadership The population are aware of the Quran and accept it The country has a diversity in religion and wants to protect that There is an abundant water source (two rivers) Abundant energy (oil) This is exactly like the situation of Medina when they invited the prophet (according to history) because of the civil strife they had, and based on this he formulated the "Medina Charter" (the oldest constitution known) Well, what do people think? Shall we begin a campaign to target Iraq and convince the populace to ask for the implementation of the God Alone constitution? Layth

Anyone Read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse? I just read it the other day and I found it quite enlightening. What do others think about the idea of being able to find God within ourselves (leading to absolute bliss)? Are others of the same mind that a person needs to experience the good and the bad within life in order to understand the world better?

UK GROUP http//uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/quranicperspective/ This is a UK online meeting place for all those who wish to be part of the UK Quranic community, so why not click on the link and log in! I look forward to seeing you online! Peace Leila N

Salaam family, Since we're done with christmas lol ... just wanted to wish all my brothers and sisters here a happy, peaceful and prosperous new year! This year has been great for me, in every way... I hope and wish the same, and more, for all o' y'all! D Peace

Dear all, Anybody with a good explanation of the understanding of 663? Did Allah send revelations not written down in the Qur?an? Best regards Ali Omar