Introduce Yourself

Peace, I was born into a sunni family but I did not practice religion except little. One year while I was watching coverage of the annual pilgrimage I was really touched, as if I was beckoned. I always was a believer in GOD and I was concious of the fact that I was less than an ideal servant to Him. However, this emotional experience suddenly caused me to resolve to change and be a better servant to Him. So I undertook the study of Quran and Hadith. I listened to radio programmes that provided tafseer and read a lot of Hadith, I learnt as much as I could. During this study some Hadith made me uncomfortable and uneasy due to inconsistencies. For example, if I grazed myself when I shaved whether my ablution would be invalidated. I think my approach was more blind obedience than logical and rational, after all this is what faith is right? One one radio programme one of the Scholars was urging that one of our duties is to spread the message, so I decided to share what I know on discussion boards. What I noticed is there were some people who were claiming to be muslims yet they were not following Hadith. And, these people were being treated unfairly, the submitters they called themselves seemed rather evasive in the face of questions and this made me really suspicious of their intentions. The Submitters were quoting from the Qur'an which was very different translation to mine i.e. 1746, so I argued at length and joined the submitter bashing. However, I began to read the quotes carefully and checked it against mine and began to see things are not what they seemed to be. This is one quote he provided that made me think very carefully We have cited in this Quran every kind of example, but the human being is the most argumentative creature. Also, You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them. What was remarkable is that when I began to listen to these people and give them consideration, others my so called brother suddenly changed against me, once amicable relationships turned sour which in turn made suspicious of the motives of the traditionalists. Some began to make interpolations and with little or no evidence began to ascribe labels such as "hypocrite", "zionist agent" etc... which was an eye opener indeed. Hence, I investigated this verse and tried to understand more We place shields around their minds, to prevent them from understanding it, and deafness in their ears. And when you preach your Lord, using the Quran alone, they run away in aversion. I found out that the Rashad Khalifa translation of this verse was indeed correct and the secterian translations were false, I verified this learning a little of Arabic grammar from a course book, compared many other verses and challenged both views to comb for any points I may have missed. I came to the conclusion that this verse was distorted by traditional translators. However, I have not come to the conclusion that Dr. Khalifa was a messenger of GOD, some proofs were astounding as in Appendix 2, whilst I was near to accepting it as truth. I am not sure I understand the probabilities involved in the numerical claimed miracle. It seems rather complicated although some are simple. What I am clear now is that the Qur'an is perfect, complete and fully detailed and soon I began to discover that Dr. Khalifa translation had errors like any other translation. So now with the grace of GOD I am striving to learn from the Quran going right down to the Arabic and focusing my studies in establishing the correct principles according to Qur'an. Salat, Zakah, Hajj there is a lot to learn and purify ourselves from additions to the Quranic decree. May GOD guide those who are humble and who are sincere in seeking the way to Him. regards,

I certainly will share my story with ya all but firstly let me just say selamunaleykum ...Its been almost a month since i embraced Islam as my religion' Allah as the one and only creator' and Kuran (manual guide on how to use life a friend of mine called it) as my holly book...and thats it!I am as an intelligent women) trying to have an intelligent approach to Islam and not accepting any info that is not included in the Quran therefore I think and beleive that these stuff about sects and certain way of practisin my religion and etc are all well shall I say nonsense ? I currently live in Australia and do have Turkish origion but brought up by a family where neither religion nor Allah was accepted ...I will tell ya more later on I just wanted to salute ya all much love and support ozesu

with peace and respect, this is my first-time sending message so i feel kind of nervous but let me try... i was born as daughter of buddhism temple. when i was 5 yrs old my parent got sepalated, and i was raised by my grand parent, they were good buddhist too. basic teaching of buddhism is "seek the knowledge" "things always has reason & result" teaching of buddhism really helped me grow, as result it pushed my back to read Qu'ran. i had something i call "relationship between GOD & i" i was seeking for something what can help me to keep this "relationship" in right kind of way, in better way, and Qu'ran fits my needs. it quenches my thirst. i don't know everything and it is impossible to know everything, because i'm just a human i have a limit. and because i have a limit i have to make a choice. i choose Qu'ran as the best book which explains me about religion, and the Creator of religion. it explains me how to controll "relationship between GOD & i". it was my pleasure to share my story with all of you people, and thanks again that you spent your precious time to read it. with warm regards and best wishes(=salaam), and happy EID to all. KC

Asalamu alaikum,I reverted to Al-Islam some years ago,and last year I ran across this site and began to read and basically I seen here that there are apparently many others whom are at least skeptical of the authenticity of ahadith and some whom have actually abandoned it al- together..And some how,lol,I was immediately sucked in for all of it made so much sense but then I began to rethink this position for a number of reasons and went back to the sunnah/ahadith ,for it is all I have been taught since embracing al-Islam and had become comfortable to me,and also due to some other factors..See,I began my Islamic education back when I reverted by reading books By Dr.Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips and also that by Shaikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab ,and now,to sum it all up, I am a salafee,or,lol,shall I say a VERY-moderate salafee- for the very fact that I am even entertaining such deviant ideas as that which is in this group testifies to my being moderate,lol,..However ,I am in the habit of using my mind---thinking---however,given the historical evidence and taking into account the fact that many ahadeeth contradict the Qur'an and defy even science and logic , I am finding it increasingly hard to accept many ahadeeth for it is at odds with my common-sense..I have studied in our salafee study groups the science of ahadith and there are some minor falws,amongst others in other areas.,.So,that s why I am here,yet I have not entirely abandoned the ahadith for I wish to continue my studies in this area before I make a decision...I have already,through my previous studies ,noted some clear ahadith contradictions,however I would like to see more if anyone has such a compilation..For me it is very important that I make 100% sure this is the truth,because,Lol, as you guys probaly know,the salafees,lol DO NOT TAKE SUCH A THING LIKE THE ABANDONMENT OF AHADITH VERY LIGHTLY --to say the least.They would within a matter of days abandon me altogether and as it was a,I had a hard time fitting in when I first reverted ,thus it took me forever to get into the "inner circle",and now it really sucks,for If this path which you guys are on is in fact true,DAMMIT,I willl have to start over ALL OVER AGAIN ...Soooo,lol,I want to really study this issue in every way,and I would appreciate it if some one could refer me to more proofs and the such....Salaams,I will go now,sorry for talking your heads off....

Salamun'alaikum, Peace all, I'm 29, married and has one boy kid, I'm Indonesian, ) Indonesia is the biggest muslim population country in the world, eventhough... I am sure.. most of us do not know Al-Qur'an well. Let me tell you my story......My mom is Qur'an Alone and my father is Ahmadiyah and I am Qur'an and hadits. Even my mom is Qur'an Alone, she can not give me well explanation what Qur'an Alone is? ( She only say that Qur'an Alone is from Allah and hadits is made by men, that's all!..I have got confuesed cry In my mind asking..Why my mom is difference among million muslim in the world? cry . But deep in my heart ... I confess that I found many contradictions between Qur'an & hadits, between hadits & hadits.. depend on their imam, but I can not proof anything well cry , I have ever read a book regarding history of Qur'an according to hadits that Nabi Muhammad was forbite their ummah to writing down what he say and what he do except Al-Qur'an. If it from hadits, why hadits is exist??!!! ? I agreed with Qur'an Alone but I have big questions always disturb me, how we can observe sholat following Qur'an Alone?? cry because sholat is one of the important thing as a believers has to perform. ( . I am searching... and searching.....in many years, by reading many books about Islam...Poor... cry nothing in my country book regarding Qur'an Alone. Here...Qur'an Alone is Anti Hadits, Anti Sunnah, Anti Muhammad, it is Kaffir and folow Satan!!!! x . Sometime... I give up........... cry then... I woke up that Allah must be guide me to find the truth D . Alhamdulillah....my prying is come true D , finally last October 2003, I found Qur'an Alone website "bacaan" in Malay language o . It's open my eyes that the history of hadits is begin 200 years after prophet passed away, how come??!!! o . In this site, all of my questions is answer detailed.. ) until I find the free-minds...the articles is so informatiefed, I like this forum ) , I feel not alone anymore.... Suprised.. I have a big family in the world in the same way... Alhamdulillah.....Every day I attend this forum, even I never join in disscussion. I know you!! Lyth, Zenje, Damon, Nabi, Marie, Leila B, Dhulqarnain and all of you guys D , Syamsuel..you're nextdoor, aren't you?? Who is from Indonesia? It's nice if we could keep in touch ) . Again..thanks a lot for all of you guys D . Until now.. my husband do not know...I become Qur'an Alone cry I pray .. someday he will be....Insha Allah.... ) . I' m doing now is to practice the way of Allah as much as I can. Insha Allah... I would not to stop study Qur'an unti I die...... Make progress..and progress (4;146). We, all of us should be show to the world that we are not theory and talk only but ACTION!!....based on Al-Quran, nothing else!! D Salam, Dhanti PS "Sorry my english is poor"

hello im new to islam and to this site so i'll introduce myself. I'm 25, married was raised catholic and have found islam with god alone recently. I had found the qoran 3 years before that and found it to be the truht so I practiced as mutch as i could. Then I met my husband who is from morocco. We got married and he started talking that I was doing it wrong because i didn't know arabic and hadith so he started explaining sunah, hadith. Since that time everything i knew about islam became one big mess. Nothing seemed right anymore, one thing contradicting the other. Hadith that were followed in place of what qoran said. I was confused and started searching the net for answer and Allah guided me. The first site I found was one of islam with God alone in dutch. I started studying it and discussing it with my husband. He refused to admit it was right but couldn't give me the answers (prouve) that it was wrong. Even the imam i ask was evasive when i asked him. On this dutch site I found the link to this site and I started looking here as well. Everything I've read i cheked for the qoran tells me to. So i have found my way to god alone or should i say i have found may way again. My husband still doesn't agree with it but he's thinking i will return to follow sunnah and hadith some day. Sometimes it gives reason to discussion between us but i do not wish to leave him ,even if he is sunni, as long as he respects me and my believes. please forgive me if there are al lot of faults in my english, it has been a long time since i last wrote english

Its kind of funny how I came here. The things that brought me here were Christianity and a romance novel about an Orthodox Jewish woman. I actually started working with a very religious Christian lady and we had plenty of in-depth discussions regarding faith and spirituality. I appreciated her faith and always had a somewhat liberal view of Islam. I always believed in my heart that God would not punish those that had pure hearts and were good people, regardless of religion. While talking with my friend, I started to grow closer to my own natural faith in Islam. I always knew in my heart it was the right religion for me, but something was missing. I started ordering books on Islam and reading the 3 tiered translations of the Quran. I noticed differences in the translations, especially in the a verse about "lightly hitting ones wife." Now that totally bothered me, being a woman. So I started searching on the net for different translations and wound up here. My faith has changed so much recently, I feel like I have a stronger faith in God than ever before. I am still critical of everything, of course, but I find this the ideas on this site to be eye opening. Its so hard to find good, true people these days and maybe this is a step in the right direction? We?ll see, but either way, this HAS brought me closer to Islam.

I only came here because my dad said, i would help people realize that they are bad and we are good. My dad sais that all they have to do is stop talking, fighting or making rap music and just look at us, we are the best, white like pure fire he said. If the world would be like us, so white we would be safer, then we can focus on having fun again, and be happy and finally be able to love each other without sick people to worry about, or crazy homeless people that like living in the streets, or GAY people that like each other and Hippies that do not work, laugh all day and think they are happy!!!! We hate all of them because my dad works for the government and they do not pay us more taxes. But until we get read of them, we can not love each other as a family, and walk on the streets without fear that they will rob us like on T.V., or our real estate is in limbo because they do not work and have 2-4 kids to feed. Daddy is real smart!

I thought my first post in free-minds forum should be here. Here is my story I posted to 19.org's forum Then let me tell a different story Most of the people I know used to be either sunni, or "search for the truth". Not me, actually I didn't use to give a damn. I liked some of the religious stories about Muhammed or other prophets, or miracles, when I was a young boy. In Turkey, there are some "brainformatter" groups of people who "wash" young boys' brains pretending to teach them lessons (Mathematics and so on). But the real intention is advertising their religion to make the boy to become a sunni (or make him think the way as they think). It was my family who noticed their intention and protected me. The way they noticed this is pretty funny and strange actually They found one of the books I got from brainformatters Interesting Questions - 2 (Yes, the author was nobody but Edip). In that book, Edip quotes some of the (extreme and nonsense) sunni thoughts, actually to criticize them. However, in the first look (when skimming and scanning), they seem to be the author's thoughts (Well, at least my family thought they were the author's thoughts). I tried to explain that they are not Edip's thoughts, that Edip criticized them. Hehe, I liked Edip. I liked that book They later noticed they were not Edip's thoughts, however, they had noticed the "brainformatters" once. They didn't want me to go to that people's house again. Edip's "Interesting Questions - 2" book was what prevented me to become a sunni . Though in a different way, it really did Then, a long time passed. I was not interested in religious matters. I never was, actually. One day, I refused all of the religious stories, together with what they're based on the existence of a God. I lost my belief, became an atheist. Actually, I never believed, it's only that I was told that I believed a god. Everbody said there was a god. I reflected, then decided... Miserable is what I decided... Miserable indeed is what I decided... I looked, frowned and whined. I turned arrogantly... I said "this is not even a clever magic"... I said "This is human made" 7418-25 (The thing I refused was, however, not a miracle, but the stories. I did it arrogantly, though. That's the only arrogance I'm happy with ) Based on those nonsense stories, I refused the idea of a God. Another long time passed. One day, I saw another book "Errors in Quran Translations", written by Edip Yuksel. Hey, that name sounds familiar! I read it. Strange it is, this guy refuses everything I refuse, he still insists the existence of a God. Then, I read "19 Questions for Muslim Scholars". I wrote an email to Edip. He sent me Rashad's English Translation. I met Rashad... I read the appendices first . I met 19. I met Quran. I met... God... I wrote another email to Edip saying that it's very difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the divisibility of those long numbers by 19 (I didn't know programming that well then). He replied me "I didn't calculate them, I don't know the exact programming method". I met... C... . Proved to myself the truth of the most of what Rashad said. Proved to myself, mathematically, and digitally, the existence of a God... The existence of "the" God... I don't think even Edip remembers those emails, mainly because I usually try to change my nick frequently to make sure nobody remembers me, in person Thinking now, strange indeed I had nothing to do with religion, all I wanted was to study Mathematics. I was a kid. The people who seemed to help me study math were actually sunni brainwashers, imposing their thoughts. I took nearly nothing from them, my family prevented me. Except one book Edip's book. That was one of the few books opposing them Then, I had again nothing to do with religion (and reaaalllly nothing, I mean), then I came across another book of Edip (whom, at first look, I can't even remember from where I can remember, but there was a familiarity). That book changed my life. Thanks, Edip. I was 19 years old. God guided me. Thank God!

My story - Not very adventurous, but mine nonetheless. I was born a sunni muslim. Put through the paces of learning how to read arabic without understanding it (even at age 6 you wonder whats the point?). Memorised passages, but didnt like the way everyone seemed lead two types of life. Near the vicinity of a Masjid - all holy and questioning each other or relating hadith. Away from the Masjid - backbiting, drug abuse, verbal abuse etc. Too much 'DO NOT' not enough 'DO'. I started feeling incomplete very early on in my life so always sought other ways of satisfying my thirst for knowledge and reconciling what I felt with what I was told was the 'right' thing. At age twelve I saw a programme on TV about meditation and how it develops spirituality - usual comments from the family persued as to how 'infidels' pray etc. I decided to discover for myself. I discovered a book about the 'How of Meditation', and rapidly started meditating, clearing my mind, but making sure that I did not involve any 'god' or deity in my mantras or methods of meditation. At college I came across a girl from the Ahmaddiya (Qadiyaani) sect. I promptly investigated as much as I could and found the differences between what I had been led to beleive and what their (Ahmadi) scholars were saying were vast. The one and only time I have ever felt that I was losing my mind, that I was looking into an abyss was when I was reading a book that challenged the fact that mainstream Sunnism was wrong and Ahmadism was correct. I promplty put the book down and decided to leave the subject as it questioned the very belief I had been 'born' with. So I went back to meditating quietly on my own. I continued meditating for a number of years until I became involved with a Naqshbandi group who practiced guided meditation every Sunday. This really awakened my inner self, some fantastic practices and ideas were discussed every sunday. This would have become my whole life until I delved deeper into the group and discoved to my chagrin that people were involved in making their view count or upholding their belief system with elaborate discourses on Hadith, totally neglecting the Quran. The sheikh who led the congregation remarked a statement at one time which pierced me - "The Hadith is pure because the Holy Prophet has related it to us with his DIRECT link to god, where as the Quran has passed through an Angel to reach the prophet." I found this statement to insinuate that the Hadith was to be trusted above the Quran. A week or two after this discussion the group split. My interest still held, but only when I went to University did my interest reawaken. I met an individual who was fascinating in regards to the amount of knowledge that he had. We used to talk all the time about Islam and what perspectives we each brought. I was severely outclassed in knowledge, but I had ideas that were different enough to discuss. He introduced me to the 'Quran only' method of study. It was interesting and still is to this day. The spark of Ramadan made me install my digital Quran and search the web, where I chanced upon your website. I started in the evening about 10pm and stopped reading (when my wife insisted that i switch the infernal computer off!) at around 2am. I am hooked. Most of what I have read sounds like it makes sense. I hope to continue reading. I was discussing with the wife how it would be impressive if I could actually understand the Quran and not just read it rote - every time this is discussed with everyone it is usually - 'You should do it' but never how I should. I promptly ordered your translation 'The Message' and have been reading the online version too. I am glad that someone is there to show me the way, to put me in the right direction of the knowledge so that I can absorb it myself, rather than preaching to me. Thank you again for re-awakening my thirst. Salaam Yasin.

http//www.kavalec.com/path_to_islam.htm or http//www.yahoogroups.com/IslamAwakened/files and click on path_to_islam.htm