Ramadan coming up, need help

Emil

Dear friends, brothers and sisters

As you know Ramadan is getting close and tis the season to be arguing with family..

Most of us agree that Allah has left the purpose of fasting open to let his children better themselves in whatever they need to improve. There is not much "guidance" given in the Quran except it will help in being more righteous and that we can never imagine all the benefits.
For a lot of people fasting is a reminder that whatever little or much we possess we should never take it for granted, the hunger and thirst during the day acting like the message....For others it is about reaching out and giving a hand to those in need, and for some it is a way to focus on praying and trying to understand the Quran.....For a few it is all of the above..

Anyways, I think I am not alone in the QA community when I state that if one wants to change his or her life and uses the month of Ramadan as a "boost" to really get going he or she should really go for it. I talked to a sunni about this today and I gave him a hypothetical alcoholic. What would be more pleasing in the eyes of Allah, that the alcoholic admits to his problem and uses Ramadan to kick the habit OR that he doesnt eat during the day (for you who are not experienced in the field of alcoholism keeping fast and detoxication on the same time is virtually impossible, the detox takes up all of your mental and physical stamina)........The answer I got was "There are eleven more months to kick the habit, why should he do it during Ramadan? Besides there are no alcoholic muslims."

Sigh..........That brings me to what I need help with. Bruce Springsteen is coming to town and I managed to get tickets. I know a person who would just looove to take this chance of a lifetime and go with me......But he doesnt want to go because it is during Ramadan and he doesnt want to make Allah angry.....I completely respect my friend but I know it in my heart that if he does realize that Allah wouldnt be angry and Bruce has come and gone already he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Can somebody please help me explain to my friend why it is OK to enjoy a concert during Ramadan after sunset. I tried to find some liberal sunni homepages but all I came up with was that music is not allowed, Ramadan or not.

BTW, there are no articles on FM about Ramadan, why is that so?

No longer a Sunna-rejecter

BTW, there are no articles on FM about Ramadan, why is that so?

lol. Go search the forum and the articles page. There is PLENTY of discussion on this topic.

Emil

muscle

lol. Go search the forum and the articles page. There is PLENTY of discussion on this topic.

I am not really interested in the forum this time, the ramadan discussions are unfortunately not very fruitful.
If there is an article, please show it to me, I cant find any. Seriously.

Student_of_Allah

Shalom Aleikhem,

The problem is, you have to convince him that music is not a sin. And to buy that, your friend would need to oppose the revered traditional scholars. So, the problem is bigger than a "one-topic agreement" issue. What you are essentially suggesting to his calculating machine is

You say music is not haram
But his scholars say it is haram.
If he agrees with you no matter what the reason, he is questioning the scholarship of the scholars.
If he questions their authority in this matter, what stops him from questioning their authority in other matters.
He probably knows that the scholars are saying what they are saying based on hadith.
Questioning them would be questioning the hadiths.
He probably understands hadiths to be words of Muhammad that are to be followed.
Agreeing with you means he now has to disagree with Muhammad.

You see where the problem is ?

Peace
------------- Student of Allah

Emil

Salam SOA

You hit the spot, problem is that he says he follows the Quran and in it it says you shouldnt listen to music during ramadan. He is wrong of course but when I question him of sura and ayaat he says lets ask the imam and the only imam he trusts is the one in London (cant remem er the name).

My friend is obviously confused, not because he is irrational but because he thinks with his emotions, hates to read and relies on what the "people in authority" says. Basically, the more you look and act like a "muslim" the more knowledge you have.......Makes me wanna grow a beard and start saying mashalla and ahamdillah in every sentence.

I found a Sufi site which explains the essence of Ramadan without prohibiting things. Problem is for most sunnis sufism is a islam on LSD

Emil

Sorry the Quran has no complete translations that's any good at the moment.
Make a little experiment and see if it works for yourself. In the hottest month fast for 40 days while asking a question in your mind

Thanks guys for kidnapping my thread.......appreciate that you could help me and refrain from keeping off subject.

Kaikonred, my dear brother. If you would set aside the practical aspects of ramadan, like how long and when and all that and focus on the purpose instead, perhaps you could help me.

morninglight

That is just great that you got tickets. I skipped my classes one day to wait outside in the cold all day long for Tunnel Of Love tickets. I went to the shows two consecutive nights.

At these linked items the artist presently known as Yusuf talks about the question (issue) about music. There is some reference to the Quran and some to hadith.

http//www.yusufislam.com/faq/c673d6e1874727cc469c62b0e4645d7b/

http//www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241774025368229.html

Emil

That is just great that you got tickets. I skipped my classes one day to wait outside in the cold all day long for Tunnel Of Love tickets. I went to the shows two consecutive nights.

At these linked items the artist presently known as Yusuf talks about the question (issue) about music. There is some reference to the Quran and some to hadith.

http//www.yusufislam.com/faq/c673d6e1874727cc469c62b0e4645d7b/

http//www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241774025368229.html

Thank you so much! I read out loud to my friend and because Yusuf Ali is highly respected he now came over the mental threshold that music keeps you away from Allah.

Now next step is Ramadan, got to convince my friend how enjoying a concert will actually praise Allah instead of angering him.

Again, thank you so much

Kaiokenred

Thanks guys for kidnapping my thread.......appreciate that you could help me and refrain from keeping off subject.

Kaikonred, my dear brother. If you would set aside the practical aspects of ramadan, like how long and when and all that and focus on the purpose instead, perhaps you could help me.

Maybe I'm not the right person to help you, but as far as I know you should fast from the rise of the sun till it's fall ( how do I say this better in english?) right? What I believe it to be the purpose is getting an answer for your question. Other advantages it has are that it removes intoxicants and it's healthy