My (rather long) introduction
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Hi everyone,
I've been here for well over a year now, so it's probably about time for me to introduce myself, and to explain a bit about my journey and how I got here. When I wrote all this down it ended up a lot longer than I intended, but I've decided to post it anyway.
I'm from the UK (England). My dad is a very devout atheist and my mum's a Christian. I was brought up by my mum as a Christian. I went to church every week, went to a Church of England school with a very strict entry policy, and was very much a Christian.
As I grew up, though, and started to think for myself, there was something about it that just didn't feel right. Since I knew nothing other than Christianity, I assumed that this feeling that something wasn't right meant that I didn't believe in God. At the age of about 13 I decided I was an Atheist. Despite calling myself an Atheist, I still prayed to God, still talked to Him, etc (privately, to myself, of course). It never even occurred to me that this meant I still believed in God! I stayed an "Atheist" for years, until after I'd been to uni.
Then in 2000 I met a Turkish Girl, who is now my wife. I started dipping in and out of the Qur'an, but never read it in any depth until 2005 when I spent a few weeks reading it from cover to cover. There was nothing at all in it that I disagreed with. It completely described how I'd always felt. It was at that point that I realised my "Atheism" wasn't because I no longer believed in God - I did. It was because I didn't agree that Jesus was God. That's the bit of Christianity that never felt right to me. It dawned on me that I could still believe in God without believing in Jesus.
Since then I've read several different translations of the Qur'an and it just confirmed the view that I believe what it says. It described everything perfectly. As I read more, I grew to believe that it was the word of God.
However, what I read didn't agree with what I saw. There were none of the rules that I associated with Islam. Women weren't second class citizens who were forced to hide behind a burkha. There was no stoning, no praising Muhammed at every opportunity, no terrorism, no "honour killings", nothing. I couldn't understand how this wonderful book was related to the Islam I'd seen on the news. So I started reading as much as I could. I found out about Hadiths and Sunnah, and even started to follow a few of them like how to pray, but these felt just as wrong to me as Christianity. It wasn't what I'd come to love in the Qur'an.
Then I had yet another revelation. I'm a mathematician and a scientist. I love order and logic. I could see quite clearly that there were only two choices available to me, and followed them through. They are
a) The Qur'an is correct (and is, therefore, from God).
b) The Qur'an is not correct (either it is not from God or there are errors in it).If I believe a) then I must accept what the Qur'an says on a subject above any other source. The Qur'an says that it is complete and fully detailed, so I must accept this. Since the Qur'an is complete and fully detailed it does not need anything to explain it or elaborate on any points in it (for if it did then it can't be complete). If that is the case then the Qur'an alone is all that is needed.
If I believe b) then I do not accept what the Qur'an says. If I don't accept what the Qur'an says, then why would I need to follow any of the rules in it, and why would I care if it was explained by Hadith or not?
Either way, I couldn't see why Hadiths were needed. I chose to accept a), and I felt happy in my beliefs for the first time in my life. They felt right to me.
So that's how I came to believe in God alone. I'll post my interpretations of the Qur'an in a bit, but this is already far too long and it's now very late!
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Peace and welcome DrivelHead!
Thanks for sharing your story.
Being a mathematician and scientist, what was your first impression of the concepts of "miracles", iblis, jinn, and malaikat?
Also, have these understandings evolved since your first impressions?
No need to go into detail as that could take a few weeks Just a general overview if you don't mind.
Looking forward to your thoughts.Peace,
Tay -
Salam and Welcome sun
Very insightful way to approach the destiny and truth of using the Quran alone as your deen and your sunnah. I think the Quran is like a treasure, I can not imagine anything comparing ever. I love God and this wonderful guidance he inspired to Muhammad (PBUH) to bring us and guide us. Suphannallah angel
YEAH FOR THE QURAN!!! IT IS OUR TRUTH!! THERE ARE NO ERRORS IN THE QURAN!! pr
in what hadith will you believe? tempt
Honor
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welcome
Your path is almost the exact same as mine, though I still hold onto Mormonism by its morals. Your introduction didn't beat our record, (Which I believe was set by Jonny_k) but it was a very good story.
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Peace,
welcome DrivelHead.
Wow so many new members allt the time. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic when I'm thinking back atleast 7 years ago when Me and Br Layth, Br Kyle and Br Bahman was together on group "God Alone Quran Alone"
I'm happy to be part of this group, I love you all group
Maria
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I'm not exactly new. I've been here for a year and a half but have never bothered posting before.
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I know I'm late but great story. peace
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I must say, this is the first time I've seen these 2 words together - 'devout atheist'.
Well atheism is a religion in my opinion, despite what atheists (mainly Richard Dawkins) often say.
It's more than just not believing in a god, they believe there is no god.
Only agnostics can say they don't believe there is a god. They can also say they don't believe there isn't a god.
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