My Story
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Salam Everyone.
Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone and share my story on here.
My family are from a Shia Muslim background but thankfully they never threw the differences in my face and I grew up mixing with people from all Muslim and other religious backgrounds. During my late teens and early 20's however I wanted to know more about Islam and especially wanted to know why there were differences between muslims especially when the Quran tells us not to split into different sects. The starting point in my quest stemmed from hearing Sunni people in my school stating that Shias are wrong, having Sunni people literally run away when being preached to by them after I informed them I was Shia and also being told by Sunni people that it would be a problem to pray in their mosque!! I couldn't understand how Islam which was supposed to be the religion that would get me to heaven would allow its community members to hate each other due to what I only knew were down to a few political differences and Shias praying with their arms on their side and sunnis across their chest.
So my journey to enlightenment began and I started to look up pro Shia websites, pro sunni websites, anti Shia and anti Sunni websites. I was amazed at the differences and on top of this at the hatred that each group had for each other. What further amazed me were the lies that sunni people were saying about Shias ( I was sure that shias were doing the same). However after much reading and debating with myself and even attending some religious study groups held by uncles I felt that Shia Islam was the correct path. How could it not be, at the end of the day we were following how Islam was being preached by the Prophets family, they had to be right surely?
Over time things were still eating up at me with my faith. Why is it when we pray we praise the prophet? Did the prophet praise himself during prayer? how can that be? Why did everything revolve around the martyrdom of Imam Hussain? why did shias have a victim mentality but also an arrogance against Sunnis (which really annoyed me). So many questions and I was not sure where to turn and who to turn to. Everything I read and heard just did not make sense anymore, and I felt that this was mainly due to the Hadiths.
At the time of all these questions I was working with a number of muslims both from Shia and Sunni backgrounds. Every now and then there would be some sort of debate between the two groups (which always ended up about the legitimacy of temporary marriage) and what annoyed me was that both these groups were using Hadiths to back up their arguments and never the Quran. Surely if you want to back something in Islam you would use the Quran seeing as this is the word of god. Why did we always over ride the Quran with Hadiths, how does that work?
I was confused, reading the quran made sense but the impact Hadiths had on Islam lead me to believe that nobody was right and we have all strayed far away from what Islam is really about. So I decided I need to find Islam based on the teachings of the quran and nothing else. I felt that Hadiths were a big problem, making things haram when they were not, asking us to do all these prayers and silly things like not to drink standing up. How was this going to impact me on judgment day?
So my journey into a Quran only Islam began and after a quick Google search I came across Free minds. I was amazed that their were people who had the same thinking as I did, that Islam needs to be followed through the Quran and nothing else. Although some of the views on here seemed a little unreal (qibla is towards Jerusalem) I understood that even though people on here had their difference in opinions we all had the same goal to follow Islam how it was meant to be, through the Quran and nothing else.
So after almost 3 years of reading through this website I finally plucked up the courage to join and share my story. I hope to be able to learn more and share my own understanding and views of Islam on here. Most importantly I hope to be able to make some new friends who share similar beliefs.
Hope I didn't bore anyone. )
Peace
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Great story yesuri. Most of us have gone through very similar progressions.
Peace and welcome
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Thank you guys. Glad I have finally found somewhere that I can express my views. Looking forward to being an active member of this forum peace
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Salam Everyone.
Just wanted to introduce myself to everyone and share my story on here.
My family are from a Shia Muslim background but thankfully they never threw the differences in my face and I grew up mixing with people from all Muslim and other religious backgrounds. During my late teens and early 20's however I wanted to know more about Islam and especially wanted to know why there were differences between muslims especially when the Quran tells us not to split into different sects. The starting point in my quest stemmed from hearing Sunni people in my school stating that Shias are wrong, having Sunni people literally run away when being preached to by them after I informed them I was Shia and also being told by Sunni people that it would be a problem to pray in their mosque!! I couldn't understand how Islam which was supposed to be the religion that would get me to heaven would allow its community members to hate each other due to what I only knew were down to a few political differences and Shias praying with their arms on their side and sunnis across their chest.
So my journey to enlightenment began and I started to look up pro Shia websites, pro sunni websites, anti Shia and anti Sunni websites. I was amazed at the differences and on top of this at the hatred that each group had for each other. What further amazed me were the lies that sunni people were saying about Shias ( I was sure that shias were doing the same). However after much reading and debating with myself and even attending some religious study groups held by uncles I felt that Shia Islam was the correct path. How could it not be, at the end of the day we were following how Islam was being preached by the Prophets family, they had to be right surely?
Over time things were still eating up at me with my faith. Why is it when we pray we praise the prophet? Did the prophet praise himself during prayer? how can that be? Why did everything revolve around the martyrdom of Imam Hussain? why did shias have a victim mentality but also an arrogance against Sunnis (which really annoyed me). So many questions and I was not sure where to turn and who to turn to. Everything I read and heard just did not make sense anymore, and I felt that this was mainly due to the Hadiths.
At the time of all these questions I was working with a number of muslims both from Shia and Sunni backgrounds. Every now and then there would be some sort of debate between the two groups (which always ended up about the legitimacy of temporary marriage) and what annoyed me was that both these groups were using Hadiths to back up their arguments and never the Quran. Surely if you want to back something in Islam you would use the Quran seeing as this is the word of god. Why did we always over ride the Quran with Hadiths, how does that work?
I was confused, reading the quran made sense but the impact Hadiths had on Islam lead me to believe that nobody was right and we have all strayed far away from what Islam is really about. So I decided I need to find Islam based on the teachings of the quran and nothing else. I felt that Hadiths were a big problem, making things haram when they were not, asking us to do all these prayers and silly things like not to drink standing up. How was this going to impact me on judgment day?
So my journey into a Quran only Islam began and after a quick Google search I came across Free minds. I was amazed that their were people who had the same thinking as I did, that Islam needs to be followed through the Quran and nothing else. Although some of the views on here seemed a little unreal (qibla is towards Jerusalem) I understood that even though people on here had their difference in opinions we all had the same goal to follow Islam how it was meant to be, through the Quran and nothing else.
So after almost 3 years of reading through this website I finally plucked up the courage to join and share my story. I hope to be able to learn more and share my own understanding and views of Islam on here. Most importantly I hope to be able to make some new friends who share similar beliefs.
Hope I didn't bore anyone. )
Peace
You did'nt bore me........ welcome
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salaam yesuri
you story reminds me of mine. growing up in a very sunni community meant sitting around listening to loads of arguments about sects and opinions and schools of thoughts. the college prayer room was more like a battle ground.
once my questioning started i realised how unimportant Quran was. for every point anyone wanted to make several memorised hadiths could be churned out but you'd never hear Quran. it being so sidelined helped me see how astray i had become.
i wasnt at all bored reading your post, it would be nice to hear from you more
Peace
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Peace,
Respect,welcome welcome to the forum.
Don't worry, worse thing shave happened and yet to come, God know sbest.
I was banned from USA, I was banned from two mosques run by sunnis but only because I follow The Qur'an and because I keep my arms at my sides. Not because of shiaism, but simply becuase I wanna stand humbly in the prayers.God bless you for being brave.
Peace.
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@uzmy01
You are lucky that you could use the prayer room at your college. During sixth form our teachers allowed us to use one of the classrooms to pray during lunch time. I was never invited to join the prayers as I was Shiite (the only one too at the time). Some of these guys were friends and I was and still am close to one of them. However the main guy was a very strict Sunni person who even refused to talk to me. Once I was standing with some of the others and he came round to say hello to them. He then mistakenly shook my hand and said hello. When he realised that he did this he just had a shocked look and quickly turned away. rotfl
During Uni I just did not bother going to the prayer room to join prayers. I just felt it best to avoid any conflicts with people who would probably be better versed then me with all the hadiths.
@ Alen. Peace brother. This is a reason why I never go into a Sunni mosque. Some colleagues at work always go to a local mosque which is Sunni run and fellow non Muslim colleagues always ask why I don?t go. I just explain that I go to another mosque somewhere else, but really it is because I know I would not be welcome in that mosque because of the way I will pray.
I?m glad that you have stuck to your principles and belief in just following the Quran.
It's been tough getting to this stage. I have told a few fellow Muslims about my beliefs. 2 people I told just couldn't believe what I was saying but had nothing to back up their claims that we need to follow hadiths. One of them seems to be coming round to the idea but is probably still confused with the concept of god alone and only following quran.
God willing more people will wake up to the fact that Hadiths are the biggest problem for Islam.
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Salaam yesuri2000 and welcome
I am also new to the forum, although I've been aware of it for a long time.
"I was confused, reading the quran made sense but the impact Hadiths had on Islam lead me to believe that nobody was right and we have all strayed far away from what Islam is really about." - ME TOO!! ;D
peace
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I am born a sunni, and funny thing is I lived with many shi"a friends in Brooklyn, and they were all nice, the funny thing is we discussed many times , and i made so much fun of them but they never get pissed, actually i feel they use to like it, specially at times of prayers, i never understood why they prayed so many rakaa, when i ask them they just laugh at me, maybe because i never prayed in the first place, it didn't make a difference to me for if they were shi'a or sunna, i left religion a long time ago, since i was sitting in a congregation and the preacher started talking about death and punishement in the grave and punishement in the hearafter, i was traumatised, I was about 12 years old, didn't sleep normal for a year, i wake up everyday in the morning to see if the sun rised from the west, if i feel a pinch in my toe i get terrified for i thing it is death (they told me death starts from the toe ) , so i avoid all the religion since that time, when i became a teenager i just didn't care about mosques, I like science fiction movies but i don't like horror movies, so i read science fiction books but never horror books, specially the quran, well that's what i thaught it is, so at 19 i became a christian, 4 years it didn't make sense, than budhism, same thing, than hisndhuism, all the same, than i relised this god is a myth, until a friends of mine, a catholic came and asked me to read the book that turned people in terrorists, well, i am grown now, i'm not afraid of horrror stories anymore, we first read the fatiha, and went on.. I was amazed, after a while he said let's get another one, this one must be a fake, we get yousef ali, the same beautifull style and content, well, my friend became a muslim even before me, than i went back to the quran, i'm still searching for answers that make sense, so far , most of my questions are there, peace and
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Hi Yesuri, how are you going? Peace brother! I have sincierly enjoyed reading your story. It is very good to see shia and suni coming together and getting united by the Koran alone. I would however recomend The message(Quran) from the monotheist group. I personaly don't want to read from the standard Quran any more. I am actualy thinking of ordering another copy of it and I am happy to say that I orderd the natural republic, I can't wait to read it.
God wiling we wil one day have our mosks were we can go I hope only a couple of times per day again hopefuly wenever in the morning and at evening we can go and pray.
I am curently not praying but am planing on doing it couple of times a day in a diferent way than the traditionalist. I don't see a point in being overly repetitive.
Anyway I hope your faith gains from being a member of the forum!
Thanks
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Hi Pel
Peace to all here.
Are you talking about the reformist version? I have a copy of that but have not had a chance to read it yet. I previously brought a copy of the translation made by Abdel Haleem. I have actually found that to be one of the best translations I have read.
It would be nice to have our own mosque for submitters in the future. Im not sure that will happen any time soon but one day inshallah.
Like you I am not really praying at the moment. I don't know if it's just laziness or I just need a push into the right direction. I used to try and pray five times a day but gave up on that a long time ago now.
@loxbox. The shias combine the prayers. So they pray 3 times a day. Fajr by it self Zuhr and Asr together one after the other and then mughrib and isha one after the other too. The shia hadiths state that this is a practice of the prophet which is why they do this. People used to ask me about the difference between sunni and shia and I told them its political. I dont think they could understand why muslims had different groups who did not get along. I couldn't understand it either and used to try and tell people that Shias and sunnis should ignore their differences. However I now realise that both are in the wrong with their insistence of following hadiths.
Ive looked into other faiths not to practice those but just to see what they are about. However my heart just wont leave Islam and always comes back to it. I know Im not perfect but all I can do is try.
Peace.
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Hi Pel
Peace to all here. ...
It would be nice to have our own mosque for submitters in the future. Im not sure that will happen any time soon but one day inshallah. ...
@loxbox. The shias combine the prayers. So they pray 3 times a day. ...
Ive looked into other faiths not to practice those but just to see what they are about. However my heart just wont leave Islam and always comes back to it. I know Im not perfect but all I can do is try.
Peace.Salaam yesuri3000
Oh, it would be lovely to be able to go to a mosque and feel comfortable. InshAllah one day.
Interesting that Shia combine prayers to make the number it mentions in Quran. Well, I know this is debatable too, but I got 3 with my limited knowledge, though this might change as gain more knowledge on the subject. ;D
It doesn't surprise me that you return to Islam. If you feel it's the truth then how can you leave. But it's great to find out about other religions. Why not? I notice some people I know are only interested in knowing enough so that they can write them off as wrong. It really seems as though they want to see the things they disagree with to help strengthen their faith - but if you have genuine trust in God and that Islam is right way you don't need to fear other religions. You don't need to pick apart others in such a negative way in order to strengthen your faith.
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Is these mean that mosques today are not good?
InshAllah I understand your question correctly Stone. I assume he means because of praying differently and because we have different beliefs so firstly it makes it a bit strange to take part in some groups, classes and to hear talks. Also, when you discuss your beliefs it can bring up problems - when you lose faith in hadith many Muslims do not like this at all.
So that was my understanding but it was based on the fact that this has been my experience so far.
