An Open Letter of Sorts

[MaverickMonotheist]

Several months ago, I came to this forum after having lapsed into atheism and agnosticism. During this time I was always angry and combative, I lacked self-discipline and purpose, so naturally my marriage was on shaky ground and I was not being a very good parent. I received kind words and good advice from some of the members here. I am grateful for that, and will not forget it. I thought, ?Perhaps this is where I belong.?

Since that time, I?ve come to see things a little differently. Don?t get me wrong, if this were just another internet forum, I would not say any of these things. But my understanding is that Free Minds has the purpose of moving from internet discussion to engagement with the real world as an organization. If this is truly the case, then I have some observations. Like most of what I say, I?m certain that this will not make me popular, but I feel I need to point out some things because I owe a debt to this community for the sound advice and prayers that were offered when I asked for help.

The difference is that no one here is asking for me help, and so these comments are unsolicited. Nonetheless, I feel like things are stagnant here and I have some thoughts as to why. Why aren?t things growing? Why are ventures not being established in real life? Why are people trickling in and out of the forum? Why are we going round and round over the same issues over and over again with no real resolution?

1. It seems to me that a lot of this goes back to emphasizing the same things as traditional Islam. Sunnis are, for the most part, pretty homogenous on what they consider to be essentials. They pray the same at the same time. They follow the same scholars who all say pretty much the same things. They follow the same calendar, they fast together, they make pilgrimage to the same place. And they consider this to be a good thing, and they see this as evidence that they are rightly guided. I?m afraid that we are playing the same game. We argue as a forum over what is the right place of hajj and when the sacred months are. We argue over the number of times to pray. We argue over evidence and hermeneutics. We never come to any real resolution over these issues, and so we never unite to do anything. So, either the Qur?an is not fully detailed, or we are arguing over things that the Qur?an is intentionally vague about. We are spending a lot of time on things that are not as important as things that the Qur?an makes more of a fuss about. If we are not going to be able to reach a majority or consensus over most of these issues, we need an approach that allows us to maintain unity through a few basic essentials of Quranic monotheism, and an approach that views a certain level of tolerance as a spiritual act of recognizing man?s inability to answer all of the questions.

2. The position of Sunni Islam related to the hadiths is not nearly as simple as many of the people here make it out to be. The Sunna is a complex and formidable corpus to wrestle with. After having engaged a few traditional muslims who take this seriously in conversation, it isn?t that simple to refute. BUT what I can say is that dealing with hadith and sunna is not a spiritual task. In the few weeks of dealing with it, I felt confused and uncertain of anything related to God and what is the right path. I assume that this is probably the experience of many converts to traditional Islam. They encounter the Qur?an and are moved by its deep spirituality and truth. Then they convert and become overwhelmed with the complexity of Islam?s oral tradition, and so they give up. Unfortunately, simply rejecting the hadiths does not solve this problem. The same approach can be used with the Qur?an alone, and it can leave people feeling the same way. One only needs to look at the threads related to Ramadan or code 19 to see how the right path can perhaps get lost in the details. The Qur?an has the ability to affect people in their hearts, to move them in a way that they cannot understand. While I am a firm believer in good scholarship and not accepting simple or easy answers, I think we need to make sure that we do not fall into the trap of the scholarship of traditional Islam and make things complex for the sake of complexity or winning arguments. While many of the people here do this, I think the simple spirituality of the Qur?an needs to be greatly emphasized over the rational discussions and arguments.

3. I think this needs to be clear is this just an internet forum, or is this website intended to serve the purpose of establishing God Alone organizations and gatherings? Lots of things on the website suggest that the aim is establishing something tangible. But most of the discussion and the tendency to have some pretty unpleasant rhetoric towards one another leads me to believe that this will never get beyond a forum.

4. If the fatwas that declare the rejectors of mutawaatir hadiths to be kaffirun were overturned today, what would be the unifying elements of this community? I don?t know. I think this community is better defined by what it rejects, and not what we hold in common. No viable or spiritually healthy community can be held together solely by what it is against. Once what it is against goes away or is no longer relevant, then the organization splinters. What are the absolute unifying principles of this organization that would hold a diverse body of people together in lasting community? What are we here for? If we aren?t doing it, why aren?t we?

Again, I?m sure this won?t make me any friends here. I hope this is not viewed as an attack on the community. I am grateful for what I have received from many of the members here in terms of good conversation and sound advice. I respect many of you immensely. So it is because of this respect that I?m writing this in the hopes that a conversation will begin in order to move things forward into whatever God wills for FM. While I believe that each of us will stand before God as individuals, I also believe that God did not intend for us to live in spiritual isolation from one another. Our path is one to be undertaken in community, and among brothers and sisters. This connection should, IMHO, go beyond discussing things on a thread and relating only to those that we agree most with.

Peace,
Joel

[PixelAngelBaby]

Peace and blessings be upon all of you

My name is Madiha and I'm an american egyptian living in cairo,egypt.

My story...

It started last week I happened to be saying prayers to Allah out loud with my husband, to guide me and him and bless us and many other things. I was very calm and sincere about it. It was a very intimate moment between us as I prayed (my husband I mean)...

The next day, I was searching on google about the permissibility of wearing a wig in Islam (for fashion and only to mahram), when out of nowhere I came upon a wikipedia article called "Criticism of Hadith" and it intrigued me. I learned that there were various scholars and maybe even caliphs that apposed and rejected the collection of hadith, and this was the first time I ever knew anyone had rejected it entirely. I'm not sure but I think it mentioned a type of Muslim that follows the quran only and from there I did more research.

Days went by in turmoil, insomnia, emotional breakdowns and intellectual debates. My brain hurt so bad from thinking back and forth, checking verse by verse cited by "Quranists" about how Allah mentions in the Quran not to follow hadith and how doing so is enjoining partners with Allah. I would fall asleep forcibly with my iphone still in my hand sometimes, trying to stay up and verify everything I was reading, and praying to Allah to guide me on the straight path and please don't let me go astray and be like the ones you have veiled and blinded.

I became obsessed. And very upset. "No..I couldn't have been wrong all my life..verily I was a Muslim..my parents couldn't have raised me wrong? I couldn't have possibly been lied to all my life, that was the "unbelievers" that live that life. That life of shirk. I'm sure I'm on the right path...all I do is follow Allah and his Messenger! What's wrong with that?" I thought.

Every time I had questions I begged Allah to guide me and keep me straight and not to let me go astray. And after each time I discovered new sources of information pertaining the fabrication of hadith and how Allah warned us of doing the same as the people of the previous scriptures. It was when I bumped into a video of Teddy3indc on youtube, who recommended everyone watch 3 videos by a user named Humblservant, because she cited from the Quran the entire time, supporting the permissibility of following hadith other than Allah's. Her videos are called "Hadith...is it islam?" if you want to look it up.

I admit I first looked into so called Quranism with a skeptic eye, but that's what anyone with any sense would do. I was SO SCARED. I was TERRIFIED that I might be doing something wrong or that I was going astray,...or even worse..that this IS the truth and that I've been lied to since I was born and never knew islam for what it really is.

I am at part to blame. I called myself a muslim since birth yet I had never ONCE read the entire quran from cover to cover. I never completed it. Not even in ramadan. And whatever it is I had read, it wasn't significant, and I do realise I may have emphasized the hadith too much. For some reason I didn't understand why Allah would keep repeating the same warnings over and over again in the Quran, especially aimed at a people that were before the Quran....so hadith seemed more "detailed" and tailored to tell me specifically right from wrong. Although I didn't like hadith most of the time, I bit my tongue and took it, not all the time of course, but I believed that I couldn't say a hadith is false, because I wouldn't really know and if I was wrong I would suffer for assuming. And that if one was wrong, then the rest don't hold water and I didn't want to disobey Allah, thinking to myself "Who am I to question Allah's will and wisdom?". Little did I know I wasn't following Allah's will and words at all..........

Anyways..I have to tell you how I felt after watching Humblservant's video. I felt FREE! I felt like I finally got the answers I was looking for all my life. And that Allah answered my prayers. And that every doubt I had about hadith in the past was absolutely right, but I hadn't dared to act on it! I felt like the hugest weight was lifted off my shoulders. My constant feeling of guilt, shame and worthlessness was GONE. You know, how you feel for not doing every little thing required in "Islam" and giving up entirely out of frustration and the inability to maintain it.

I was worried at first if this was the feeling of emptiness I had when I left islam as an early teen (13 yrs) and converted to Christianity due to my lack of knowledge in Islam...but it wasn't. I felt totally and utterly free!

I felt free of the prejudice and opinions of the clergies and scholars!
I felt free from the "responsibility/burden" to carry out every hadith, or at least believe in them, however twisted they sounded.
I felt free in knowing the Creator guided me and answered my prayers! Insha Allah
I felt free and at awe at the inconceivable mercy Allah has bestowed on his worshippers. That Islam DOESN'T have to be SO HARD.
I felt free knowing that there IS HOPE FOR MY SOUL! That If I just did the basics Allah asks in the Quran..THAT I STAND A CHANCE!! Insha Allah!
I felt free and not so guilty and heavy hearted!

I thank Allah for guiding me, al hamd lilah! I hope Allah always guides me to the straight path, whatever that may be, till the day I die..

Having said all that up there...anyone else experiencing a loss of "guilt" and shame? For some reason I feel like that was the only thing that connected me to Allah. That constant fear, guilt and shame for not meeting up to Allah's commands. I know Allah says you should fear him...but I can't help but just LOVE him and revere him and praise him...somehow I feel that Allah isn't "there" when I feel this liberation and burden-lifted after supposedly finding the truth. Why is that? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

Thanks for going through my really long intro, but I just had to get it out there! I want the whole world to know I will no longer worship anything but Him, and that I bear witness there is no God but Allah! ) ) ) ) )

Salamz!

[Man_of_Faith]

The Star Wars allegory

Weird as it may sound, Star Wars is an excellent example which can be used to describe Islam. There are many things that are pretty similar between the Truth and the fictional story of Star Wars.

Below is a list of things which make astounding similarities between the Truth and Star Wars, I will further explain each parameter later

The struggle is between the Light side of the Force and the Dark side of the Force in Star Wars, which may represent the Holy Spirit of God and the Evil Spirit of Satan in reality. People can decide which path they will take, although sometimes they are manipulated to join the evil side.

The Force itself can be translated to the Spirit, which is used by the two factions, although in reality the Holy Spirit is more hidden than in the fiction, but both forces are extremely potent and powerful.
The use and training of the Light side of the Force leads to a high moral character, good soul and apparently eternal life. The same is true for being in the Light of God, as God?s Holy Spirit will give the same benefits as the use of the Light side of the Force in Star Wars.

The Dark side of the Force has the same effect on people as Satan?s whispers and soul possessions in reality. Those afflicted encounter a moral breakdown, which will lead into a full possession by the lure of the Dark side and they will become utterly evil. Those affected as driven by their lusts, arrogance, selfishness, pride, and all other negative features.

Clarification of difference between fiction and reality

Of course, Star Wars is not the reality and this allegory is merely to present a theory that this motion picture may be a viable source of inspiration. The ?hocus pocus? does not occur, although God can occasionally show a Force-like power on Earth such as lightning strike a group of people, Moses lifts his staff and the sea opens up, or something like this.

What was the aim of this allegory is primarily the philosophical aspect of this series of movies, such as in the mental development.
The Dark side of the Force is apparently stronger than the evil spirit of Satan, which means in reality that Satan does not possess as much power as in Star Wars. Satan does not possess the ?magic? of the Force as in Star Wars, as compared to God?s side of the Truth, and hence he can only use the manipulative aspect of the Dark side, which however is strong enough to destroy most of mankind, as we can observe in our own real world.

The philosophical aspect

I have always been fascinated by the philosophical aspect of the Light side of the Force and the goal to reach an inner peace within oneself, which is exactly the same one as in Islam.

The spiritual aim by righteousness and self-control through meditation seems to lead to more peace within the soul than the evil means of the Dark side, which seem to cause the users to be somehow depressed and broken down, unhappy, and they seem not to be able to control their own destiny.

I have been thinking about the possession of souls and that Satan can do this. When someone has ?been turned to the Dark side? in Star Wars, it is difficult to convert them back to the Light side again, thus the Dark evil spirit has possessed the victims.

I will write about the specific faction in an own part of this article.

The Light side of the Force (God?s side)

To choose the Light side means living in harmony and peace from deep within the soul, once you are able to reap the benefits, i.e. begun to feel the Holy Spirit/the Force flow within you. The Force seems to help you on your path towards this destiny as long as you continue to perform righteous acts.

One should believe that enough Faith can move a mountain, just like is being taught by Jedi Masters in Star Wars. If you can get enough certainty with the Faith, I am sure there could be a possibility to accomplish that, since sanctioned by God one can do anything as long as God allows it.

Now, it may not be God?s will that you are to move a mountain, but you should have the mind to it. My personal motto ?Everything is possible, nothing is impossible? has taken me far on my own path. The main point in this phrase is to believe that anything can happen, even if considered impossible by human science. I believed like this for perhaps 15 years, before I came to the point I am today, 2013, and it seems to have paid off, I only faintly believed in God, although I was certain that the world must have a Creator.

Traditional Christianity, which was the only religion widely available where I lived, turned me off from becoming more active in on my religious career, although I gradually turned to the Light over the years.

Back to the topic, the faith in the Force basically means the same. You need to believe that something is possible for it to happen.
In the beginning of a religious path, the feeling of the Holy Spirit is very faint and probably not even noticeable, but someone who is further blessed by the Lord (meaning part of the Holy Spirit is inside of him) will begin to sense things not been felt before. The Truth will become clearer and one will feel lighter and that he is walking along the beach with the Lord (my parable), meaning God will offer his support in times of hardship or even with the everyday agenda. Opportunities can seem clearly sanctioned by God and one is now feeling like living with the Holy Spirit flowing through the veins.
This is why a person must be patient and steadfast, because one may not feel the benefits of the Holy Spirit/God until after quite a while. And God will put each person to various trials along the way, to see which persons are truly worth infusing with part of His Holy Spirit. Of course, God can remove His spirit from anyone as He pleases if this person misuses his position.

The above paragraphs are pretty much the same in the saga of Star Wars, so no need to write additional text for that. Just replace the Holy Spirit with the Force instead and you have Star Wars. It seems as if some people are capable of being infused by the Holy Spirit to a greater extent than others too, i.e. their souls seem to sustain more. The Holy Spirit seems to be causing some fatigue on the soul and body of the receiver, until fully adapted/trained.

Once blessed by God, one gains a better understanding to distinguish between right and wrong, and can, sanctioned by the Holy Spirit, pretty much always make the righteous choice. Once absolutely certain it is difficult to divert from the Path of Light.
The last portion of this section of the article will tell some more or less important tips regarding to search for the Truth. In order to fully open up for God is to live in a state of prayer through the whole days, meaning you should remain slightly in a meditative state even while not meditating and praying. This is, somehow, like allowing one to feel the Force within oneself before attempting anything, and thus remain conscious of God all times.

Constant meditation/praying to God will allow to more easily remain in a state of prayer, even outside of this practice.
Praying a lot or spending a lot of time meditating will not affect ordinary life as God will repay you more than you spent. Blessings and divinely sanctioned opportunities will arise. If you like Star Wars, you will also feel somewhat like a Jedi Knight (he he he).
But forget about the Star Wars titles and that kind of stuff, this is real life and not fiction!

Never feel it is silly to meditate for hours per day, but make use of the intensified state and reflect upon what you have learned, not only sit around with a zeroed mind. Involve the Lord in your meditation and allow Him to inspire you. Think about religious issues or life issues, and what the most righteous thing to do next is, plus other similar things.

Remember, meditative state can be reached in many unconventional ways, not always the traditional. Most important is to reach your true self and think clearly, and be open for inspirational communication with the Lord.

The Dark side of the Force (Satan?s side)

This side is not as fancy as in fiction, but despite this, most people seem to choose this path.

The path of the Dark side leads to the destruction of one?s soul, losing all of God?s spirit and completely obeying the dark lord, Satan, or Sith as in Star Wars. Satan promises the subconscious soul lots of things, but will only fulfill one and that is the destiny of total demise. Afflicted souls will feel powerful, driven by their egos and are not prevented by such petty things as being good to others. They can easily use cynical ways to reach personal goals and even hurt others both mentally and physically.

Most of these people are greedy and wealthy and are not willing to share, and they have often acquired their wealth through foul play.
The only protection against Satan/Sith is to call to God and begin perform righteous deeds before one has wandered too far. Another being can, helped by the Holy Spirit, sometimes turn someone from the Dark side. However, the evil grip of Satan is clouding the mind of the victim and it takes quite a lot to free this person from Satan?s possession.

I have thought that, members of religious sects that are not sanctioned by God and are actually worshiping Satan and he is clouding their minds so badly they cannot see anything but their own ?truth?. You can compare that with Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, although in one of the space flight simulators where he says ?Peace and order will be restored throughout the galaxy?, of course a lie, but he believes in it so strongly that he think he is righteous.
The Sith actually believe that this strict discipline and inhuman living is the truth and the correct way to prosperity. Draw that parallel with sects of the real world and they think their version of the religion will lead to peace and prosperity, sometimes by such extreme measures as killing disbelievers and other obvious actions influenced by the Dark side.

This is the same dangerous thinking as the Sith in the Star Wars saga. So these ?believers? are not worshiping God, because He will not accept the worship from people with such unrighteous thinking, and they are rather lead astray by the evil one and his followers.

They implement strict rules making God?s religion look like a military camp with inhuman routines. They are more afraid of doing ?haraam? or ?makruh? than worshiping God, to the extent of completely forgetting what God stands for and obsessively follow the alleged sunnah of the prophet (which is Satan instead), while God has never forbidden anything except things that are explicitly made clear in the Quran.

God is not forbidding anyone from having their own personality and integrity, hence one does not have to imitate a prophet who lived over a thousand years ago. His worshipers does not all have to look like Muhammad-clones with authentic beard and hairstyle.
The above is just like the Sith faction and their camps you can find if you play one of the Star Wars ? Knights of the Old Republic games.

Similar to Star Wars, a person on the Dark side of the power does not seem to have eternal life, such as those on the Light side.

When Obi-Wan is killed by Darth Vader on the Death Star, Vader looks utterly surprised that his body just disappeared, i.e. the spirit instantly left the body and reached another world, although in the real life dead people have no connection with this world once gone.

This allegory in conjunction with the Game Allegory

Playing Star Wars ? Knights of the Old Republic gives a feeling more in detail how you can perceive that light side points vs. dark side points are rewarded. Even answering something rude in a conversation gives Dark Side points, and the same goes for the reality. God gives you a negative score if you answer something bad in a conversation, God does not leave anything out from your ?report card?. The lesson with this allegory as well as my previous Game Allegory is that nothing is left uncounted; hence we must always be aware of how we come about with other human beings.
The Truth is as exact as this computer game, since God will save every act, every utterance, in a log saved until the Last Day.

I recommend playing ?SWKOR? for further insight into what I meant in the allegory presented in this article. But if you do not like games then the allegory I wrote is sufficient for you. And of course real life should be sufficient for you, in case the above article was too dull for you.

Ending

This allegory can be expanded and is far from completed. I wrote it during several hours a Sunday afternoon, but since I have family and other important matter to attend to I could not continue any further. However this article is saved as a document on my computer for further work.

It shows that Star Wars can teach us a lesson in how to live our lives and how similar it is to Islam. The article can also show a little on how Satan works when he manipulates entire civilizations into living unrighteous and petty lives and into being evil-minded. He can partially and fully possess a human being, probably what happened to Mr. Adolf Hitler in the beginning of the 20th century, when he wreaked havoc on whole Europe during this period. This Nazi-Germany portrayed a perfect image of how the Empire in Star Wars works and what kind of discipline it wants. The Nazis present another parable actually which can be connected to Star Wars.

The life God wants us to live represents quite perfectly the life of a Jedi on the Light side of the Force. You can find lots of inspiration by watching and analyzing Star Wars, and probably many other similar motion pictures, but I found none like Star Wars so far.

In fact, Terminator 2 also teaches something, when the Terminator is talking to John Connor about mankind and that it is self-destroying. Of course, Terminator does not teach us that much except from some few things.

Remember, even Buddhism can teach anything with all their meditation and focus on soul development. That is what Islam should be focused on too, meditation and soul development, rather than trying to please God by inventing very strict rules and concentrating so intensively on them that they take up more time than reflecting on God and his marvels.

?Hmm... what is ?Haram? for me now and what is ?Halal?? What does the scholars say? Would it maybe be Makruh if I do this? Does my beard look exactly like Muhammad?s now? Did I pray exactly 3 rakah last time??

Thoughts like this overwhelm a traditional Muslim to the extent not healthy instead of just living in the way of God, performing righteous deeds along the way. You must live with the flow of the Force, not let your thoughts distract your actions.

[mmkhan]

Salaam,

You can already see there is a difference between two words "bani" and "walad", unfortunately, they are translated as same. I will try to put forward my understand on this for you all with the permission of my Lord, Allah, inshaAllah.

2233
2233 Mothers may breastfeed their children two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing. Upon the father is the mothers' provision and their clothing according to what is acceptable. No person is charged with more than his capacity. No mother should be harmed through her child, and no father through his child. And upon the heir is like that. And if they both desire weaning through mutual consent from both of them and consultation, there is no blame upon either of them. And if you wish to have your children nursed by a substitute, there is no blame upon you as long as you give payment according to what is acceptable. And fear Allah and know that Allah is Seeing of what you do.

This aayat uses most of derivatives of the word walad and it means as follows

= mothers
= her children
= father
= mother
= her child
= father
= child
= your children

In simple words

Mother = waalidatun
Father = mauloodun
Walad = child
Aulaad = children

You can also take a look at sura 112 for more detail.

When walad means child and aulaad means children.. what means "bani" then? Almost all translators translated it as "son" and "banaat" as "daughter", but this is not true.

Please take a close look at 47 - 412 which is about taraka means what is left by parents. In these aayaat instead of bani and banaat, rijaal & nisa, and zakar & unsa is used. And also walad and aulaad is used. Why bani and banaat is not used in these aayaat where these are about the division of property to the children from their parents? Bani and banaat is not used because they does not mean son and daughter.

Bani simply means make/made/build.

6611
6611 And Allah presents an example of those who believed the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, "My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people."

The same exact word is used in 545.

546
546 And We sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous.

Do you see the difference in translation?
Now you have to think what means in 546 and there are many like , etc. Many questions will arise on this now, inshaAllah, we will discuss them in detail if my Lord permits.

This is my personal understanding, please study all the aayaat/words quoted above before accepting it.

May Allah increase our knowledge and guide us on His path pr
mmKhan