Is the quran your idol?
-
This spooked me when I read it! I am a new Muslim. I converted or reverted (not sure which to say, both are
understood?) about 6 weeks ago. The reason? I found out some things mentioned in the Qur'an which satisfied my
belief that the book was authentic... Maybe I was naive at first because there were probably loads of issues I
should have checked before going ahead and confirming that I wanted to become a practising Muslim. But the
reason I took my "Shahada" 4 weeks ago was because in principle I liked the idea that the Qur'an was sent to
us devinely as a guidebook for us to refer to, to help us to make the right decisions about how to live a good
life. (And at the time I wanted to live a good life anyway so that once I died I could be happy knowing I
lived a good life, and leaving a legacy behind for my children and people who knew me, so they could say "She
was a good lady. She was kind, gentle, patient, had a good sense of humour, was a good listener, was honest and honourable, took time out to help you etc... all the nice things you would want to be remembered for. My
reason for wanting to live a good life was for respect in this lifetme. I never even gave a thought to the
"hereafter" or heaven. I'd always thought that no-one knew for sure about Heaven and Hell or whether we are
re-incarnated, and that it wasn't for us to know or worry about because when we die we will find out.
I do tend to have a habit of jumping in head first especially with big important issues, because I am a big
believer in going with my gut instinct, and it seemed like the right path to follow!
So as you can imagine, it has been a bit of a shock finding out so many undesirable and impractical and
unreasonble and illogical things about my new religion, which have left me with uneasy feelings in my stomach.
Especially given that what attracted me to it in the first place was the whole sentiment behind the whole God
loves us/Islam/Peace/Charity/Kindness/Community thing.
Things that made me wonder was the "ritualistic" ways I had been shown to pray, and the very superstitious
manners that my new muslim sisters were trying to teach me to get into the habit of eg repeating Subahan Allah
100 times, not being able to pray whilst menstruating, having to perform wudu because of a pin prick / a
cracked lip / passing gas. Everything I did seemed to be in need of correction and I was walking on eggshells
the whole time for fear of saying something wrong or offensive or disrespectful or "Not how the Prophet(pbuh) did it"
So it gradually dawned on me that something was wrong because everytime I was told a new rule, I asked which
chapter of the Qur'an it was in, and was told ... "Ohh, well, errr, I don't know but it must be in there
because the Prophet did it...."
And then I tried to be brave enough to challenge some of these beliefs at a Study Cirlce that I'd been invitedto, and was shot down, given the reason that the Qur'an is not complete without the "Hadiths and Sunnah", and
that the Qur'an is like the seed of a tree and the Hadiths and Sunnah are the trunk and the branches.
I'm so glad that I am still in touch with my own logic and reason that has convinced me to challenge this,
and was glad to come across this site, which has been tremendously helpful in showing me which parts of the
Qur'an show that God's word is full, complete and perfect and needs no correction or addition or in some cases blatant fabrication from the chinese whispers of scholars, known as the Hadith and Sunnah.
It is very worrying that this is what children are having pumped into them at schools and Mosques etc. Were it not for my confident faith in God, the one and only, and firm belief that I am not an Idol Worshipper (And I worship God not the Qur'an), and that he will forgive me for being almost guided off the straight path, I would be terribly afraid that the (for want of a better word) "phoney" "Shahada" that I took (La il aha il allah, with Muhammed ur rasul ullah on the end) may have been my one way ticket to Hell...
I'm still very confused about which way to face when praying... should it be towards Jerusalem? And also what are the prayer times? Sunrise, noon and Sundown? Or Sunrise, sundown and then once before bed?
Please can you help? Also are there any girls here who wear a headscarf?
-
Peace 99percentcow. My general,main advice to you would be to use and trust your
divine,natural instinct or conscience in eveything that you do,or come across. Being good is an instinctive and easily identified 'feeling'. Dont let 'illogical dogmas and rules distract you from being a good person.God only wants us to be good to the best of our ability and keep progressing in goodness,nothing more,nothing less. The rituals are only good for some people,or to help concentration or unity.Do what works for you. The best 'ritual' is to practically help yourself and others to achieve true peace...
Take it easy. -
Peace sister,
The real problem comes when people start WORSHIPING FORMS.
FORMS can be statues, traditions, rituals, names, books, scriptures, or any other form.Originally FORMS are made to convey a CONTENT (MESSAGE). but through time the content disintegrates and only form remains. people start respecting the book , but not understanding what the book says.
They respect the person of Mohammad, but really don?t know much about him and are not aware of his message.
They pray, but instead of becoming DIVINE, they get hard hearted.
They read a lot , but no sign of intelligence is to be found in their life. They are still in SLEEP but dreaming about the awakend ones!Once started getting straightend from inside and awakening, GOD has promised to GUIDE and Quran and other scriptures are divine sources of guidance.
DO NOT LOOSE YOUR FAITH BECAUSE OF OTHERS AND THEIR BEHAVIOR EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT BE IN MAJORITY.peace
-
Peace alpha97. Very good analysis and advice...we can also get a source of guidance from nature and our own life-experiences,as well as scriptures,science and wise mens/womens words...all this knowledge we can filter and verify through our own god-given intellect.