Does al quran promote a religion? Not to me.

[CavemanDoctor]

Peace Wakas.

I agree, with a caveat.

On the one hand, it is a matter of semantics. On the other hand, I use the word "religion" to distinguish between what the Qur'an proposes and what other non-Qur'anic worldviews propose.

With that said, I agree in that it isn't a religion as much as it is a system. A system by the Creator put in place for the benefit of the created. Far be it for God to need us in any way (what is commonly called "worship&quot, which is a very man-made limited way of looking at things; rather, it is we who need God, the Creator, since He knows best what we need. We commit to this system, purify ourselves, and thereby grow our spatio-temporal selves as well as our eternal selves. It is through this God-aided growth process that we "submit to," "pay homage to," "worship," "serve" our Creator.

Peace.

[unknownuser]

This morning I downloaded and printed the translation of the Quran on this site (I get eye strain when looking at the computer for too long). When reading the preface it talked about the different versions/meanings of verses and that really did my headin.

To be honest Al Quran just seems like a mystery to me. It's amazing how many religions/sects/sub-sects you can come up with using this one book. I've read too many wacky translations that it's hard to pin-point what god really wants us to do.

I remember as an orthodox Muslim Al Quran only made sense to me when using the ahadith that were 'explaining' it.

When believing Rashad was God's messenger the foot notes, audio tapes, newsletters, video's, The 38 Appendices he used to supplement the Quran made his religion so much easier to understand.

When I heard that Edip say he was 'still learning' and that his work should not be taken literally I thought islam-quran.com was a good site.

Since reading your article and the stuff on the site about about certain meanings and words I think I may have to conclude that I was wrong for the third time, and all this has happened in one year o

It's also interesting how Rashad managed to claim to be a messenger when the actual evidence in the Quran is minute (the gamatrical values were out side the Quran). Some one PMed me an article which talked about the role of god's messengers. My sis had her music on dead loud and I had brain fatigue due to lack of sugar and caffeine so when I read it first time round I couldn't take any of it in and I took parts of it out of context. Having read it again I realised he was not a messenger but submission.org claim that no one has ever, or ever could prove Rashad was not a messenger using the Quran ALONE. submission.org have covered up for far too many of rashads errors, and I overlooked too many of them. I can't believe I judged his role of being a messenger using an article on submission.org instead of scrutinising the Quran brickwall

I am currently feeling as fickle as my mates RE teacher who has converted to every religion (other then Islam). brickwall

Al Quran is so controversial (but sublime D) at the same time.

I'm assuming your idea that Al-quran does not promote religion is from aididsafar.com

I always believed Islam was a ritualistic religion, the rituals were what made it seem like a 'religion' but the laws didn't as much.

But studying the scripture verse by verse using different translations definitely makes it feel like a 'religion' (that makes your brain hurt).

I would say that Al-quran does advocate 'religion' (what ever that religion is confused)

The following are a list of defintions of what 'religion' is and Al Quran does promote all the following....

1. a strong belief in a supernatural power that control human destiny

2. an institution to express belief in a divine power

3. Religion?sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system?is commonly defined as belief concerning the supernatural, sacred, or divine, and the moral codes, practices and institutions associated with such belief. In its broadest sense some have defined it as the sum total of answers given to explain humankind's relationship with the universe. In the course of the development of religion, it has taken a huge number of forms in various cultures and individuals. ...

4. A framework of beliefs relating to supernatural force that transcend the everyday material world.

5. a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power.

6. generally a belief in a deity and practice of worship, action, and/or thought related to that deity. Loosely, any specific system of code of ethics, values, and belief.

7. any specific system of belief, worship, or conduct that prescribes certain responses to the existence (or non-existence) and character of God.

8. A system of ideas and rules for behavior based on supernatural explanations.

9. A system of thinking that recognizes a supersoul and performs some sort of adoration of that supersoul.

10. the service and worship of God or the supernatural

11. Religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural or the commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance. Religion might also be defined as scrupulous conformity to a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Finally, religion may be a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.

12. A way of seeing, thinking, and acting inspired by questions about what things mean ie Where did we come from?, What is our destiny?, What is true?, What is false?, What is my duty or obligation?, What is the meaning of suffering?, What is the meaning of death?, How shall we live?

With that said, I agree in that it isn't a religion as much as it is a system. A system by the Creator put in place for the benefit of the created. Far be it for God to need us in any way (what is commonly called "worship&quot, which is a very man-made limited way of looking at things; rather, it is we who need God, the Creator, since He knows best what we need. We commit to this system, purify ourselves, and thereby grow our spatio-temporal selves as well as our eternal selves. It is through this God-aided growth process that we "submit to," "pay homage to," "worship," "serve" our Creator.

lol I always so "religion" as a "system"

Today I came across a website which promoted a theory about aliens creating all of our major religions. They also claim that they through hybridization created Homo Sapiens, Jesus and that the whole crucifixion is filmed on tape.
rotfl

I apologise for rabbiting on and going off-topic.

Peace,
sugar (feeling kinda bitter today)

[Wakas]

is that all the quran says? does it say anything besides that?

I am assuming by this rhetorical question you think other parts of 'the reading' promote a "religion". If you think this, please bring forth specific evidence. Of course, we will have to define what "religion" is first.

I'm assuming your idea that Al-quran does not promote religion is from aididsafar.com

You assume incorrectly.

I would say that Al-quran does advocate 'religion'

I can see why you think that, considering you still refer to "Islam" with a capital "I". "islam" is primarily a mindset (state of being), not a title/noun.

[thegod]

wakas wrote
I am assuming by this rhetorical question you think other parts of 'the reading' promote a "religion". If you think this,

not really, the example u gave is 1 wherein quran promotes a general wisdom, which many other books will promote, however there are other things which the quran promotes but others may not be! -)

wakas wrote
please bring forth specific evidence.

what would u call those verses which talk about no god but the god, and of not associating with it? and verses where god denounces those who call jesus the son of god?

ur light-bulb example is definitely promoting wisdom which many books will promote and many will agree to regardless of them being monotheist/polytheist/pantheist/atheist...however promoting beliefs like one god, and that god has not sired, is something which not only wont be promoted by all books, but wont even have as many takers either! so the quran seems to do more than give just general wisdom!

wakas wrote
Of course, we will have to define what "religion" is first.

yes....v will need to define 'religion' since u stated that according to u quran does not promote a religion....what according to u is 'religion'?

does the bible promote a religion?

anyway, maybe some other time! -)

[arnoldyasin]

Peace,

Sugar, i can really recommend you to read some books of this link, especially the book; Islam, a challenge to religion, you will see top left, 3 third book. You will find it intruiging....

http//www.tolueislam.com/Parwez/BA_Parwez.htm

And yes, submission lies to much, Rashad was a human who did his best, nothing more. To hide his mistakes is idolatry. The pattern is only an alarmsystem, nothing more. It doesn't predict or explain. As for the difference of understanding has mostly to do with the background of the person who appraoches the Quran. If you approach it without hadith, but with a mind that grew with hadith, they will still control your understanding when translating. Most translators approach the Quran as a religious book, which is a crime to the Quran. As religions are man-made. The Quran is a book to guide humanity....

Peace

[unknownuser]

Rashad did not fill the criteria of messenger in the Quran and submission.org did an excellent job hiding that, in fact they even created their own list of what his job was!

I remember someone saying that cracking code 19 had got to his head and then he started believing he was a messenger of god. Having an OCN in psychology and 'psychology interaction' and having read a really good book by one of Britain?s top psychologist I could diagnose what he had ignore

I don't hate the guy or anything I am just really pissed off with submission.org

Rashad promoted a 'religion', and I can see where Wakas is coming from that Al-Quran does not promote 'religion'. I remember when I was one of Rashad's blind followers the mere thought Wakas's articles used to piss me off. But I reckon he could be right.

Peace,
Sugar

[arnoldyasin]

Peace,

Exactly, and what the Quran promotes is no religion, it is the perfect system for humanity...

As for Rashad, i agree with you. He went over a limit but still kept an degree of truthfullness. Intruiging character........

[unknownuser]

As for Rashad, i agree with you. He went over a limit but still kept an degree of truthfullness.

no he accidently got some of it right. I can remember as a child I read a verse in the Quran which said "We left nothing out of this book" and at that time I "accidentally" assumed the Quran was fully detailed until my parents "corrected" me and introduced me to multitudes of ahadith. )

Intruiging character........

I agree

Peace,
Sugar

[Wakas]

the example u gave is 1 wherein quran promotes a general wisdom, which many other books will promote

Exactly. Please ponder this point along with .

so the quran seems to do more than give just general wisdom!

Why do you not regard recognition of one's creator/source as part of "general wisdom"?

If 'al quran' says to praise one's sustainer, thats not religious, thats just being grateful! If someone passes you the salt at dinner, its only right to be appreciative or say "thanks" is it not?
If it says to cleanse oneself before establishing the bond with one's Teacher or others, thats not religious, thats just being respectful. When you go to school, you prefer to go clean do you not?

And thats the way I see these things.

Dont get me wrong, I can see your point, on the surface, the guidance/recommendations/advice in 'al quran' could be seen as religious by some, but to me they just aren't. They are simply good advice, which you are free to follow or not.

Wakas

###########

religion a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power.
supernatural not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material

[mquran]

Salaamun alaikum,

What would you consider a 'religious' act, Wakas?

To me, what al-quraan proposes can be a called a 'religion', that is a 'religion' whereby a human becomes human. But then, I consider football a religion as well.

[Wakas]

Also, when speaking with people, I tend not to recommend religion, or "Islam". I simply advise following universal principles (honesty, charitable, peaceful, growing etc) and then I say one should read 'al quran' like a philosophy book, for example. Read it, think it over and if you find something you like in it, try it, if you dont then no-one's forcing you to follow it... and if I'm feeling the person has a good soul, I recommend them to follow their heart too .

I tend to get a better response with this approach, although that is not the reason I adopted it. My nature/style is very mellow.

[unknownuser]

Peace wakas. I feel thats a very good approach you have when talking with people.

[Wakas]

peace mq,

I would consider a religious act to be one which has no basis in reality, i.e. it is difficult to see/explain why its being done other than because its being called for as part of a "religion".

I hope that makes sense, because it was quite a tough question

[thegod]

wakas wrote
Exactly. Please ponder this point along with .

yes....but like i said many other books will promote being unwasteful...hence this wisdom may be general to different books!

wakas wrote
Why do you not regard recognition of one's creator/source as part of "general wisdom"?

recognition of one god and of god not having a son is not general to different books hence this wisdom may not be general to different books!

wakas wrote
If 'al quran' says to praise one's sustainer, thats not religious, thats just being grateful! If someone passes you the salt at dinner, its only right to be appreciative or say "thanks" is it not?

its not about being appreciative only when u are passed salt....gratefulness to god is something to be observed at all times! -)

wakas wrote
If it says to cleanse oneself before establishing the bond with one's Teacher or others, thats not religious, thats just being respectful. When you go to school, you prefer to go clean do you not?

a fair amount of cleanliness and hygiene would be expected at all times..this would be general to all books!

but can u esatblish the salat with merely clean hands and feet? would u go to school simply washing ur face and hands and wiping ur head and feet? no u would ensure a complete body wash if u have reasons to...so v would expect cleanliness to be a pre-condition before establishing salat!

but unless u take a complete bath wherein u wash the hands and wipe the feet by default, i would reckon u would still need to wash ur face and hands and wipe ur head and feet before salat in accordance with 56! also, 443 is of interest!

i dunno if u get what i am saying there! -S

wakas wrote
And thats the way I see these things.

cool! -)

wakas wrote
Dont get me wrong, I can see your point, on the surface, the guidance/recommendations/advice in 'al quran' could be seen as religious by some, but to me they just aren't. They are simply good advice, which you are free to follow or not.

like i said there are points in the quran which most will agree to not being extravagant for one! i have pantheist friends and if i say to them 'the quran says to not be extravagant', they will agree quran indeed has wisdom! however, if i tell them to believe in one god, rather than all is god, they will no longer find the quran wise! they do not recognize the quran to be from god, rather the best they will see it as is the work of a man who had some spiritual insight and wrote his own experiences a fallible work, but this is not what the quran says! so while they will agree with a part of it, they will reject a part thereof! will a christian see as wisdom quran's view that it is a grave transgression to call jesus the son of god? hence i said there is wisdom in it which will be general to all, and wisdom which some may find to be wisdom but others may not!

wakas wrote
religion a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power.
supernatural not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material

this 1 i dont get u urself define religion as pertaining to supernatural power, and v see that the quran does talk about the supernatural of god itself, then how according to ur own definition of religion do u think quran in no way promotes 'religion'? are not concepts like one god and christ not being son of god related to the supernatural?

wakas wrote
I would consider a religious act to be one which has no basis in reality, i.e. it is difficult to see/explain why its being done other than because its being called for as part of a "religion".

could u give an example?

and like i asked do u consider bible a religious book?

[unknownuser]

Peace be upon you Wakas,

I agree with your point, but its a tricky answer. The word "religion" means to "tie back", and what we are tying back is man to God, cause right now most think they are seperate. They think that devils and angels and so on are outside of "them". With this reasoning, it is "religion" but there is really only one religion, that is TRUTH.

So when I say I dont follow "religions", its due to most peoples misconception of religion. But it truth I do follow religion (singular).

[arnoldyasin]

Peace,

By my understanding, the word religion comes from the word "religa", which was used for two roman infrantry groups joined together in battle to form one group. So religion was used to 'join God and men'. Which is almost the same as idolfree's word. I'll check it out further..

[mquran]

Well Wakas, I know the question was tough because I've been asked it before and my answer was about the same as yours. The point which I was coming to was that the classification system which we both choose is al-quraan (furqaan is something which seperates and that's what classification does) and therefore, we should in theory stick to the words al-quraan itself uses and that is 'deen'. There's no such difference between 'religion' and 'way of life' according to al-quraan. Whatever your 'deen' is, whether you're in servitude to The Rabb of the universe or the rabb of manchester united (who takes your money while giving you the latest kit), that's a deen itself.

[Wakas]

religion a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices pertaining to supernatural power.
supernatural not existing in nature or subject to explanation according to natural laws; not physical or material

They were not my definitions, I just took them from the internet. I chose them because they seemed reasonable.
I was trying to point out that it implies religion is to do with a supernatural power, and supernatural means not existing in nature. Well, does God exist in nature? Tough question, but I like the answer of Abraham, who through observing nature came to the realisation of God. This tells me that God has left signs/ayatin in our world, and for me, that's just as good as Him being there.

a fair amount of cleanliness and hygiene would be expected at all times..this would be general to all books!

I know. Will twice daily suffice?

but unless u take a complete bath wherein u wash the hands and wipe the feet by default, i would reckon u would still need to wash ur face and hands and wipe ur head and feet before salat in accordance with 56! also, 443 is of interest!

I disagree. If one has washed those areas shortly before establishing the bond, then one wouldn't need to wash them again, or at least, thats my opinion.

could u give an example?

Hmm, how about circuiting the "Kabba" seven times anti-clockwise? If one can show how this act is explainable/based in reality, then please do so.

and like i asked do u consider bible a religious book?

If it contains acts that are not based in reality, then yes, I would consider those parts religious.

#################

Well Wakas, I know the question was tough because I've been asked it before and my answer was about the same as yours.

Well, I do think independant thought converging is not a bad sign.
Are you saying I should be using "deen" rather than "obligation" when speaking in English and communicating with others who speak in English? Perhaps, I would use "deen" with someone I knew was on the same wavelength as me and would take it to mean what I mean.

[mquran]

WakasWell, I do think independant thought converging is not a bad sign.

Yes, agreed.

Are you saying I should be using "deen" rather than "obligation" when speaking in English and communicating with others who speak in English? Perhaps, I would use "deen" with someone I knew was on the same wavelength as me and would take it to mean what I mean.

Well, the word 'deen' is a sound like the word 'religion' and 'way of life'. Al-quraan gives that word a set of processes which cam happen in reality (for example, takhallas-ad-deen is the 'exclusivising' of ad-deen to be solely for Allah). When we consign the word 'deen' to a certain word, we might find that the full complement of processes can no longer fit our translation. Hence, I prefer to use the word ad-deen. I do however, concede that in the interim, you need to bridge the gap and that's where other words come in.

[thegod]

wakas wrote
They were not my definitions, I just took them from the internet. I chose them because they seemed reasonable.

huh! so u do find them common with ur understanding!

wakas wrote
I was trying to point out that it implies religion is to do with a supernatural power, and supernatural means not existing in nature. Well, does God exist in nature? Tough question, but I like the answer of Abraham, who through observing nature came to the realisation of God. This tells me that God has left signs/ayatin in our world, and for me, that's just as good as Him being there.

supernatural means something beyond science and laws of nature....god is beyond science isnt it? god is supernatural! quran does talk about god! quran does talk about "religion" according to the provided definition! -)

wakas wrote
I know. Will twice daily suffice?

depends....or will it?

wakas wrote
I disagree. If one has washed those areas shortly before establishing the bond, then one wouldn't need to wash them again, or at least, thats my opinion.

how shortly before? -)

wakas wrote
Hmm, how about circuiting the "Kabba" seven times anti-clockwise? If one can show how this act is explainable/based in reality, then please do so.

dunno about the 7-times anti-clockwise circuiting thing but moving about it observing it, why not? if the bayt has significance and god says it has....then why not? would u not observe a monument properly? then would u shy away from observing the bayt? (ofcourse it can very well be debated whether it is physical or not...but assumin it is)! but in all fairness i am definitely looking at the word tawaf to see if there are alternatives, though as of now i will stick with what i said!

wakas wrote
If it contains acts that are not based in reality, then yes, I would consider those parts religious.

dunno what reality means to u...but it does talk about god, just like quran supernatural religious! -S

how about the wisdom part do u agree it has wisdom, some of which is general to all, and rest which is not?