Dear Friends,

Everyone can make stories but no one can produce authenticated copy with differences even by the major sects who differ in their ideology very much but still they do not differ in the manuscript. This is the simple fact and to me a miracle. Believe it or reject it.

Regards.

Differences are not found because the Qur'an was not written down immediately. It was memorized by Mohamed and his early followers. Even today we have people who have memorized the entire Qur'an and can recite it perfectly. Even if every copy of the Qur'an is burned, we have these people who have memorized it. This is the miracle and the beauty of the Qur'an. This cannot be said of the Torah or the Bible. We do not have Jesus' words in the original Aramaic because no one painstakingly memorized his words. The Qur'an is something different. God's words through the angel Gabriel to Mohamed were so important and miraculous that they were memorized. I have met Westerners who could memorize something after hearing or reading it once. This is a gift that I don't have. In graduate school there was a fellow chemistry student who could quote from any page of a chemistry text that he had read once. The professor would ask a question and if no one else answered, this guy would rattle off something that would start out like "on page 262 in the fourth paragraph ..." It was uncanny, but these abilities do exist and the fact that we have these identical copies of the Qur'an from various sects all agreeing with one another points to the fact that there was no original copy which has been lost. The Qur'an lives in each generation where there are people who memorize it in its entirety.

Apply scientific method
-Experiment what it says
-See the results
If the results are same as AQ claims, it proves everything otherwise nothing, in both cases code19 is useless.

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws. Einstein

That's quite interesting except that the end of your 'experiment' is Judgment Day, by then it will be too late for you to decide to become a believer and follow God's message in the Qur'an. In fact the Qur'an has many Surah passages that refer to Judgment Day. One of my favorites is 262 (taken from Muhammad Asad's English translation of 'The Message of the Qur'an)
Verily, those who have attained to faith , as well as those who follow the Jewish faith, and the Christians, and the Sabians* -- all who believe in God and the Last Day and do righteous deeds -- shall have their reward with their Sustainer; and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve.**

*Sabians are most likely followers of John the Baptist
**(from Asad) The above passage -- which recurs in the Qur'an several times -- lays down a fundamental doctrine of Islam. With a breadth of vision unparalleled in any other religious faith, the idea of "salvation" is here made conditional upon three elements only belief in God, belief in the Day of Judgment, and righteous action in life.

Truly Islam is God's final revealed message and is meant to complete or restore the messages that we have from the Torah and Bible, yet God is not shutting out the righteous who believe in Him and His Day of Judgment and who do good works while on Earth. I am sorry that Einstein failed to see that the beautiful, immutable laws of physics were made by a powerful God believed in by Muslims, Jews and Christians alike. We were all given free will and we have been given this so that we might choose to live righteously and do good works and grow closer to God so that in His infinite Compassion and Mercy He will choose to bring us with Him to Heaven or we mistakenly choose otherwise.

Salaam alaikum

Wikipedia gives a good overview of homosexuality and scientific studies as to why this happens
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_sexual_orientation

I believe that the evidence shows that homosexuality is not a choice; however, what is popularly called 'the homosexual lifestyle' (flagrant promiscuity with same-sex partners). I believe in a merciful, forgiving God. I am heterosexual so this is not a personal issue for me. I believe that homosexuals are under the same mandates as heterosexuals when it comes to modesty of dress and chastity (no sex outside of marriage). I don't know if there are sheikhs or imams willing to marry homosexual (same-sex) couples. If a homosexual couple can find a way to legally marry, they should do so. If they cannot, then they should make a commitment to their partner and remain faithful to their partner. If one or both partners want to separate then they should follow the same Qur'anic policies for divorce that are applied to heterosexuals. It is important to honor commitments to one another and to try to make a marriage or partnership work. I don't know if God will honor such a marriage. Before marrying my husband and I individually asked God if we were making the right decision. We both cleared our minds (as best we could) of the answer we wanted to receive and we both got the answer to marry the other. I do this for other important decisions. I have to believe that when my intentions are good/pure, God will give me the answer that best fulfills His plan for me. This is true for everyone.
I am sorry whenever anyone is burdened with an extra hardship in life. We all have challenges and burdens. We are meant to share our life with other people and the Qur'an guides us towards marriage. I wish that I had an answer for all of the homosexuals out there, but I have to believe that God made you this way for a reason. Please dedicate your life (as we all should) to Allah and seek His forgiveness and mercy if you have done anything wrong.

Peace be upon you!

Out of an understanding that?? And do not coerce your immature/(family protected) women on the unlawful/non-consenting seeking (of non-consentual marriage), if they wanted self-protection (from arranged marriage), to seek the low life's vanities, and whomever coerces them, then God after they have been coerced is forgiving, merciful.? (2433)

Traditionally, the word ?BaGhA?a? has been interpreted to mean prostitution. However, the word?s literal meaning is to seek beyond what is lawful/consentual. Also, as opposed to prostitution which is a gross sin, there are some examples of women who later became happy with men that they were coerced into marrying, hence God?s forgiving statement at the end of the verse. "
http//free-minds.org/malak

If we approve that the word "Baghaa" means prostitution,it would be as if God is stating that he later forgives the parents who coerce their daughters into prostitution!! or forgives the girls who have been forced into this practice.. My understanding is that God doesnt approve or state sins in any way...and the context of the verse and the whole issue of "ma malakat aymanukum" if put together doesn`t have anything to do with prostitution...

Peace,

My best translation of the Qur'an on this is by M. Asad
And if any of those whom you rightfully possess desire a deed of freedom, write it out for them if you are aware of any good in them and give them of the wealth of God which He has given you.
And do not, in order to gain some of the fleeting pleasures of this worldly life, coerce your maidens into whoredom if they happen to be desirous of marriage; and if anyone should coerce them, then, verily, after they have been compelled , God will be much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace! 2433

According to my translations of the Qur'an "Bagha'a" means concubinage (non-lawful marriage) or whoredom (forced sex for money/favors) and the girl/woman referred to is the property of another as a slave not a daughter. The immediately preceding statement of 2433 has been omitted from the prior post and refers to slaves directly. The word for girl or maiden "fatayat" means slave-girl by context. It seems obvious to me that it is the girl/woman who is the receiver of God's mercy and forgiveness since she is forced into this situation. The Qur'an is certainly describing a situation where the girl/woman is entering into non-lawful marriage or union against her own free will. Wherever men (or women) impose their wrongful will over the weak they will surely have to answer to God on Judgment Day. It is NOT obvious to me that the Qur'an is referring to the coercer; it is obvious (especially in light of the entirety of the Qur'an) that the passage refers to mercy for the coerced.

While it may appear that these recent posts have strayed from the original question regarding "The Myth that Women have to "Obey" their Husbands, this is in fact not the case. It is hard work to form a marriage of equal partnership. This hard work is made easier through dedication to Allah and mutual love between spouses. Forming an equal partnership requires that both parties are similarly educated and of similar maturity levels. If one partner is less educated (as is the case in many parts of the Muslim world for females), can the less-educated spouse be a true partner? Can an equal partnership be formed between a 10-year old and a 50-year old (regardless of gender)? Can an equal partnership be formed when one spouse must obey the other? I find that I grow as a person when my husband and I work through our disagreements. He is a very rational man and we both have learned to discuss our points of view rationally even if we were emotional at the beginning. It is apparent that men who desire obedience prefer not to be challenged and prefer to have the card deck stacked in their favor with a younger, less-educated spouse and we have patriarchal, male-dominated cultures that ensure a ready supply of these types of girls.
Men were given responsibility to protect and care for their wives considering that a man's wife would bear his children. Raising a child is an awesome responsibility and anyone who has cared for an infant knows that at this time a mother (especially a breastfeeding mother) is vulnerable and needs all of the care and attention that she can get. Her husband has been given this responsibility in the Qur'an (not her mother or sisters or friends; although these women are certainly not precluded from helping).
On the issue of sexual attractiveness, both young men and young women are sexually more attractive; but no one is more attractive to me than the man I love, my husband who I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with -- my life partner.
On the issue of sexual education my husband lived the Islamic ideal and was a virgin when we married. Was he supposed to 'educate' himself before marriage so that he could be a proper husband in the bedroom? Isn't this a non-Islamic concept? When the older man in previous posts marries the 10-year old to 'educate' her where did he get his education? --from his first wife/wives? Obviously, we are all virgins at some point. Aren't we supposed to learn from each other when we marry? Doesn't the Qur'an and the sunnah of Prophet Mohamed tell us that divorce is discouraged even though allowed? Doesn't the Qur'an and the sunnah of Prophet Mohamed tell us that polygamy is acceptable only when there is an imbalance of females to males due to war? Does the Qur'an ever encourage marriage or polygamy as a method of slaking lust?
On the issue of other primates, elephants et cetera does the Qur'an ever ask us to model ourselves after the animal kingdom? Certain things can be learned from the animal kingdom and we can even learn some things about human behavior from animals, but we were created differently from the animal kingdom. We have intelligence to understand the consequences of our actions even if we choose to ignore this. We have been given the gifts of intelligence, free will and an immortal soul; these gifts were not bestowed upon members of the animal kingdom.
If a woman's salvation is her own and not her husband's nor her father's, then it is up to her to make one of the most important decisions of her life for herself she must choose her own husband without coercion. This is explicitly stated in the Qur'an. The Imam's and Saudi leaders who go against this are going against the Qur'an -- Allah's words to us -- and they will be accountable to Allah for their actions and the suffering and misery resulting from their actions.