Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all the replies. That verse about obeying the laws of your land can be very confusing, but I think I understand it now.

Hope you all had a happy new year. ;D

According to Qur'an we must take care of our parents financially like they did when to us when we were not have the ability to do so. Respect them not to be harsh with them. Be polite with them. Keep praying for them that Allah (SWT) shower His kindness and mercy on them as they did when we were young and weak.

There is only one condition we can disobey our present is not to listen to them if they ask to do the shirk or do not worship One God.

Based on my memory. Possibibilty of my human errors.

Sister Khadija. The only condition we are allow to disobey our parents.

298 We have enjoined on man kindness to parents but if they (either of them) strive (to force) thee to join with Me (in worship) anything of which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not. Ye have (all) to return to me, and I will tell you (the truth) of all that ye did.

What if your parents never actually did support you financially when you were a child? Are you still obligated to them in that way?

You're saying the only time a child can disobey a parent is if the parent is asking them to perform idol worship. So then, if a father commands his daughter to have sex with him, she's committing a sin if she refuses?

I have a serious problem with that.

EDIT someone PMed me, and explained that the definition of shirk is not the one that Wikipedia gave me. You can ignore my question.

Adoption would definitely be my preference, since there are so many orphans in the world. Given the number of married couples who have trouble adopting though, I fear it may be even harder for a single woman.

Thanks once again to everyone who replied. I think all of your posts have been helpful to me.

And I'm glad to have read the quotes you posted, Tanveer. I was a bit troubled thinking that God may hold someone with Downs Syndrome to the same standards as someone whose mind is fully intact.

Where does it say that? Reference?

It doesn't. As I said in a previous post to this thread...

Via PM, someone explained to me that the line about "scholars vs. worshipers" is actually from hadith. That sort of makes my question irrelevant. -[

...Now to explain the indvidual being righteous/true believer, is the one who takes care of oneself, who looks in good condition because they eat well and keep away from bad foods/drugs etc, they are not idle, they work or do excersise, maintain the body etc. so thus they attain the looks of being in good condition, and atraction is part of true love, then obviously the inside of the person is also good as they are a true beliver and good hearted.

Now they are equiped in attaining true love with a similair partner, iam not saying they have to be perfect, as no ones perfect, but the more of those qualities one has the more of reaching a higher level of true love as it were.

When i look for a partner, i look for those qualities, of course the looks and the beauty of the women will be taken into account, because as i have mentioned i want a women that takes care of her self phsyically. iam not going to consider a women thats very obese, because she doesnt care about her body, all she does is eat greasy junk food and sits down all day !!

Wow. You can tell whether or not someone is a righteous, true "beliver" by whether or not they look good, how much "excersise" they perform, and how much they weigh? My English translation of the Koran must have skipped over that part. Please post the quotes from your copy where it says that. I'm just dying to see it!

My attraction to the opposite sex is usually influenced by the quality of a man's mind and intelligence. His ability to spell is especially taken into account.

I wish you the best of luck in finding a woman who takes care of herself "phsyically" to your satisfaction. ;D

Alen, thank you for your reply.

I agree, much of what you said is probably true. And even if I do have some unusual difficulty with math, I do not consider myself incapable of overcoming it. I'm tempted to go into more detail about my math difficulties, but the point of my original post wasn't to ramble on about my personal problems. Ultimately, my experience with the IQ test just made me curious as to what the Koran had to say about people who actually are born partially retarded, if anything.

Via PM, someone explained to me that the line about "scholars vs. worshipers" is actually from hadith. That sort of makes my question irrelevant. -[

...I hope this helps.

Yes, some of the information in your post was helpful. Thank you very much. )

The Koran (as I understand it) tells us that one scholar is worth more than many worshipers, in the eyes of God. So does the Koran explain why God would want someone to be born partially retarded? confused

Does anyone have an answer to the question I asked in my original post? ???

...its just a test by God, do you want to work at what you want or expect God to hand you everything?

Uhm, no. I simply wanted to know what the Koran had to say about it.

Thanks for the reply.

Wakas, thank you for that link. I intend to learn Arabic so that I can read the Koran in its original form, but until then I'm going to read as many different translations as possible, God willing. That site will be very helpful. yay

Thank you again for all of the replies. I will keep an eye on the discussions and contribute whatever I can, God willing. ;D

Thanks for the reply, phoenix1.

I don't believe I was mouthing the number, but you never know. -[

As for her being psychic, is that an ability that God grants people? What does the Koran have to say about it? ???

I can't say for a fact that I have met someone who has regular contact with jinn. All I can do is share my experience with you and let you draw your own conclusions. Here's what happened...

I was 17 years old, and was spending the day at the Florida State Fair. There is a game where a woman would guesses your age. If she guesses correctly (or within three years of your age), then she "wins." If her guess is too far off, you win a prize. I decided to play this game.

What struck me as odd was that she asked me to repeat my age in my mind, over and over again. Rather than repeating my true age, I repeated the number 24. Her guess was 24. When I told I was really 17 she scowled at me and said, "But you were thinking 24, weren't you?!"

After admitting the truth to her, she nodded and told me to choose my prize from the shelf.

Jinn may or may not have been involved, but one thing is 99% certain - she read my mind! If not jinn, how else might she have done that?

Greetings to all of you, and thank you so much for the kind-hearted replies. Being new to Islam, I don't know how much I will be able to contribute to discussions, but I'll do my best to be active here, God willing.

I certainly need constant reminding in order to keep pace and on track.

I understand what you mean. -[ I hope nobody takes offense to my words of irritation over that repeated message. It's because God already knows what's in our hearts that I don't hold anything back when I speak to him. But I do know that if God repeats something to us several times, he must have a very good reason for it!

I'd like to have children someday, but don't necessarily want to get married again. For most single American women, adoption and artificial insemination are both reasonable options. Are these acceptable for single Muslim women, though? confused

I tried the search feature and could find no threads where this has already been discussed. If I am mistaken, please give me a link and close this thread so I don't waste anyone's time.

In the Koran (434), it is believed a man is given permission to beat his wife. I'm aware that there are many sources that prove otherwise. But for the purposes of this thread and for the sake of argument, let's say that it really does give a man this right.

In the Koran, I believe it states that any man or woman who has committed adultery is to be "lashed" 100 times in public.

In the Koran, I believe it also states that God expects us to obey the laws of our land.

Here in the United States, physical violence directed towards anyone for any reason, religious or otherwise, is illegal. The only exception I'm aware of is self-defense.

So, for Muslims living in the United States, what do you think is acceptable in the eyes of God? Would beating your wife become a sin? What if it is, and she doesn't turn you in to the police? Is that a sin? How about lashing someone because they had sex before they were married? And what if that former adulterer doesn't turn you in?

I'm looking forward to reading your opinions. )

None of the other forum sections seemed to be appropriate for this topic. If I am mistaken, I apologize. Please move it to the right section, if that is the case.

I have a question. I'll start off by giving a bit of history about myself, so that you all understand the context, God willing.

I was given an IQ test when I was a teenager. The result was 121. That might sound like a decent IQ to have, but not when you come to understand how that number was calculated. As I recall it being explained to me (if anyone knows these details to be inaccurate, feel free to correct me) there is an individual IQ score associated with various subjects (reading comprehension, vocabulary, etc.). The scores are tallied up and averaged out, resulting in your "official" IQ. Most of my IQ scores, as I recall, ranged from 140-180, except for one. That was one of the two math scores. I do not recall the exact score; only that it was under 100. The woman explaining the test results said that if not for my other scores being so high, I would have been diagnosed with a "learning disability." For those who are not entirely familiar with the English language, "learning disability" is the politically correct phrase for mentally retarded.

Having that one substandard IQ score might not seem like a big deal. I should be grateful for all of the other areas of intelligence God blessed me with, right?

Tell that to someone who has difficulty multiplying double digits, but desperately wants to attend college. Suddenly, all that "intelligence" seems like God's idea of a cruel joke. '(

I'll make you smart, yet too stupid to do anything productive with your life! Muah ha ha! >D

The Koran (as I understand it) tells us that one scholar is worth more than many worshipers, in the eyes of God. So does the Koran explain why God would want someone to be born partially retarded? confused

Hello everyone. I recently converted to Islam. When I read the Koran for the first time, I took notice of how often we are reminded that the Koran is perfect. So much so, I'll admit that after a while I found it annoying. I'd smack my forehead and moan silently, "Yes, yes. The Koran is perfect. I. Get. It. Why does this need to be repeated every ten minutes?"

Then I discovered hadiths, and it was all too clear why that message needed repeating. Because even after being told a zillion times that the Koran is perfect, some people still don't get it. brickwall

Thank you for making this website and forum. It's been very helpful to me. ;D