Coloring cats or pigs or rats (all have been done) doesn't specifically help anyone. The manipulation of their genes and embryos is what the scientists are doing. They think that practicing on these "lower" beings is "morally acceptable" before they move on to manipulating human genes or harvesting or controlling animal genes for human abuse. (Like the recent mouse that was manipulated to not be afraid of cats.)

I disagree with all this cruel and truly useless animal testing, of course. I always like to remember Dr. Malcolm?s comment from Jurassic Park "your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn?t stop to think if they should."

Salam,

Wouldn't it be nice to adopt?

Salam,

Slightly off-topic Deena, your story reminded me of an event in the news a while back. A Sri Lankan maid employed in Lebanon hung herself off the balcony of her employer's home. Your description of a glowing figure "floating beside" the building brought her to mind because her death pictures show her wearing white and she appears to be "floating" near the building (although at the end of a makeshift noose.)

One could imagine that in KSA, a maid might be even more suicidal...

(Not that this is what you saw.)

Peace,

I'm another member who stands with you on this issue. I'm a vegetarian/tree-hugger/environmentalist. Islam did not cause me to be so, but it has strengthened my resolve in these beliefs.

Salam,

There is book by PM.org called "The Natural Republic" which lays out a sample calendar for use. Download the zip file http//www.free-minds.org/TNR.zip

The sample calendar can also be found on this page

http//www.free-minds.org/articles/science/calendars.htm

More...

http//www.free-minds.org/calendars.htm

Salam,

Found some hints for "why"

The Holy Koran also has thought us in chapter Al-Ah'zab verse 13, that the name of the city was known as Yathrib, Yathrib was a name of a village which a group of Arabs settled in it during the ancient time. Thus history has mentioned that when people of Prophet (Nuh) Noah came out from the ship after the flood, the area became too narrow for them to live, knowing that Abil tribe was also among them, whereas their leader (Yathrib bun Abil) the fourth grandson of Nuh (Noah) abled to build city and then settle in it. Al-Amaleek also has settled in the same city after they sent Abliya tribe away from the city. Indeed, the named Yathrib was well known during the past time. This is because the name Yathrib has been found in an old history writings and designs. In order to reason this claim, we say, the city was mentioned in Ptolemy geography with the name of Yathrib. It has also came in As-Sabi'ah sculptures that, the word (Medinata) which means Aramaic language as ( Himaa) means Hotness. Then it was summarized and then became Al-Madian. Naming the city as Yathrib was not accepted by the Holy Prophet, simply because he insinuated the meaning of the word Yathrib and said the word means (blame and scolding), then he changed the name to Al-Medina. So after he honored the city with his immigration then it came known as Medinatu Rasul (means the city of the messenger)

• http//www.rafed.net/towns/english/madena.html

Another for "when"

630's? The nickname 'Prophet's Town' becomes the effective name of Yathrib, 'Madina an-Nabiy', short 'Madina'.

• http//lexicorient.com/e.o/madina.htm

Salam,

Interesting... I'll share some notes from M. Asad on this

Note on 1518

Lit., "excepting anyone who seeks to hear by stealth.. .", etc. The implication seems to be that any attempt at fathoming the mysteries of the unknowable by such illicit means ("by stealth") is inevitably followed by "a flame clear to see", i.e., by burning, self-evident frustration.

Note on 376-10

For the meaning of this phrase, see note on 1518. After the stress on God?s oneness in verses 4-5, the passage comprising verses 6-10 points to the fact that human beings are precluded from really grasping the variety and depth of the universe created by Him. We have here an echo of 349 - "Are they, then, not aware of how little of the sky and the earth lies open before them, and how much is hidden from them?" - and, thus, a new, oblique approach to the theme of resurrection, which is taken up in the sequence in the form of an indirect question.

Note on 675

For the wider meaning of shayatin - a term which in this context points specifically to "the satans from among mankind, that is, the astrologers" (Baydawi) - see surah 15, note 16. As regards the term rajm (pl. rujum), which literally denotes the "throwing like a stone" - i.e., at random - it is often used metaphorically in the sense of "speaking conjecturally" or "making the object of guesswork" (Jawhari, Raghib - the latter connecting this metaphor explicitly with the above verse -, Lisan al-?Arab, Qamus, Taj al-'Arus, etc.).

Note on 728

The above may be understood as alluding not only, metaphorically, to the arrogant Jewish belief in their being "God's chosen people", but also, more factually, to their old inclination to, and practice of, astrology as a means to foretell the future. Apart from this - and in a more general sense - their "reaching out towards heaven" may be a metaphorical description of a state of mind which causes man to regard himself as "self-sufficient" and to delude himself into thinking that he is bound to achieve mastery over his own fate.

Note on 729

As the sequence shows (and as has been pointed out in note on 151, this relates to all attempts at predicting the future by means of astrology or esoteric calculations, or at influencing the course of future events by means of "occult sciences".

Salam,

Those were the only ones I could find with "sunnat Allah" or similar in them that made sense for your question. Maybe you are thinking of "hadeeth" instead of "sunnah"?

Sorry I couldn't help you. -(

Salam,

Or this?

Al-Ahzab

Sunnata Allahi fee allatheena khalaw min qablu walan tajida lisunnati Allahi tabdeelan

Such has been God?s way with those who passed away aforetime - and never wilt thou find any change in God?s way!

Al-Fath

Sunnata Allahi allatee qad khalat min qablu walan tajida lisunnati Allahi tabdeelan

God?s way which has ever obtained in the past - and never wilt thou find any change in God?s way!

Is this it?

I have been there before... It seemed like he just wanted to provoke people, there was always an argument... -)

I'm not sure if he is "our" kind of "Qurani" either, he said that the term applies to all Muslims because we all follow the Quran. He asked a visitor "Why don't you ask someone who says they are Sunni if they follow Quran? But if someone says they are Qurani, you ask them if they follow Sunnah"

Salam,

I was running Path of Allah for a while, no one "really" came to it, so I stopped. I can start again, just to see. Please try to find it within the next couple of days. Be prepared to talk (type), too. D

Salam alaikum,

Interesting compilation from Harun Yahya here

http//www.theprophetmuhammad.org/appearance.html

He uses hadeeths and other sources to obtain descriptions of what Muhammad may have looked like.

Depending on your opinion of the hadeeth, you may find the descriptions slightly romanticized (or generalized), but they are worth reading in any event, for someone who wants to know the classical/traditional view.

-)

Salam alaikum,

I just read this in the SAQ (http//www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/QURAN/) and I didn't have a clue how to answer it (for myself -P). Any ideas?

Referring to chapter 1

Muslims believe that Allah is the author of the Quran, yet the first surah (Fatihah, The Opening) is clearly a prayer addressed to Allah.

Upon reading it, it does seem like a prayer, but who is speaking it? Does it fit with anything else that would indicate that "someone" is saying it?

Thanks.

Salam,

Some interesting comments on these verses, from Muhammad Asad. Quite a lot to read, but it is a worthy analysis, I think.

Some of the commentators attribute to the term fahishah (here rendered as "immoral conduct") the meaning of "adultery" or "fornication" and are, consequently, of the opinion that this verse has been "abrogated" by 242, which lays down the punishment of one hundred stripes for each of the guilty parties. This unwarranted assumption must, however, be rejected.

Quite apart from the impossibility of admitting that any passage of the Qur?an could have been "abrogated" by another of its passages (see note on surah 2 verse 106), the expression fahishah does not, by itself, connote illicit sexual intercourse it signifies anything that is grossly immodest, unseemly, lewd, indecent or abominable in word or in deed (cf. Lane VI, 2344 f.), and is by no means restricted to sexual transgressions.

Read in this context, and in conjunction with 242, this expression obviously denotes here immoral conduct not necessarily amounting to what is termed zina (i.e., "adultery" or "fornication"), and therefore redeemable by sincere repentance (in contrast to a proven act of zina, which is punishable by flogging).

It is noteworthy that in all cases of alleged sexual transgressions or misbehaviour the Qur?an stipulates the direct evidence of four witnesses (instead of the two required in all other judicial cases) as a sine qua non of conviction. For the reasons underlying this injunction, as well as for its judicial implications, see note on 244.

Note on 244 below

By obvious implication, this injunction applies also to cases where a woman accuses a man of illicit sexual intercourse, and is subsequently unable to prove her accusation legally. The severity of the punishment to be meted out in such cases, as well as the requirement of four witnesses - instead of the two that Islamic Law regards as sufficient in all other criminal and civil suits - is based on the imperative necessity of preventing slander and off-hand accusations.

As laid down in several authentic sayings of the Prophet, the evidence of the four witnesses must be direct, and not merely circumstantial in other words, it is not sufficient for them to have witnessed a situation which made it evident that sexual intercourse was taking or had taken place they must have witnessed the sexual act as such, and must be able to prove this to the entire satisfaction of the judicial authority (Razi, summing up the views of the greatest exponents of Islamic Law).

Since such a complete evidence is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, it is obvious that the purpose of the above Quranic injunction is to preclude, in practice, all third-party accusations relating to illicit sexual intercourse - for, "man has been created weak?? (42 - and to make a proof of adultery dependent on a voluntary, faith-inspired confession of the guilty parties themselves.

Salam,

Here is a short bio. http//www.dar-us-salam.com/a-muhsin-k.htm (from the company his translation was published under.)

Apparently, he was born in the '20s. I'm not sure if that means he's dead now or not... I couldn't find anything about his death. Maybe you can contact Dar Us-Salam and find out...

I would be interested in what you ask and what he says, if you are successful. -)

Salam,

Yeah it has been discussed...

http//www.free-minds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4681

Salam,

But wouldn't four people watching (or one person who sees it and calls three of his buddies) two people have sex be a little unlikely, too? One does imagine that these people, after confirming the sight, would attempt to stop it and drag the guilty couple to a judge... How does it go?

What is the "lewdness" or "immoral conduct" that is mentioned?

Salam,

I once heard it explained that the four witnesses and subsequent punishment was in cases of "indency." Like seeing your neighbor roaming around the alleyway with another man, or similar. I think the verse does not say adultery but is translated as lewdness or immoral conduct (i.e. not zina?)

Salam,

I think your observation is true. Churches, at least here in the US, have a better situation for women than in many mosques.

Although I'm not sure that "woman speaking in public" thing is appropriate by Biblical (NT) rules, it happens nonetheless.

As far as I know, Muslim women (in the "traditionalists" view) are allowed to preach to people in general. Of course she has to follow guidelines. But I know of quite a few da'iyahs (callers to Islam) ...

If you meant leadership, well, even the Christians fight about women as leaders. -)