Wow Tay, you continue to impress me with your command over what you write and what you mean.

Seriously speaking, have you written any books.

The intentions are very important here. If I pray 5 times a day like most people do, then either I do it because I believe that this is the correct way or am I taking the easy way out instead of being ostracized and criticized. If I believe that some ritual is going against the spirit of my true belief and is more socially inspired than spiritually inspired then i think I am wrong in following that ritual.

Salam adley,

What I can advice you to do is 3918 in a nutshell.

Beautifully said!

I'll be patient and keep reading. peace

Thanks BOOST.

anyways, don't be intimidated to join in any discussion because as you said, none of us are scholars. we could learn from you as well as each other. i always have an interest in reading new members' posts because its not tainted with the same swirl of thoughts we've been swishing around on the forum.

While you people might not be scholars, you do make a lot of sense. peace

Very good answer Tay, Thanks.

I was trying to find out if anyone has changed his views over time on this forum and is it reflected in his posts over time. I will look more closely over a course of longer time. It will tell me what arguments caused a change in mind.

Right now I am confused and I am getting frustrated like a person standing in the middle of a cross-road not sure which way to turn.

If I follow my mind, then who is to make sure that my mind is guiding me to the right path. It may guide me to the easiest path. You say that "We don't change overnight". True. We have been taught not to listen to any other point of view since it may corrupt our beliefs. I dont know to what extend one should be flexible.

If I assume that my life-long sunni beliefs are wrong then shouldn't I be searching inr all the other religions in the world to find the truth. Why Quran alone.

Thanks Tay,

But you have to realize that it is not easy to giveup on lifelong beliefs. I have just started to try to understand Quran and improve on my beliefs, I need as many facts as I can dig that can convince me what is the truth. A lot of arguments found on this forum sound convincing but a lot of others them sound pre-conceived and biased (at least they seem to me that way). I found this chapter sequence thing a little confusing so I wanted to know the opinion of others on this

salam

Salam All,

I have been sunni-trained all my life to limit my logic and reason and not to question certain things that are "established" truths in the sunni belief. I am sure 99% of all religions today teach their followers to limit their instincts/ logic/ reasoning/ questioning. I had also been quoted some verses of the Quran (from chapter 2, I think) that discourage questioning.

When I started reading Quranic translation for the first time after having read the Arabic text for decades many time in my life without understanding any sentence, I started to see that there are many verses asking us to think/ apply/ logic/ understand/ ponder. I remember reading about Ibrahim that he reached the true GOD by logic and reasoning after considering the possibility of stars, sun etc being the god. (can someone be kind enough to point me to that exact verse. I will be thankfull).

When I start using logic / reasoning, I find that I sometime start to go astray. Sometime, I start to doubt the existance of God or the authencity of any religion at all. I read arguments of athiests and sometimes some of these make sense (I have to agree that most of the times they dont). I am a scientist by nature and profession and my results of OneGOD-vs-NoGod logic comes to 95%-5% ratio. Since the answer to this question is either a yes or a no, I think that the 5% is only due to the lack of my understanding / limited intelligence. I hope I am not confusing everyone.

The quesiton is Should I be thinking like that. If I start applying logic, I start to question basic beliefs. If I dont apply logic, I fall into the blind-faith trap.

What should I do?

I have been reading this forum for the last few months. Like almost all other religious discussions, most of the discussions here have been loaded with "Takabbar". A few seem genuinenly humble.

Takabbur = False pride. Arrogance. Self-glorification. Holding others in contempt. Refusing to learn and unlearn. Insisting on blind following. Refusing to admit fault. Being forward before the Messages of Allah. To shun the Truth. Thinking that 'I know it all'. Holding material goods higher than virtue.

If we are here to genuinely pursue the truth, then we have admit that in most discussions, both parties should learn something and unlearn something. On the other hand when I find that after 10 pages of text both the parties are maintaining the same stance that they had before the discussion, then chances are that they both are fighting for their dignity, not for the truth,

The Quran tells us that the thing that stopped people from accepting the truth was "Takabbar".

It is very disappointing for beginners like me to read and read and still see 2 sides fighting to win the discussion and not to promote the truth. Most people here are not scholars but still I see very very few of them accept something after a discussion. They just prefer to stick to their own initial judgments.

Please help us beginners and truth seeks with some humble attitude and help us find what is right, NOT who is right.

According to the Sunni beliefs
(1) Salat when mentioned in the Quran refers to the 5-a-day prayer
(2) Salat was made obligatory during "Meraj"
(3) Chapter 17 refers to the "Meraj" which was at number 50 in sequence of revelation
(4) In order of revelation, chapters 1(Alaq),3,7(Muzammil),8(Mudassir) etc all mention Salat.
If Salat came before the revelation of these chapters, what are these chapters referring to.
I am confused. ( I am new to this / Neo2this)