yes. It is all from Allah

Thanks. So you believe Allah told Gabriel who told Mohammad who recorded it all verbatim?

God gave us a set of rituals to provide us a solid structure in life and unite believers on earth. Rituals are worthless if we do not glorify God sincerily.

Why does God need you to perform rituals? What worth are they? Do you honestly think you are doing something that appeases God?

Personally I agree. Freedom is more important than security and searching people without probable cause is a massive invasion of privacy. In any case I think it is tantamount to letting the terrorists win.

One thing that I am struck by is that early Muslims must have had a huge inferiority complex concerning Christianity. This must be the reason for the second coming myth and attributing miracles to Muhammad (as well as the above) that one can read about in the hadith.

I think so as well.

Just talk to God I reckon. Anywhere, anytime, God is waiting.

Maybe what I think of as an exclusive congregation isn't so much "the state" but rather the masjid al haram, or maybe qibla? Like, I have this utopia in mind, a place where only truth is pursued by believers, and where no unbelievers or idolaters are allowed. That doesn't mean that we should treat christians like yourself with anything other than patience and courtesy, constantly inviting to the truth that is monotheism. Inshallah.

I hope so. But since you think Hindus and Christians are idolators where specifically do non-Muslims fit into your utopia?

Do you believe in 'the best person for the job'? For instance if there were several men and women going for the same job, possibly one of authority, would you accept it if the best person for the job was a female non-Muslim?

That's all? well, Wootah, i'm disap-point-ed.

Not all my posts can please.

"would have been turned into a lustful raving rapist by your voice"

Wootah, got some point to tell? Explain.

Just sharing in the joke, of how silly it is to think a woman can turn a man into a crazy sex wild thing.

Oh my. That's a scary thought. Still, clearly there is a belief getting about that men will be turned on by anything, hence everything () must be banned/covered up and that further to that, once this chain of events gets started, that the poor things have no self control. Know what I think about that? yeah

Men have a lot more control than some scholars (and hadith writers) seem to think. In the west women wear quite revealing clothing, work with men, drink and socialise with men and if the above were true it would be untenable. Yet somehow women here manage not to get raped everyday. Strange that...

I was told/advised to stop singing one day. I was in a small room with no windows to the outside (no, it wasn't prison, but thanks for asking ) ) so who could have heard aside from the person who told me I shouldn't sing...a mahram. For flips sake!!! Let a girl enjoy doing the dishes!!!

Ahh but you didn't know whether a man might not be nearby who would have been turned into a lustful raving rapist by your voice.
However ... I am sure he was happy you were doing the dishes )

Because groups of people from all walks of life do irrational things.

Better question is why does this surprise you?

Well when one tries to learn about something and it changes all the time it is quite difficult to know what is true and false.

Peace all!

My classmates told me that a woman cannot sing in public because 'in the Quran it says that in the hereafter she will have a hook going through her mouth'. One of them is having a shisha party with a bellydancer shaking her ass.

Why would some sects of Islam find any justification for banning something as beautiful and enjoyable as singing?

I don't get this.
How does 'enough good deeds' equate to a 'high standard' ? Or even a lower standard? Doesn't make any sense!

And, no one is forcing you to trust that 'God is good'. That's the whole point, you trust God to be fair.

If God isn't good then what promise do you have that paradise will be good? (I mean if God was bad, why would he create heaven at all? And why would the good people get to go there?)

This doesn't make any sense either, unless you're a self-admitted masochist? Woot are you on

I was probably joking in that reply.

@wootah.

i respect your opinion but that doesnt sound..reasonable. if heaven is the aim, then a merciful God would make the "aim" approachable to humans.
also with regard to the question as to why we would trust a God who doesnt have high standards for heaven to be good...well same way i could ask a christian how he/she can believe in a God who needs a blood sacrifice to wash off the sins of mankind. No "good" God would need blood to atone for sins. atleast I cant rationalise it. maybe you could give me your opinion on that brother?

peace.

Yes, that is the next line of reasoning appealing to Allah's mercy. But it's not clear to me if you are agreeing with me that good deeds are insufficient and mercy is needed or not.

My understanding is that sin is death and the wages of sin are death. Sacrifice in the Old Testament served as a reminder of and way of apologizing for our sins. After Jesus there is no need for these sacrifices. Thinking on Jesus and being grateful is pretty much identical to the purpose of sacrifice that occurred in the Old Testament. To my mind it is a system that allows God to be good, just and merciful, without losing any part of those qualities in the process of saving our sorry selves. Good that the wicked will not go to heaven. Just that he judges us all fairly and Merciful in that he provided a way for us to be saved.

I think blood is a good metaphor for life and used as such. This seems like a good link explaining the idea of blood in Christianity. http//www.gotquestions.org/Christianity-bloody.html

This line of reasoning makes no sense except maybe to an elitist masochist.

It might not make any sense but how does it make sense to an elitist masochist?

the thing that really comforts me about islam is that unlike most religions, the God portrayed in the Quran implies that good deeds count a LOT towards saving yourself..you dont necessarily need to be following the quran to be "saved"...God isnt putting the emphasis on His word as much as he is on doing good....mainstream christianity believes in recognising and accepting jesus's sacrifice in order to be saved (jesus's words in the bible indicate otherwise though)..but islam is more about doing good and acting righteously, even if ur agnostic...atleast thats wat i think..now..lol ...my beliefs are quite subject to change as i read more andmore...inshallah i will get all my answers and be truly guided at some point of life

The reason this give me no comfort is that if we can do enough good deeds to go to Heaven then Heaven really mustn't have a high standard and if God doesn't have a high standard then why would we trust that God is good?

Yes, you are right I supose. We are suposed to base our lives entirely upon the Quran(The good interpretation Quran such as the message from the monotheist group) as well as our laws, so I supose you would have to vote for the political party that would be the closest to those.

Curently I am a member of the greens, but I might change that since they might be to liberal in some ways wereas the Labour party(this is in Australia) is I think still very good and not to liberal.

The state elections are coming up so I would have to make up my mind whom am I going to vote for. I supose I will go for the greens this one and afterwards I will have a good think about wether they are too far from the Quran. Also a thing to keep in mind this is not an muslim state and I respect that. Actualy as far as I know there is no Quran only/God alone country in the World.

But yeah, I am for a good, reasoned interpretation of the Quranic laws such as writen in the Natural Republic by the monotheist group.

Thanks

Since I am an Aussie and like the liberals it is worth letting you know that the liberals probably do support the most sharia like policies. The greens support homosexuality, drug use and a wide range of immoral positions. Plus a wide range of socially debilitating policies that will wreck our nation's economy.

I think islam guarantees equal treatment to muslims, and equal treatment to non-muslim.
While there is a distinction between the two, anyone can embrace islam at any time of their choosing, inshallah.
The way I understand the Quran, muslims are supposed to be the state, the courts, the leadership, using the Qu'ran as the instruction and the law everything is based on.

I wonder what you mean by being "fair to all religions" - as we know, there's only one truth - one God, and only one set of instructions - the Qur'an. If you don't submit to this truth, you aren't a muslim, and that means that certain offices of the muslim state are closed to you. Other than that, you're free to live as you see fit, and nobody will punish you unless you flaunt certain transgressions in front of witnesses.

Subhan Allah, this seems like a most fair system to me.

You know there is a belief that Islam does not support the golden rule. Statements like yours seem to agree with that belief. Gosh what you wrote is scary. Anyone else see it?

Separation of church and state is very wise because it protects your freedom of religion.

Did he?

Aren't you following the thread?

Love and sacrifice. Putting the other person first.

I will ask the ultimate question posed by ivan to his brother alyosha, 'If you were the potential creator of the world and you could create the perfect world for humanity but to do this you needed to make one poor child suffer,would you do it?'

But have you considered the ultimate reply?

'How would you prevent suffering and still allow free will?"