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Official Islamic Thread

castle007

Banned
effzee said:
for everyone?

my family follows ISNA and they are going based on calculations. i know ICNA says to follow your local mosque.

I don't know. But here in NC we are starting tomorrow. In my opinion, everybody should follow Saudi Arabia.
 

Khalid-S

Member
Ramadan Kareem.

May Allah forgive all your sins and ease the fasting upon you all, and reward us in this blessed month with wide forgiveness and acceptance to jannat alfirdoos.
 

braimuge

Banned
well apparently its not ramadan here in canada until monday nite (fast tuesday), though half the ppl are following saudi arabia...

its so stupid, you pray according to canada, but u start fasting according to saudi arabia -_- i dont get
 

Pancakes

hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
braimuge said:
well apparently its not ramadan here in canada until monday nite (fast tuesday), though half the ppl are following saudi arabia...

its so stupid, you pray according to canada, but u start fasting according to saudi arabia -_- i dont get

Strange, we are starting tomorrow morning here.
 

Nemo

Will Eat Your Children
Just came back from tarawih, and that wraps up the first day. Man I'd forgotten how much I love this time of the year. It's like christmas x30! :D
 

SoulPlaya

more money than God
Azih said:
Honestly SoulPlaya I stopped reponding to you when you claimed that a verse right next to another verse has no relation to it. That's just wrong.

Edit: www.quranbrowser.com is pretty much the most useful method of looking up translations. Use the old interface and choose all ten for easy comparisions. 9:5 is in no way divorced from 9:1-9:4. 9:1 to 9:4 lays out the pre conditions for the harsh reprisals of 9:5 (which includes mind you an announched four month notice to everybody concerned). Neither is it divorced from 9:6 in which anybody who surrenders is supposed to be escorted to safety whether they convert or not.
If you were paying attention to my debates you would know that I acknowledged that Surah 9 is the exception to the rule.

9:6 simply states that a person should be escorted to safety so they can hear the Qu'ran. And what 4 months? You mean the sacred months? The 1st, 7th, 11th, 12th month of the Islamic calendar? It doesn't say you have to announce those 4 months. In the end, under the literal writing of the Qu'ran, if a group of people do no harm to you, but do not have a treaty with you, then you can harm them.

And Mohammed killed people after he won the battle and even took slaves of women and children (although, this was usually only because the other side would do the same to his people).

And please don't make it sound like you're not responding to me because "I'm just beyond hope". To me, it looks like AmMortal didn't respond to my last post because he had no answer. I mean, I still want him to explain to me this whole business about not being able to do surprise attacks, or being able to attack at night despite the fact that Mohammed and his followers committed many raids at night. Once again, I'm not hard headed. If he (or you) proves me wrong, I'll admit it and I'll apologize. We're just having a civil discussion here.
 
castle007 said:
I don't know. But here in NC we are starting tomorrow. In my opinion, everybody should follow Saudi Arabia.

Ramadhan Mubarak. Here in London UK started fasting yesterday as the moon was not sighted on saturday. I do not agree with we should follow Saudi Arabia.

People begin Ramadhan on different days and have Eid on different days which I find silly and it bugs me. Every year me and friends celebrate Eid on different days yet we live in the same city.. It would be nice to actually see us all start fasting on the same day. This should not be difficult. We should all fast whenever the moon is first sighted in any country, we dont have to personally see it ourselves or wait for our local mosque or saudi government etc.

Muslim also reported on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Omar (R) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) made mention of Ramadhan and with a gesture of his hand said: "The month is thus and thus. (He then withdrew His thumb at the third time indicating 29). He then said: Fast when you see it, and break your fast when you see it, and if the weather is cloudy do calculate it (the months of Shaban and Shawwal) as thirty days."

Bukhari reported on the authority of Ibnu Omar (R) that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "The month consists of 29 nights, so do not fast till you have sighted it (i.e. the new moon), and if the weather were cloudy, then complete it as thirty days."

In the narration of Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: "The month of Ramadhan may consist of twenty-nine days. So do not fast until you have sighted it (the new moon) and do not break fast, until you have sighted it (the new moon of Shawwal), and if the sky is cloudy for you, then complete it (thirty days)."

Muslim also reported on the authority of Abdullah Ibnu Omar that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “The month of Ramadhan may consist of twenty-nine days; so when you see the new moon observe fast and when you see (the new moon again at the commencement of the month of Shawwal) then break it, and if the sky is cloudy for you, then calculate it (and complete thirty days)."

Ibn Umar (ra) reported, "During the time of the Prophet (saas), the companions went looking for the new crescent. So I told the Prophet (saw) that I saw it. So he fasted and told the companions to fast." [Abu Dawud & Hakim]

Again Ramadhan Mubarak to all muslims.
 

AAK

Member
Ramadan Kareem everyone.

BTW, did any of you guys go to the ISNA convention at Columbus, OHIO? It was great, I had a lot of fun.
 

Nooreo

Member
Im fasting you guys :| my mom wants me to do it so i am lol. Also im gonna stick around and see what this Ramadan stuff is for my dad told me its to feel the pain and agony of the poor.

as you can see im not very religious.
 
Himuro said:
I am of the opinion that at the end of the day, when everyone's judged, sex won't really matter. So why do this? In the days of Muhammad they didn't do this. Apparently it's because the men lack the self restraint to pray in the sight of a woman? "Oh dear, that chick has nice tits! Oh crap, I'm supposed to be praying." Something like that?

If I'm not mistaken it requires the testimony of two women to equal that of one man. I'm not sure whether or not and muslims here will put this up for debate, but let it be clear that the passage discussed is enough that Sharia takes it to be true.
 

AmMortal

Banned
Himuro said:
I want to talk about skepticisms and things I dislike in Islam in this post since they are pretty much the only things that are keeping me from converting aside from my inaccess to a mosque for the time being. I have been reading multiple books, and in the end, I end up at the Qur'an as the ultimate word.

Currently I've been reading:

Why I am Muslim by Asma Gull Hasan - Good book that not only shares a lot of informative facts you probably don't know about Islam,but also stands out as a pretty good memoir in general.

Islam by Karen Armstrong - This woman is a beast. Her book is so descriptive, informative, and full of history tidbits a history fetish like me drools at.

Living Islam Outloud by Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur - Good book that gives a dude a woman's POV on the religion.

Lemme get this started:

1. The bullshit that is separating men and women at mosque's, gatherings;etc. This seems like something that has gained a following due to culture, and less about the religion, but nevertheless it has become a part of the religion's identity worldwide. For instance, at mosques, men and women pray in different sections. I highly disagree with this mentality. Being from America, I am used to mingling with women on daily basis, and I keep reading all of these stories, even from people who were born in America, that they have to keep their distance from the opposite sex, period, unless you are married. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what observation is after reading a lot of material.

First off, I want to disclose my feelings regarding separating men and women at mosques. From the mosque I've been to, I haven't been given a good first impression in this regard. I saw no woman there. The men's section took up 85% of the entire mosque's land area. The women's section is nowhere to be found. Maybe it's some shack in the back.

I thought it was just coincidence, but the more I read about separating men and women at Mosque, and placing the women in, for instance, the attic, the more I dislike this way of thinking.

I am of the opinion that at the end of the day, when everyone's judged, sex won't really matter. So why do this? In the days of Muhammad they didn't do this. Apparently it's because the men lack the self restraint to pray in the sight of a woman? "Oh dear, that chick has nice tits! Oh crap, I'm supposed to be praying." Something like that?

2. The forcing of hijab on women? What's with that? No where in the Qur'an does it say it's required, and unless my translation is wrong, it doesn't say cover head either. The contradiction is quite hilarious. I've seen so many women back home in Houston wearing Hijab, but wear the tighest shirts so they're tic tacs hang out. Oh, but it's okay! She's wearing Hijab!

3. The whole no dating thing. I don't get it at all. Fady described on msn, though, that the way Muslims do it is by getting engaged - which is basically an official statement that they're dating - which involves consulting the family of the man/woman and going from there. Still, some Muslims make it seem like the only way to date is to have sex. I also disagree with the no sex until marriage tenant since, I really don't think that having a scrap of paper and a ceremony changes how you feel about someone and that shouldn't really stop you from being able to express your feelings for them. Plus, I can't imagine having sex with someone when we get married for the first time and we aren't compatible.

Most of my issues with Islam, really has little to do with Islam and the people that practice it for the most part. So I guess that's some consolation, if any.

I truly just don't understand some of the way the people in the religion treat women. I think it is quite unfair. But the Qur'an itself is quite pro-woman. Odd.

Anyways, this interview is pretty interesting regarding this subject in general:

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/146/story_14617_1.html
.

Himuro, you are awesome and I applaude you for this.


Firstly, most, if not all of the issues you have raised there, are bothering to me as a Muslim as well. You are absolutely correct in how you view the treatement of women in the Islamic society.

1. The bullshit that is separating men and women at mosque's, gatherings;etc. This seems like something that has gained a following due to culture, and less about the religion, but nevertheless it has become a part of the religion's identity worldwide. For instance, at mosques, men and women pray in different sections. I highly disagree with this mentality. Being from America, I am used to mingling with women on daily basis, and I keep reading all of these stories, even from people who were born in America, that they have to keep their distance from the opposite sex, period, unless you are married. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what observation is after reading a lot of material.


As far as solid evidence concerns, The Prophet and His companions used to let women pray in the mosque, provided that one thing, and onlyone thing be done. Women pray in the back, not front. These stories about women being forced into attics and back shacks, is bothering to us Muslims as well. have long since went through suffered under education ( lack of primary education and literacy) of both the social aspects and
Islamic of their lives. Most of the Islamic world can't even read the Qur'an let alone understand it.

2. The forcing of hijab on women? What's with that? No where in the Qur'an does it say it's required, and unless my translation is wrong, it doesn't say cover head either. The contradiction is quite hilarious. I've seen so many women back home in Houston wearing Hijab, but wear the tighest shirts so they're tic tacs hang out. Oh, but it's okay! She's wearing Hijab!

This, I agree on 10000%. The tight skirts thing is bothering to me as well. It is because the parents do not have sufficient knowledge of their faith, and so think that only a Hijab is mandatory and that wearing tight clothes is worse then not wearing a hijab. Himuro, on this, I could not agree more with you to safe my life.


3. The whole no dating thing. I don't get it at all. Fady described on msn, though, that the way Muslims do it is by getting engaged - which is basically an official statement that they're dating - which involves consulting the family of the man/woman and going from there. Still, some Muslims make it seem like the only way to date is to have sex. I also disagree with the no sex until marriage tenant since, I really don't think that having a scrap of paper and a ceremony changes how you feel about someone and that shouldn't really stop you from being able to express your feelings for them. Plus, I can't imagine having sex with someone when we get married for the first time and we aren't compatible.


The only thing that Islam requires from you as a muslim engaging in a loving relationship. Is that before both of you are married to each other. Every time you want to date and have a chat to know each other, do it in a public space, restuarants, cafe's, etc. That is the only requirement.

Himuro, you are now on the same plaine of thought as most of us ( educated Muslims). You see what is wrong with the "Islamic" society and how it is far, very far from what Islam teaches us.
You now know why, I made this thread.

It wasn't just the Non-Muslims that made it an obligation for me to inform. It was for the Muslims equally, do you know how many PM's I've received saying " Man, I never knew those things, thanks for the thread ! " ?

Islam is in a position of whoever, does something good now, They willl be known in the Hereafter. " Holding on to the faith will be like holding on to hot coal"

In these times, The Ever-Living, has given us the perfect opportunity, to inform and receive ,nearly the rewards of Prophets.


I have supplicated for you that Allah might help you stand on your feet and give you that which is beyond on our comprehension as a Mercy from Him. May Allah Guide you and Love you, you are a good human being, and could be a better Muslim then I have ever been.

I feel inferior to you, you have gone through the hardest of test, it wasn't particularly easy for you to find the information that you have acquired. Nor was it in your reach, but Allah has chosen to show you, and you above all people. He has shown you the truth about Him, and how different from it Muslims are today.



It is now up to you.

All you have to do is choose.

May Allah give light to you in darkness.

Ameen.
 

AmMortal

Banned
Himuro said:
Really now. So it's less about getting that piece of paper which shows validation that you're married (Christianity) and more about loving the person? Where can I read more on this?



Heh. Wow. Thanks.

Reading up on Islam has been a pleasure. Honestly, not just Islam, but religion in general. The Mahabharata, the Ramayana in Hinduism...Buddhist history and philosophy, friggin' Taoism philosophy, Christianity, Islam, Judaism. It's all been fun researching the stuff.

I've been reading up on various world religions for about 3 years now.

No matter what I do, I have a tendency to research it. Now, coupled with an important life decision like committing apostasy, and possibly the most misunderstood mass of people in the world, I had to learn as much as possible.

I think I'm growing closer to my decision but I'd like to study and learn more before doing so.




Another misused verse is ayah 53 of Surah 33: "O you who believe, enter not the dwellings of the Prophet for a meal without waiting for the proper time...and when you ask of them (his wives) anything, ask of them from behind a curtain. That is purer for your hearts and their hearts...it is not for you to cause annoyance to the messenger of Allah, nor may you ever marry his wives after him. That in Allah's sight would be an enormity."

The verse is obviously directed at Muslim men describing their property conduct only with the wives of the Prophet. It continues, however, to the main reason that some Muslims believe that men and women must be separate in all spaces, and an excuse for some men to claim that all public space belongs to men alone. This is erroneous. The instruction relates only to the wives of the Prophet, and to proper behavior in the Prophet's house. Those who want to apply this verse to all Muslim women never assert that all Muslim women may not marry after the deaths of their husbands (although in practice, that is exactly what is expected of women in some Muslim societies according to their un-Islamic customs). Confining women to the kitchens of their houses during dinner parties, relegating women to back rooms with inadequate or worse, banning women from mosques, and bans by political authorities in some countries against women going to school, all come from warped interpretations of the previously mentioned verses.

A hadith often used in the control of women reads: "Women, when they travel a far distance, should have a muhrim with them." At the time of the Prophet, traveling even 40 miles could be very dangerous since roads were full of bandits and law consisted of each tribe's different rules and regulations. Rule of law that crossed tribal boundaries, and was consistent with a new concept in 7th century Arabia introduced by Islam. Today a women can travel halfway across the world by airplane in 19 hours, and remain safely among large groups of people at all times. Yet this hadith continues to be sued, even by a few Muslim leaders in large US cities, to prevent Muslim women from going from one city to another, from one part of the city to another, or from leaving the doorways of their apartments, alone.

The real question is, did the Prophet practice, encourage, or even condone surveillance and control behaviors towards women? He never did. Knowing this, it is up to each individual Muslim, as husband and wife, as extended family member, or as community member, to shape morally, ethically, psychologically, and physically sale and healthy society where families can raise happy and contributing members of society.


There is a huge amount of Misuse, for personal gain.
 
Himuro said:
I just find a lot of the sex related things to be silly.

Islam, like Christianity, is a patriarchal religion. Whether or not you think individual verses can be rationalized, it is quite clear the Koran was written in a different time with a different set of standards, and unfortunately that means male dominance.

castle007 said:
it means that everyone is born pure and muslim and depending on your environment and how you are raised, you will either drift from it or stick with it.

The concept of original sin doesn't exist in islam.

So for 40,000 years of modern man, people were all muslims, but mysteriously the religion didn't appear for 39,000 of those years?
 

AmMortal

Banned
TheHeretic said:
Islam, like Christianity, is a patriarchal religion. Whether or not you think individual verses can be rationalized, it is quite clear the Koran was written in a different time with a different set of standards, and unfortunately that means male dominance.



So for 40,000 years of modern man, people were all muslims, but mysteriously the religion didn't appear for 39,000 of those years?

No it is not.

We believe that God has sent 124,000 prophets throughout the history of mankind. To every tribe and nation.
 
AmMortal said:
The religion didn't "mysteriously appear" it was there from the beginning.

So how do you explain the prevalence of polytheism? If these prophets were explaining things clearly why did it take tens of thousands of years for Islam to finally appear?
 

AmMortal

Banned
TheHeretic said:
So how do you explain the prevalence of polytheism? If these prophets were explaining things clearly why did it take tens of thousands of years for Islam to finally appear?

Okay.

This is how it goes basically.

Prophet comes, gives people guidance. Prophet is a human being, dies, people make images or statues of him, to remember him, and then they themselves die. A couple of generations later, the new generations, look at these statues, but don't remember why they're here. But they do remember the slightest thing, it had to do with how to get close to God. So they start asking this statue to plead to go God to forgive their sins. Sins they deem themselves unworthy of asking God. A few generations later, it evolves, not only are they asking it for forgiveness, but they are worshipping it, bowing to it, calling it the holiest of holy. Not only this, but they make more graven images, because the population is too big to ask one statue, so they make an image of an animal that symbolizes the nurture of god , a cow, they also make a statue that symbolizes strength, the strenght of god, a lion. Then they start to worship these statues. That's how it went on and on. In the middle of this, a new prophet is called. and so on and so on.

It was there, from the very beginning, we believe that every religion on earth traces its roots to God, but in time deviated
 
AmMortal said:
Okay.

This is how it goes basically.

Prophet comes, gives people guidance. Prophet is a human being, dies, people make images or statues of him, to remember him, and then they themselves die. A couple of generations later, the new generations, look at these statues, but don't remember why they're here. But they do remember the slightest thing, it had to do with how to get close to God. So they start asking this statue to plead to go God to forgive their sins. Sins they deem themselves unworthy of asking God. A few generations later, it evolves, not only are they asking it for forgiveness, but they are worshipping it, bowing to it, calling it the holiest of holy. Not only this, but they make more graven images, because the population is too big to ask one statue, so they make an image of an animal that symbolizes the nurture of god , a cow, they also make a statue that symbolizes strength, the strenght of god, a lion. Then they start to worship these statues. That's how it went on and on.

"This is how it goes"? The indigenous religions we have documented didn't have a concept of "God" or "Gods". They essentially revere the earth, and have a strong sense of spirituality.

You've still done nothing to justify the Gods of the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. What a funny coincidence that Islam was invented on the curb of the rising popularity of monotheism, and funnier still is how so many characters from the old testament worked their way into the Koran.
 

AmMortal

Banned
TheHeretic said:
"This is how it goes"? The indigenous religions we have documented didn't have a concept of "God" or "Gods". They essentially revere the earth, and have a strong sense of spirituality.

You've still done nothing to justify the Gods of the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. What a funny coincidence that Islam was invented on the curb of the rising popularity of monotheism, and funnier still is how so many characters from the old testament worked their way into the Koran.

Ah, man.

Seriously?
 

Ydahs

Member
By being born Muslim means that one is born believing in the One and only God, Allah. It doesn't necessarily mean being born as a follower of Muhammad's religion.
 

AmMortal

Banned
Ydahs said:
By being born Muslim means that one is born believing in the One and only God, Allah. It doesn't necessarily mean being born as a follower of Muhammad's religion.


He knows this. Don't bother.
 
Ydahs said:
By being born Muslim means that one is born believing in the One and only God, Allah. It doesn't necessarily mean being born as a follower of Muhammad's religion.

The one and only God Allah didn't exist for the vast majority of humanity. The closest comparison I can make is with the Sun Gods.

AmMortal said:
Ah, man.

Seriously?

Theres nothing more obnoxious than someone who tries to debate through assumed higher knowledge. Ah man, seriously, isn't an argument. Its barely a sentence.
 
Dunno where this thread has started or ended

Just wanted to say two words:

[RANT MODE]

"F**K ISNA"

They are building a pseudo-Catholic Church Pappacy for Muslims in the United States that puts the power of the Vatican to shame.

Their dumb Aligarh-educated board members talk "modernism" as long as it doesn't affect their political status or their ability to exercise classist control over all Muslims to their incredibly narrow view of thinking.

Their basic line is a mix of fear mongering and caste-based-rule - it goes something like this -

"9/11-happened, you are not safe from the White Americans and Canadians, come listen to us, we have MDs, maybe our ancestors in India knew something about Islam before we used our wealth to oppress you 100 years ago, either way we want to win political points and maybe get elected in the future because we are medical doctors, you uneducated backwards "cultural muslims" who run gas stations and get along with your White neighbours need to come learn from us how to do it the RIGHT way"

The OP's title "OFFICIAL Islamic Thread" (WTF?) stinks of the same ISNA-inspired brainwashing

I hope the organization is utterly burned and destroyed to the ground and their leaders are stripped of their clothing and beat in a public square for turning the vast majority of American Muslims into mindless sheep.

What the hell happened to democracy or elections? They talk about how Islam is diverse, how it encourages popular participation. When was the last time these guys had a free and fair vote that reflected their constituencies?

They pick and groom an elite few people that they want to direct the organization, begging for money around the world to ensure their agenda is followed. Popular participation is impossible. How many Pakistanis, Arabs, Indonesians or Bangladeshis are on the board despite representing a great deal of the number of Muslims in the United States? The board is dominated by converts and Indian doctors and they don't want anyone else involved.

Cultural tolerance? Diversity in thought? Riiiiiight. One of the idiots on the board, Syed Sayyid and his henchmen came to speak at a local University a few years ago when I was asked to attend by some of the Muslim students.

The guy bashed and bemoaned the "backwards Muslims" that spoke "Urdu" or "Farsi" or "Malaysian" instead of learning the "truth" of Arabic. He said all that literature is a waste of time.

This is ironic because he kept touting his knowledge of "Hindi" or "Urdu" or whatever by quoting some poet from Uttar Pradesh - Mirza Ghalib - whenever someone asked him a question about the followings and teachings of the exalted Prophet Muhammed RSA. Apparently this Ghalib guy's best saying was when he was quite drunk. Mr. Sayyid seemed to be pretty obsessed with him.

He continued his shenannigans about how all languages but Arabic and English were bad and should be abandoned to become better "Modern Muslims that can participate in the country post-9/11."

He also gave a long lecture on how the Muslims should be reading Shakespeare to their children because "They have to embrace the superior culture and become modern Muslims to assert one unified identity against the Whites."

WTF? This is contrary to AMERICAN VALUES AND IDEALS. When the hell did reading SHAKESPEARE over literature in another language or anything in any language become American? What the hell with the racist underpinnings and sectarianism?

In America you have the freedom to do what you want to do as long as you abide by the principle of liberty and the norms of the social contract. THAT'S WHAT MAKES IT AMERICA, Syed, you numbnut.

I don't know about what they make you do in India or Pakistan or wherever you are from Syed, but in AMERICA, we don't make people read Shakespeare or pretend they are effeminate liberals to live their daily lives.

LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Nothing about Shakespeare or listening to the ramblings of a drunk Muslim poet.

ISNA claims all sorts of things, but ultimately their goal is consolidation of power, to prevent anyone from a different opinion expressing it, because they want to portray every Muslim as a sheep follower of their corrupt hierarchy.

If I count the number of idiots on that board and within their brain dead organization that have insulted Sufism (one of the shining BEACONS of Islam as far as I am concerned), or bemoaned cultural rituals hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world follow in peace and without problem, I'll be here all day.

I say this because I care for all Muslim people. I really do. Please wake up and pay attention to what is happening to the religion in this country in the fear mongering after 9/11 - not by George W Bush - but by the so-called "educated elites" in the faith, and please look at the kinds of people who are influencing the way Muslims think about being an American.

That is all.

[/RANT MODE]

Please continue with your discussions gentlemen.
 

Zapages

Member
ISNA occurs in Chicago, Chicago is predominantly made up of people from Hydrabad (India) and Karachi. So they have a lot of control over.

I've never been to their meetings and such. So I really don't know about the whole situation. Although I do know some crazy things occur like Fast Dating and other unislamic things during those meetings from all the talk on the Muslim Forums that I've read.

Anyway, Muslim guys and girls are separated during prayers in the Mosque.
 

Ydahs

Member
TheHeretic said:
The one and only God Allah didn't exist for the vast majority of humanity. The closest comparison I can make is with the Sun Gods.
If that's what you believe... though in Islam, we believe that Adam also worshiped in God, so everyone from Adam to the newborns today are born Muslim under Islam. You obviously aren't going to accept this becuase you don't believe in Allah.
 
Ydahs said:
If that's what you believe... though in Islam, we believe that Adam also worshiped in God, so everyone from Adam to the newborns today are born Muslim under Islam. You obviously aren't going to accept this becuase you don't believe in Allah.

Its incredibly arrogant to name newborns a specific religion, no different than affiliating a child with a political party. Religion is something you choose, it isn't something you are.

Adam is a part of the creationist myth, and you'd have a hard time reconciling modern science with an actual "first" human: thats not how evolution works.
 

Ydahs

Member
TheHeretic said:
Its incredibly arrogant to name newborns a specific religion, no different than affiliating a child with a political party. Religion is something you choose, it isn't something you are.

Adam is a part of the creationist myth, and you'd have a hard time reconciling modern science with an actual "first" human: thats not how evolution works.
Again, I'm not talking about "Muslim" in the sense we know it today. It's not being born into Islam, it's being born following the concept of monotheism and the message that all Prophets, from Adam to Jesus to Muhammad, sent to mankind.

A child's family chooses what religion their child follows, but when they are born, we consider them in Islam a child who believes in the one God.

Didn't I already mention this in my last post... Anyway, I don't know how else I can put it.
 
Ydahs said:
Again, I'm not talking about "Muslim" in the sense we know it today. It's not being born into Islam, it's being born following the concept of monotheism and the message that all Prophets, from Adam to Jesus to Muhammad, sent to mankind.

A child's family chooses what religion their child follows, but when they are born, we consider them in Islam a child who believes in the one God.

Didn't I already mention this in my last post... Anyway, I don't know how else I can put it.

I still don't understand how you explain the years of no God concept, to the years of polytheism. You mentioned it, but I don't understand it. How can a child believe in one God? A child doesn't believe in anything.
 

Ydahs

Member
TheHeretic said:
I still don't understand how you explain the years of no God concept, to the years of polytheism. You mentioned it, but I don't understand it. How can a child believe in one God? A child doesn't believe in anything.
It's my fault for making myself so unclear. I'm not good at explaining things. I can't explain it any better than I have so I suggest you ask AmMortal or another for an answer, as I'm not as knowledgeable as him. Sorry :p
 

F-Pina

Member
Hi.

A thread of this type in Gaf is really something. I read up to the 5th page all of the answers and it is truly cool that people are taking the time and patience to answer politely and not trolling too much. I will read more later.

Now here goes my part.
I do not believe in an all powerfull, all seeing being that created everything in the universe etc. I do believe that the persons who are responsible for the starting of the current main religions on earth existed and they were extremely inteligent, kind and way ahead of everyone else. They seemed to understand more than the common man and tried to help everyone around them. They started something and left a heavy legacy to us all.
I do think everyone is entitled to believe in what they want, i also think there is a lot to learn with religion and the teachings cointained in them. I can not, however, take word for word something that was written by the hand of man. We all know what man is capable of, don't we?

Anyway.
Its always all up in the air for interpretation.
Kudos to AmMortal for trying and achieving something here, an understanding and meeting of different persons with different beliefs.

Live and let live people... oh, and play games :)
 

AmMortal

Banned
TheHeretic said:
Its incredibly arrogant to name newborns a specific religion, no different than affiliating a child with a political party. Religion is something you choose, it isn't something you are.

Adam is a part of the creationist myth, and you'd have a hard time reconciling modern science with an actual "first" human: thats not how evolution works.

The answer is in your question.

You have to understand that, in Islam Children are symbols of innocence. And also, that in Islam the ultimate sin, is a distorted faith ( or none at all) in God.

As children, do not have the comprehension, to distinguish good from bad as much as an adult is capable of doing. They are innocent of this sin, as well as any other sin. Thus,children are considered Muslim, even if they are in a chruch, or in a temple praying.

Children are sinless, in every single thing they do.


F-Pina said:
Hi.

A thread of this type in Gaf is really something. I read up to the 5th page all of the answers and it is truly cool that people are taking the time and patience to answer politely and not trolling too much. I will read more later.

Now here goes my part.
I do not believe in an all powerfull, all seeing being that created everything in the universe etc. I do believe that the persons who are responsible for the starting of the current main religions on earth existed and they were extremely inteligent, kind and way ahead of everyone else. They seemed to understand more than the common man and tried to help everyone around them. They started something and left a heavy legacy to us all.
I do think everyone is entitled to believe in what they want, i also think there is a lot to learn with religion and the teachings cointained in them. I can not, however, take word for word something that was written by the hand of man. We all know what man is capable of, don't we?

Anyway.
Its always all up in the air for interpretation.
Kudos to AmMortal for trying and achieving something here, an understanding and meeting of different persons with different beliefs.

Live and let live people... oh, and play games :)


Just doing our job :)

One thing. Muhammad could neither read nor write, so that whole bolded part doesn't apply to a certain extent :)
 

F-Pina

Member
Yeap, i read that part earlier that he didn't read or write. When i wrote "man" i meant "men", like the human being, not the person itself. That applies to all the books.

My native tongue is not english so sometimes something slips, sorry :)
 

AmMortal

Banned
F-Pina said:
Yeap, i read that part earlier that he didn't read or write. When i wrote "man" i meant "men", like the human being, not the person itself. That applies to all the books.

My native tongue is not english so sometimes something slips, sorry :)

It's okay man.
 
AmMortal said:
The answer is in your question.

You have to understand that, in Islam Children are symbols of innocence. And also, that in Islam the ultimate sin, is a distorted faith ( or none at all) in God.

As children, do not have the comprehension, to distinguish good from bad as much as an adult is capable of doing. They are innocent of this sin, as well as any other sin. Thus,children are considered Muslim, even if they are in a chruch, or in a temple praying.

Children are sinless, in every single thing they do.

Much clearer. So the non believers go to hell?
 
TheHeretic said:
I still don't understand how you explain the years of no God concept, to the years of polytheism. You mentioned it, but I don't understand it. How can a child believe in one God? A child doesn't believe in anything.

First of all define polytheism? I define it to mean worship of multiple Gods with equal influence or power or divided responsibilities. If that's the case, for example, Hinduism is not really polytheistic per say. The "Gods" in Hinduism are all of one essence, Brahma which is based on a core cycle of Karma. That is why *some* Muslim rulers in India considered Hinduism to be Monotheistic and Hindus as protected peoples.

There is ultimately One Essence which is the same as One God. People have taken the purity of One God and invented sub-Gods and deities around it to explain phenomena or to have political or religious influence, which is what the original religion of One God (which is now manifested as Islam) suggested. Muslims, generally, will say that Hinduism (Like Christianity) is an example of the idea of One God corrupted.

Basically, people want to have contact or have physical feel of God (beacuse philosophically the concept is difficult to grasp). So they created "statues" that they could touch, that were ultimately an "inspiration" of the One God. Since they were allowed to do this, they created different "sub-Gods" from the one "Brahma" defined by the laws of Karma, but had different roles and responsibilities to help people understand natural phenomena and things.

I think Muslims will say much of the same is true with most "polytheistic" or "monotheistic" religions or even nature-based religions. For example, in Islam, Jesus is revered as a man and solely as a man. A great man mind you, but a man never the less. He taught people the same message, that blind rituals, customs, etc were bad, that people should worship One God. That is all. Simple. Easy. But eventually corrupted and misunderstood to mean he was the literal Son of God.

This is not very much unlike what Protestants believe or even Buddhists or Taoists or Jews or many other religions in the World. Even the ANCIENT GREEKS believed in the concept of one essence/God. It's called "chronos" or "destiny" that even Zeus is beholden to, controlled by, and ultimately pulled by. The ancient tribes of Syria that worshipped the moon, Zoroastrianism, even the worshippers of fire.

Hence, Islam returns to the roots by denying the existence of sub-Gods and deities, by banning the creation of idols and pictures of revered Prophets, by saying physical phenomena, the sun and moon, the earth, the stars, the galaxy, all exist naturally within the balance of the Universe, and keeping the relationship with that one essence (what we call God or Allah) and it alone (the highest essence, the Creator, Brahma, Chronos, what have you).

Islam in the beginning was very different from the institutionalized Islam you have today. People were brought under the fold of the belief not by converting, but REVERTING, stripping away the additions to their own various religions and realizing that the core essence of what they believed was infact Islam.

Literally, it means "submission" - "submission" to the will of the One Core Essence - One God. Not Hercules, not Jesus, not Mohammad, not Zoroaster, Not Siddharta, not Moses, not any human being or invented deity. The people above may have been Prophets, Messengers, or pious people. But they were not in any way the one core essence, the order of the universe, manifested in human form.

Muslims would point out that each tribe or religious group of people essentially worshipped one primary essence. Infact, to combat the creation of various sub-deities in various cultures, Muslim scientists used mathematics and science to explain phenomena that people had attributed different Gods and deities to.

Anyways, it's really a philosophical thing. The only way you can argue the point that we are discussing is if you say:

1. Atheism is correct (which is impossible to prove, since you can't disprove the existence of God)
2. Polytheism is correct (which is impossible to prove, since you can't prove Any God let alone Multiple Gods exist)
3. Agnosticism is incorrect (which is impossible, because Agnostics do not deny the existence of a force higher than them, but can not clearly show it's existence either)

What Muslims brought with them in addition to the idea of One God everpresent since the beginning of time, were their cultural habits, their philosophies, their ideology, their ideas, etc. These are what I think the majority of people focus their attention on.

So if you have a criticism, I think it should be with what the rituals and practices are, not what the core philosophical belief is, because it's really not all that different from the majority of religious beliefs. Infact, strip away the rituals, and it's basically agnosticism believeing there is a force but it can not be physically shown or proven other than within the intelligence of design and the balance of the world.
 
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