What is faith if we don't ask?! In the Qur'an you will find the verses where angels questioned Allah and Ibrahim asked Allah to show him how he can bring dead back to life. Moses too asked to see God. Mohammed himself when he heard the "revelation", as Muslims believe, for the first time, he thought that he was possessed by "jinn". So yeah let's doubt, because those who are certain about everything are the ones that can easily give up on what they have been so sure about when a moment of truth takes place. All I have to say here is just let's be honest with ourselves!!
I have been thinking about your question. Before I say my opinion about your question, I feel there are some tips I have to remind myself and you of: - the honesty with ourselves and the objectivity in our research, using the logical reasoning and referring always to the original sources. The objectivity also includes pushing away any pressure that might affect our judgement. - Start with the big issues, and avoid getting into details too soon!! If we consider a case for someone who's looking into Islam, he/she should start by looking at how Islam views god, what the purpose of life is as viewed by Islam, why we are here, is there going to be another life after death?! and questions similar to these. The first 10 years of the revelation of the Qur'an, (The Qur'an was revealed to the prophet in a period of 23 years), talked mainly about these topics. Stay critical!! Keep questioning till you find a truth. Give yourself plenty of time alone; go to the beach and look into the sky and ask God, if you believe in his existence, to guide you to the truth. If after objective and honest looking for the truth, your doubt lead you to disbelief, then I don't think there is much to do about it!!
firstly Anwar, thank you for your thoughtful reply :-)
I agree, start with big issues first and move forward from there. However, would you agree that religion should hold up even as you work through details? your faith should not be destroyed by both main pillars and details, correct?
So my questioning, research etc lead me to disbelief... what will be my destiny? what will happen to me?
Good points in the video. Thank you for sharing : )
When I converted to Islam my best friend brought up many of these same points. It seems harsh I know but our minds can only comprehend what we have been taught. I see and understand for example by people take God as a joke because of the media/society mocking him (Christian God) and Jesus. It makes the whole concept seem really silly but it's only because our language and understanding has made us feel like this. It is the same with our emotions. We're exposed to certain things thus causing us to feel certain ways. Why do some people rape while others feel disgust of the very thought? How come being stoned to death was acceptable thousands of years ago but it is not today? We're taught today to feel compassion for such issues. To feel empathy. But does everything need an answer? Many things are raib (only Allah knows the answer). Human's are like computers we're only made to know what we were built to know. This is how I see it. I don't know if it makes sense or if it's also harsh. But Islam just makes sense for me.
Dear Chiiqu (is that the correct way to write your name?) firstly, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment :-)
does everything need an answer? probably not. i'm perfectly happy not having ALL the answers, well at least most of the time :-) BUT when you have a scripture that was supposedly dictated by God would you not expect it to be flawless? simply perfect within the boundaries of its covers?
i would like to ask you sth if I may :-) tell me, what's the biggest crime according to Islam and what's the punishment for it?
I think we all have our doubts and as Human beings it's normal. I will always remember one of the French Philosopher I studied at School-He said something like: "There is no real proof that God exists.So or you decide not to believe he exists and it is hard, or you believe he does and if you are wrong you risk nothing".
that sounds like Pascal Wager. I'm not trying to prove or disprove God. As far as I can go is to try to determine whether God of the scriptures, as we know them, exist. Whether Islam is the true religion.
and of course people will choose to believe whatever they want :-)
Firstly almost, you're welcome :D Yeah I agree, a religion that's supposedly came from God has to be complete and flawless. I just meant that when you understand the basis of the religion, that would make it much easier to see through other details.
About your destiny, I REALLY don't know!! It's not my duty to judge people. Only God can decide your destiny. Finally about those who leave Islam: it's not my call to decide where they go after death. As for the part in this life, I believe that everyone has the right to choose their paths.
I believe the has always been perfect. People have just tapered with it, and many things lost in translation. I also think as the world changed it's becoming harder to follow the rules of the Qu'ran. People are trying to change the very words meanings. I think other try to complicate it when it's simple. Many say all Muslims should know Arabic to understand the Qu'ran's true meaning and I agree with this. It just makes sense because as I said many things are mixed in translation. Human's have imperfected it, God's will, to make it a challenge for us in having true faith. It's all a challenge because attaining Jannah shouldn't be so easy.
The biggest crime in Islam would be polytheism. Punishment is hell fire. Others that I've read mentioned are stealing, polygamy, and sodomy. Do I think people should be stoned to death for committing these crimes? I'm not sure. I think that if a person is sincere and honest wouldn't have to face such harshness. If a person had faith in Allah, was a true Muslim, they shouldn't have to face such consequences. A un-believer I don't think should face these things either because they don't agree with Gods law so they should do as they wish. It seems Allah has allowed this too. Free will and laws for people to change the Islamic law.
I really enjoy debating and your questions! It helps me build my faith :D I hope I don't sound harsh and I do not mind anything you ask~ A lot of Muslim get frustrated on such topics but I see it as a challenge, it's fun :)
hi Anwar! thanks for coming back to my questions :-)
you answered my question in such a diplomatic manner! i don't want to seem as drilling a hole in your stomach but what if i rephrase the question to:
according to the Qur'an what kind of fate am I ELIGIBLE FOR as a non-believer? I'm not asking you to judge me. I'm asking you to give me your opinion based on YOUR understanding of the Qur'an with a disclaimer that the final judgement is reserved to God. See, I got your back ;-)
if you don't want to answer, that's fine, i won't push you :-) hope you are in good health, take care!
people tampered with the Qur'an? isn't it supposed to be protected from that by God?
are you also saying that Qur'an can only be understood in its entirety in Arabic?
I know, the biggest crime is shirk. I have always thought that no.2 would be disbelief or non-belief, no?
i'm glad that you are taking sth out of this blog and questions, whatever it may be :D i think debating and questioning is healthy, it keeps the brain robust :-) take care!
I would agree with Usagi, the translation has changed the original words of the Qu'ran, and human had felt free to interpret it the way they want. You outlined it well in one of your post - I think it is why many Muslims are learning Arabic, to get God message right.
would it mean then that God didn't protect his message? and to me if Qur'an can only be fully understood in Arabic then it cannot be considered universal. but that's just me :-)
I think God let free will to men to do what they wish to do. Some stayed in the path and some not. Imagine a God who would oblige you to do this or that. Where would be your freedom?
I think it is the same for the others Scriptures - you can find so many different Bibles and not one of them will say exactly the same thing. One church will tell you to use this one and another one a different version, everybody thinking the one he/she reads is the best one, expressing the real word of God.
All scriptures should be studied in their original language. Unfortunately not a lot of people speak or read Hebrew these days.
I think anyway what matters is what you have in your heart, the love you share with others. You can be the best to practice your religion but if God is not in your heart every minute of every day you are missing the most important part of the Divine Message.
I'm going to answer your questions in a post on my blog : ) I really love this because it's really building my faith. You have made me sit all day thinking about what you have asked me because at first I didn't know what to say but praise be to Allah I've found some answers I'd like to share with everyone.
please don't take it personally but I think you are changing goalposts. Islamic tradition, to the best of my knowledge, tells me that the Qur'an has been protected by God and all Qur'ans all over the world are exactly the same. I stick with that. This is not the case with the Bible, agreed.
After all you wrote, you said that it's most important what's in your heart. Scripture can be made redundant then, no?
I will collect the points you and others made and write about them in another post, will be easier :-) take care Marie :-)
@Usagi
great, link my post up pls :-) i'm glad that you are taking sth out of this as I'm learning loads too! look forward to reading your post :-) stay well!
No worries, it's what dialogue is for. Your post brings millions of questions. And that's good! Because it makes us all think about our faith.
My knowledge of Islam is a bit limited as I have just starting reading the Qu'ran. My husband told me all Qu'ran over the world are the same - in Arabic languages.
Hello again :) You're not pushing me to answer, I want to. I wasn't diplomatic at all, so my answer won't change. But I want to make it clearer and in more details. Well, it's no secret that the Qur'an states clearly that the "disbelievers" are going to be in hell. But, there are some issues here like who a disbeliever is, what if that someone, assuming Islam is the true religion, didn't get the message of Islam or it didn't make sense to him/her. An interesting fact about the word "K F R", the root of kafir, is that it originally means in Arabic to hide or to cover. So, a farmer used to be called a kafir (Don't do it, it had lost this meaning :D), because he covers seeds with soil. It's like if it's talking about people who are hiding the truth, or not willing to hear it. That's why it's one of the basic beliefs that it's not permissible for anyone to say that someone is going to hell or paradise, no matter how evil or good he/she is.
I hope that makes my point clearer, and thanks for "getting my back" ^^.
sorry for late reply and not responding to what you posted. I am working on a separate post so that addresses questions/issues you and other raised. Thank you for your patience :-) hope you are well :-)
I left a comment on Usagis blog, not sure if you read it :)
But just to dispel your doubt, The Quraan is in its absolute original form, as it was revealed to the prophet (saw). (it has not been tampered with). Allah has promised to protect it, and it will be. As for whether the Quraan can only be understood if you speak arabic, then the answer is no. We have scholars all over the world who have interpreted the meanings of the verses of the Quraan in different languages to help us, people who dont know Arabic. its absolutely commendable to study arabic as its the language of the quraan, but its not compulsary - That alone tells you that you need not speak arabic in order to understand the Quraan.
"does everything need an answer? probably not. i'm perfectly happy not having ALL the answers, well at least most of the time :-) BUT when you have a scripture that was supposedly dictated by God would you not expect it to be flawless? simply perfect within the boundaries of its covers?"
Let me ask you something - What shows more faith, believing AFTER seing something, or believing something even though you havnt seeing it, but are told to believe it? The latter, is it not :).. The fact that we as humans dont have the answer to everything does not make the Quraan less than perfect. We are put on this earth to test our faith, and how is that tested, by believing without a shadow of doubt. Do you doubt the existance of Heaven and hell because no human has seen it, so they cannot confirm its existance? NO! :)... So thats the test of faith, we may not always have the answers but thats part of believing. And its not as if we're been gullible, we have more than enough answers to convince us that we are on the straight. Some things we're unable to understand because we are mere human being, we dont have divine wisdom, but thats part of believing and having faith. :)
Oh and one more thing, I know you're not YET a muslim :).. But if you want to understand more, you need to look at the Quraan as well as the Ahadeeth and Sunnah of the Prophet. All three sources form the basis of Islam.
hi Sa'dia :-) thanks for stopping by! i'm currently working on a detailed reply which will be the next post :-) so please forgive me for not replying to your comment right now... thank you and take care!
I wanted to come back to your reply about disbelievers. You mentioned different ‘types’ of disbelievers: 1) a non-Muslim simply because he/she didn’t ge the message of Islam 2) someone who plainly REJECTS Islam because it doesn’t make sense to them and they consider Islam NOT to be the truth. 3) those who KNOW that Islam is the TRUTH but they cover it.
Category 2&3 would be condemned to eternal fire. Right? As for cat. 3, do you think that people at the time who KNEW that Islam was true and not only rejected it but also COVERED the truth KNOWING all along they will be roasted in hellfire for ETERNITY are sane? Why would anyone want to do that you think?
In fact, I was not classifying disbelievers into categories and giving judgement about who would go to hell fire and who would not. I was rather giving examples about how such judgement would face several problems like the ones I mentioned, which makes it hard to say about a certain person weather he/she is going to hell or paradise. Anyways, since you took these three types of "disbelievers" out of the examples I gave, I would answer the questions you raised based on MY understanding.
Let me begin with the first category, I don't think a man is responsible for something he didn't get or know about. We can easily agree on that. I might include here someone who read or heard about Islam from sources that give a wrong picture of Islam. For example, someone whose only sources are from anti-Islam point of view.
I also believe that if someone has true will to submit to the truth if he/she found it, and that person studied Islam but it didn't make sense to him/her, I believe that such a person does not deserve punishment for that. That's being said, I am not sure that will excuse that person to do bad deeds that don't need any proof for being wrong like harming others, killing someone and so on. Once more, I believe that we all will face God in the day of judgement and it's only him who knows where we are going to be after this life muslims and non-muslims; that's only how I understand it. That's what I have in mind about the second category.
I'll discuss the third category in another comment.
I hope you didn't perceive my classification of non-believers as putting words in your mouth, it wasn't my intention. for me it's just easier to see things in bullet points sometimes and as far as I understood from your previous comment, these are the 'types' or possible circumstances where one can find itself in disbelief and of course they should be judged differently. that's all I got from your post and we seem to be on the same page :-)
You asked how would a person, who knows that Islam is the truth and that he/she will be in Jahannam if not accepting Islam, be sane. Well, I'll start by giving few examples about such people. In the Qur'an and in the Bible, iblis(Satan) who did not only know about hell and paradise, but he rather saw them. But he still didn't obey the command of his lord to bow to Adam out of arrogance. Why would I mention a story that you might even don't believe in. Well, you don't have to believe it to see that this same reason is the one that causes most of this type of rejecting the truth. The Qur'an says about Pharaoh and his people, when they reject what Moses brought them, "And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness. So see how was the end of the corrupters"(27:14). In Islam, the Qur'an talks in few occasions about some of the "Kuffar" in Mecca who rejected the prophethood of Muhammad and the claim that Qur'an is the word of Allah, although they believed him deep down. Abu jahl, the first anime of the prophet, said " "O Allah! If this (Qur'an) is indeed the Truth from You), then rain down on us a shower of stones from the sky or bring on us a painful punishment"(8:33). There's a famous quote of him comparing his tribe to the tribe of Muhammad in getting the honor among the Arabs: "... we did everything they did and as we became in an equal position, someone of them came out claiming that he got a revelation from God; how would we ever get that?".
I believe that we humans can reject the truth when we know it; it's quite normal. Another reason that may cause that too is the fear of social rejection; many examples are mentioned in the Qur'an. You have to observe here when I talk about "knowing the truth", I am not only talking about one of two choices; either he knows it or he doesn't. He might know part of the truth, so I think he's responsible for that and he has to look for what's remaining of it.
Finally, yeah I think such people can be very sane. There might not be so many of them, but they exist. You might share that with me if you think about it a little bit deeper. I hope that this answers something!
your English is very good, I think I understood what you said :-)
what I believe doesn't matter. I go by what the Qur'an says and try to make sense of it. about Iblis, wasn't he a fallen angel or did i get it mixed up?
Anwar, to be completely honest with you if I knew that Islam was the true religion I would accept it, whether I liked it or not. I really would. So the idea that someone acknowledges that islam is true and knows that he/she will be punished severely for denying it, doesn't make much sense to me. But then again my understanding is not more valid than yours :-)
Iblis, according the the Qur'an, was not an angel but a "jinn". The Qur'an doesn't mention why he was with the angels though.
I already knew that you don't acknowledge Islam to be the true religion and that's fine. And by the way, I am not trying to convince you otherwise. I myself have so many questions regarding some aspects of the religion. All I am doing here is giving some answers, maybe convincing maybe not, about some of your questions. I have learned a lot from you through that.
same here Anwar. i didn't set up this blog to make people leave religion. as i said in my recent post I find islam fascinating subject to study and as such it is important to get it right. so a big thank you for engaging with me cause I learned a lot from you as well :-) take care!
33 comments:
What is faith if we don't ask?! In the Qur'an you will find the verses where angels questioned Allah and Ibrahim asked Allah to show him how he can bring dead back to life. Moses too asked to see God. Mohammed himself when he heard the "revelation", as Muslims believe, for the first time, he thought that he was possessed by "jinn". So yeah let's doubt, because those who are certain about everything are the ones that can easily give up on what they have been so sure about when a moment of truth takes place. All I have to say here is just let's be honest with ourselves!!
what if doubt takes you to disbelief?
Nice poem, it really resonates with me.
I have been thinking about your question. Before I say my opinion about your question, I feel there are some tips I have to remind myself and you of:
- the honesty with ourselves and the objectivity in our research, using the logical reasoning and referring always to the original sources. The objectivity also includes pushing away any pressure that might affect our judgement.
- Start with the big issues, and avoid getting into details too soon!! If we consider a case for someone who's looking into Islam, he/she should start by looking at how Islam views god, what the purpose of life is as viewed by Islam, why we are here, is there going to be another life after death?! and questions similar to these. The first 10 years of the revelation of the Qur'an, (The Qur'an was revealed to the prophet in a period of 23 years), talked mainly about these topics.
Stay critical!! Keep questioning till you find a truth. Give yourself plenty of time alone; go to the beach and look into the sky and ask God, if you believe in his existence, to guide you to the truth.
If after objective and honest looking for the truth, your doubt lead you to disbelief, then I don't think there is much to do about it!!
firstly Anwar, thank you for your thoughtful reply :-)
I agree, start with big issues first and move forward from there.
However, would you agree that religion should hold up even as you work through details? your faith should not be destroyed by both main pillars and details, correct?
So my questioning, research etc lead me to disbelief... what will be my destiny? what will happen to me?
what do you think about those who leave Islam?
thanks again :-)
Good points in the video. Thank you for sharing : )
When I converted to Islam my best friend brought up many of these same points. It seems harsh I know but our minds can only comprehend what we have been taught. I see and understand for example by people take God as a joke because of the media/society mocking him (Christian God) and Jesus. It makes the whole concept seem really silly but it's only because our language and understanding has made us feel like this. It is the same with our emotions. We're exposed to certain things thus causing us to feel certain ways. Why do some people rape while others feel disgust of the very thought? How come being stoned to death was acceptable thousands of years ago but it is not today? We're taught today to feel compassion for such issues. To feel empathy. But does everything need an answer? Many things are raib (only Allah knows the answer). Human's are like computers we're only made to know what we were built to know. This is how I see it. I don't know if it makes sense or if it's also harsh. But Islam just makes sense for me.
Dear Chiiqu (is that the correct way to write your name?)
firstly, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment :-)
does everything need an answer? probably not. i'm perfectly happy not having ALL the answers, well at least most of the time :-) BUT when you have a scripture that was supposedly dictated by God would you not expect it to be flawless? simply perfect within the boundaries of its covers?
i would like to ask you sth if I may :-) tell me, what's the biggest crime according to Islam and what's the punishment for it?
I think we all have our doubts and as Human beings it's normal.
I will always remember one of the French Philosopher I studied at School-He said something like: "There is no real proof that God exists.So or you decide not to believe he exists and it is hard, or you believe he does and if you are wrong you risk nothing".
hi Marie,
that sounds like Pascal Wager.
I'm not trying to prove or disprove God. As far as I can go is to try to determine whether God of the scriptures, as we know them, exist. Whether Islam is the true religion.
and of course people will choose to believe whatever they want :-)
thanks for stopping by :)
Firstly almost, you're welcome :D
Yeah I agree, a religion that's supposedly came from God has to be complete and flawless. I just meant that when you understand the basis of the religion, that would make it much easier to see through other details.
About your destiny, I REALLY don't know!! It's not my duty to judge people. Only God can decide your destiny.
Finally about those who leave Islam: it's not my call to decide where they go after death. As for the part in this life, I believe that everyone has the right to choose their paths.
I believe the has always been perfect. People have just tapered with it, and many things lost in translation. I also think as the world changed it's becoming harder to follow the rules of the Qu'ran. People are trying to change the very words meanings. I think other try to complicate it when it's simple. Many say all Muslims should know Arabic to understand the Qu'ran's true meaning and I agree with this. It just makes sense because as I said many things are mixed in translation. Human's have imperfected it, God's will, to make it a challenge for us in having true faith. It's all a challenge because attaining Jannah shouldn't be so easy.
The biggest crime in Islam would be polytheism. Punishment is hell fire. Others that I've read mentioned are stealing, polygamy, and sodomy. Do I think people should be stoned to death for committing these crimes? I'm not sure. I think that if a person is sincere and honest wouldn't have to face such harshness. If a person had faith in Allah, was a true Muslim, they shouldn't have to face such consequences. A un-believer I don't think should face these things either because they don't agree with Gods law so they should do as they wish. It seems Allah has allowed this too. Free will and laws for people to change the Islamic law.
I really enjoy debating and your questions! It helps me build my faith :D I hope I don't sound harsh and I do not mind anything you ask~ A lot of Muslim get frustrated on such topics but I see it as a challenge, it's fun :)
hi Anwar! thanks for coming back to my questions :-)
you answered my question in such a diplomatic manner! i don't want to seem as drilling a hole in your stomach but what if i rephrase the question to:
according to the Qur'an what kind of fate am I ELIGIBLE FOR as a non-believer? I'm not asking you to judge me. I'm asking you to give me your opinion based on YOUR understanding of the Qur'an with a disclaimer that the final judgement is reserved to God. See, I got your back ;-)
if you don't want to answer, that's fine, i won't push you :-) hope you are in good health, take care!
hi Usagi (?)
welcome to my humble blog/ramblings :-)
people tampered with the Qur'an? isn't it supposed to be protected from that by God?
are you also saying that Qur'an can only be understood in its entirety in Arabic?
I know, the biggest crime is shirk. I have always thought that no.2 would be disbelief or non-belief, no?
i'm glad that you are taking sth out of this blog and questions, whatever it may be :D i think debating and questioning is healthy, it keeps the brain robust :-) take care!
I would agree with Usagi, the translation has changed the original words of the Qu'ran, and human had felt free to interpret it the way they want. You outlined it well in one of your post - I think it is why many Muslims are learning Arabic, to get God message right.
{Usagi&Chiiqu are same person xD I just changed my name/picture. Blog is going through some changes. Sorry}
Marie,
would it mean then that God didn't protect his message?
and to me if Qur'an can only be fully understood in Arabic then it cannot be considered universal. but that's just me :-)
I think God let free will to men to do what they wish to do. Some stayed in the path and some not. Imagine a God who would oblige you to do this or that. Where would be your freedom?
I think it is the same for the others Scriptures - you can find so many different Bibles and not one of them will say exactly the same thing. One church will tell you to use this one and another one a different version, everybody thinking the one he/she reads is the best one, expressing the real word of God.
All scriptures should be studied in their original language. Unfortunately not a lot of people speak or read Hebrew these days.
I think anyway what matters is what you have in your heart, the love you share with others. You can be the best to practice your religion but if God is not in your heart every minute of every day you are missing the most important part of the Divine Message.
Stay well.
I agree with Marie.
I'm going to answer your questions in a post on my blog : ) I really love this because it's really building my faith. You have made me sit all day thinking about what you have asked me because at first I didn't know what to say but praise be to Allah I've found some answers I'd like to share with everyone.
@Marie
please don't take it personally but I think you are changing goalposts. Islamic tradition, to the best of my knowledge, tells me that the Qur'an has been protected by God and all Qur'ans all over the world are exactly the same. I stick with that. This is not the case with the Bible, agreed.
After all you wrote, you said that it's most important what's in your heart. Scripture can be made redundant then, no?
I will collect the points you and others made and write about them in another post, will be easier :-)
take care Marie :-)
@Usagi
great, link my post up pls :-) i'm glad that you are taking sth out of this as I'm learning loads too! look forward to reading your post :-) stay well!
No worries, it's what dialogue is for. Your post brings millions of questions. And that's good! Because it makes us all think about our faith.
My knowledge of Islam is a bit limited as I have just starting reading the Qu'ran. My husband told me all Qu'ran over the world are the same - in Arabic languages.
Take care too.
hey Marie, thanks for understanding :-) try reading the Qur'an in chronological order, apparently it makes for a different reading.
i really feel this blog was a good idea :)
take care x
Hello again :)
You're not pushing me to answer, I want to.
I wasn't diplomatic at all, so my answer won't change. But I want to make it clearer and in more details.
Well, it's no secret that the Qur'an states clearly that the "disbelievers" are going to be in hell. But, there are some issues here like who a disbeliever is, what if that someone, assuming Islam is the true religion, didn't get the message of Islam or it didn't make sense to him/her.
An interesting fact about the word "K F R", the root of kafir, is that it originally means in Arabic to hide or to cover. So, a farmer used to be called a kafir (Don't do it, it had lost this meaning :D), because he covers seeds with soil. It's like if it's talking about people who are hiding the truth, or not willing to hear it.
That's why it's one of the basic beliefs that it's not permissible for anyone to say that someone is going to hell or paradise, no matter how evil or good he/she is.
I hope that makes my point clearer, and thanks for "getting my back" ^^.
You may want to read the 10th chapter of the Qur'an, called Yunus. It talks about some related issues, especially in the last few pages of the surah.
hi Anwar,
sorry for late reply and not responding to what you posted. I am working on a separate post so that addresses questions/issues you and other raised.
Thank you for your patience :-) hope you are well :-)
Interesting debate..
I left a comment on Usagis blog, not sure if you read it :)
But just to dispel your doubt, The Quraan is in its absolute original form, as it was revealed to the prophet (saw). (it has not been tampered with). Allah has promised to protect it, and it will be. As for whether the Quraan can only be understood if you speak arabic, then the answer is no. We have scholars all over the world who have interpreted the meanings of the verses of the Quraan in different languages to help us, people who dont know Arabic. its absolutely commendable to study arabic as its the language of the quraan, but its not compulsary - That alone tells you that you need not speak arabic in order to understand the Quraan.
"does everything need an answer? probably not. i'm perfectly happy not having ALL the answers, well at least most of the time :-) BUT when you have a scripture that was supposedly dictated by God would you not expect it to be flawless? simply perfect within the boundaries of its covers?"
Let me ask you something - What shows more faith, believing AFTER seing something, or believing something even though you havnt seeing it, but are told to believe it? The latter, is it not :).. The fact that we as humans dont have the answer to everything does not make the Quraan less than perfect. We are put on this earth to test our faith, and how is that tested, by believing without a shadow of doubt. Do you doubt the existance of Heaven and hell because no human has seen it, so they cannot confirm its existance? NO! :)... So thats the test of faith, we may not always have the answers but thats part of believing. And its not as if we're been gullible, we have more than enough answers to convince us that we are on the straight. Some things we're unable to understand because we are mere human being, we dont have divine wisdom, but thats part of believing and having faith. :)
Oh and one more thing, I know you're not YET a muslim :).. But if you want to understand more, you need to look at the Quraan as well as the Ahadeeth and Sunnah of the Prophet. All three sources form the basis of Islam.
Take care!
hi Sa'dia :-)
thanks for stopping by! i'm currently working on a detailed reply which will be the next post :-) so please forgive me for not replying to your comment right now... thank you and take care!
Hi Anwar,
I wanted to come back to your reply about disbelievers.
You mentioned different ‘types’ of disbelievers:
1) a non-Muslim simply because he/she didn’t ge the message of Islam
2) someone who plainly REJECTS Islam because it doesn’t make sense to them and they consider Islam NOT to be the truth.
3) those who KNOW that Islam is the TRUTH but they cover it.
Category 2&3 would be condemned to eternal fire. Right? As for cat. 3, do you think that people at the time who KNEW that Islam was true and not only rejected it but also COVERED the truth KNOWING all along they will be roasted in hellfire for ETERNITY are sane? Why would anyone want to do that you think?
Hey, Thanks for coming back!
In fact, I was not classifying disbelievers into categories and giving judgement about who would go to hell fire and who would not. I was rather giving examples about how such judgement would face several problems like the ones I mentioned, which makes it hard to say about a certain person weather he/she is going to hell or paradise.
Anyways, since you took these three types of "disbelievers" out of the examples I gave, I would answer the questions you raised based on MY understanding.
Let me begin with the first category, I don't think a man is responsible for something he didn't get or know about. We can easily agree on that. I might include here someone who read or heard about Islam from sources that give a wrong picture of Islam. For example, someone whose only sources are from anti-Islam point of view.
I also believe that if someone has true will to submit to the truth if he/she found it, and that person studied Islam but it didn't make sense to him/her, I believe that such a person does not deserve punishment for that. That's being said, I am not sure that will excuse that person to do bad deeds that don't need any proof for being wrong like harming others, killing someone and so on. Once more, I believe that we all will face God in the day of judgement and it's only him who knows where we are going to be after this life muslims and non-muslims; that's only how I understand it. That's what I have in mind about the second category.
I'll discuss the third category in another comment.
hi Anwar,
I hope you didn't perceive my classification of non-believers as putting words in your mouth, it wasn't my intention. for me it's just easier to see things in bullet points sometimes and as far as I understood from your previous comment, these are the 'types' or possible circumstances where one can find itself in disbelief and of course they should be judged differently. that's all I got from your post and we seem to be on the same page :-)
looking forward to the next comment :)
That's alright!! I like your way.
You asked how would a person, who knows that Islam is the truth and that he/she will be in Jahannam if not accepting Islam, be sane. Well, I'll start by giving few examples about such people. In the Qur'an and in the Bible, iblis(Satan) who did not only know about hell and paradise, but he rather saw them. But he still didn't obey the command of his lord to bow to Adam out of arrogance. Why would I mention a story that you might even don't believe in. Well, you don't have to believe it to see that this same reason is the one that causes most of this type of rejecting the truth. The Qur'an says about Pharaoh and his people, when they reject what Moses brought them, "And they rejected them, while their [inner] selves were convinced thereof, out of injustice and haughtiness. So see how was the end of the corrupters"(27:14). In Islam, the Qur'an talks in few occasions about some of the "Kuffar" in Mecca who rejected the prophethood of Muhammad and the claim that Qur'an is the word of Allah, although they believed him deep down. Abu jahl, the first anime of the prophet, said " "O Allah! If this (Qur'an) is indeed the Truth from You), then rain down on us a shower of stones from the sky or bring on us a painful punishment"(8:33). There's a famous quote of him comparing his tribe to the tribe of Muhammad in getting the honor among the Arabs: "... we did everything they did and as we became in an equal position, someone of them came out claiming that he got a revelation from God; how would we ever get that?".
I believe that we humans can reject the truth when we know it; it's quite normal. Another reason that may cause that too is the fear of social rejection; many examples are mentioned in the Qur'an. You have to observe here when I talk about "knowing the truth", I am not only talking about one of two choices; either he knows it or he doesn't. He might know part of the truth, so I think he's responsible for that and he has to look for what's remaining of it.
Finally, yeah I think such people can be very sane. There might not be so many of them, but they exist. You might share that with me if you think about it a little bit deeper. I hope that this answers something!
P.S. Excuse my not-so-good English.
Hi Anwar :-)
your English is very good, I think I understood what you said :-)
what I believe doesn't matter. I go by what the Qur'an says and try to make sense of it.
about Iblis, wasn't he a fallen angel or did i get it mixed up?
Anwar, to be completely honest with you if I knew that Islam was the true religion I would accept it, whether I liked it or not. I really would. So the idea that someone acknowledges that islam is true and knows that he/she will be punished severely for denying it, doesn't make much sense to me. But then again my understanding is not more valid than yours :-)
hope you are well and thanks for your patience :)
Thank you!
Iblis, according the the Qur'an, was not an angel but a "jinn". The Qur'an doesn't mention why he was with the angels though.
I already knew that you don't acknowledge Islam to be the true religion and that's fine. And by the way, I am not trying to convince you otherwise. I myself have so many questions regarding some aspects of the religion. All I am doing here is giving some answers, maybe convincing maybe not, about some of your questions. I have learned a lot from you through that.
Thanks again :)
oh okay, thanks for clarification.
same here Anwar. i didn't set up this blog to make people leave religion. as i said in my recent post I find islam fascinating subject to study and as such it is important to get it right. so a big thank you for engaging with me cause I learned a lot from you as well :-)
take care!
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