The one about Violence

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, are you Sunni or Shia?

Sunni (Btw , about 90% of Muslims in the world are Sunni)

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:Whatever the case, the Muslim world is completely different. The dark ages in which the Muslim world now finds itself are not a result of increased religiosity, or religious adherence, but rather of decreased adherence and religiosity. That social dynamic has bred religious ignorance so that anything can now be passed off as religion if you have a long-enough beard.The Muslim world right now, is going through some kind of renaissance. There are many competing ideologies, and in time one will emerge to recapture the enlightenment of the past. The Qur'an certainly has not lost its influence on human development. Rather it now has the capacity to be more positively influential than ever.The Qur'an does not need to be 'retooled into a more progressive mindset'. It is a progressive mindset. The early Muslims were progressive people. Real Muslim scholars continue to be.The Qur'an therefore, is not only relevant to the modern world, but will always be. It enunciates prinicples of guidance for humanity. Humanity does not change, though the manifestation of the human condition does. Essentially, the problems are always the same, even if the symptoms become more complex.

Ma salaama (with peace)

While it makes a lot of sense, I have never seen this opinion in print or in the media. What would happen to an Islamic scholar if he publicly denounced extremism and called for returning to the humanistic roots of Islam?

They always do it and have always done it. Get off of mainstream media and you will find them. All the scholars/mosques that I know and have been to have denounced extremism and have begged Muslims to return to the right path and be united. I have watched a scholar cry begging for the unity of the ummah

Anonymous wrote:Muslima -

I carried you forward with me when I went to the alter to receive Communion. Remember God loves you and wants to having a loving personal relationship with you no matter who you are - whether you are male or female, a devout Muslim, a questioning Muslim, or not Muslim at all. As a Christian I am charged to pray for you. It is so blessed to receive Communion - you were there with me at the alter.

I think there is a lot of misinformation on all sides on this thread - everyone reading - God loves you - ask him to be present with you at all times and in all circumstances. Pray without ceasing as we are charged to do in tbe New Testament.

Blessings to all!

Thank you for your prayers! I pray that Allah never ceases to guide you as well~

'Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there ...
When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about'.......

Ma Salaama ( with Peace)

The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East by Robert Frisk

At 1,107 pages, this is the "War and Peace" of Middle East histories. It stretches the map eastward to Pakistan and westward to North Africa, and covers every major war and massacre of the last hundred years, going back to the Armenian genocide of 1915. The remarkable tour-de-force here is that Fisk's first-hand reporting is his most primary source for almost everything beginning in the mid-1970s: Fisk, who now writes for Britain's Independent, is the longest-serving western correspondent in the Middle East. His knowledge is encyclopedic!

Amazon Reviews : http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-War-Civilisation-Conquest/dp/1400075173/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407683752&sr=8-1&keywords=Robert+frisk

“Soldier and civilian, they died in their tens of thousands because death had been concocted for them, morality hitched like a halter round the warhorse so that we talk about “target-rich environments” and “collateral damage”-that most infantile of attempts to shake off the crime of killing-and report the victory parades, the tearing down of statues and the important of peace.

Governments like it that way. They want their people to see war as a drama of opposites, good and evil, “them” and “us”, victory or defeat. But war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.

I have witnessed events that over the years can only be defined as an arrogance of power. After the Allied victory of 1918, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career- in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad-watching these peoples within those borders burn. America invaded Iraq not for Saddam’s Hussein’s mythical “weapons of mass destruction” but to change the map of the Middle East, much as my father’s generation had done more than eighty years earlier.

We journalists should try to be the first impartial witnesses to history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so no one can say: “We didn’t know- no one told us. “Our job is to monitor the centers of power”. That is the best definition of journalism I have heard: to challenge authority-all authority especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die.

There are many people who do not have the true knowledge to make the right estimations regarding Islam and Muslims because of their ignorance. They have no idea of the love that 1.6 billion Muslims have for Allah and his messenger. So how can we blame them and hold them responsible for their ignorance?

As a Muslim woman living in America, I have seen it & heard it all, so I am totally desensitized to the insults directly at me or Islam. As far as people insulting the Prophet Muhammad saw & Islam, well People physically assaulted him during his life, people threw stones at him, they threw dirty intestines on him whilst he was praying, they threw their dirty garbage on him, they abused him, they killed his loved ones, poisoned his food, ridiculed him, laughed at him.However, although they hurt him, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) looked beyond his own wounds and forgave them, replying when asked whether to destroy them‘No, do not destroy them, for I hope that Allah will bring out of their offspring people who worship Him alone without associating any partner with Him in worship." What a beautiful excellent response, look at the humiliy, the control. This is the man's values that I follow, and he taught me better than that.

The honor of our messenger saw, the nobility, the respect, the love of our messenger, the status of our messenger saw is not something we give him; it's not something that comes from human beings. It came from the sky. It came from Allah. Nobody on the earth can take it away.. The Quran has come from the sky. People can burn copies of it, people can make fun of it, people can make pieces of it; it will not insult the Quran; because the Quran is in Laohe Mahfudh ( the preserved tablet in the seventh heaven,). It can not be insulted. It is above these insults.

Allah azzawajal took the most insulting things that were said about prophet saw and gave the most intellectual responses in the Quran. This is our religion. Two thirds of the Quran is a conversation with the people who didn’t even believe in it. What was prophet saw doing? Reciting it to people who don’t even believe. And they were insulting it back, criticizing it back; and there was a discussion happening!

May Allah educate ourselves, our family, our entire Ummah, the way it suppose to be educated. May Allah lift the Ummah from the darkness that it suffers from. May Allah make us of those who can speak the word of truth courageously and be able to engage with each other in civil, respectful disagreement when the time comes. And may Allah make us of those who truly represent the beauty of this Deen to their neighbors and to the world around us.

Ma Salaama (Peace) !

Anonymous wrote:Not a Muslim or a fan of Isal, but let's be accurate - Mohammed is a prophet of God, not God.

This is true!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima,

Turn on CNN an watch the coverage of ISIS. Please report back with your thoughts.

Thanks.

So terrible, did you see the news report that ISIS is using a square in Iraq to kill non-muslim men, and decapitate their children (their CHILDREN) and they are mounting the children's heads on sticks in the square.

How utterly and completely evil. How could anyone do that to children??

Terrible. Not defending them but maybe this is more about war and the leaders are manipulating others by misusing religion to carry out their crimes -- using religion like the way Hitler used propaganda to get others to support his efforts to exterminate Jews. In war, there are no rules and evil people commit atrocities against innocent civilians.

It is much easier to condemn Islam and 'oppressive Muslim men' than to unpack the intricate relationships between global politics related to empire building and capitalist expansion as well as regional and national struggles revolving around political and economic power and resources. As a Muslim woman living in America, I have seen it & heard it all, so I am totally desensitized to the insults directly at me or Islam. As far as people insulting the Prophet Muhammad saw & Islam, well People physically assaulted him during his life, people threw stones at him, they threw dirty intestines on him whilst he was praying, they threw their dirty garbage on him, they abused him, they killed his loved ones, poisoned his food, ridiculed him, laughed at him.However, although they hurt him, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) looked beyond his own wounds and forgave them, replying when asked whether to destroy them‘No, do not destroy them, for I hope that Allah will bring out of their offspring people who worship Him alone without associating any partner with Him in worship." What a beautiful excellent response, look at the humiliy, the control. This is the man's values that I follow, and he taught me better than that.

The honor of our messenger saw, the nobility, the respect, the love of our messenger, the status of our messenger saw is not something we give him; it's not something that comes from human beings. It came from the sky. It came from Allah. Nobody on the earth can take it away.. The Quran has come from the sky. People can burn copies of it, people can make fun of it, people can make pieces of it; it will not insult the Quran; because the Quran is in Laohe Mahfudh ( the preserved tablet in the 7th heaven). It can not be insulted. It is above these insults.

Allah azzawajal took the most insulting things that were said about prophet saw and gave the most intellectual responses in the Quran. This is our religion. Two thirds of the Quran is a conversation with the people who didn’t even believe in it. What was prophet saw doing? Reciting it to people who don’t even believe. And they were insulting it back, criticizing it back; and there was a discussion happening!

May Allah educate ourselves, our family, our entire Ummah, the way it suppose to be educated. May Allah lift the Ummah from the darkness that it suffers from. May Allah make us of those who can speak the word of truth courageously and be able to engage with each other in civil, respectful disagreement when the time comes. And may Allah make us of those who truly represent the beauty of this Deen to their neighbors and to the world around us.

Ma Salaama (Peace) !

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Some of the things about Islam that makes me believe it was just made up by some guy and not really from god, is:

The rules are so silly. Why should you need to clean your feet and stuff before you pray. Why would a real god care whether your feet were clean?

If it came from god, who should be all knowing, why would he command Mohammad to marry Aisha when he was in his 50's and she was 6, and consummate the marriage when she was just 9? If he's an all knowing god, he would know how terrible child marriage is for the girl. But, since he had Mohammad do it, it's pretty much a given that we will never be able to bring that practice to an end in Muslim countries.

The whole story about how Muhammad had a revelation that adoption was not allowed anymore in Islam, which then allowed him to marry his adopted son's beautiful wife, seems a bit telling to me.

I would like to think that if god picked a messenger, he would not have that messenger slaughter entire tribes of jews, and take their women and children as slaves.

Muhammad limited muslim men to taking 4 wives, but he was allowed to take as many wives and sex slaves as he wanted.

I personally don't follow any religion, although I've studied many of them. They all seem so silly to me. I don't know if there is a god or not, but if there is, I would like to think he would be better than he is depicted in the religions I have looked into.

Your post is Full of misinformation, so full of it that I don't even have time to correct them! Adoption is very well allowed in Islam, what is not allowed is to change the adoptee's last name, they have to still cary their father's name!

Anonymous wrote:Forgive me for not paying attention Muslima, but I cannot remember - do you live here in DC? Just curious?

I do!

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:
I am not here to convince you about the merits of Islam. I shared the message of Islam based on the questions that were asked. Islam is enough for me, that is all that matters to me, It stands on its own merits, it is Perfect~ I am not here to convince you of anything. Whatever you choose for your life is your decision, as long as you're happy with it, what do you have to worry about?

Do you understand what it stands on its own merits means? You should at least be able to describe said merits, and you can't.

You are the one saying Islam is perfect, but you can't seem to back that up. Why should I believe you if you have nothing to back yourself up with? You are the one coming on the internet, saying something is perfect, and are not quite able to explain what that means. Why shouldn't we challenge you on that? I'm happy that Islam is enough for you, but you don't seem to know why or how.

You don't have to believe me, I have repeated that many many times lol woow! I can not make you believe me, only Allah can! Our duty as Muslims is just to convey the message, we can't convince you of anything that he heart rejects. Belief begins in the heart, if its not there, nobody can help you. Yes Islam is perfect for me, it will never be perfect in your eyes because you have not tasted the sweetness of faith. And a lot of other people I guess agree with me since Islam is the fastest growing religion with many converts joining its ranks every year. Islam is the only religion whose sources are authentically preserved and thus remains immaculately free of all human tampering and interpolations.To me, Islam appears like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other; nothing is superfluous and nothing lacking; and the result is a structure of absolute balance and solid composure! You say I dont understand why it is enough for me lol. I actually do, since you asked, here you go ! Though I was born into a muslim family, I chose Islam.I study Islam academically as well, I read the Quran, the ahadith, and questioned certain beliefs, found answers, also other religions don't seem to make sense to me. There are scientific miracles in the Quran that an illiterate bedouin could not have known 1400 years ago! Islam provides for us a living example of such a balanced role model in Prophet Muhammad saw, whose life, unlike those of the great heroes and prophets of other religions, is an open book easily accessible for anyone.The Qur’an is anti-classical in its approach to knowledge, and stresses experiential knowledge, a fact which combines authentic science with authentic spirituality. The Qur’an provides answers to questions that haunt every intelligent person, questions related to life after death, an area which is almost totally mysterious in other religions.Islamic teachings about the essential identity of human beings and its stress on human brotherhood can break the barriers separating humans from one another. This can save humanity from the dire consequences of nationalism and racism which tend to break up humanity artificially by creating and sustaining perpetual conflicts. Islam dispenses with all intermediaries between man and God and allows all humans to freely contact God, thus eliminating hierarchies and other sources of religious exploitation that has characterized religious history throughout the ages. It offers me inner-peace, a direct relationship between me and Allah Almighty. and makes me a better Human being. Everything that I am is thanks to what Islam taught me. So you want to know why it's perfect for me? don't trust me - trust our Creator. If and only If YOU ARE interested, Read the Quran with an open heart. Dr Jeffery Lang ( ex Atheist convert to Islam) in his book struggling to surrender says: " You cannot simply read the Quran, not if you take it seriously. You either have surrendered to it already or you fight it. It attacks tenaciously, directly, personally; it debates, critisizes, shames and challenges. From the outset it draws the line of battle, and I was on the other side." Thus he was in an interesting battle. " I was at a severe disadvantage, for it became clear that the Author knew me better than i knew myself." So, may advice is, read a lot! Read good ideas, read great ideas. Even read stupid ideas. As the Qur'an encourages us to listen to what is said and take the best of it The first verse of the Quran that was revealed wasn't "Pray" but "Read, Read in the name of your Lord who created the" So beautiful, Allah in his infinite wisdom knows how important knowledge is to man! . Ma Salama (Peace) ~

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:
Of course you use your brain to reason, but if you do believe in God & follow a religion, you have a book that should be your guide. If you believe you are enough to guide yourself through life, good for you, I leave all of my affairs to God and ask Him to guide me on a daily basis. It is a choice ~

There is a difference between a guide and an instruction manual. God may guide my path, that doesn't mean that I need specific instructions on my cleanliness, usury laws, etc. There are so many obvious reasons for this, one of them being that the technology and economics and all kinds of different things were completely different. What worked yesterday may not work today or tomorrow. The most important aspects of life- how we treat one another and ourselves, are the same, but no, I don't need a guide on every trivial issue in life. I have something better- a relationship. God is so much bigger and better than just a book and set of laws. I pray one day that you understand this.

Well I also believe that God is bigger than the Quran, the Quran is His miracle that He shared with mankind, but He is not restricted or contained to this one book at all. He is infinite! But as a Muslim, the Quran is my guide, it has a complete set of rules for every aspect of my life and it is timeless. it details all the authentic human physical and spiritual needs for all times. The God I believe in has complete and absolute knowledge of the world so of course His Book will transcend over time. Personally, I think this world is in the depths of darkness. We live in an age of unprecedented slaughter and oppression. We live in an age where the chasm between rich and poor (both people and countries) is staggeringly vast. We live in an age where this gap is exploited. Ours is an age of confusion, and moral relativism which is descending into outright moral rejectionism. In the West, our societies are crumbling from within, but our dangerous decay is masked by our affluence, the magnificent height of our buildings, the dizzying numbers on our economic balance sheet.We are becoming less human. And, like every other civilisational superpower that has lived before us, we are claiming that we are the greatest civilisation known to history, and that we are riding on an unsinkable ship.
I do not limit the above to the Western world. Most of what I've written applies globally.

Perhaps Christendom, or at least that part of it which is now called 'the West', has benefitted from putting its scripture to one side and becoming less religious. Perhaps the Bible does not have a significant role to play in Western civilisation. Perhaps it does.

Whatever the case, the Muslim world is completely different. The dark ages in which the Muslim world now finds itself are not a result of increased religiosity, or religious adherence, but rather of decreased adherence and religiosity. That social dynamic has bred religious ignorance so that anything can now be passed off as religion if you have a long-enough beard.The Muslim world right now, is going through some kind of renaissance. There are many competing ideologies, and in time one will emerge to recapture the enlightenment of the past. The Qur'an certainly has not lost its influence on human development. Rather it now has the capacity to be more positively influential than ever.The Qur'an does not need to be 'retooled into a more progressive mindset'. It is a progressive mindset. The early Muslims were progressive people. Real Muslim scholars continue to be.The Qur'an therefore, is not only relevant to the modern world, but will always be. It enunciates prinicples of guidance for humanity. Humanity does not change, though the manifestation of the human condition does. Essentially, the problems are always the same, even if the symptoms become more complex.

Ma salaama (with peace)

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, under Shariah, would a Muslim be allowed to convert to Christianity and leave Islam?

So, yes the majority of the Muslim scholars are saying "Kill" is the punishment, a minority is saying "No". Hope it is not too confusing and of course Allah knows best!

Thank you, all we needed to know!

A true and loving God would not have left this so ambivalent for "scholars" to figure out. It really shouldn't be so hard, Muslima!!

Actually, differences of opinions are a blessing in some Fiqh rulings, because the ruling is "if there is a different of opinions between scholars, you can choose whichever one your heart believes is the correct opinion" and there won't be a sin in doing so, so no it is not so hard!!!Allah is a loving God, if you knew how Allah manages your affairs, your heart would melt out of love for Him~

This is easy for you to say. I'm sure the many people over the centuries who have been murdered because they left Islam would beg to differ as to whether differences of opinion are a "blessing."

Listen, a good religion should stand on its own merits. You don't discuss the merits. Your rationale so far has been "Allah is loving and Islam is perfect because I say so." Nothing about Islam or Allah seem particularly loving or perfect, according to YOUR OWN description of the religion!

I am not here to convince you about the merits of Islam. I shared the message of Islam based on the questions that were asked. Islam is enough for me, that is all that matters to me, It stands on its own merits, it is Perfect~ I am not here to convince you of anything. Whatever you choose for your life is your decision, as long as you're happy with it, what do you have to worry about?

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

By the way I was responding to the rhetoric "Muslim women are veiled and oppressed" and was being sarcastic about the miniskirts & bikini comments. I do not believe that all women who dont wear a hijab dress to please people, I used to be one of these women, and lots of women in my family do not wear the hijab. And Yes God loves variety, that is why He created us this way, white, black, yellow, ect. But if you do believe in God, why would you think He would just create us and let us be in this world without any Guidance at all? Everything that is created in this world comes with a user guide that answers all of your questions. When you buy a new product, the first thing you do is read the user guide. Why would the human being be any different? Muslims believe their user guide is the Quran, it tells us everything we need to know to survive in this world.Now the fact that the rules of Islam strike you as bizarre is perfectly normal. The prophet Muhammad saw said " Islam began strange, and it will become strange again just like it was at the beginning, so blessed are the strangers.” so I totally get why it would look strange to someone who is not Muslim & to be fair a lot of Non-muslims practices, their view of life ect are extremely strange & bizarre to me...

My life is not a toaster, and God respects me enough to figure out most issues with the help of my conscience.

Of course you use your brain to reason, but if you do believe in God & follow a religion, you have a book that should be your guide. If you believe you are enough to guide yourself through life, good for you, I leave all of my affairs to God and ask Him to guide me on a daily basis. It is a choice ~

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, under Shariah, would a Muslim be allowed to convert to Christianity and leave Islam?

So, yes the majority of the Muslim scholars are saying "Kill" is the punishment, a minority is saying "No". Hope it is not too confusing and of course Allah knows best!

Thank you, all we needed to know!

A true and loving God would not have left this so ambivalent for "scholars" to figure out. It really shouldn't be so hard, Muslima!!

Actually, differences of opinions are a blessing in some Fiqh rulings, because the ruling is "if there is a different of opinions between scholars, you can choose whichever one your heart believes is the correct opinion" and there won't be a sin in doing so, so no it is not so hard!!!Allah is a loving God, if you knew how Allah manages your affairs, your heart would melt out of love for Him~