Understand Islam

05/07/2012

On gentleness and responsibility

Categories: Abraham,Alliances/Treaties,Arabic,Duty,Environment,Evil,Hadeeth,Muhammad,Quran —

We are such passionate beings we forget the message of Allah is one that encourages the best of manners. But it is more than a superficial gesture. We have to recall the gentleness that the Prophet always carried. We forget the strength of being kind and gentle. The refinement it carries. The respect it brings upon the personhood of the gentle being.

One day a man said something abusive to the Prophet (PBUH). `Aa’isha (RA) was standing there and heard it and she returned it in kind! The Prophet (PBUH) promptly said to her, “Easy now, `Aa’isha, God loves gentleness in everything.” Narrated by `Aa’isha and reported by Al-Bukhaari.

Indeed, the Prophet (PBUH) was gentle and friendly even to his enemies. God says in the holy Quran, “So by mercy from God, [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech], thick-hearted (harsh), they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them, ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon God. Indeed, God loves those who rely [upon Him].” (3:159)

A major role for gentleness is in the call to Islam. God emphasizes that calling people to Islam must be done with “wisdom and good preaching” and that arguing with them must be “in the most beautiful manner” (16:125). Yet, you find some Muslims today that drive away potential converts by the way they behave, by the way they talk and even by the way they look! Why would anybody in their right mind consider giving Islam a first look after seeing what these Muslims do?

That is the opposite of Da`wa (proselytizing)! The Prophet’s advice to his missionaries has been, “Make things easy and don’t make them difficult. Give good news and don’t repulse.” Narrated by Anas ibn Maalik and reported by Al-Bukhaari, and also narrated by Abu-Moosa Al-Ash`ari and reported by Muslim. See how beautiful the Prophet’s advice has been and how many Muslims do the exact opposite!

Most major figures in history are either remembered for being gentle or ruthless. But, we forget that a major component of piety is gentleness.

Did you notice that the gentle are far more remembered? How many people remember Abraham (PBUH) and are named Abraham? How many people remember Nimrod, if that’s even his name?

And my major thought; the one that makes me write to you is our lack of understanding of the covenant we have made with Allah. The one we forget so easily. We proclaimed to Allah subhana wa taala, and let me know if I am wrong, that we would take care of His Earth and all its inhabitants. Is not the English word vicegerent? I wish I knew the Arabic word.

The Arabic word is Khaleefa, which means deputy. A deputy’s job is to take care of things on behalf of the King. God made it clear that man’s job on earth was to be His deputies (2:30). When God appointed David (PBUH) King of Israel, He said to him, “O David, We have made you a deputy in the land, so judge between people with the truth and do not follow desire.” (38:26)

As I mentioned in a previous post, all suffering, misery and imbalance in the world is a direct, predictable result of injustice, which comes from not abiding by the truth and following desire instead.

God praises people who cultivate and improve the earth and chastises those who ruin it and spread mischief.

We do not recall that we are the ones who are responsible for the contents of the Quran. We have forgotten that we are responsible and accountable.

Excellent point. In fact, God vowed to preserve the text of the Quran, but left to us the preservation of its teachings. But even the text of the Quran would not have been preserved if it weren’t for the righteous people who did the work! There were attempts early on to have differing versions of the Quran, however slight, but they all failed, thanks to upstanding leaders such as Uthmaan ibn `Affaan, may God have been pleased with him.

You are indeed correct that we have a covenant with God. I talked about that in this earlier post. God expects us to fulfill all covenants we make. Consider:

“O you who have believed, fulfill contracts.” (5:1)

“And fulfill [the terms of] a treaty. A vow will be accounted.” (17:34)

“And remember the favor of God upon you and His covenant with which He bound you when you said, ‘We hear and we obey’; and watch out for God. Indeed, God knows well what is within.” (5:7)

“They fulfill their pledges and fear a Day whose hardship flares up.” (76:7)

05/06/2012

Quoting the Quran out of context

Categories: Blasphemy,Islamophobia,Logic,Misconceptions,Quiz,Quran —

Quoting any text out of context is obviously dishonest, so why do so many people do it? The reason is that it works! When someone has an agenda and they know that if they expose it, it will not be popular, they must find alternative ways. One such was is to use for evidence, backing their argument, text taken out of context and quoted by respectable sources. This impresses the gullible, thus helping the people making those arguments pursue their agendas.

This practice of quoting text out of context is a pseudo-reasoning technique, a misinformation. Many politicians use it to knock down the electability of their opponents or the favorability of their opponents programs.

Thus, it is no wonder that Islamophobes often quote translations of verses of the Holy Quran stripped from their context, so that their listeners or readers would get the wrong impression about what the verse it about and would not be interested in Islam. Few people actually bother to check out the Quran to verify what they heard or read. Those who do invariably conclude the opposite!

I’ve mentioned before many example of questions and/or arguments made by Islamophobes to repulse people away from Islam and exposed the fraud in those questions and the flaws in their arguments. See posts in the categories Islamophobia, Misconceptions for examples.

Today, I thought I’d turn this negativity into a fun quiz! The following are quizzes to test your knowledge of the Quran. See if you can solve them and use comments to enter your answers.

Each of the following is a translation of a part of a verse that sounds like a blasphemy! Where in the Quran do you find these verses? What is their context that was left out and that explains what they really mean?

1. “Blessed is the one in the fire”!

2. Satan “misguides and guides”!

3. “Woe unto those who pray”!

4. “My Lord does not pay attention to you”!

04/26/2012

Does analytical thinking reduce religious belief?

Categories: Atheism,Blind following,Comparative religion,Faith,History,Islam,Logic,Quran,Science,Scriptures,Sunna —

VANCOUVER — A University of British Columbia study suggests analytical thinking can be harmful to religious faith. The psychology report, published Thursday in the prestigious journal Science, reveals that religious belief drops after subjects perform analytical tasks or are exposed to Auguste Rodin’s sculpture, The Thinker.

However, UBC social psychologists Will Gervais and Ara Norenzayan insist they are not debunking religion or promoting atheism. Instead, they are trying to figure out the psychological origins of spirituality.

Source: UBC study | Holy Post | National Post.

Interesting study, but notice how it does not name the religions espoused by the participants? It means that they bundled all religions together versus atheism. That is an assumption on their part whose validity they first had to prove. Was a wide spectrum of religions represented in the survey takers? If not, the results would be biased.

Those snags aside, it is particularly profound to observe that the Quran keeps prodding its readers to think, reflect, examine, analyze, reason and adopt sound logic in conjunction with having faith and consulting ones heart, conscience, guts and feelings. That is the consistent message of Islam: Balance. Things in life are not “either or”, but rather “both and.” The challenge before each of us in life is how to correctly balance the seemingly opposite demands of aspects of our lives all of which we need. A Muslim finds enormous help on this tough task through the guidance of the Holy Quran and the teachings of the Sunna. In Islam, there is no conflict between science and faith, between scripture and history, between the individual and society, or between the spiritual and the material. They can all coexist and must. So can and must the heart and the mind just like the left brain and the right brain coexist and cooperate!

Blind faith is as bad as atheism. The former cancels the mind. The latter cancels the heart.

04/22/2012

Why not a Muslim Pope?

Categories: Blind following,Constitution and law,Deduction discipline,Democracy,Government and Politics,Islam,Muhammad,Muslims,Quran,Schools of thought —

Why don’t the Muslims create a Muslim “Pope” to represent the ummah and clear up misconceptions about Islam and our beloved Prophet (saws)? If the Christians have someone to represent them, why can’t we? Don’t you think we need a Caliph or “Pope” like figure to represents us? Thanks.

No, I don’t. Islam is not confined to the opinion of any one person or group. The only person who ever had that kind of authority was the Prophet, peace be upon him, as he was assigned that responsibility by God. But even he had to consult with the Sahaaba (his fellows) on many issues in which he did not receive revelation. After he died, no one person or a select group had an exclusive right to interpret Islam. That is why the Salaf (Muslim predecessors) differed with each other, however respectfully, on nearly every detail of the religion that is not one of the fundamentals. That is why you see multiple schools of thought (Mazhaahib). If there would be a Muslim “Pope”, which school of thought would he follow? And what happens to Muslims who favor a different school of thought, something which they have every right to?

The Quran sets all the guidelines that Muslims need. In today’s parlance, it is a Constitution. It states principles, rules and credos. And it repeatedly invites its readers to reason and to consult each other in order to arrive at the correct conclusions. As a result, Muslims developed a very sophisticated deduction discipline (Usool-ul-Fiqh). Neither the Quran nor the Sunna (practice of the Prophet, PBUH) have sanctioned a priesthood or a clergy system. They have praise for scholars but nothing more.

As for a Caliph, it depends! A benevolent, freely elected leader of Muslims would be a good thing, but any other can do more harm than good, as history teaches us.

04/21/2012

Escaping bondage

Categories: Hadeeth,Prophets and Messengers,Quran,Sin,Supplication —

Assalaamu alaikum WR WB, Brother.

Does Islam provide us with any authenticated Du’as to get out of the custody of people?

In other words, is there any Du’a to recite if we want to be free from any other human being’s governance and overpowering authorities?

Fee Amanillah

Wa Alaykum Assalaamu wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuh, Sister.

Imam Ja`far As-Saadiq, may God have been pleased with him, said something very powerful. He said, “I’m amazed at one who is depressed and does not say (to God), ‘There is no god but You, may You be sanctified. I have been among the wrongdoers.’ (21:87) For I heard God say afterward, ‘So, We answered him and rescued him from depression, and thus We rescue believers.’ (21:88)”

That was in reference to the story of Prophet Yoonus (Jonah) as he lay inside the whale. Can you think of a more desperate bondage?

Did the words of Jonah surprise you? Why did he say that he was among the wrongdoers? A prophet like him who actually delivered God’s message to the people of Nineveh (in Iraq)? So, what did he do wrong?

The beginning of verse 21:87 tells it: “And Zhan-Noon (companion of the whale, i.e., Jonah) when he went angrily…” (21:87)

Jonah left Nineveh in anger when its people did not accept his message. He rode on a ship and was thrown into the sea just in time when the whale came sailing through to swallow him whole. It’s his anger that God wanted to teach Jonah to control, because a caller to God is not supposed to lose his temper or give up on his people so quickly! Jonah, being the conscientious prophet that he was, realized his error, mended his way, passed the test and was freed. The irony is that the people of Nineveh did become believers shortly after Jonah left, and it is said that they went after him to apologize but couldn’t find him.

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was asked about Jonah’s prayer if it was special for him only. He replied that it is for any Muslim who is in bondage or hardship. Narrated by Sa`d ibn Abi-Waqqaas and reported by At-Tirmizhi and Al-Albaani, both rating it authentic, and by Ibn Hanbal as well.

The moral of the story is that bondage, like any hardship, can be a teaching from God for a sin that one may not think of as a sin. Successful are those who are alert to such lessons. Sin is the the worst bondage and expiation of it is the true freedom.

Thus, after a believer has exhausted all material means available to free himself or herself from bondage, they should turn to God with Jonah’s supplication and picture themselves in the belly of a whale as he was.

04/15/2012

The noble relationship between husband and wife

Categories: Adam and Eve,Creation,Deduction discipline,Marriage,Quran —

Assalaamu alaikum WR WB Akhi

I want to know the concept of Islam with regards to the relationship of Husband and wife in Islam.
We all know that Hawwa was created from Adam (PBUH). I heard some one saying that every girl on the face of the earth is created from her husband. Is this true according to Islam?
The ones who publish this concept do take the verse as their Daleel, which says that every thing is created with their pairs.
Is the bond of husband and wife so noble, which is already being predestined with a special treatment as they say?
Plz throw light Insha Allah
Fee Amanillah

Wa Alaykum Assalaamu wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakatuh, Sister.

The relationship between husband and wife is indeed a noble one, but it is not predestined because it involves initiative from one and approval from another, both are freely made decisions.

God does say that He created all creatures in pairs, “And of everything We created pairs, that they may remember.” (51:49). A pair has two of a kind, each complementing the other and is not complete without it. That is the metaphor for marriage.

If every girl on earth was created from her husband, then how were the girls who remain unmarried created?! The notion that for every one there is a soul mate out there somewhere is sweet and romantic, but cannot be proven. Many people married more than once and had a happy marriage every time. How come those people have many soul mates?

Folks who interpret 51:49 and similar verses to mean an exclusive pairing of mates, are entitled to their interpretation, but you should recognize that it is nothing more than an interpretation. If God wanted to teach this notion, He would have explicitly stated it. In fact, what God says in 4:1 clearly refutes that theory. The verse says, “O people! Watch out for your Lord who created you from one soul and from it He created its mate, and He spread out from them many men and women.” (4:1) Only Eve was created from her husband. The rest of us were created from both of them.

03/18/2012

Do Muslims have to take an afternoon nap?

Categories: Children,Deduction discipline,Duty,Manners,Quran,Religious edicts —

Verse 24:58 of the Quran defines three periods during which children and servants must knock before entering the bedrooms of adults. One of these periods is “when you have shed off your clothes at noon”. Does this mean that Muslims are required to take a siesta?

LOL. No. When the Quran describes what the Arabs used to do and does not praise it or criticize it, then it is using something they are familiar with to make a point. In Seventh Century Arabia, most houses did not have solid doors to rooms if at all. Children and servants used to go about the house freely all day long and if an adult was taking a nap and has not covered himself or herself, because it was hot, then parts of their bodies may have become exposed to the youngsters. God wants to protect the honor of people and the innocence of children. That is why He specified nap time as one of the three times children and servants must seek permission to enter a room in which an adult may be taking a nap.

The command in the verse is to seek permission. There is no command, nor prohibition, to take a nap! A Muslim is not in violation of this verse if he or she never takes an afternoon nap.

By the same token, when the Quran directs women to cover their bosoms, in verse 24:31, it says that they should use “their head covers” to do that. Does that imply that women are required to cover their heads? No. The Quran is again using a custom to make a point. The custom was that all women, and all men for that matter, covered their heads to protect them from the blazing sun and desert sand. And the point being that it is improper for women to show their bosoms in public, but because, at that time, dresses were customarily designed to show the bosom area, the Quran is suggesting a simple way for women to be modest without having to tailor new dresses. The command in this verse is to cover the bosom, not the head. A Muslim woman who wears a dress that does not show the bosom is already in compliance with this verse, whether or not she’s covering her head.

03/12/2012

Was there once a “stoning verse”?

Categories: Abrogation,Crimes and Misdemeanors,Deduction discipline,Hadeeth,Islam,Quran,Salafi —

Is there such thing as a “Verse of Rajm or stoning”? I read a hadith that says in Sahih Bukhari:
Volume 8, Book 82, Number 816 :

Narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas:

‘Umar said, “I am afraid that after a long time has passed, people may say, “We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in the Holy Book,” and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted on him who commits illegal sexual intercourse, if he is already married and the crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession.” Sufyan added, “I have memorized this narration in this way.” ‘Umar added, “Surely Allah’s Apostle carried out the penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him.”

Is this hadith authentic?

And also, is it possible for a hadith to be authentic but still contradict the Glorious Quran? Thanks, and in no way did I mean to cause offence.

This hadeeth is problematic because it alleges that several verses were revealed but never recorded as part of the Quran. This is called Naskh in Islamic literature and is often, incorrectly IMHO, translated abrogation. This is a complex, and controversial, subject in Islamic literature, but if you’re interested to know more about it you can check out this discussion forum.

Because this hadeeth is reported in Al-Bukhaari (and Muslim’s) Hadeeth compilation books, regarded by all Sunni Muslims to be authentic sources, many scholars are adamant that there was once a stoning verse. The majority of them have opined that it was abrogated by 24:2, the only explicit verse that sets a penalty for adultery in an unambiguous, most emphatic language. There is no other penalty for adultery in Islam than what verse 24:2 states.

The subject of abrogation is perhaps the strangest subject you will ever read in the classic books of the Salaf. If you are interested in learning what has been said about the stoning verse and whether it was abrogated by 24:2 or abrogated it (!!), you may want to read this discussion topic.

To answer your last question, yes, a hadeeth can be rated authentic but still appear contradictory to the Quran. It’s not because the Prophet (PBUH) would contradict the Quran, but it’s because the hadeeth is either misunderstood or mistransmitted. Read some of the posts in categories Authentication and Abrogation for more details.

03/08/2012

Does the Quran confirm science or vice versa?

Categories: Miracles,Muhammad,Muslims,People of the Book,Quran,Science —

I am opposed to the whole idea of scientific nonimitability of the Quran; proving the truth of the Quran by means of showing its statements of scientific facts that were only established centuries after the Quran was revealed.

My reasons are three-fold:

  • It gives non-Muslims a license to bear witness for the Quran,
  • It exposes the total deficit of Muslims in the scientific fields, and
  • The Quran is not meant to be a book of science, but a book of guidance.

The Quran tells a lot of stories, doesn’t it? Does that make it a story book? Of course not. All the stories God tells us in the Quran are told for their moral lessons. They ferment the faith and teach us how to live a life that pleases God. They also tell details that were previously unknown to the Arabs or to the Prophet (PBUH). Thus, they also serve as confirmation of the truth of his prophethood.

The Quran also makes quite a few prophecies, most of which came true during the life of the early Muslims. Does that make it a book of prophecies? No. All the prophecies that God tells us in the Quran are told to confirm the truth of the Quran and the prophethood of Muhammad, peace be upon him.

Likewise are the scientific facts stated in the Quran. Most of those statements were not even understood by Muslims. It was only when those facts were discovered by scientists, Muslim and non-Muslim, that the wonder of those verses became appreciated.

Speaking of Muslim scientists, did you forget the it was Muslims who established the scientific method? That is the foundation of all scientific discoveries to date. There were hundreds of Muslim scientists inventing or discovering thousands of scientific facts that enriched the world. The fact that Muslims have not contributed to science for sometime now is a reflection on them not on the Quran. It was the Quran that inspired the early Muslims to seek knowledge and investigate the material world.

As for your objection to non-Muslims bearing witness for the Quran, I don’t understand your objection. God says in the holy Quran, “And a witness from the Children of Israel testified to it” (46:10). If God finds such testimony worthy of including in His Last Testament, why would you find it objectionable?

But even without that, the non-Muslims who made scientific discoveries confirming the Quran did not do them to confirm the Quran, nor were most of them even aware that the Quran had mentioned their discoveries 14 centuries earlier! So, it’s not a testimony.

The scientific statements made in the Quran confirm science and science confirms the Quran. That is only natural, since the author of the physical laws and the author of the Quran are the same: The One true God, Allah, may He be sanctified and exalted.

03/03/2012

Five years

Categories: Celebrations/Memorials —

Today is the fifth anniversary of the blog! I am so honored that I have been able to contribute to a proper understanding of Islam. I hope that readers have benefited from the more than 450 articles to date.

Thank you all for visiting, and special thanks to those of you, sixty so far, who took the time to register for membership and offer their comments and ask questions. You make the blog work.

May God continue to bless this blog, its readers and myself.

Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress

WordPress SEO fine-tune by Meta SEO Pack from Poradnik Webmastera
free hit counters
free hit counters