format_quote Originally Posted by
cinnamon
:w:
1. Ok, so the Prophet's uncle, who loved him and protected him will go to hell, while a muslim murderer will go after some time to heaven? All of it because the former didn't say one sentence "la elaha ellallah"? For me it wouldn't matter which criterion people would follow, as long as it would respect the rule not to hurt anyone and as long as there was no hatred in persons heart. Every person should be judged as an individual, not because of the label (christian, jew) he has. Don't tell me you love more ben laden than a good person from the kafirs like the pope?
:wasalamex
What is faith? The explanation of faith of the Ahlus Sunnah (the people of the Sunnah) is that it is in the heart, on the tongue, aswell as your deeds.
If you have faith in your heart of Allaah, His Messengers, His Angels, His Books, the Hereafter and Destiny (the good and the bad.) Then you need to pronounce that on your tongue i.e.
Ash hadu an Laa illaaha IllAllaah, Muhammadun Rasool Allaah. (I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad - peace be upon him - is the Messenger of Allaah.)
Then you need to keep constant in your duties which Allaah has prescribed upon you i.e. belief in the Shahadah, the 5 daily prayers, the Zakaah/charity, the Hajj once in your lifetime if you can afford it, and to fast the month of Ramadhan.
If you can keep up with these principles, you remain a believer in Allaah, and a Muslim.
This is the religion which Allaah has sent to us since the time of Adam, Allaah has said (translation of the meaning);
Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam. Those who were given the Scripture (Jews and Christians) did not differ except, out of mutual jealousy, after knowledge had come to them. And whoever disbelieves in the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, then surely, Allah is Swift in calling to account.
[Qur'an 3: 19]
We as humans have a freedom of choice, as stated earlier. When Abu Talib was about to pass away, the Messenger of Allaah urged him to pronounce the Shahadah on his tongue on his death bed. He had the choice, but he turned away, and preferred the religion of his forefathers i.e. polytheism. He then died in this state.
Allaah has stated (translation of the meaning);
Verily, Allâh forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allâh in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin
[Qur'an 4: 48]
The most tremendous of sins is to associate others as partners with Allaah. Yet anything lower than that, Allaah is prepared to forgive this person. Why shouldn't this person be forgiven? If this person believes in the Mercy and Promise of his Lord?
You said;
3 I understand hell for hitler, bush or ben laden.But I don't understand hell for mother theresa or the ex pope, sorry. As Allah said, intentions are the most important and their intentions were to help people.
Those who associated partners with Allaah will also be dealt with justice. If someone strives for this world only, then Allaah will give them their due recompense in this life. So if they did good for popularity, Allaah may give them fame. If they were sincere and strived for wealth, Allaah will give them that or something similar. Yet they will have no share of the hereafter, since they rejected the promise of Allaah and His reward.
But then you said that Mother Teresa was a good person, but who was she trying to please? Was she trying to please Allaah? Or was she trying to please Jesus? If she was worshipping Jesus and wanting to worship him, then know that Allaah will make her get her reward off Jesus son of Mary, on the Day of Judgement. Yet without a doubt, the reward will only be with Allaah on that Day, and everything will depend upon Him.
If she really believed that it was Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds who created her, sustained her, gave her life, gave her the ability to do good in this life. Then why didn't she worship Him Alone? Why did she worship Jesus, if she knew it was Allaah who created her and gave her all she had? If she believed it was Allaah who gave her all good in this life, then she should do all good for Him so He will give her more in the hereafter.
Why should one worship the creation if you know it is the Creator who gives you all you have? And it is He who will recompense you for that good if you did it to please Him?
2. I think the opposite. See how many people became atheists because they suffered a loss of someone they loved, how many people rebel against God because they see what happens to people who didn't do anything wrong, while those who are bad get what's best from life. Is that fair?
"Every soul shall have taste of death; In the end to us shall ye be brought back.
(Qur'an 29:57)
Aren't these people aware that there is no doubt in death? Even those who don't believe in God believe in death. Whenever anyone faces a calamity in life, they have 1 of 2 options;
1) Try to find the true reality of why they have faced that calamity, while feeling weakness (due to their lack of power over their own affairs) - and through this, draw closer to One of Higher power - God/Allaah to find the answers to their questions.
2) Become rebellious, and reject God, while still remaining in a state of weakness, while still not understanding the reasons behind their problems, and still being prone to many other trials throughout their life.
Those who are sincere in no.1. Allaah will guide them. Those who are sincere in no.2. will continuously face hardships in life, either because of their rebeliousness and persistance on doing evil, or because this life is all a test anyway. It is a mixture of good and bad, yet the hereafter is either purely good, or purely evil. A recompense for their own deeds.
Another thing, I understand Adam and Eve were thrown out od paradise because of what they did. But why we have to live on earth if their sin is not our fault? Maybe I would be stronger and wouldn't eat that apple? I thought in islam we don't inherit sins like in christianity.
What happened in the past has happened, you have also commited sins in your life, and so have I. Every child of Adam is prone to sin, yet the best of sinners are those that repent to Allaah sincerely.
Adam and Eve made a mistake, so they were taken out of Paradise. Yet they prayed to Allaah that they could return to it, and every son/daughter of Adam will, unless they refuse to. How does anyone refuse to enter Paradise? By rebelling against Allaah, and what His Messenger has called to.
An example can be given of some parents, who moved to the west from the Muslim lands. Whether we like it or not, we are brought up here and are harmed by many evils which we may see. Yet this is our trial, every person is tested through good and bad. People are tested through good bad, health, illness, wealth, poverty, even different times in history - some people are tested by being in one part of history, while another may be tested through another time in history. Yet whoever follows the guidance which Allaah has sent, then they will return to the original place for the family of Adam - Paradise. We pray to Allaah to make us of the dwellers of Paradise, ameen.
4. I agree with you that many people think only prayer and dua is an act of whorship. They forget that even sleeping can be an act of whorhip if we have a proper intention. But still, praying for me shouldn't be something forced on people. Would you be happy if someone visited you just because he was forced to?
Yeah, even sleep can be worship. All these are great blessings from Allaah that we can draw closer to Him through any means.
I've already explained the issue about having to pray the 5 daily prayers in the earlier post;
We as Muslims believe that this life is temporary, we are created by Allaah, and yes - we are created to worship Him. But wait, worship doesn't just mean to continuously pray, fast, etc. Worship in the Islamic context is anything which is loved by Allaah. So for example, if a guy gives food to his wife, he is fulfilling a duty which is loved by Allaah. Since you intended to draw closer to Allaah by feeding your wife, then that is an act of worship in of itself. Therefore, you would gain Allaah's pleasure, therefore be rewarded by Him inshaa Allaah (God willing.)
Similarly, all aspects of our life can be a means of drawing closer to our Creator, and Sustainer.
Along with these acts of worship, we are also obligated to thank Allaah for the good which He has bestowed upon us. We are obligated to worship Allaah (which includes the 5 daily prayers) - so that we remain firm upon the correct path. During each prayer, we recite to Allaah - "Guide us to the Straight Path.." - if one stops praying to Allaah, they usually break their contact with Him due to the excessive distractions of this life. Therefore an obligation makes the believer firm upon keeping their duty to Allaah so they remain upon the correct straight path which leads to Him (The Siraat Al Mustaqeem.)
Therefore, if one asks why Allaah asks us to worship Him - the answer is so we remain aware of God, so we continue doing good to please Him and earn His pleasure, so we abstain from the evil which He has forbidden us from - which is harm in of itself, and that is why it is forbidden. Those who believe in Allaah, His promise, and His reward - then they will be rewarded for their good.
Therefore the above clarifies that Allaah is not in need of our worship, rather we are in need of worshipping Allaah to be good people and at ease in this life and the life to come.
So we see from the part in red that if we weren't obligated to keep up with the daily prayers, we would usually become attatched to the world, usually go astray from the guidance of Allaah (whenever we pray the 5 prayers - we ask Allaah to 'guide us to the straight path') yet if we never prayed this and it was only optional, i can assure you that many of us wouldn't pray, and therefore go astray from the path of Allaah.
Also, the prayers keep one aware of keeping their duty to Allaah. You'll notice that there may be moments when you're likely to incline towards sin, but because you know that you will stand before Allaah in your prayer - you don't perform the sin, because you feel ashamed before Him.
Recite what is sent of the Book by inspiration to thee, and establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do.
[Qur'an 29: 45]
Also, the good deeds wipe out the small sins which you may have commited throughout the day. Therefore it is a source of forgiveness for you also.
Yet without the prayer being an obligation upon us, we'd just be as sinful as the disbelievers. We wouldn't even be sincere, or atleast wouldn't remain sincere to Allaah for too long in our lives. Therefore, making it an obligation helps us more than we truely know it.
Imagine an anti virus programme, if you don't use it for too long. Your whole computer will just mess up. Especially since your computer faces so much different types of problems on the internet, but if you use the anti virus scanner alot, it will keep your computer clean and free from any evils it may have faced throughout the days from outsiders.
5. Yes I know there are evidebces that a woman can't be a khalifah/imam for men but still I don't understand why. I remember there was a queen in the Quraan and she was a righteous one. Most of the men are not good rulers, that's what i can see.
Imagine a muslim woman being a Khalifah, and imagine her leading the whole muslim nation in all the affairs. Do you think she would be able to give the khutbah in the Masjid? I don't think she would be able to without causing unnecessary attention, and even seduction indirectly (yes it's the mens fault, but they are created this way.) Do you think she would be able to lead the Muslim army in battle, and make agreements with the enemy? You might use the example of Aa'isha (may Allaah be pleased with her) but remember that she only did it as a one off thing.
Even if the wife doesn't become the Khalifah, she is her husband's best supporter, advisor and can help him control the affairs well and justly in the Muslim nation.
6. I don't understand why a man can have a kafir wife while a woman can't. The most popular argument is that the man will not let the children be muslims. But if he agrees?
ma as salama
When a Muslim woman gets married to a non Muslim man;
- Her husband may dislike her performing her Islamic duties, and therefore forbid her from performing them. I.e. he may force her to take off the Hijaab and practising modesty.
He may cause her to stop performing other duties such as her 5 daily prayers, even other concepts such as paying 2.5% of ones wealth to the needy (he might be a stingy man - remember we're talking about all times, and in the general sense.)
He may even transgress some boundaries i.e. having intercourse with her during her menses, which is forbidden in Islaam since it is harmful*. He may even deal with her unjustly while taking girlfriends, having illicit relationships with them - since he does not have the fear of Allaah, or feel responsible for his actions - which we all will be judged on in the court of Allaah on the Day of Judgement.
He may even say evil about her religion and disrespect the Messengers' of Allaah, and say evil about them. This may then harm her faith, and it may lead to more enmity within the marriage.
When they have children, he may make these children make them follow another religion. When the duty of the parents is to give their children a good Islamic upbringing, so they can be good people, and worship Allaah properly.
* we were able to observe
a strong statistical association between sexual intercourse during menstruation and sell-reported STD history. Conclusions:
Sexual intercourse during menstruation may emerge more consistently as a risk factor for the heterosexual transmission of HIV or other sexually transmitted pathogens in future studies.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3228034
The points stated above are just a few of the disadvantages of a Muslim woman getting married to non muslim men. Obviously, not all the above will apply to every couple. However, we are talking about the general sense, and we are talking about any time in history. From over 1400 years, uptill modern day times and even further in the future. This all has to be kept into consideration.
And Allaah knows best.
:wasalamex