Do you ever have (or had) moments of doubt?

[glo]

I wonder if posters can answer this poll truthfully.

It is always easy to claim that we are perfectly strong in our faith and never have moments of doubt - but here is an opportunity to search our hearts and be honest to ourselves. (The poll is anonymous)

If you want to contribute more thoughts, feel free to do so, for example:

• Is having moments of doubts necessarily a bad thing, or can it possibly strengthen faith?
• Have you had particular times of doubt and questioning?
• How do you deal with doubt - in yourself and in fellow believers?
• etc, etc

Looking forward to your votes and comments.

Peace

[Abdul Fattah]

Hi glo, interesting thread.
I voted: "often" And I would have voted "All the time" if it didn't have that "to the point of loosing faith" part with it.
The way I see it, there's two kinds of doubts, recurring doubts and refreshing doubts.

When I was an atheist I had recurring doubts. That is, on certain occasions I had doubts of my atheism, but I ran away from it. I couldn't accept the other possibility so I didn't indulge it either. But the same doubts came back every now and then.

Now that I'm a Muslim I would say I have refreshing doubts. When I come across something new, as a response I sometimes start having doubts, or a certain event triggers doubts, but they're always different doubts, and instead of running from them I face them. And Alhamdoelillah, after a while the doubts usually go away, or turn out to be flawed, or turn out to be ungrounded. And the more flaws I discover, the more I see a pastern emerging in it. And teh more I see this patern, the more convinced I am that someone else is whispering these doubts to me. So in the end instead of making my faith weaker, I believe it makes me stronger. It is hard and sometimes very depressing and discouraging though.

[sevgi]

Hello Glo,

i think i was sort of forced into answering 'never'...because, no i do not, ornever have doubted Gods existance or the attributes islam states he posesses. I see and feel him all around me...

however, i was tempted to click on 'sometimes' only because i realised that there were many times which i fell into a position of 'lost hope'...i have lost hope in my own faith and my own connection with God many times.

by losing hope, i mean that i feel as tho God doesnt want to help me beacuse im such a bad muslim. This is wrong because God is all-merciful, all-forgiving...

even tho i knew and believed in these attributes of God,even tho i knew that he was always theer for me, i fell into hoplessness coz i just couldnt forgive myself....i had to forgive myself beforei could believe that God was willing to, or had already forgiven me...

hope that makes sense...

peace.

[sevgi]

Hi glo, interesting thread.
I voted: "all the time" And I would have voted "All the time" if it didn't have that "to the point of loosing faith" part with it.
The way I see it, there's two kinds of doubts, recurring doubts and refreshing doubts.

When I was an atheist I had recurring doubts. That is, on certain occasions I had doubts of my atheism, but I ran away from it. I couldn't accept the other possibility so I didn't indulge it either. But the same doubts came back every now and then.

Now that I'm a Muslim I would say I have refreshing doubts. When I come across something new, as a response I sometimes start having doubts, or a certain event triggers doubts, but they're always different doubts, and instead of running from them I face them. And Alhamdoelillah, after a while the doubts usually go away, or turn out to be flawed, or turn out to be ungrounded. And the more flaws I discover, the more I see a pastern emerging in it. And teh more I see this patern, the more convinced I am that someone else is whispering these doubts to me. So in the end instead of making my faith weaker, I believe it makes me stronger. It is hard and sometimes very depressing and discouraging though.

i think u accidently voted 'often'....

[Ummu Sufyaan]

hi glo.
hmm. i wouldn't say that i have doubts, but i do get whispers (waswaas), such as god dosn't exsist, etc. but i wouldn't say they're doubts, because in my heart i beleive. I'm not sure if you know/have heard of them, but many muslims im sure know what im talking about:sunny:

[siFilam]

In The Name Of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful

I said “never” because I don’t have those doubts anymore. However I did when I was in my early teens. I wanted to be sure that Islam was the absolute Truth. I didn’t want to follow a religion just because I was born in to it. So I looked into different faiths but eventually I found my way back to Islam through the Mercy and Guidance of Allah, The Most Exalted. Alhamdulilah.

Wasalam
-SI-

[Intisar]

Hello Glo..!

I said ''never''. When I was much much younger my parents had me go to Quran lessons which in my language is called Dugsi (or some may call it Madrassa) and to be honest I dreaded going there. Firstly because I didn't understand the point of it, every week I would have to memorise lines of Arabic with absolute no understanding of what it meant and secondly, I would get in major trouble if I didn't memorise my Ashar (the amount of Surahs I had to memorise). :rolleyes: Also, my parents never forced me to wear the hijaab but when I was younger girls used to come to me and ask me why I was acting gaal (in my language it basically means kufaar) and I didn't understand. Before that I used to wear it on and off, but once I entered the 6th grade I wore it permanently until now. Anyway, so about 2-3 years ago I got my brother's copy of the Quran and started reading it in English and I started praying more regularly but there were the times where I felt my imaan was so low. Never once (even in times of bad situations) did I ever question the existence of God or my religion. If anything, it made a stronger person and made me realise why I was even created from a drop of sperm to serve the Al-mighty Allah. This life a test, you work hard and do good deeds you will see the fruits of your labour in Jannah insha'allah. Some people may think that for the same reason that we should live our lives to the fullest which includes participating in questionable things such Zina, qamri, lying, cheating etc but that will only quicken your death. When you are close to God it is an immense feeling, it is so indescribable you just have to experience it for yourself.

[glo]

Greetings, Steve

Hi glo, interesting thread.
I voted: "all the time" And I would have voted "All the time" if it didn't have that "to the point of loosing faith" part with it.
The way I see it, there's two kinds of doubts, recurring doubts and refreshing doubts.

Very good point, Steve. I hadn't thought of that ...
Any chance that poll option can be added ... by a clever mod perhaps????

When I was an atheist I had recurring doubts. That is, on certain occasions I had doubts of my atheism, but I ran away from it. I couldn't accept the other possibility so I didn't indulge it either. But the same doubts came back every now and then.

Now that I'm a Muslim I would say I have refreshing doubts. When I come across something new, as a response I sometimes start having doubts, or a certain event triggers doubts, but they're always different doubts, and instead of running from them I face them. And Alhamdoelillah, after a while the doubts usually go away, or turn out to be flawed, or turn out to be ungrounded. And the more flaws I discover, the more I see a pastern emerging in it. And teh more I see this patern, the more convinced I am that someone else is whispering these doubts to me. So in the end instead of making my faith weaker, I believe it makes me stronger. It is hard and sometimes very depressing and discouraging though.

I agree with much you say.

I too feel that questioning one's faith is a healthy thing, which helps us to grow and mature.
I am a little suspicious when people claim never to have any doubts at all (Of course, I am not saying that they are wrong or not truthful ... I just cannot imagine it at all myself to feel like that. )

On a very personal note, being here at LI has certainly caused me to question my own faith on many occasions (still does) - but (so far at least), everytime I have pondered and worked through my question, read up on it and prayed to God about it, I have come away feeling only stronger in my conviction in my own faith.

But I believe that if I denied these doubts and questions, if I ignored them and pretended they weren't there, I would not be able to mature and grow stronger in my faith.

Thanks for approving this poll.

Peace

[guyabano]

if the 'Faith in science' is also acceptable, then I will answer 'never'.

[sevgi]

if the 'Faith in science' is also acceptable, then I will answer 'never'.

you never doubt science
???

[guyabano]

you never doubt science
???

nope ! I truly believe in science !

[Ebtisweetsam]

nope ! I truly believe in science !

Science has proven every miracle in the Quran is true, however you doubt the Quran? Hmmmm interesting.....


I voted never because everytime i have been in a position of needing proof, i have looked into it, and Islam had the answer.

[Neelam92]

i went with OFTEN!!!

___________________________________

Allah is my Lord,
Islam is my Life,
Al-Quran is my Guide,
The Sunnah is my Practice,
Jihad is my Spirit,
Righteousness is my Character,
Paradise is my Goal!

[guyabano]

Science has proven every miracle in the Quran is true, however you doubt the Quran? Hmmmm interesting.....


I voted never because everytime i have been in a position of needing proof, i have looked into it, and Islam had the answer.

Everytime I need a proof, I look into my book of Physics, Chemistry, Biology or I browse Internet. I always found what I was looking for. I don't need a bible or Quaran. For me, they are just fairy tale books, and that's it.
I think everybody's faith , no? That doesn't mean, that one is less worth or has less faith than another person, right?

[glo]

nope ! I truly believe in science !

But does science always get it right???

Peace

[guyabano]

hmmm, good question. But at least sience gave me more answers than any religion.

[Nσσя'υℓ Jαииαн]

Hey Glo

I chose sometimes cause I usually get thoughts creeping into my mind. Not because that's how I really feel, but just like that. When I was younger, I was close to Islam deep down, but I used to ask questions like an atheist would. I used to ask who created God? That was the most Ive ever had it. It was weird though, I never knew anyone who thought like that. I didnt pick it up from anyone, it just creeped into my mind. But Alhamdullillah Allah has always been there for me and have me be where I am now =)

Peace

[Woodrow]

I chose always. I do not see having doubt as a negative thing. I see it as an incentive to always try harder and to encourage me to learn more.

Some doubts I always have:

Am I understanding correctly?

Can I do more to learn?

Am I doing all I can to Please Allah(swt)?


Of course there are occasional doubts of faith. I do periodically question if Allah(swt) even exists and if so does he even care about humans. I do sometimes question why Allah(swt) allows evil to exist and wonder why so often good people suffer so much.

But, it is in trying to find answers to those doubts that I feel the closest to understanding what Allah(swt) expects of us and what he has promised us.

Doubt can be a very strong incentive, if we allow it to be a tool, to learn and not a weapon to destroy our faith.

[Trumble]

A little doubt is healthy IMHO; it shows you are thinking about your faith rather than just accepting it blindly. If you have developed the habit of listening to and understanding 'opposing' arguments and researching or (better) formulating your own responses to them your spiritual life and religious knowledge grows rather than stagnates.

[glo]

Thanks to the clever mod who added option 4 to the poll.

Perhaps you can also enable those who have voted already to change their vote (in case the new option seems more appropriate)

Thank you.