Information verification

[noodles]

Assalaam

My question here is simple. But before I ask you the question, I just want to relate somethings to you.

Lately, I've took a U-turn towards allah[being more religious] as a result, my parents have noticed that I have been fasting and praying regularly. So just yesterday, my mom has a little talk with me explaining the dangers of the information we receive from the internet.

She related a story of my uncle on how one day he, too, started acting like me.

When my uncle used to be my age, he used to be very relaxed about his religion. My grandpa knew about this of course and he used to tell him to be more religious, but he never listened. So one day, when my uncle was visiting the mosque, a group that resided there targeted him to bring him into the group. Now, this group looked quite religious, and pious and didnt seem very misleading. However, later on when my uncle started acting all religious, my grandpa confronted him and found out this group was trying to lead him into jihad.

Mind you, I'm not saying its a bad thing to do jihad. But this group tended to make mindless suicide bombers out of normal people who have very little knowledge of Islam.

My mom saw the parallels and thought it her duty to inform me of misleading people. So I listened to her like any patient boy of 18 would, while interrupting 3-4 times.

So anyway, my mother's story brings me here.

I'm a sunni muslim, and I believe some of these sects and groups that have been formed over the years, are totally wrong. (This is my opinion, and I believe I have a right to express it, feel free to tell me to modify the paragraph to say otherwise)

So how do I, a fairly unknoledgeable person in terms of quranic knowledge know some of these hadeeths and quotes you people post here are valid?

Well a sure way is to keep a Quran beside you and check it word by word. However, most people dont bother, and take most things said here to heart.

So how do most of you do it?

P.S Just tell me if something I said didnt make sense

[strider]

Use reputable sites that you can trust. www.islamonline.net is a pretty good one.