Its not that hard a concept to grasp. Let me list it for you, step by step.
Funny, in fact its so funny and convincing, I now believe in God.
Thank you for the list. It's just that your post seemed contradictory before.
1) Some part of me WANTS to believe in God, or else I would not be here. Belief is not something I can switch on and off. It has to come from depth of thought and research, and belief should be with conviction, which is why I came to this forum to ask people who have the fortune of being able to believe.
I sincerely advise you to read the Quran and understand it's meanings. Been born and raised as a muslim doesn't necessarily fix someone's belief in God. There (as I used to think) are occasional, sometimes strong, sometimes fleeting doubts as to whether there really is a God or not. Of course being born & raised as a muslim myself didn't fix my imaan in a permanently solid belief. I too did wonder sometimes. But that was until I read the Quran.
Once the few of my misunderstandings or misinterpretations of Quranic verses/shariah laws had been cleared, I turned to the scientific facts in the Quran. I don't have to tell you what the world was like 1400 years ago and how much we've advanced since, but I found that the Quran contained scientific facts of which 80% have been confirmed true by scientists. The remaining 20% will to be proven in time inshaAllah. Although, not all scientists investigating the scientific facts in the wrong reverted, ultimately they all came to the same conclusion that the Quran was a source of Divine Knowledge and could not have been penned by man - let alone an illiterate one.
Also, it's worth pondering over the fact that if the Quran was written by man, and he'd made some calculating guesses, today some of them would have been proven false. The 20% that has not been proven remains unknown but not disproven.
I remember reading some statements from scientists after scientific investigations of the relating Quranic verses. I'd like to share with you their statetments.
E. Marshall Johnson
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, and Director of the Daniel Baugh Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
"I see no evidence to refute the concept that this individual Muhammad had to be developing this information from some place... so I see nothing here in conflict with the concept that divine intervention was involved in what he was able to write..." (excerpt)
Joe Leigh Simpson
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.
"... these Hadîths (sayings of Muhammad) could not have been obtained on the basis of the scientific knowledge that was available at the time of the 'writer'... It follows that not only is there no conflict between genetics and religion (Islâm) but in fact religion (Islâm) may guide science by adding revelation to some of the traditional scientific approaches... There exist statements in the Qur'ân shown centuries later to be valid which support knowledge in the Qur'ân having been derived from God."
Gerald C. Goeringer
Professor and Co-ordinator of Medical Embryology in the Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA.
"...In a relatively few ayahs (Qur'ânic verses) is contained a rather comprehensive description of human development from the time of commingling of the gametes through organogenesis. No such distinct and complete record of human development such as classification, terminology, and description existed previously. In most, if not all instances, this description antedates by many centuries the recording of the various stages of human embryonic and fetal development recorded in the traditional scientific literature."
Alfred Kroner
Professor of the Department of Geosciences, University of Mainz, Germany.
"Thinking where Muhammad came from... I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case."
"Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin, or many others of the questions that we have discussed here...
If you combine all these and you combine all these statements that are being made in the Qur'ân in terms that relate to the earth and the formation of the earth and science in general, you can basically say that statements made there in many ways are true, they can now be confirmed by scientific methods, and in a way, you can say that the Qur'ân is a simple science text book for the simple man. And that many of the statements made in there at that time could not be proven, but that modern scientific methods are now in a position to prove what Muhammad said 1400 years ago."
Yushidi Kusan
Director of the Tokyo Observatory, Tokyo, Japan.
"I say, I am very much impressed by finding true astronomical facts in Qur'ân, and for us modern astronomers have been studying very small piece of the universe. We have concentrated our efforts for understanding of very small part. Because by using telescopes, we can see only very few parts of the sky without thinking about the whole universe. So by reading Qur'ân and by answering to the questions, I think I can find my future way for investigation of the universe."
Tejatat Tejasen
Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and is the former Dean of the faculty of Medicine, University of Chiang Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
"In the last three years, I became interested in the Qur'ân... From my studies and what I have learned throughout this conference, I believe that everything that has been recorded in the Qur'ân fourteen hundred years ago must be the truth, that can be proved by the scientific means.
Since the Prophet Muhammad could neither read nor write, Muhammad must be a messenger who relayed this truth which was revealed to him as an enlightenment by the one who is eligible creator. This creator must be God, or Allah.
I think this is the time to say La ilaha illa Allah, there is no god to worship except Allah (God), Muhammad rasoolu Allah, Muhammad is Messenger of Allah...
The most precious thing I have gained from coming to this conference is La ilaha illa Allah, and to have become Muslim."
statements of other scientists & source:
http://www.geocities.com/islamicmiracles/scientists_on_the_quran1.htm?20072
2) I do not have a problem with Islam, because none of that anti-Islamic codswallop really convinces me, and after arduous research, I still conclude that all the slander against Muhammad is false.
3) I do not have a problem with practicing Islam, because from what I have read, there are no really crazy rituals or things which generally tend to come from ignorant cultural customs.
That's a good start. Islam is the complete and only system of guidence for mankind which has failed to become obsolete over time. No man could have designed a system/law that remains uncorrupted even 1400 years after his death. Can any religious leader/king/politician devise a system to benefit the whole of mankind but his people (if that) and for that system to be flawless and just? Impossible! Even the previous scriptures did not stand the test of time. But it was Allah subhana wa ta'ala's promise to protect His Word that we have the lthe miracle of the Qur'an with us today and will do until the End.
Don't you agree that such foul-proof and intricate schemes of perfection could only be decreed by the Master of the heavens and Earth - Allah subhana wa ta'ala?
Nobody can convince you, only guide you to the path that inshaAllah leads to conviction. Ultimately, it is Allah who guides. May Allah have mercy on you and us and guide you to the Truth. Please read the Quran.
Anyway, my apologies for being a bit skeptic and ranting on about sincereness in the last post, I think it's clear now that you are really here for a genuine search for answers. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala guide you.