Difficult Questions

[Samiun]

brothers and sisters, how do you deal with difficult questions?

If your a convert or suddenly decided to get in-depth about Islam and some asks you,"Why did you suddenly have to do so and so?" What's your response?

When you decided to tell a non-muslim friend about something really hard to accept for them or a few Muslims that they can't have girlfriends. How would you respond if they ask you,"why?" Would you straight-forwardly tell them the truth or?

You see, I've been trying to tell people that Music is haram now up to the point that I had to give that up indirectly also giving up the "Ama'Makruf Nahi'Mungkar". When I try to tell some family members they would turn away, if I try to provide some proof from the tabieen I would be really scared if it would be wrong because come on!, I copied it from the internet. How can they trust me if I just took something from a book which has been refered from a scholar? Some of my friends both non-muslims and muslims discourages me to tell the truth if something terrible is done by their friends.

However, I know that I will be sinning if I'm not going to tell what's bad for them because on the day of judgement I will be asked. So my question is, how do you respond to these difficult questions? I'm really bad at explaining stuff so I try too hard but sometimes end up confusing them. Can I just keep quiet until I have full knowledge about a matter(i.e. music haram) then tell my muslim brothers that it's haram?

 

[S_87]

when they ask, you tell them the truth and explain the reasoning why. they may not like it, but it is your duty a a muslim to give them the truth on islam, we cant water it down for others. it may be that once they hear the reasoning behind something they initially found hard to accept, their hearts may open to islam.

 

[Woodrow]

Masha Allaah Nbeel Akhi. Allaah(swt) has truly blessed you to be the recipient of questions from non-believers.

Always answer truthfully and if you do not know the answer, admit you do not know. Look at these questions as verification people see you as being a Muslim. Use this as an incentive to live a life of high Emaan and keep you aware that you are the only example of Islam some people will ever see. Also remember teaching is the best way to learn. As you answer questions you yourself will benefit as this will make you seek out the answers yourself.


View this opportunity as a gift and not as a chore. You will soon find it to be very enjoyable and an excellent learning experience.

May Allaah(swt) reward you for your efforts and may you become a guiding light for those lost in the dark.

 

[abdussattar]

You need to explain them not just the music thing... some small things related to it...

On the 2nd Monday of ramzan, we had a daw'ah programme which many non-muslims attended. Among the main questions that were asked, one was "Why do muslim women wear burqa ?"
I thought that the replay would be "to protect modesty"
But It was not so. The reply was very very higher grade than I expected, he replied in a looooooooooong way,

"In the world you see everywhere so and so things going on, many people in western societies are living a horrible lifestyle, in europe, the very concept of family has been demolished..." so and so he went on saying many problems of not wearing burqa, then he said even the Bible says "whoever looks at a woman lustfully, he has committed adultery in heart" then he finally started saying that Islam cuts the roots of all these relation be protecting gaze, men should lower gaze and women to wear burqa, etc

So it was a very long and detailed answer for a simple question (most muslims might think of it as a simple question)

Similarly, tell them about Music.. what is the modern position of music,, how people are becoming addicted to it, how it is becoming the cause for so and so .

These articles might help you:-
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_1_42/ai_n25124428/
http://copublications.greenfacts.or...sic-player-mp3/l-3/9-music-hearing-damage.htm
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1201375/music_and_your_health_benefits_and.html
http://www.saching.com/Article/The-negative-effect-of-rock-music-on-youth/631

And anyway google search is always there for you.

Inshallah. I pray for you that you be able to succeed in Amar bil Makruf Nahi anil Mungkar, as very few muslims are practicing it today....

May Allah reward you.
Allahu Alim.

 

[Tyrion]

My personal advice would be to focus on other matters when it comes to non muslims. Instead of trying to convince them that music is haram, you could instead try to explain some of the bigger issues to them, such as the Oneness of God, or the fundamentals of faith. Music is rather trivial when compared to things like that, so I wouldn't spend too much time on it...

Also, enjoining the good and forbidding the evil is always a good thing, and you should never shy away from giving an answer... Just don't fall into the trap that most people my age tend to fall into... Where you just start to preach and talk down to others, effectively turning them away from yourself as well as the religion.

On a side note, I find this issue of music being halal/haram interesting, since I've seen a lot of Muslims here and elsewhere who treat it as if it were something on par with kufr... Not to say it's not important, but there are much bigger things we should all be worried about... And much more important things we should be sharing with friends, family, and nonmuslims in general... Also, music is an issue that, from my understanding, even some scholars disagree on, so I wouldn't spend too much time on it... But again, that's just my personal take.

 

[abdussattar]

My personal advice would be to focus on other matters when it comes to non muslims. Instead of trying to convince them that music is haram, you could instead try to explain some of the bigger issues to them, such as the Oneness of God, or the fundamentals of faith.

Hmm yeah that is true..

 

[Samiun]

, jazkhallahukhairo for the replies.

Anyway, can I just keep quiet until I have full knowledge about a matter(i.e. music haram) then tell my muslim brothers that it's haram?

Masha Allaah Nbeel Akhi. Allaah(swt) has truly blessed you to be the recipient of questions from non-believers.

Always answer truthfully and if you do not know the answer, admit you do not know. Look at these questions as verification people see you as being a Muslim. Use this as an incentive to live a life of high Emaan and keep you aware that you are the only example of Islam some people will ever see. Also remember teaching is the best way to learn. As you answer questions you yourself will benefit as this will make you seek out the answers yourself.


View this opportunity as a gift and not as a chore. You will soon find it to be very enjoyable and an excellent learning experience.

May Allaah(swt) reward you for your efforts and may you become a guiding light for those lost in the dark.

I never thought of myself as blessed as a recipient of the kaffirs, it's really hard to answer questions. The truth has been the most painful thing to experience for this past year.

 

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam

... Instead of trying to convince them that music is haram, you could instead try to explain some of the bigger issues to them, such as the Oneness of God, or the fundamentals of faith.

That's a very good point br.

I sometimes wonder why Muslims don't debate over watching TV like they do over listening to Music. Many Muslims are crazy over TV serials and if they miss one scene of any serial , they become sad
Also not offering salat in time or not at all , drinking alcohol , taking drug , having girlfriend/ boyfriend , use interest ....list can go all those are bigger problem than music IMO.


To the OP bro , welcome to Islam.

 

[Woodrow]

, jazkhallahukhairo for the replies.

Anyway, can I just keep quiet until I have full knowledge about a matter(i.e. music haram) then tell my muslim brothers that it's haram?


I never thought of myself as blessed as a recipient of the kaffirs, it's really hard to answer questions. The truth has been the most painful thing to experience for this past year.

When you do not have sufficient knowledge to explain why you do something, it is best to be honest and simply state that you are forbidden to do some things, because Allaah(swt) has forbidden them to us. If pressed for an explanation as to why, explain you are still learning.

Both my wife and myself are fairly new reverts and have much to learn. We desire to do our best to please Allaah(swt) and try to do what we believe pleases Allaah(swt).

Perhaps because of our age age group and being the oldest surviving members of our family we get different questions than you are asked.

Also the people, we come the most in contact with, are not Christians, but follow a traditional Native American religion and worship Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit) The Attributes ascribed to Wakan Tanka are so similar to the Attributes we ascribe to Allaah(swt) I suspect that the Lakotah were Muslim prior to the invasion of the white settlers. But we feel very blessed when asked questions about Islam. We are often the first Muslims ever seen by the people we live among.

Oddly the Sunnah clothing we both wear does not raise any questions among the white population. It is similar to the traditional Lakotah clothing so I guess they assume we are Native American (Which my wife is). However, the Lakotah immediately see our clothing is not Lakotah and we get asked many questions about the clothes we wear.