Topics

76

Discussions / early Muslim community after the Prophet

« on: June 25, 2013, 02:11:45 AM »

Salaam and greetings of Peace,

I am sharing Frank Parmir's post today at Muslims for Progressive Values.  He's got a very good, rational point.

"Among the early Muslim records there are reports that Ali was not consulted when the successor to Muhammad was chosen. Among them also are reports that there was much enmity between Aisha and Ali.
And, it is reported that within the early Muslim community there was a substantial amount of intrigue and even murder.
If these reports are true, why should we pattern our Islam on the early Muslims? Their community seems to have included many examples of exclusion and enmity!
If these reports are untrue, which of the early Muslim records can we trust? How can these reports be the basis of our Islam?
Is not our Islam totally reliant on our understanding of the Qur'an and and the Inner Light that God provides?
If we are found wanting, we can claim that we were just following what we found our fathers and mothers doing.
But we are advised by the Qur'an that such an excuse will be insufficient to gain pardon."

77

Discussions / men and modesty

« on: June 21, 2013, 10:51:32 PM »

Salaam and Greetings of Peace,


http://www.altmuslimah.com/b/mma/4805/

78

Discussions / human rights and social justice

« on: June 18, 2013, 02:04:21 AM »

For Immediate Release. Please share.

Re: Saudi human rights activists, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni sentenced to 10 months in prison and two year travel ban upon endeavoring to aide Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.
(Ottawa, Canada – June 17, 2013) - Muslims for Progressive Values MPV Ummah Canada (MPV Canada) calls upon Canadian and Saudi authorities to immediately demand and obtain the release of Saudi human rights activists, Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni and guarantee the freedom and safety of Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.

At MPV Canada we support women’s agency and self-determination in every aspect of their lives. We affirm that justice and compassion should be the guiding principles for all aspects of human conduct. We repudiate militarism and violence, whether on an individual, organizational, or national level. We are committed to work toward societies that ensure social, political, educational, and economic opportunities for all. We believe that freedom of conscience is not only essential to all human societies but integral to the Qur'anic view of humanity. We believe that secular government is the only way to achieve the Islamic ideal of freedom from compulsion in matters of faith.

At MPV Canada we are shocked and appalled at the recent Saudi Court decision in which Saudi human rights activists, Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni were sentenced to ten months in prison along with a two year travel ban for the offence of “trying to sabotage the marital relationship” between Canadian, Nathalie Morin, formerly of Montreal and her Saudi husband “and abetting her to escape”.

According to The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (http://gc4hr.org/news/view/437 ) :

-   on June 7, 2011, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni, received a text message saying that Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her three children were being subjected to violence and that her Saudi husband had locked them in the house. The text message also said that the children were starving of hunger.

-   Shortly thereafter, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni brought food to Morin’s house and discovered that the husband had trapped them (as well) after he discovered and seized the mobile handset from which Morin had sent the text message.

-   When the Saudi police arrived they arrested Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni on charges of trying to smuggle the wife and her three children away from her husband.

Following sentencing, Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni declared in a statement issued June 15, 2013:

"It was clear to us from the very beginning when we were summoned to the investigation by the prosecutor in Dammam (Saudi Arabia) that the issue was malicious and those who moved this case against us from the concerned authorities wanted to harm and harass us, and stop our humanitarian activities, because that case since the night in which it occurred two years ago, had been revoked by order of the Amir of the Eastern region and closed the file…"

"Finally we will appeal this judgment at the Court of Appeal, and we will raise our objection to it."

According to The Gulf Centre for Human Rights Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni:

“have been targeted with fabricated charges that lack proper evidence solely due to their long, ongoing defense of women's rights in the country and their active participation in women's rights campaign in addition to their demand of the right of women to drive a car.”

MPV supports the Gulf Centre for Human Rights in its demand on the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:

1.   Immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni and quash the prison sentences against them, and safely release them;

2.   Immediately and unconditionally remove the travel ban imposed on Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni;

3.   Reconsider the legal codifications of "Takhbib" or inciting women against their husbands, as this practice is judged without safe and protective legal measures. Additionally, most women rights' defenders would be liable if attempting to help women in domestic distress; additionally, it has no basis in Islam.

4.   Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

MPV joins the Gulf Centre for Human Rights in reminding the authorities of Saudi Arabia that Saudi Arabia is bound by the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted by consensus by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998, and recognizes the legitimacy of the activities of human rights defenders, their right to freedom of association and to carry out their activities without fear of reprisals, specifically providing at:

Articles 5 (c): "For the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, at the national and international levels: (c) To communicate with non-governmental or intergovernmental organizations" and

Article 6 (c): "Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others: (c) To study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in law and in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, through these and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to those matters."

MPV calls upon Prime Minister Stephen Harper, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz bin Saud, and all other relevant Canadian and Saudi authorities to immediately demand and obtain the release of both Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni and guarantee the freedom and safety of Canadian, Nathalie Morin and her children.

Muslims for Progressive Values MPV Ummah Canada
Chair: Shahla Khan Salter
www.mpvottawa.com
email: mpvottawa@gmail.com
613 262 28798


This statement is being distributed to the following authorities:
Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
c/o The Ambassador of Saudi Arabia in Canada, Osamah Al Sanosi Ahmad:
amboffice.ott@mofa.gov.sa
Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia
Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
FAX: 1-401-1336
Prime Minister Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Ambassador to Canada in Saudi Arabia, Thomas MacDonald, ryadh@international.gc.ca
Minister of Consular Affairs, Diane Ablonczy: diane.ablonczy@parl.gc.ca
Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird: john.baird@parl.gc.ca
Minister for the Status of Women, Rona Ambrose: rona.ambrose@parl.gc.ca

Leader of the Opposition Thomas Mulcair: thomas.mulcair@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic Consular Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Paul Dewar: paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic for Women, Niki Ashton: Niki.ashton@parl.gc.ca
Opposition Critic for Justice and Human Rights, Francoise Boivin: Francoise.Boivin@parl.gc.ca
Liberal Opposition Leader, Justin Trudeau: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca

This statement is being sent to the following human rights organizations and allies of MPV Canada:
Amnesty International Canada, Alex Neve
Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice, Rev. Frances Deverell
Human Rights Watch Beirut, Nadya Khalife
Human Rights Watch Canada, Jasmine Herlt
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Sukanya Pillay
CAIR, Ihsaan Gardee
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights
The Saudi Center for Democracy and Human Rights
The Toronto Unity Mosque El-Tawhid Juma Circle, El-Farouk Khaki
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Alia Hogben
Muslims for Progressive Values USA, Ani Zonneveld
Muslims for Progressive Values France, Ludovic Mohamed-Zahed
Muslims for Progressive Values Chile, Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente Nasreen Amina
Muslims for Progressive Values Australia, Shawon T. Khan
The Nathalie Morin Support Committee, Johanne Durocher

79

Discussions / understanding gender

« on: June 16, 2013, 02:24:03 AM »

Peace,

Here is an another view to ponder upon

http://newageislam.com/islam,-women-and-feminism/the-moderate-muslim-misogynist/d/11936

80

Discussions / gender equality in Islam

« on: June 13, 2013, 07:10:18 AM »

Peace,


GENDER EQUALITY IN ISLAM
==================

003:195 "I shall not lose sight of the labor of any of you who labors in My way, be it man or woman; each of you is equal to the other"

Spiritual equality, responsibility and accountability for both men and women is a well-developed theme in the Quran. Spiritual equality between men and women in the sight of God is not limited to purely spiritual, religious issues, but is the basis for equality in all temporal aspects of human endeavor.
Adam and Eve: Gender Equality

The concept of gender equality is best exemplified in the Quranic rendition of Adam and Eve. The Quran states that both sexes were deliberate and independent and there is no mention of Eve being created out of Adam's rib or anything else. Even in the issue of which sex was created first is not specified, implying that for our purpose in this world, it may not matter.

004:001 "O mankind! Be conscious of your Sustainer, who has created you out of one living entity (nafs), and out of it created its mate, and out of hte two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain conscious of God, in whose name you demand your rights from one another, and of these ties of kinship. Verily, God is ever watchful over you! "

Quranic translators disagree on the meaning of "nafs" in the above verse which Muhammad Asad translates as "living entity." Many claim that "nafs" translates as "person," that is, Adam. But according to Asad and other scholars, God created humankind and its sexual counterpart out of its own kind. The Arabic word referring to mate (zawj) in the above Quranic verse is grammatically neutral and can be applied both ot male and female interchangeably. So it is not clear, nor should we conjecture, that Adam was created first, Eve was created out of Adam, or that Eve/woman is innately subservient to Adam/man. The fact that this Quranic verse does not specify one specific sex over the other is proof of gender non-bias and equality. It is commonly (and mistakenly) argued that Adam was created first, and that by this gesture God finds the male dominant and superior to the female; however, the wording of the Quran in the aforementioned verse does not support this claim.

The Quran describes how Adam and Eve were told to avoid a specific tree, which they both approached. For this act of disobedience to God, they were consequently banished from the garden; however, later both repented and were forgiven by God. The Quran does not allude to Eve tempting Adam to eat from the tree and being responsible for their downfall. In the Quranic version, both were held accountable and both paid the price for their choices, proving that gender equality is an intrinsic part of Islamic belief. (See 002:030-037)



Accountability, Independence, and Freedom of Choice
================================

Women are independent individuals, as exemplified by the fact that all human beings will be accountable for their own intentions and deeds on the Day of Judgment when "no human being shall be of the least avail to another human being" (82:19) If men were ultimately responsibile for women (fathers for their daughters, husbands for their wives, etc.), then this accountability would be solely on men's shoulders to bear until the Day of Judgment. But this is not the case:

006:165 "And whatever wrong any human being commits rests upon himself alone; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden..."

Consequently, we cannot be judged according to our own deeds unless we have the freedom of choice to do so. This free choice carries with it the responsibility to make the right choices or paying the consequence for wrong ones, best exemplified by Adam and Eve.


Equality in Practice
===========

In the Quran, reference to men and women is through attributes and deeds, by which we will be judged. The most pious of us, or those who follow God's commands, are referred to as "believers" or "mu'mineen" (pl.) in the Quran. In many references, in fact, the Quran resonates this equality by eloquently repeating "men and women" with ethical and practical qualities throughout the verses, and even emphasizes this ten times in the following verse:

033:035 "Verily for all men and women who have surrendered themselves unto God, and all believing men and believing women, and all truly devout men and truly devout women, and all men and women who are true to their word, and all men and women who are patient in adversity, and all men and women who humble themselves before God, and all men and women who give in charity, and all self-denying men and self-denying women, and all men and women who are mindful of their chastity, and all men and women who remmber God unceasingly: for all of them has God readied forgiveness of sins and a mighty reward."

It is paramount to understand that the Quran equates being a "mu'min" (sing.) with actual practice, so that it is not enough to just have faith in principle; we must put our faith into practice. The same applies to our belief in the equality of men and women; gender equality as outlined in the Quran must also be put into practice. In reference to the above verse, modern scholar Laila Ahmed in "Women and Gender in Islam" says that "the implications are far-reaching. Ethical qualities, including those invoked here--charity, chastity, truthfulness, patience, piety--also have political and social dimensions."


Leila Ahmed
=======

An important and insightful academic study that needs to be read by everyone who cares about women, gender, feminism, Islam, the Middle East, or colonization. Lelia Ahmed is a superb scholar. She combines a traditional respect for the accuracy of the portrayal of the past with a sensitivity to modern theory about contested values and the political use of symbols. In this book, she provides a two-thousand-year survey of a vast region, consistently noting what still needs more research and the potential biases of her sources. She carefully traces differences of class and race within Islam and Middle Eastern societies. Historical context is absolutely critical in her account. Importantly, Ahmed is capable of recognizing contradictions and ambiguity that influence all our thinking.

Women and Gender challenges some basic assumptions about Islam and women. Ahmed clearly displays that Islam is not some sort of alien Other to western Christianity and culture. That view didn’t emerge until the Crusades. Initially, both religions developed in a region connected by trade and armies. She notes the irony of “western civilization” claiming that it started in Babylon and Egypt.

Another misconception that Ahmed identifies is that Islam somehow emerged in isolation, pure and untouched by its neighbors. While Islamic leaders have always claimed authority to interpret their religion, in fact other interpretations and practices have always existed. She distinguishes between the ethical message of equality and the orthodox religious institution that established a legal hierarchy devaluing and attacking women. Muslim women, past and present, have cherished that equality at the core of their religion in a way that is difficult for non-Muslims to understand.

Both Christianity and Islam developed in a region where women were losing the respect and power they had known before the rise of nations. As their religious institutions grew, both added addition restrictions on women and both voiced real misogyny against them. The changing times can be seen in the contrast between Mohamed’s first wife, a wealthy widow and merchant and his later wives and concubines who were secluded. After his death, his wives were able to continue to play important roles in the formalization of religious teaching, but soon such female power was lost. As the Muslim empire grow , it conquered neighboring countries taking many women as slaves and adapting other nations’ traditions of concubinage and harems. Women lost public power and even the language changed, blurring lines between the words for woman, sexual partner, and slave. Despite internal challenges, the place of women within Islam changed little until European involvement in the region increased in the nineteenth century.

In her treatment of the colonialism of the past two centuries, Ahmed focuses her account on Egypt. In doing so, she hopes to make her topic manageable, and she sees Egypt as both a forerunner and representative of patterns which would occur throughout the Middle East. Her choice also allows her to quote the outrageous comments of the British colonizers and those who supported them. Englishman tried to justify their intention to destroy Islamic lifestyles by stating the need to save Muslim women from abuse by inferior Muslim men. In doing so they co-opted feminism and created problems that still exist today.

The colonizers’ rhetoric about the problems of women was straight out of Victorian England, despite the fact that some British officials were working against suffrage in their homeland. In Egypt they did nothing about problematic laws relating to marriage, polygamy, and segregation of women, and they cut back on education for women and girls. Instead, they claimed that the most urgent need was to stop women’s use of the veil. [Ahmed lays out their logic, but it is somewhat convoluted and impossible to summarize.]

In 1898, an Egyptian man, in total support of colonization and the elimination of Egyptian culture, wrote a book entitled, “The Liberation of Women.” Although still sometimes identified as the first Egyptian feminist publication, it was in fact an attack on Muslim women as too dirty and too unattractive to attract their husbands’ desire and too ignorant to raise adequate sons. Those who sought to expel the British and regain control of their country argued strongly against the book. In the process, the veil came to symbolize all that was good or bad about colonization.

After surveying the conflicting forces and beliefs among Egyptians down to the present, Ahmed discusses the conflicted nature of feminism within Egypt in the early twentieth century. She recounts the waves of women entering higher education and the professions in the 1960s and 1970s, linking their expanded lives to economic and political shifts. Then she discusses the rising popularity of Islam in more recent decades, particularly among young upwardly mobile college students and graduates. Rather than labeling them as regressive, she suggests various ways in which veiling can provide a sense of protection and community as they move into unfamiliar worlds of education and urban life. She worries, however, about lack of awareness of the real dangers of Islamic political leaders using religion to curtail their options as women as they have done in Iran.

In her conclusion, Ahmed urges westerners in general and feminists in particular to re-examine what their own positions mean to those who have experienced colonization. To them we are implicated alongside those who would force their countries into various types of submission. If we focus on the sexism of the men in their community or in their political and religious structures, we can only force women to choose between their ethnicity and their womanhood—much as African-American women have been forced to choose.


===================================
NOTE: Extracts, narration, paraphrases and replication from multiple sources. Please contact LMU if you require references.

81

Discussions / suicide bombings

« on: June 09, 2013, 07:13:51 AM »

Salam,


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=476136329121826&set=a.386221784779948.84208.383575578377902&type=3&theater

82

Discussions / holy nights

« on: June 06, 2013, 07:14:52 AM »

Salam,

Tonight is a special night for the "Turkish Islam" . 

"Mosque festivals are called Kandil, which means Candle. It is so called because all the mosques are illuminated and those are the nights on which Muslims pray for forgiveness and wish to see the right way of things to be done according to their religion.

The story of Kandil

The five holy evenings on the Muslim calendar are called Kandil. During the Ottoman Empire Sultan Selim II of 16th century lit candles on the minarets of the mosques in order to announce these holy nights to the public. Since this calendar is calculated with the revolution of the moon around the earth the dates of the Kandils differ every year.

Mevlid Kandili - The birth of Prophet Mohammad (January 23, 2013)
Regaip Kandili – The night of Muhammed's conception (May 16, 2013)
Miraç Kandili – Prophet Mohammad's rising to sky (June 5, 2013)
Berat Kandili – The forgiveness of the sins (June 23, 2013)
Kadir Gecesi – The Koran's first appearance to Prophet Mohammad (August 3, 2013)

These nights Muslims usually worship and sing Mevlit, a poem written for the birth of Prophet Mohammad. "

I want to point out that this tradition is inherited from the Ottomans- the Sultans who used to be the khalifa of the Islamic ummah- which is fiercely being defended by the Erdogan government.

83

Discussions / robotic salat

« on: June 06, 2013, 04:23:22 AM »

May God's Peace be on you all,


"Look around and find countless other similar activities in our lives. Question yourself, if we continuously say ‘Ameen’ like a parrot behind Imam, void of any human-God emotional relationship, is it useful way to pray? Personally, I consider this to be an Insult to Almighty. Similarly, teaching and memorizing all repentance prayers without knowing their meanings remains questionable. The spirit of repentance is regret and shame over a bad action, which is independent of language and without which prayer becomes mockery. Is there anyone who teaches the mother of a sick child or passenger of a sinking ship, how to pray? Are our present actions not in total disconnect with the originally desired intentions? Similarly why can’t we deliver the sacred weekly sermon in the language we understand and on practical issues.

Let’s first exclude fear of others’ reactions before seeking an honest answer.

Lesson. Humans are supreme because of their mental faculties. Rules, norms and conventions are supposed to provide a thinking mind with a frame of reference. They are not final or ultimate. Not being able to think beyond the textual command, and not being able to grasp the spirit behind the legislation even at the cost of the intent of the Lawmaker, is a purely robotic quality. It is characteristic of Artificial Intelligence and thus happens to be the predominant difference with human thinking. Let’s live and play humans. "

POSTED BY ABU ABDULLAH


http://spiritual-legacy.com/2013/05/17/artificial-intelligence/

84

Discussions / DNA versus eye witnesses

« on: June 06, 2013, 01:21:08 AM »

Peace,

              This is a news report today:

The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) shocked many by declaring that DNA evidence can only be used as secondary evidence and cannot overrule the requirement of four witnesses for a culprit to be punished in rape cases. It is unfortunate that we are still debating these issues at a time when the world is working on artificial intelligence and robots. DNA evidence is considered to be 99.9 percent accurate. Someone needs to teach the CII about the details of DNA testing since apparently the council is unaware of something even a 10-year-old can now look up on the Internet. Worse, they may know the details and are just choosing to ignore it.
 
Some recent statements by the CII have bordered on the ridiculous. In a country where people are dying daily because of sectarian violence and religious extremism, the CII needs to change its preferences and discuss more relevant issues.

          These are the following reader comments:

on the other hand, we know for a fact from science human witness is not 99.9% accurate lol

now, that said. i really don't like dna being introduced into the muslim witnessing program... because then it can affect others in a big way. for example, a man or a woman who's having an affair with a married person can be put to death in some of these countries if dna is used. where now it makes it very, very difficult (which is why these cases are rare) in those countries.

so, perhaps this is a way to compromise?


Rape is not Zina its rape thus the four witnesses rule should not be applied in this case according to Quranic laws


Any comments?

85

Discussions / Disguised in the name of Islam

« on: June 04, 2013, 07:43:04 AM »

Peace,

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/shahla-khan-salter/woolwich-muslim-attack_b_3378989.html

86

Discussions / not in my name

« on: June 03, 2013, 11:39:48 PM »

Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lktpYOzkjDE#!


http://quransmessage.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif

87

General Discussions / 9:61

« on: March 23, 2013, 10:45:19 AM »

Peace brother Joseph and all,

"He is all ears."   Why is this a source of grief for the Prophet?  There are several interpretive translations with subtle differences in meaning like:

He will listen to anything
He only listens
He is unquestioning
He is the one who believes everything that he hears
He gives ear to all
He is just an ear
He believes what he hears
He is only a hearer

What is your understanding of this verse?  Why is he being belittled?

Thanks in advance for your input.

88

Discussions / evolutionary psychology of suicide bombers

« on: March 21, 2013, 11:48:59 PM »

Salaam all,
 
Wanted to share with you a very interesting view.

 Peace

"Most suicide bombers are Muslim - According to the Oxford University sociologist Diego Gambetta, editor of Making Sense of Suicide Missions, a comprehensive history of this troubling yet topical phenomenon, while suicide missions are not always religiously motivated, when religion is involved, it is always Muslim. Why is this? Why is Islam the only religion that motivates its followers to commit suicide missions?The surprising answer from the evolutionary psychological perspective is that Muslim suicide bombing may have nothing to do with Islam or the Koran (except for two lines in it). It may have nothing to do with the religion, politics, the culture, the race, the ethnicity, the language, or the region. As with everything else from this perspective, it may have a lot to do with sex, or, in this case, the absence of sex.What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don’t get any wives at all.So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates. By doing so, they have little to lose and much to gain compared with men who already have wives. Across all societies, polygyny makes men violent, increasing crimes such as murder and rape, even after controlling for such obvious factors as economic development, economic inequality, population density, the level of democracy, and political factors in the region.
However, polygyny itself is not a sufficient cause of suicide bombing. Societies in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are much more polygynous than the Muslim nations in the Middle East and North Africa. And they do have very high levels of violence. Sub-Saharan Africa suffers from a long history of continuous civil wars—but not suicide bombings.

The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.

It is the combination of polygyny and the promise of a large harem of virgins in heaven that motivates many young Muslim men to commit suicide bombings. Consistent with this explanation, all studies of suicide bombers indicate that they are significantly younger than not only the Muslim population in general but other (nonsuicidal) members of their own extreme political organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. And nearly all suicide bombers are single."

by Alan S. Miller, Ph.D., Satoshi Kanazawa, Ph.D.

89

General Discussions / 42:13

« on: March 07, 2013, 12:18:55 AM »

Peace to you all,

Today, I read about the Dutch politician Van Doorn who has recently converted to Islam.  He says:

“I have heard so many negative stories about Islam, but I am not a person who follows opinions of others without doing my own research,” he said.

“Therefore, I have actually started to deepen my knowledge of the Islam out of curiosity."

Dear brother, Who put that curiosity in your heart?  "God chooses to Himself whomsoever He wills, and He guides to Himself whomsoever turns to Him"

90

Discussions / Why the Bible is not God's Words

« on: February 23, 2013, 03:25:03 AM »

Peace,

Very interesting article with very good points


http://www.thewhirlingwind.com/2012/12/03/biblical-errors-why-the-bible-is-not-gods-word/