Messages

Once again, Sir, I must thank you from the bottom of my heart. God Bless.

Salamun Àlaykum everyone,
Forgive my ignorance, but I don't really understand what the "Bring forth a Sūrah like it" challenge is about. As in:
"And if you are in
doubt about what We have sent down
upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then
produce a Surah the like thereof and
call upon your witnesses other than
Allah , if you should be truthful." (2:23).
What exactly is this about? On what criteria do we judge whether a given text is like a Quranic Sūrah?

Salaam everyone,

Is the fire of Gehenna/Jahannum an allegory? Or is it to be taken literally?

Thanks.

This is a rather philosophical question. I begin from the very first verse of the Qur'an, which declares the mercy of God. Since He is merciful, He is also loving. If so, and since the Qur'an emphasizes the merciful nature of God, shouldn't He delight in mercy, the mercy that His creatures show one another? Should not that be what He desires more than worship? So as long as a man show mercy to his fellow creatures, why would God care how many idols he worships? I mean, monotheism is the truth, but what harm can polytheism do? Why should it be deserving of hell?

I believe in the pre-existence of the soul.

Nothing, just thought this would be helpful, that is all.

Might I suggest that miracles are not against nature, they only contradict what we know about nature?

Yeah, this is a scientific case for the existence of the soul.

Salaamun Àlaykum

This, IMHO, is a good resource on the existence of the soul. Hope this helps. :-)

http://bookre.org/reader?file=1325637

Well, I have  no problem with guided evolution. If by evolution one means merely common descent, then I have no problems. Where I would disagree is the mechanism by which said descent occurs.
www.evolutionnews.org

On a related issue, what about Trinitarian Christians? I have Catholic and Protestant friends, and they're good folk, so I can't easily imagine them going to hell. Anther thing is, I have found that in the Qur'an, idolatry is always mentioned with other sins. So the real reason idolatry is forbidden is that idolatrous religions enjoin injustice and corruption i.e., Fasaad?

Yes, it does help, thank you  Anyone who can think for himself can realize that God cannot be representd in a form, if by God, one understands Him to be the first cause.

Yes, this is possible. Often, I suppose, when a Hebrew word is Arabized, the consonants may change, such as Mizmor (Psalm) becoming Zabur.

Salaamun alaykum,
This is something I have always wondered about. Until Islam 9or perhaps Christianity), monotheism was just confined to the Jewish people. Even after Islam, there were many communities that did not get the message for a long time. What about polytheists and idolaters who lived in those times and places? Will they be punished for Shirk?