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salam brother Joseph,

The discussions in this forum has helped me a lot and I would like to thank everyone for their input, but in this particular case brother joseph could you please clarify, if a virgin person knows that another non-mahram person is not a virgin, then is it allowed for the virgin person to marry the non-virgin person? Even if the non-virgin person was not evicted but just confided his/her secret to the virgin person before marriage? how should the virgin person then take the directive of verse 24:3?

thank you..

p.s.
I would like to add, islam sees marriage and sex as inseperable, so any mention of  sexual activity is assumed to be taking place in a marriage. and also I believe that when Allah uses the word nikaah, He means lawful sexual relations which can only take place in a marriage. If a person, is not married, he/she is asked to lower his/her gaze, fast and also cover body parts that are arousing. The elderly women  married or not, who have lost the ability of arousing sexual desires in men can put off some of their clothes and there is no sin when they do it, provided it does not result in indecent exposure of body parts.

salam optimist..

you said nikah is used 'not in the technical' sense, correct me if I am misunderstanding, are you saying that marriage in the technical sense is ok with fornicators? only fornication is banned for mumin people. But a virgin girl can marry a non-virgin guy (fornicator) or vice versa?

thanks..

Salam All,

I was studying up on hajj, and came across the rule made by Saudi Arabian authority that states that women who have no mahram are exempted from performing hajj, as in hajj is not obligatory for these women no matter if they are capable of performing it financially and health-wise.

Is this Quranic? aren't they sinning, if they are banning women from performing something that Allah made obligatory?
what do you guys think?

Thank you..

Surat An-Nur verse 2
Sahih International
The [unmarried] woman or [unmarried] man found guilty of sexual intercourse - lash each one of them with a hundred lashes, and do not be taken by pity for them in the religion of Allah , if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.

Surat An-Nur verse 3
Sahih International
The fornicator does not marry except a [female] fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.

Salam everyone ..

Hope all of you had a wonderful Eid with friends and family.

I was reading a translation of the Quran the other day and came across a verse that is translated to mean that a non-virgin person cannot marry a virgin person. Such a marriage is haram in Allah's eyes.

But what if a person repents sincerely? Can then a non-virgin( repentant) marry a virgin person? Somehow the translation of the verse seems wrong and also asking someone this question prior to marriage may not yield honest answers as well. I also think this limits the pool of marriageable people significantly.

I don't want to make any transgressing comment so what do you people think?

Thanks ...

salam truth seeker,

thank you for your input on the matter . Yes, it makes sense to avoid it.I did not think about it the way you put it, wine having some good in it and pig being declared haram outright!

salam to u too saba ..
not at all any perspective is appreciated.. yes a general response was given to me, and after that I read up on it and  became very confused because of the logical reasoning that were given for the permissibility of gelatin..I just wanted to know other people's perspectives as well. I just wanted to be sure I wasn't making haram stuff halal or vice versa for myself.. thank you so much for your input ...

Ramadan Mubarak dear brother Joseph

I was reading up on the permissibility of gelatin recently and I came across two opinions from islamic scholars:

1. when bones from halal/ haram (pigs or cows/goats not slaughtered according to islamic law) are boiled to make gelatin, the chemical composition changes and so the new substance should have a new ruling. i.e gelatin from pigs is also halal.

the logic they gave is, grapes are halal but wine is not, but again vinegar from wine is halal.
so halal substances can come from haram substances.

2. I read another article refuting the above logic for permissibility of gelatin, saying that no matter what, gelatin derived from non-halal animals is haram.

so brother can u help me please. I am very confused and where I live many food products contain gelatin. Do you think I should avoid eating things that contain gelatin?

thank you in advance...

dear moderators,

yes I understand. I had no intend of creating dispute or disrupt the decorum of the forum though ..

thank you

salam brother,

I actually have read your previous post carefully but the issues were not clear to me , so i repeated my questions. in fact i have began my reply by saying so that I repeated them. I told u that I was becoming confused and you rightly said that the issue of conversion is different for people of other faith. I apologize again. I just wanted to be clear on this issue.

But I would like the moderators to know respectfully  that I never dismiss anyone's reply especially if it is to a query I made and the person has taken time out to answer them. please do not say things like, it so seems that you haven't taken the time to read the answers, when you do not know whether i read them or not and that is offensive.

and also I repeated two of my questions because I needed answers to them and initially I waited for a response for around three weeks. I have said sorry for repeating my questions and I am apologizing now again.

thank you.

salam brother,

1.is interaction between jinns and humans haram?

2. if so, prophet Solomon used to interact with them. was He an exception?

3. I heard that magic or occult arts refer to this interaction between jinns and mankind? so isn't practicing withcraft haram?

thank you.

salam brother Joseph,

I would like to begin by apologizing because of repeating two of my questions that I asked before but did not get  answers yet.  I am asking these questions again because I need the answers to them so that I can decide what I should do from a Quran's perspective.

       After reading your articles and your posts, I have learnt that the Quran provides a law and an open way for us and the people of the book.

You also said that the Quran asks the people of the book to consider it and accept it as truth. From your reply to my question, I understood that we are to believe that aspects of truth is present in the Bible but we are not to use it for extracting and formulating religious law.

You also said that the Bible was revealed as a source of law for the children of Israel.

1. But is the Bible (only) supposed to remain the source of law for the children of Israel till the day of reckoning even after the Quran is revealed?

2. The Quran is revealed as a message for all of Alaameen, doesn't that include people of the book?

3. if not, then how is the Quran a guidance for all of Alameen?

4. If a person( christian or jew) from the people of the book accepts the Quran as truth, can he/she then still follow only the laws present in the Bible? or in this case should he/she follow both the laws in the Quran and the Bible ( Bible + Quran)?

5. is it enough for them to just believe in the veracity of the message of the Quran and follow only the Bible just like we are asked to recognize truth in the Bible but follow the laws in the Quran?

        I read your very informative article on riba. Your approach is different than traditionalista, you rightly consider the nature of paper money and say that if the amount of interest charged is equal to the time dependant increase in the certain amount of money then its ok. But calculating such a rate of interest that would yield the time dependent increased amount of money is not possible. As an economics student i can tell this because we are taught that due to the presence of black markets, impossibility of accruing perfect information regarding monetary transactions and demand and supply of money in an economy it is impossible to calculate such an interest rate. So non islamic banks cant charge that rate. So they charge a rate that they fix basing on assumptions and speculative calculations.

The rate of interest these institutions charge yield an amount of money that reflects the time dependent increase in money but the amount is not exactly equal to it. The interest amount of money can be slightly more or less than the time dependent increased amount.

6. Do you think then working in such institutions is haram and so is keeping money in their savings accounts? can I work in  a bank and have a savings account in traditional banks?

         In my country, after the death of a person, people gather on the third day( called milad) and the 40 th day (called challisa) to recite the quran, some prayers, surah yaseen 40 times etc for the peace of the soul of the dead person.

7. is this practice sanctioned by the quran?

8. how can the recitation of these help the dead person? are doing these things at all quranic or just a traditional practice not sanctioned by the quran?

9.and also women are not allowed to accompany the body to the burial site. this is thought to be forbidden?

10.does the quran forbid women from attending janaza prayers and going to the burial site?

11.also people (men and women) in my country visit the grave and read surahs for the peace of the dead person's soul. how quranic is this practice?

thank you so much for all the trouble.

salam brother Joseph,

After reading your articles and your posts, I have learnt that the Quran provides a law and an open way for us and the people of the book.

You also said that the Quran asks the people of the book to consider it and accept it as truth. From your reply to my question, I understood that we are to believe that aspects of truth is present in the Bible but we are not to use it for extracting and formulating religious law.

You also said that the Bible was revealed as a source of law for the children of Israel. But is the Bible (only) supposed to remain the source of law for the children of Israel till the day of reckoning even after the Quran is revealed?

The Quran is revealed as a message for all of Alaameen, doesn't that include people of the book? if not, then how is the Quran a guidance for all of Alameen?

If a person( christian or jew) from the people of the book accepts the Quran as truth, can he/she then still follow only the laws present in the Bible? or in this case should he/she follow both the laws in the Quran and the Bible ( Bible + Quran)? is it enough for them to just believe in the veracity of the message of the Quran and follow only the Bible just like we are asked to recognize truth in the Bible but follow the laws in the Quran?

Thank you,

Salam Truth Seeker,

the translation of the verse is as follows:

Surat An-Nisa (4:119):

Sahih International

And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah ." And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss

Peace to u too Hope

I absolutely agree with you that it is easy to give opinions on a keyboard and that understanding sexuality is difficult that is exactly why I asked the opinion of brother Joseph on my understanding and whether it is correct in the light of the Quran.

from my first post:
Please shed some light on the following three scenarios and tell me whether my believes are justified in the light of the glorious Quran:

Now I have also given two possibilities in the cases of the homosexual person and the transgendered person:
1. they are born with those inclinations and should see it as a test for them and persevere and not transgress
2. or it might be a wasswassa from satan not something that is innate in them  because if a  person can really be born homosexual and it was something that is natural to our existence then maybe Allah subhanahu taala wouldnt have classed it as a haram act. Allah did not classify eating, sexual relations, altogether as haram. He gave some rules and if they are not followed these harmless acts become a sin.

And also the human body really can't differentiate the source of stimulation ( please pardon me if I offend anyone). Our bodies can't detect whether a male or female is the source of stimulation or a person himself/herself etc.. just like our stomach can't differentiate between rice or bread, for it both is a source of carbohydrate.

I have always tried to base my opinions on the Quran. I fear our lord and do not want to be among the transgressors, If I become judgmental about anyone, be it a believer or a non believer I will be among the transgressors. No one has the right to judge anyone because we cannot really know how much of the truth has reached them.