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Dear friends,

Can anyone please guide me as to where I can find Western scholarly articles/books/thesis about the origins of the concept of Khilafat (how it was understood by the earliest audience of Quran and the way its understood presently) ?

Thanks!!

Salaam Alaikum brother Joseph,

What does Quran say about "Spying"... if its done as a preventive measure against a possible conspiracy?
I am suspicious of my friend... i think he may be conspiring against me... as he has done that in the past too. Can i spy on him? Would it be morally justified?

Dear brother Joseph,

I can't thank you enough for so patiently responding to my queries! It's much appreciated

May God bless you.

Regards.

Dear brother Joseph,

Thanks for your prompt response.

While re-reading verse 2:184 and 2:185, some more questions came to mind:

1. In 2:184, the only reasons mentioned for which one could give fidya or observe missed fasts later, is either being sick or being on a journey. I was not able to find this verse endorsing any other valid reasons. I would humbly request you to shed some more light on this. Please allow me to be a bit candid here: What I am really interested in knowing is whether "deliberately" skipping a fast and giving fidya instead, make me a sinner? I understand that God says its better if one fasts. But I just want to assure myself that I am not sinning during those "once in a while" occasions when I skip the fast for maybe no specific reason. So I would really appreciate if you can elaborate the meaning of this verse a little more.

2. Why is it that in 2:185 the option to give fidya is not mentioned?

Regards,
Osman

Dear brother Joseph,

Walakum Salaam.

Thanks for your reply. I find your perspective to fit all parameters of logic. Theory of abrogated verses indeed seems like a man-made phenomena rather than something natural to God's book.

The only bit of puzzle that doesn't seem to fit is, the placement of this verse  شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِيَ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ. What does it really signify, given that abrogation is an invalid concept...?

I mean, what does this verse mean in the context of other verses around it? Is it referring to the "few days" mentioned in the previous verse? I mean, can I read this verse as follows, with my understanding added in the brackets:

"(Those few days mentioned in the previous verse is actually) the month of Ramadhan, in which Quran was revealed."

Dear brother Joseph,

Thank you for the reply.

There is a prevalent point of view according to which some directives of fasting prescribed in 2:184 were abrogated by the very next verse 2:185. Allow me to copy and paste this whole argument below along with the source of the article from where I got it:

"...the very next verse beginning with the words شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِيَ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ shows that the permission to feed a needy for a missed fast was later revoked. Consequently, the whole directive has been repeated after this verse while omitting the words beginning with وَعَلَى الَّذِينَ يُطِيقُونَهُ and  ending  with إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ. Since it is difficult to fast in days other than Ramadan, the Almighty did not make it incumbent until people got used to it. Hence, it has been said in the Qur'an that feeding the needy for missed fasts has been revoked so that people could keep their missed fasts and are thus not deprived of the blessings hidden in them."

Source: http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=90

I would like to hear your thoughts on this matter. Is it really the case that the directives of 2:184 were abrogated by the later verse? If so, how does that fit in with the wat Muslims have been traditionally fasting all these centuries?

Regards,
Osman.

Brother Joseph wrote: "If one opts not to keep fasts for whatever reason, then the option to give 'fidya' (ransom) is always present as per verse 2:184"

Does that imply that I can opt not to keep fasts for no genuine reason, and pay fidya instead? If that's true, what would be the fidya?

Regards.

Thanks for the reply Ahmed. I agree with you when you say that God manifests outside what is already inside us, and that we control whats inside us.

I'd like to rephrase my question, but this time with some context.

The context is that its been difficult for me and my family to find me a marriage partner. Everytime we approach a family with proposal, something happens and it doesn't go through. At this point, some people tell me "Just trust in God's plan for you, He will guide you to your spouse when the time is right".

So within this context, and generally as well, is just a cliche to say "Have trust in God's plan"? Or How do I know whether in God's plan Im even destined to get married or not?

Salaams,

I hope this is the right category to post this question. It's a general question, not related to any specific verse of the Quran.

Here's it:

People normally say to trust in the plans that God has for us. Like sometimes when I feel depressed while thinking about the future .... then I am told to have trust in God's plans for me.

I just want to know, what is meant by trusting in "God's plans for me"? I mean, is this said in a literal sense? Does God really have plans for me? Or is it just a feel-good strategy?

Is God's plan, same as destiny? What if (God forbid) I am destined to go to hell?

I really want to know this. These thoughts been troubling me for a while.

I'd really appreciate if anyone in this forum can give some insight into this!

Wsalaam.
~ Osman

Salaam alaikum,

I came across a very interesting tafseer of Surah Ar Ra'ad Verse 11, the verse which says that Allah doesn't change the conditions of people unless they change what's in themselves.

Here's the tafseer: http://islamicsystem.blogspot.com/2006/10/tafseer-of-surah-ar-raad-ayah-11.html

Essentially what the author of this tafseer does is, he dives into the grammatical aspects of the words which appear in this verse, then interprets it in such a way so as to mean that the change which is demanded from people in this verse is a political change for example restoring Khilafat. Groups such as Hizb ut Tahrir take this interpretation as a Quranic evidence for the support of their activities.

One thing which I believe this tafseer failed to pay attention to was the context of this verse.

I'd like to know your opinion of this particular interpretation of this verse.

Regards