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[sinful according to our religion]

Salaam and welcome to the forum

We have free will to choose but certain choices we make can be sinful according to our religion ( if we believe in it and follow it.)

We know that we could be punished for example if we took pork and whiskey. Still there are some people who choose to take them knowing that it is a sin...nobody forced them to do it.

You said 'What I can make out from this is the fact we are being forced by God to follow his law. (For good but still we're forced)'


I think that you need to look at this the other way around. You have the free will to choose if Islam is the religion you wish to follow. If you feel that this is a true faith and the Quran is the word of God, you become a believer.

Then you submit to the laws and regulations of the faith  because you believe them to be God's commandments.

Part and parcel is to have prohibitions in certain areas of the faith which you accept because you are a believer and you submit. It is part of our test of our commitment to God by refraining from them.

It's the same with the laws of the land in which we live. There are laws and if you break them you can be punished. For example in the U.K, you can't carry most types of knives on your person. If caught by the police, you could be prosecuted and face a jail term.

So by your statement you could extrapolate that  'we are being forced by our country to follow their laws'

The punishments are there as deterrents, be it the laws of the land or the laws of God.

No problem.
Just to let you know that I am a sister

Salaam

That's a very difficult one to answer given that the question is very general.  It all depends on what kind of tactics or arguments the atheists are using as they are normaly quite specific.

[was not]

Salaam,

Regarding Mary, she was in the throngs of labour, and in order to avoid any potential questions being asked of her from other people, God asked her to abstain from talking to them.

For Zakaryia, he was so astounded that he was to be gifted with a child in his old age, that he asked God to give him a sign. This was to satisfy his heart and the sign from God to confirm this miracle, was that he was not going to be able to converse with anyone for 3 days.

This was not abstinence as was in he case of Mary, rather he would physically not be able to speak to anyone.

Salaam MaHa,

I know you have some questions for Waqas, but I just wanted to mention that there are different words used for serpent/snake in the Quran and none of them are shaitaan, so maybe it is a push to interpret it thus.

Also I would steer well clear of Rashad Khalifa and his translations. I am not aware if you already know that he is considered as heretic by many due to his interpretation of the Quran plus his claim that there is a hidden numerical miracle contained therein.

Salaam MaHa,

As far as I am aware, there is no mention the previous scriptures of Prophet Job vowing to whip his wife. She is not mentioned by name and only 10 words of speech are allocated to her and many considered her to be a 'female foe'.

You will know that the forum members here are in the main Quran centric so that the hadith are not given a religious status so to speak.

That leaves us with only the scriptures to go with so according to the Quran prophet Job did indeed suffer in his life but his patience and enduring faith led to ultimately having children, health and wealth restored to him. The same is reflected in the previous scriptures but in a lot more detail.

I am not aware though that there is a mention of an oath in them unless anyone else here knows to the contrary.

Salaam,

1. If he had more than one wife and they were righteous, then maybe they will all be companions in Jannah. We know that souls will be recreated into a totally different creation so their form and function will most probably be completely different.

2. Then he would have other companions.

http://quransmessage.com/articles/sexy%20female%20virgins%20for%20men%20in%20heaven%20FM3.htm

http://quransmessage.com/articles/heaven%20and%20paradise%20FM3.htm

Salaam Student,

Just for everyone's information, the forum policy is no private messaging.

Thanks

[arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven]

Some examples from the previous scriptures:

KINGS:

1Kings 8:54   When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the LORD,  he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his  hands spread toward heaven1Kings 8:55 And he stood and  blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: 1Kings 8:56  "Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel,  according to all that He  promised;  not one word has  failed of all His good  promise, which He  promised through Moses His servant.

PSALMS:

Psa. 95:6-7 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

The words used are "proskyneisomen"or "worship", and "prospesomen" which literally means "to fall down". (proskynetarion = shrine; proskynetis = pilgrim)

LUKE: (refers to prophet Jesus)

Luke 22:39  And He came out and proceeded  as was His custom to  the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. Luke 22:40  When He arrived at the place, He said to them, " Pray that you may not enter into temptation." Luke 22:41 And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He  knelt down and began to pray, Luke 22:42 saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me;  yet not My will, but Yours be done."

[ever mean a physical act.]

You are making a claim here that the words for bowing and prostrating in the Quran do not ever mean a physical act.

You then expand this claim to the previous scriptures. As are trying to prove something against, you have to provide evidence, not me.

The irony is in your own statement to me :

There is a difference between reading in context and reading parts of Scripture with biased thoughts

You are being hypocritical in my opinion by only allowing one meaning for sujood and rukuh when there actually is more than one meaning ...so maybe you should be 'reading in context'

These Quranists that have an allergy to physical prayer have decided to translate the verses by 'reading parts of the Scripture with biased thoughts'

They are probably the same bunch who don't believe in Fasting or Hajj being physical acts!

Salaam Quranfaithful,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing examples of differences between the sects; very informative.

[no physical act of bowing and prostrating]

As you hold the stance that there is no physical act of bowing and prostrating in the previous scriptures, it is up to you to provide evidence and proof to us.

You should read the the Hebrew and Aramaic lexicons and show us here that there is no physical bowing, prostrating, kneeling etc.

[very similar]

So if sujood and rukuh don't mean the physical act of  bowing or prostrating, which arabic words do?

The Christians do kneel and bow plus the traditional Jewish prayer is very similar to the way the Muslim do.


The physical act of praying seems to bother so many quranists that they are changing the meaning of keys words and what we have in it's place doesn't 'fit' very well in my opinion.

So standing up in front of your Creator and physically bowing to Him to show your submission is beneath you?

I think that if you are being oppressed/persecuted and a non Muslim country is willing to accept you, and more importantly allow you to practice your faith, then it makes sense to leave.

The Quran mentions that 'oppression is worse that killing' (2.191)

If it's location isn't disputed, then it may well be that the pilgrims visit the same place that the Quran is referring to.