Non-Muslim - Q&As with Joseph Islam

Started by Reader Questions, July 02, 2014, 09:11:42 AM

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Reader Questions

Hello Joseph,

I came across your site while searching. I am interested in Islam and need some questions answered to help me understand better.

a. Where is Allah?
b. What does Allah look like?
c. What is his history?

Thank you so much for your time.

Very best regards


Joseph Islam

Dear [name removed]

Thank you for your email. I trust that you will find the following website of use regarding Islam.

http://quransmessage.com
 
With a view to provide you succinct responses to your questions, please see my responses below in blue italics:

a. Where is Allah?

Outside the dimension of time and space and His creation.
http://quransmessage.com/charts%20and%20illustrations/time%20and%20space/timespace%20FM2.htm

b. What does Allah look like?

No one knows. An intelligent force that doesn't take a corporeal existence.

c. What is his history?

Ever present.

I hope this assists in some small way at least.

With peace and regards,
Joseph

'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell

Reader Questions

Hi Joseph,

1. So you believe has a form? If so please refer me to some Koranic verses.

2. In Saudi Arabia and many other countries where Muslims are dominant, there is no freedom of religion for non-Muslims in public nor are they allowed to promote their religion, but the Muslims demand freedom of religion everywhere in the world. Please explain this?

Thanks

Joseph Islam

Dear [name removed]

With a view to provide you succinct responses to your questions, please see my responses below in blue italics:

1. So you believe has a form? If so please refer me to some Koranic verses.

I have never claimed this. Please see my response to your question (b) in your previous email.

2. In Saudi Arabia and many other countries where Muslims are dominant, there is no freedom of religion for non-Muslims in public nor are they allowed to promote their religion, but the Muslims demand freedom of religion everywhere in the world. Please explain this?

With respect, it is not for me 'as a believer' to explain the actions or theological beliefs of others. I can only comment on my opinion of the perspective that the Scripture shares with its audience as guidance and my own beliefs derived from it. Whether Muslims follow their scriptures or not, is (respectfully) a matter for them.

With peace and regards,
Joseph

'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell

Reader Questions

Hi Joseph

I am trying to understand Islam but I need clarifications on the truth.

"Muhammad selected Safiyyah because of her beauty, made her his wife and gave a banquet at the wedding; then he had sex with Saffiyah at Sa`d-AsSahba.." (Sahih Bukhari 4.52.143)

Safiyyah was only 17 and the Prophet was 57, when he had sex with her. 

"A dignified woman, Jauniyaa (a princess) was brought to Muhammad to have sex with him but she was reluctant to give herself to him; Muhammad was angry and raised his hand to beat her..." (Sahih Bukhari, 7.63.182)

"That the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." (Sahih Bukhari: Volume 7, Book 62, Number 64)

The Prophet lived to 63. The Prophet married the 6 year old Aisha when he was 51, and started having sex with her when she was 9 when he was 54.
The Prophet married more than 20 times after the age of 50 and to very young girls. He even married and had sex with his daughter-in-law.

The Muslims say the prophet was not lusty. How do you explains the above and other similar quotes?

Thank you.

Joseph Islam

Dear [name removed]

There are two main sources of literature in Islam


  • PRIMARY SOURCE - The Quran - Which was compiled and taken down during the life of the prophet's ministry.
  • SECONDARY SOURCE - Hadith Literature (Derived Sunna) - 'Reports' of the prophet taken down by compilers and canonised CENTURIES after the death of the prophet.

Now let us have a look at 'Bukhari's' narratives that you have quoted excerpts which forms part of (2) above.

Please see the illustration below.
http://quransmessage.com/charts%20and%20illustrations/214%20years/214%20years%20FM2.htm

I would respectfully like to put a question to you. Would you ever attempt to compile reports of say, George Washington who died in 1799 CE - 215 years ago, based in the main on oral reports of fallible human beings who often had sectarian and political axes to grind and call it historically reliable? Would you? How reliable would these sources be?

Well that is what 'Bukhari's' alleged work claims to have achieved and you have quoted excerpts from such alleged works. These are arguably historically 'unreliable' sources and not contemporaneous to the prophet's ministry. That is the truth in my humble view, whether or not Muslims want to believe it or remain adamant to blindly follow these sources just as their forefathers did.

A lot of the problem with Muslim thought is due to this very reason, that they have set aside the Quran as PRIMARY SOURCE and instead, learnt their 'religion' from dubious SECONDARY SOURCES.

The Quran on the other hand often stands in contrast to these secondary sources with timeless guidance that it imparts.

For a brief academic appraisal of these SECONDARY sources, please see below:

HISTORICAL SOURCES:
http://quransmessage.com/articles/historical%20sources%20FM3.htm

I hope that helps,

Regards,
Joseph
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell

Reader Questions

Hi Joseph,

Ok I will quote from the primary source.

"And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess.." (Koran 4:24)
"O Prophet! We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have given their dowers; and those ladies whom your right hands possess (from the prisoners of war) whom Allah has assigned to you." (Koran 33:50)
"And He (Allah) brought those of the People of the Scripture (i.e., Banu Qurayza) who supported them (i.e., the Quraysh) down from their strongholds, and cast panic into their hearts. Some (adult males) ye slew, and ye made captive some (women and children) " (Koran 33:26)

It is a fact the Prophet married a 6 year girl when he was 51 and started having sex with her when she was 9 and he was 54. He also had sex with his daughter in law. How do you justify this? He actually married more than 20 times to very young girls. Why?

"Believers, take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends.They are friends with one another. Whoever of you seeks their friendship shall become one of their numbers. Allah does not guide the wrong-doers." (Quran 5.51)

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah, until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection." (Quran 9.29)

The above is one of the many verses in the Koran which proves my earlier question on freedom of religion for all. Islam is against free will, which is the will of God? Please explain why in Saudi Arabia and many other countries there is no freedom of religion for non-Muslims?

Thanks

Joseph Islam

Dear [name removed]

I will respond to your citation of the Quran with a view that it may assist.

With regards your citation of verse 4:24 and 33:50 and what I sense is your emphasis on the Arabic term, 'ma malakat aymanukum' (Literally: What your right hands possesses)", please see my article below which attempts to address this from a Quran's perspective.

SEX WITH SLAVE GIRLS
http://quransmessage.com/articles/sex%20with%20slave%20girls%20FM3.htm

With regards your rendition of verse 33:26, you have included bracketed comments 'Banu Qurayza' and 'women and children' which do not exist in the Arabic text of the Quran. What you are doing (inadvertently or intentionally) is taking later reports by fallible compilers and historians who had their own theological axes to grind, and imposing it on to the interpretation of the Quran as fact. I respectfully find this an unwarranted interpolation.

Neither does the term 'Banu Qurayza' exist in the entire Quran nor does the elaborate 'story' that you find in Islamic secondary sources. Therefore, your interpretation retains an underlying premise that the secondary source narrative is correct. Therefore you are NOT quoting explicitly from the primary source.

With regards your comment:

"It is a fact the Prophet married a 6 year girl when he was 51 and started having sex with her when she was 9 and he was 54. He also had sex with his daughter in law. How do you justify this? He actually married more than 20 times to very young girls. Why?"

How is this a fact dear [name removed]? Where in the Quran does it say this? The honest answer is nowhere. Again, if you are asking me to admit secondary sources which were not canonised until centuries after the death of the prophet by fallible compilers and to read these narratives into the Quran, then I am afraid this is not a discussion from the 'primary source'.

With regards marriage and how the Quran views marriageable age, please see the article below:

WAS AYESHA REALLY A CHILD BRIDE? - MARRIAGEABLE AGE FROM THE QURAN
http://quransmessage.com/articles/ayesha%20age%20FM3.htm

With regards keeping Jews and Christian as friends, please see my response to this below:

Taking Jews, Christians or Disbelievers as Friends
http://quransmessage.com/forum/index.php?topic=260

With regards your citation of verse 9:29, please see my response to this below.

A MESSAGE OF PEACE OR TO LIVE BY THE SWORD
http://quransmessage.com/articles/a%20message%20of%20peace%20or%20to%20live%20by%20the%20sword%20FM3.htm

I humbly encourage / urge you to put what I have shared with you to scrutiny.

I trust that this helps in some small way.

Kind regards,
Joseph
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell