Topics

Salam

I came across this site that gave me a new definition of shirk. Most people consider shirk to be purely idol-worship, Trinity worship, or polytheism. Actually, according to Quran 45:23, pretty much ALL bad deeds done deliberately are shirk, because they constitute taking your sinful desires as gods.

Which is why shirk is the worst sin--it encompasses basically all other sins.

I think.

This is a fairly  new view and I was wondering if anyone has thoughts on this, or if I'm wrong, or what. This is quite contrary to everything I've been taught.

Happy holidays and Christmas

Salam

From my understanding, the laws and punishments in the Quran (lashes for adultery, etc) should only be implemented in a place where they are accepted by the community and the community is Muslim-run. But the Quran also advises choosing leaders by mutual counsel, which seems like democracy. Is the Quran in favor, generally, of separation of church and state? If the punishments detailed in the Quran are carried out on non-muslims, wouldn't that constitute forcing your religion onto other people? How would an actual "Islamic state" be run? (Because seriously, there is no such thing as an Islamic State these days.)

I get the impression there would be religious tolerance, but laws and punishments would be carried out according to the Quran. Would these punishments apply to both muslims and nonmuslims alike? Just wondering how an actual muslim country would be run, because God knows REAL muslim countries haven't existed for centuries. They still have the death penalty for adultery in Iran.

Mia

Salam everyone.

So I had a question--how come if God doesn't need anything, why does He want us to worship Him, and why does He punish us if we don't? Many people are born into extreme poverty and God is the one who's made them suffer, so why does He get mad if these people don't worship Him? Many people grow extremely sad and bitter after going through suffering and start disbelieving in God. But if He is the one who made them suffer, how can He be angry if they don't like Him?

Verse 4:142 says God deceives the hypocrites, but I thought He didn't deceive anyone. Are there alternate meanings? I thought Allah does not deceive anyone even if they are deceptive, because He built the universe on truth.

This verse says all living things were created from water. What about jinn and angels? They were created respectively from fire and light--this is an apparent contradiction, but there must be an explanation. Was this verse referring only to things that we perceive as living, such as people and animals?

Quran As-Shura 30: And whatever of misfortunes befalls you, it is from what your own hands have earned.

Whom does this verse apply to? If a child dies young, it's not because of something wrong they did, because they're too young to tell between right and wrong. I was thinking, maybe when you do good things, misfortunes strike you to test your willpower and faith in Allah. So misfortunes can be the result of good or bad deeds...?

Any thoughts?

Mia

Salam everyone

On the Day of Judgement, aside from heaven and hell, do you think there would be a 3rd place for people who never got the message of monotheism? Also what happens to people who die as children or infants? Generally they would go to heaven, but these children never had the opportunity to knowingly perform either good or bad deeds. If they had grown up, they could have been evil tyrants or prophets. They will never be able to earn the highest level of heaven because they never had the opportunity. How will these people be judged?

Also some people live a lot longer than others, so they had the opportunity to perform more good deeds, so they might end up in higher levels of Jannah than someone who didn't live as long. How is this fair?

I've heard the theory that such people will be tested on the Day of Judgement and their place in heaven or hell will be determined then.

If you take two people--one who has heard the message and one who hasn't--and compare their good deeds, the believer will have more good deeds. However the person who never got the message never got the opportunity to hear about God and do better deeds.

4:34 was a big concern when I first read the common translation my Quran teacher introduced me to. However it's come to my attention that "daraba" has many translations and there are actually 3 or 4 other translations that would work in this context.

I've read Joseph Islam's article on this matter and there's another good one on quran434.com. Why did God not write this verse with clear and unambiguous wording? Naturally, the translation "beat" is totally in disagreement with other verses. God does not like the aggressors and men are supposed to treat women kindly (4:3), and even light beating can create physical injury to someone who is pregnant or already has physical problems. God could not have authorized such a thing.

I think this verse might be a test to see whether people would use it as an excuse for domestic violence or a way to show empathy. Any thoughts on this?

Some Quranic verses like 3:118 and 9:123 seem to preach intolerance. Explanations?

Salam everyone. What's the deal with this verse? It says, "and fight them until there is no more oppression and religion is ALL for Allah. And if they cease, then Allah is all-knowing of what they do."

I feel like this verse only advocates self-defense, but the words "and religion is all for Allah" make it seem like God wants world domination for muslims. This is contrary to the verse that says killing one person without reason is equivalent to killing the whole human race. I read the verses before and after 8:39, and they do seem to point to fighting against oppression, but what about religion being entirely for Allah? I thought "there is no compulsion in religion?"

I just want to clear a few things up. I understand the Quran does not advocate endless killing of everyone like ISIS does, but some verses are a little...world-domination sounding.

If Brother Joseph could answer, that would be nice.

Also, there was a hadith of Muhammad that there will be people  near the end times who create violence and have a corrupted Islamic clergy, with their own "state". This sounds like ISIS to me. Muhammad got some extra revelation from Allah, didn't he? Or else how would he have known all this? The Quran is the only thing we should follow, but it seems to me like Muhammad was given some other prophecies by God as well. Any thoughts?

Input is appreciated.

First of all I want to say thank you to brother Hamzeh for answering basically all my questions so far and being patient with the stupid ones.

I was wondering, if Shaitan can tempt us all at the same time, is he omnipresent? Or does he not tempt us all at the same time? If he only tempts some of us occasionally, then how does he know when to whisper evil suggestions to us? Does Allah grant him the ability to whisper into everyone's heart at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

It's this old question again. I think people have asked it before, but I haven't fully understood most people's answers.

Can God create a rock that is too big for Him to lift?

But nothing is too big for Him to lift. But if He can't create something that is too big for Him to lift, then it seems like He is not all-powerful.

I understand that this is a nonsensical question that has been debated to death, but I had to ask.

I thought that if God wants something, He just has to say "Be," and it is.

So can he do ridiculous things like create other Gods? Of course He would never do it even if he could, but could he?

Why wasn't the Quran given to everyone for guidance? Most people are given a distorted and screwed up version of the Quran and Islam and they deny it, which is fine because they're not denying real islam, they're denying the messed-up version the media portrays. But why doesn't God give everyone the Quran in their own language so translators can''t mess it up and everyone has the opportunity to be guided?

Also, in the Quran people engage in rightful warfare when provoked. But why would God tell us to kill His other creations, even for rightful cause?

And how do we know Angel Gabriel was sent by God? What if the spirit that spoke to Muhammad wasn't really an angel?

Sorry too many questions but I hope you can reply
Modify message

Why wasn't the Quran given to everyone for guidance? Most people are given a distorted and screwed up version of the Quran and Islam and they deny it, which is fine because they're not denying real islam, they're denying the messed-up version the media portrays. But why doesn't God give everyone the Quran in their own language so translators can''t mess it up and everyone has the opportunity to be guided?

Also, in the Quran people engage in rightful warfare when provoked. But why would God tell us to kill His other creations, even for rightful cause?

And how do we know Angel Gabriel was sent by God? What if the spirit that spoke to Muhammad wasn't really an angel?

Sorry too many questions but I hope you can reply

Why doesn't God make His guidance available to everyone? Many people (most, actually) go through life never having gotten the real message of the Quran alone. They live their lives without the comfort of faith in God.

Why is this?