Any Qs about Islam?

[ArabGirl]

Any Qs about Islam?... incase you have any Qs, not comments on Islam, because i've posted a similiar thread in the past and there were sarcastic notes... i will answer the Qs and ignore the others

[ericsdawson]

was mohammed the equivalent of jesus, or was he just a prophet?

[bowerbird]

I have heard many Muslims say that Islam is actually a religion of and about peace. IS that true??

[ArabGirl]

yes it is and you can read through history that muslims were peaceful and they always tried the diplomatic solutions before wars, and even in thier wars they were ethical, they treated women and kids well and never burned trees or played with the bodies of their dead enimies...and all the wars they had were for surviving issues, regarding thier being surrounded by big empires that was threating thier safty... and even in these wars they adapted the negotiation b4 going to war.

[ArabGirl]

was mohammed the equivalent of jesus, or was he just a prophet?

he was a prophet who believed in jesus and all muslims believe in christanity and in jesus, but believe it has changed alot, so Islam is the complement for all previous religions.

[cpwill]

from moses, the prophets, on down, God seems to signify that he is presenting something uniquely from him via the use of miracles. why, then, did mohammed refuse to perform any?

[cpwill]

what makes a 7th century source more accurately an account of 1st century palestine than an eyewitness 1st century source? if the argument is that the christian texts were later changed; how do muslim scholars get around the early texts that remain?

[cpwill]

within islam, the word jihad seems to take on a similar connotation as our word for crusade; in that both can alternately mean spiritual quests for purification and armed holy war. is there a recognizance of this within islam?

[cpwill]

could you give us a theological explination of muta, as it seems (to an outside observer) to be more a way of getting around traditional marraige.

[cpwill]

to what extent does the concept of umma cover the multiple sects of islam; or is that more of an individual bit?

[ArabGirl]

within islam, the word jihad seems to take on a similar connotation as our word for crusade; in that both can alternately mean spiritual quests for purification and armed holy war. is there a recognizance of this within islam?

The word "Jihad " means “struggle or striving” in the Way of God. Every effort made by a Muslim to do good acts comes under Jihad.

Muhammad (peace be on him), once said that the greatest Jihad is to speak the truth in the face of an oppressive ruler. This is because this requires real sincerity for truth and courage.

Once while addressing those who came back after a battle, he said that they should now get ready for a greater Jihad. When they asked in surprise what could be a greater Jihad than an actual battle, the Prophet said he meant the fight with one’s own soul, against selfishness, greed, lust, and a hundred other evil inclinations and promptings of the heart.

One form of the Jihad is taking up arms to defend one’s freedom or one’s birthright to one’s homeland. Another form of Jihad is the struggle to defend Islam or the Muslims when attacked. But Jihad can never be a tool of oppression for compelling a person to convert to Islam, because God has prohibited the use of force in religion. (Holy Qur’an 2: 256).

[ArabGirl]

could you give us a theological explination of muta, as it seems (to an outside observer) to be more a way of getting around traditional marraige.

what is muta??

[bowerbird]

Hey! CP give the girl some breathing space!:lol: One question a day huh?

[ArabGirl]

its ok but what is MUTA?

[JoeR]

For future reference, for anyone with questions about almost any religion, this is a good site.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/

[Kong]

from moses, the prophets, on down, God seems to signify that he is presenting something uniquely from him via the use of miracles. why, then, did mohammed refuse to perform any?What miracles did Jesus perform?

[cpwill]

what is muta??

as near as i can figure; it's a temporary marraige.

[cpwill]

What miracles did Jesus perform?

likely the ones with which you are familiar.

[jamesrage]

Anything about jealousy,envy or coventing in the Quran?

[Malone1234]

What's with the split, Sunni and Shia? I've learned in basic history texts that it is mostly a disagreement over who was Muhammad's rightful heir. But are there major theological differences as well?

[Kong]

I don’t believe Jesus performed any. I think the miracles you attribute to him can be explained in ways other than supernatural occurrences. Some of the stories of miracles are obviously just flower speech and metaphors. The apostles and early followers may have created stories of miracles to compete with other gods worshipped in the period, gods with great and miraculous powers.

Which is more probable: The witnesses of Christ's resurrection were mistaken, or Jesus was raised from the dead to walk the earth in a physical body?

God does not need to violate the laws of nature to be great. Both Jesus and Mohammed are great because of the message they brought to us and for their leadership skills.

[Zephyr]

What's with the split, Sunni and Shia? I've learned in basic history texts that it is mostly a disagreement over who was Muhammad's rightful heir. But are there major theological differences as well?
I believe this may help answer your question.
http://www.rotten.com/library/religion/heresy/islamic-heresies/
Hurray For Rotten dot com!

No this won't be gruesome like the rest of the site. A nice read though.

[cpwill]

Which is more probable: The witnesses of Christ's resurrection were mistaken, or Jesus was raised from the dead to walk the earth in a physical body?

Jesus was raised from the dead to walk the earth in a physical body, iit is extremely unlikely that the gospel writers made up parts of the new testament. however, this is a thread for islam. if you'd like to further the conversation; start a thread on it and we'll go through the historiocity of the new testament accounts.

[ArabGirl]

what makes a 7th century source more accurately an account of 1st century palestine than an eyewitness 1st century source? if the argument is that the christian texts were later changed; how do muslim scholars get around the early texts that remain?

because if you read a Quran from 14 centuries and a quran from now they are the same... more over you will never find 2 copies of Quran with a slight difference no matter how old or new they are.

[ArabGirl]

What's with the split, Sunni and Shia? I've learned in basic history texts that it is mostly a disagreement over who was Muhammad's rightful heir. But are there major theological differences as well?

short in short there was no sunni or shia in Mohammad's age there were MUSLIMs... shia came after the khalifs and they refere to Al Husain (The son of the fourth Khalif), so the rest of muslims called them selves sunnies, this is the story.

[cpwill]

because if you read a Quran from 14 centuries and a quran from now they are the same... more over you will never find 2 copies of Quran with a slight difference no matter how old or new they are.

well, that depends on whether or not you get a pre-cannonization text.

however, we have copies of the new testament that were written around 100 AD; according to your logic would this not place christianity 5 centuries-worth of greater accuracy?

[AgentM]

ArabGirl, correct me if I am mistaken, but fundamentalist Muslim men believe that all Muslim men should go bearded. Is there any particular reason for this?

[jamesrage]

What about my question?

[Captain America]

yes it is and you can read through history that muslims were peaceful and they always tried the diplomatic solutions before wars, and even in thier wars they were ethical, they treated women and kids well and never burned trees or played with the bodies of their dead enimies...and all the wars they had were for surviving issues, regarding thier being surrounded by big empires that was threating thier safty... and even in these wars they adapted the negotiation b4 going to war.

What happened that made them change their minds?

[cpwill]

yes it is and you can read through history that muslims were peaceful and they always tried the diplomatic solutions before wars, and even in thier wars they were ethical, they treated women and kids well and never burned trees or played with the bodies of their dead enimies...and all the wars they had were for surviving issues, regarding thier being surrounded by big empires that was threating thier safty... and even in these wars they adapted the negotiation b4 going to war.

eh, you can probably find instances of this; you can also find plenty of instances of quite the opposite. the ummayad empire didn't spread from two towns in arabia to an empire spanning from spain to iran in less than a century by persuasion.

[cpwill]

What about my question?

give her time :) she's rather outnumbered.

[ArabGirl]

What happened that made them change their minds?
well lets say its thier being not very muslim anymore, and this weakness of Islam led them to follow someof those who pretend being Muslims rather than looking in Isalm by them selves... and if you are pointing to 11th Sept it was not an act of Islam at all as i dont consider ben laden muslim... it was an act of anger projected to US not to non muslims... and it a sin to take over a war like that...

[ArabGirl]

well, that depends on whether or not you get a pre-cannonization text.

however, we have copies of the new testament that were written around 100 AD; according to your logic would this not place christianity 5 centuries-worth of greater accuracy?

Well Quran is 100% accurate... there are no two versions of it. Beside im not comparing christianty to Islam im just answering Qs about Islam and Islam Only... because i dont want to get out of the scope of my topic

[ArabGirl]

Anything about jealousy,envy or coventing in the Quran?

Sure they are sins in all religions as i know,... Islam is about giving, love, peace, helping and cooperating which are very much contradicting with what you've mentioned

[ArabGirl]

eh, you can probably find instances of this; you can also find plenty of instances of quite the opposite. the ummayad empire didn't spread from two towns in arabia to an empire spanning from spain to iran in less than a century by persuasion.

these wars were suvivng wars, in that time there were no clear borders and no International agreements... so the other empires were threat.. so what was happening is that they try to coninve these empires about Islam so if they turned to be muslims it ok and they will help them financially the other choice were to sign a peace contract and to pay taxes... the final thing was war!...

[ArabGirl]

give her time :) she's rather outnumbered.

yeah you especially can count on thay :D

[Fei Hu]

Why are the SUFIs marginalized by some Muslims? They seem to be very cool people to me. I kind of like their whole approach to life. Am I a Muslim heretic for thinking so?

[Zephyr]

Why are the SUFIs marginalized by some Muslims? They seem to be very cool people to me. I kind of like their whole approach to life. Am I a Muslim heretic for thinking so?

I'll do what I can to help with this one. The Wahabis(Excuse my spelling) consider the Sufis heretics because they don't fit perfectly into their expectations. Many muslims are accepting of sufism and consider it a legitimate part of Islam.

And yes, we ARE very cool people :cool: . You might find plenty of trivial info in the link I provided earlier.

[cpwill]

Well Quran is 100% accurate... there are no two versions of it. Beside im not comparing christianty to Islam im just answering Qs about Islam and Islam Only... because i dont want to get out of the scope of my topic

:shrug: within the realm of islam there are stories which pertain to the figure of Jesus which differ radically from the new testament account; i'll reword my question; considering that it contradicts earlier accounts that were written by eyewitnesses and therefore much more likely to be accurate, why is the koran trustable as a history source?

[cpwill]

these wars were suvivng wars, in that time there were no clear borders and no International agreements... so the other empires were threat.. so what was happening is that they try to coninve these empires about Islam so if they turned to be muslims it ok and they will help them financially the other choice were to sign a peace contract and to pay taxes... the final thing was war!...

:lol: what was in spain that threatned the arabian penninsula? i can see taking on the sassanid and byzantine empires (kinda) under that explination; but all of north africa?

:sorry: islam also has it's wars of aggression. mind you, they were extremely good at it, and deserve the credit for some impressive generalship; but imperialists (and racists) the early Caliphs remain.

[Vic]

what exactly is the difference between the subgroups of islam? like for example shiites and sunnits?
i never quite understood this. what are the main differences between shiites and sunnits?

there must be some reason why they kill each other in iraq

[Zephyr]

what exactly is the difference between the subgroups of islam? like for example shiites and sunnits?
i never quite understood this. what are the main differences between shiites and sunnits?

there must be some reason why they kill each other in iraq

The split was a political one over who should take over the prophet's(pbuh) position when he died, since he left no heir. The Shiites believed that the linage of Ali should fill that role, while the Sunnis believed in an elected official. That's as far as I know anyway. I still have a lot to learn.

Hope that helped.

Oh, and Arabgirl, I see you are being swamped with Qs here. Hope you don't mind if I try to help. :flowers:

[cpwill]

sunni's believe in an elected official? this i was unaware of; got anything on it?

[vodka]

what is muta??

Islamic prostitution.
But it's forbidden in all mazhabs.

But what about "gebr"?

[vodka]

What's more important in Islam - "fikh" (Islamic law) or "adat" (Islamic custom)? These sources of positive law have contradictions.

"Men are the patrons of women becouse Allah created men with superiority over women" (Quaran, 4:35).
So why Muslim teologists say that men and women are equal?

[Zephyr]

sunni's believe in an elected official? this i was unaware of; got anything on it?
If you want a link, here's what I have for now.
http://www.rotten.com/library/religion/heresy/islamic-heresies/

The first major split in Islam took place about five seconds after Mohammed died. Because he had made no plans for succession, Mohammed's earliest followers disagreed over who would lead the Islamic nation after his death.

Some, known as Shi'a Ali (the party of Ali), believed that Mohammed's son-in-law and his subsequent descendants should inherit the job (more on this below). The majority view (eventually known as Sunni) called for an elected leader, the Khalifa, or simply the Caliph.
EDIT:Wow. That link CAN be used for anything...

[Kong]

I like to drink a little beer or spirits to help my heart. Can I be a Muslim and keep my moderate medicinal drinking?

[Zephyr]

I like to drink a little beer or spirits to help my heart. Can I be a Muslim and keep my moderate medicinal drinking?
I think this should answer that question:
They ask you about intoxicants and gambling: say, "In them there is a gross sin, and some benefits for the people. But their sinfulness far outweighs their benefit."
This makes it clear that although alcohol can help, the benefits are not worth it.

[cpwill]

.....sorry, but that bit about the elected leader is just plain innacurate.:o

[ArabGirl]

I like to drink a little beer or spirits to help my heart. Can I be a Muslim and keep my moderate medicinal drinking?
Islam mainly mean the beliefe of ALLAH and Islam so if you believed in so you are a muslim... but when it comes to a good and a bad muslim drinking not a good choics

[Zephyr]

.....sorry, but that bit about the elected leader is just plain innacurate.:o
:o Sorry if I was incorrect there. I do not know very much of the history of Islam and leaders, so I felt rotten would at least be fairly accurate, as I've found it is on other subjects. Perhaps I should leave the historical references to ArabGirl. :sorry:

[Cedars]

ArabGirl, do Muslims believe in free will?