Hell is a place of eternal punishment that is a permanent home for those who disbelieve in God.
There are different types of punishment such as skin being torn from the flesh, it will grow back then be torn off again. This will happen repeatedly
Some people who enter hell do so to remove their sins and the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) will intercede for the Muslims amongst them. As all the Muslims final resting place will be heaven but they will have to be purified from sin, first. All the Muslims will have the intercession of the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) this is his special station, given by God.
In heaven there will be many delights, fruits will have the same name but not the same the taste. The greatest pleasure of Heaven will be gazing at God. There is no boredom in heaven
Heaven is a place that is beyond belief, where the fruits will have the same thing, yet taste different. The highest pleasure in Heaven is looking at God, this is beyond all pleasure that mankind could ever conceptualize.
Hell, on the other hand is a place beyond all nightmares where the least punishment is the brain boiling. Food here will be a mixture of pus and thorns that will cause the stomach to cut to shreds.
Seasons exist here but time doesn't.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Why can't I wear what I want?
I do not mean to offend you, sorry if I do.
Why does it make you feel better about yourself, when men stare at you like wolves stare at prey.
Isn't that a kind of oppression that women have to make themselves into something so men find them attractive. This is designed by men in the first place, so a woman is only beautiful if she fits into this idea of man. This oppression is so subtle that most women don't even know. Women are exploited so people can sell all kinds of products; her body is used to entice men. Why don't people say that this is not what a civilised society should do?
Think about it
Why does it make you feel better about yourself, when men stare at you like wolves stare at prey.
Isn't that a kind of oppression that women have to make themselves into something so men find them attractive. This is designed by men in the first place, so a woman is only beautiful if she fits into this idea of man. This oppression is so subtle that most women don't even know. Women are exploited so people can sell all kinds of products; her body is used to entice men. Why don't people say that this is not what a civilised society should do?
Think about it
Accussing women
The Quran states that if a man deliberately accuses a woman of procreating outside marriage, he can be punished up to 80 lashes.
Sura Nur 24.4, "And those who accuse free women then do not bring four witnesses, flog them, (giving) eighty stripes, and do not admit any evidence from them ever; and these it is that are the transgressors."
Sura Nur 24.4, "And those who accuse free women then do not bring four witnesses, flog them, (giving) eighty stripes, and do not admit any evidence from them ever; and these it is that are the transgressors."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
If God exists why does he not make it perfectly clear?
Its actually a mercy because if it was clear as you want it to be then , we would have to belief or face the fire. Without a second chance. This way you still have time to consider and change your mind.
The greats signs of God/Allah are his Prophets (upon them all peace). They all came forward with miracles in order to prove their claims; you can see this with every Prophet who performed miracles with Gods/Allah permission.
In fact Muslims believe that when mankind was created then God/Allah raised up all of mankind and asked, "Am i not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes, We testify." This is a proof against us all.
So its up to you. For me at least I want to be in heaven and I believe in God/Allah. I don't want to be like those who reject God because they rejected paradise. There is an afterlife and it begins when we die.
The greats signs of God/Allah are his Prophets (upon them all peace). They all came forward with miracles in order to prove their claims; you can see this with every Prophet who performed miracles with Gods/Allah permission.
In fact Muslims believe that when mankind was created then God/Allah raised up all of mankind and asked, "Am i not your Lord?" They all said, "Yes, We testify." This is a proof against us all.
So its up to you. For me at least I want to be in heaven and I believe in God/Allah. I don't want to be like those who reject God because they rejected paradise. There is an afterlife and it begins when we die.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Homosexuality in Christanity, Judaism and Islam
There you are a complete view of homosexuality in the three major religions
Judaism
The Torah is the primary source for Jewish views on homosexuality. It states that: "[A man] shall not lie with another man as [he would] with a woman, it is a to'eva" (Leviticus 18:22).
The term to'eva is usually translated as "abomination". However, because the word is used twice in regards to homosexuality, its second use has been understood by the Talmud to be a contraction of the words to'eh hu va, meaning "He is deviating from what is natural." (literally "He is wandering with it [from the natural way of the world]" since the Hebrew word to'e means "He is wandering", va "with it")
According to the rabbis, the prohibition is a part of the Noachide Laws, and thus applies to Gentiles as well as Jews. In both, very little is said about female homosexuality (known as mesoleloth). {1}
Homosexuality and Orthodox Judaism
Sexual intercourse between two men is forbidden by the Torah, as stated above, and is a capital offense. The Torah prohibition of Lo tikrevu legalot ervah ("You shall not come close to another person for the purpose of committing a sexual crime") forbids all other sexual acts which can lead to intercourse, and prescribes the punishment of lashes.
Homosexual acts between women (lesbianism) were forbidden by the rabbis on the basis of "Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan, where I will be bringing you. Do not follow [any] of their customs." (Leviticus 18:3). The oral law (Sifra there, 8:8) explains that what is meant is sexual customs and that one of those was the marriage of women to each other, as well as a man to a woman and her daughter. The Talmud follows this view, forbidding lesbianism. Like all Rabbinical prohibitions, violation can incur lashes. Female homosexuality is regarded as less serious than male homosexuality.
Christanity
The Bible is the Christian sacred text, regarded as the ultimate authority by all denominations. It consists of the Old Testament (roughly equivalent to the Jewish Tanakh) and the New Testament. While the New Testament is the specifically Christian part of the Bible, both parts are regarded as equally authoritative. The following passages are those that are generally considered relavent to the Christian discussion of homosexuality, quoted from the NIV translation in the order they appear in the Bible.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. (Genesis 1:28)
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." ... Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." .... They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ... The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." ... By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. (Genesis 19)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders. (1 Corinthians 6:9)
We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine. (1 Timothy 1:9-10)
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
Islam
"We also sent Lut: He said to his people: Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds. And his people gave no answer but this: they said, "Drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!"" (Qur'an 7:80-82)
"Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)! They said: "If thou desist not, O Lut! thou wilt assuredly be cast out!" He said: "I do detest your doings:" "O my Lord! deliver me and my family from such things as they do!" So We delivered him and his family,- all Except an old woman who lingered behind. But the rest We destroyed utterly. We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)! Verily in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe. And verily thy Lord is He, the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful." (Qur'an 26:165-175)
"Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant! But his people gave no other answer but this: They said, "Drive out the followers of Lut from your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!" But We saved him and his family, except his wife; her We destined to be of those who lagged behind. And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)!" (Qur'an 27:55-58)
"And (remember) Lut: behold, he said to his people: "Ye do commit lewdness, such as no people in Creation (ever) committed before you. Do ye indeed approach men, and cut off the highway? - and practise wickedness (even) in your councils?" But his people gave no answer but this: they said: "Bring us the Wrath of Allah if thou tellest the truth." (Qur'an 29:28-29)
"If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way. If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, Leave them alone; for Allah is Oft-returning, Most Merciful." (Qur'an 4:15-16)
While there is a consensus that same-sex intercourse is in violation of Islamic law, there are differences of opinion within Islamic scholarship about punishment, reformation, and what standards of proof are required before physical punishment becomes lawful.
In Sunni Islam there are eight madhhabs, or legal schools, of which only four still exist: Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Maliki. The main Shia school is called Ja'fari, but there are Zaidi and Ismai'ili also. More recently, some groups have rejected this tradition in favor of greater ijtihad, or individual interpretation. Of these schools, according to Michael Mumisa of the Birmingham-based Al Mahdi institute:
The Hanafi school does not consider same-sex intercourse to constitute adultery, and therefore leaves punishment up to the judge's discretion. Most early scholars of this school specifically ruled out the death penalty, others allow it for a second offence.
Imam Shafi'i considers same-sex intercourse as analogous to other zina; thus, a married person found to have done so is punished as an adulterer (by stoning to death), and an unmarried one, as a fornicator, is left to be flogged.
The Maliki school says that anyone (married or unmarried) found to have committed same-sex intercourse should be punished as an adulterer.
Within the Ja'fari schools, Sayyid al-Khoi says that anyone (married or unmarried) found to have committed same-sex intercourse should be punished as an adulterer.
It should also be noted that the punishment for adultery requires four witnesses; by analogy, all schools, require four witnesses to the physical act of penetration for the punishment to be applied.But if otherwise any other proof is found through modern methods such as DNA testing or so the punishment can be implimented.
According to the modern Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi's summary:
"The jurists of Islam have held different opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for zina, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements." [2]
Source
http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/comparison_chart.htm
Judaism
The Torah is the primary source for Jewish views on homosexuality. It states that: "[A man] shall not lie with another man as [he would] with a woman, it is a to'eva" (Leviticus 18:22).
The term to'eva is usually translated as "abomination". However, because the word is used twice in regards to homosexuality, its second use has been understood by the Talmud to be a contraction of the words to'eh hu va, meaning "He is deviating from what is natural." (literally "He is wandering with it [from the natural way of the world]" since the Hebrew word to'e means "He is wandering", va "with it")
According to the rabbis, the prohibition is a part of the Noachide Laws, and thus applies to Gentiles as well as Jews. In both, very little is said about female homosexuality (known as mesoleloth). {1}
Homosexuality and Orthodox Judaism
Sexual intercourse between two men is forbidden by the Torah, as stated above, and is a capital offense. The Torah prohibition of Lo tikrevu legalot ervah ("You shall not come close to another person for the purpose of committing a sexual crime") forbids all other sexual acts which can lead to intercourse, and prescribes the punishment of lashes.
Homosexual acts between women (lesbianism) were forbidden by the rabbis on the basis of "Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan, where I will be bringing you. Do not follow [any] of their customs." (Leviticus 18:3). The oral law (Sifra there, 8:8) explains that what is meant is sexual customs and that one of those was the marriage of women to each other, as well as a man to a woman and her daughter. The Talmud follows this view, forbidding lesbianism. Like all Rabbinical prohibitions, violation can incur lashes. Female homosexuality is regarded as less serious than male homosexuality.
Christanity
The Bible is the Christian sacred text, regarded as the ultimate authority by all denominations. It consists of the Old Testament (roughly equivalent to the Jewish Tanakh) and the New Testament. While the New Testament is the specifically Christian part of the Bible, both parts are regarded as equally authoritative. The following passages are those that are generally considered relavent to the Christian discussion of homosexuality, quoted from the NIV translation in the order they appear in the Bible.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. (Genesis 1:28)
The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning." ... Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." .... They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. ... The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it." ... By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. (Genesis 19)
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders. (1 Corinthians 6:9)
We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine. (1 Timothy 1:9-10)
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7)
Islam
"We also sent Lut: He said to his people: Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds. And his people gave no answer but this: they said, "Drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!"" (Qur'an 7:80-82)
"Of all the creatures in the world, will ye approach males, And leave those whom Allah has created for you to be your mates? Nay, ye are a people transgressing (all limits)! They said: "If thou desist not, O Lut! thou wilt assuredly be cast out!" He said: "I do detest your doings:" "O my Lord! deliver me and my family from such things as they do!" So We delivered him and his family,- all Except an old woman who lingered behind. But the rest We destroyed utterly. We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)! Verily in this is a Sign: but most of them do not believe. And verily thy Lord is He, the Exalted in Might, Most Merciful." (Qur'an 26:165-175)
"Would ye really approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, ye are a people (grossly) ignorant! But his people gave no other answer but this: They said, "Drive out the followers of Lut from your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!" But We saved him and his family, except his wife; her We destined to be of those who lagged behind. And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): and evil was the shower on those who were admonished (but heeded not)!" (Qur'an 27:55-58)
"And (remember) Lut: behold, he said to his people: "Ye do commit lewdness, such as no people in Creation (ever) committed before you. Do ye indeed approach men, and cut off the highway? - and practise wickedness (even) in your councils?" But his people gave no answer but this: they said: "Bring us the Wrath of Allah if thou tellest the truth." (Qur'an 29:28-29)
"If any of your women are guilty of lewdness, Take the evidence of four (Reliable) witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them to houses until death do claim them, or Allah ordain for them some (other) way. If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both. If they repent and amend, Leave them alone; for Allah is Oft-returning, Most Merciful." (Qur'an 4:15-16)
While there is a consensus that same-sex intercourse is in violation of Islamic law, there are differences of opinion within Islamic scholarship about punishment, reformation, and what standards of proof are required before physical punishment becomes lawful.
In Sunni Islam there are eight madhhabs, or legal schools, of which only four still exist: Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Maliki. The main Shia school is called Ja'fari, but there are Zaidi and Ismai'ili also. More recently, some groups have rejected this tradition in favor of greater ijtihad, or individual interpretation. Of these schools, according to Michael Mumisa of the Birmingham-based Al Mahdi institute:
The Hanafi school does not consider same-sex intercourse to constitute adultery, and therefore leaves punishment up to the judge's discretion. Most early scholars of this school specifically ruled out the death penalty, others allow it for a second offence.
Imam Shafi'i considers same-sex intercourse as analogous to other zina; thus, a married person found to have done so is punished as an adulterer (by stoning to death), and an unmarried one, as a fornicator, is left to be flogged.
The Maliki school says that anyone (married or unmarried) found to have committed same-sex intercourse should be punished as an adulterer.
Within the Ja'fari schools, Sayyid al-Khoi says that anyone (married or unmarried) found to have committed same-sex intercourse should be punished as an adulterer.
It should also be noted that the punishment for adultery requires four witnesses; by analogy, all schools, require four witnesses to the physical act of penetration for the punishment to be applied.But if otherwise any other proof is found through modern methods such as DNA testing or so the punishment can be implimented.
According to the modern Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi's summary:
"The jurists of Islam have held different opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice. Should it be the same as the punishment for zina, or should both the active and passive participants be put to death? While such punishments may seem cruel, they have been suggested to maintain the purity of the Islamic society and to keep it clean of perverted elements." [2]
Source
http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/comparison_chart.htm
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Abu Sufyan and Heraclius
Abu Sufyan bin Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent a messenger to him while he had been accompanying a caravan from Quraish. They were merchants doing business in Sham (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan), at the time when Allah's Apostle had truce with Abu Sufyan and Quraish. So Abu Sufyan and his companions went to Heraclius at Ilya (Jerusalem). Heraclius called them in the court and he had all the senior Roman dignitaries around him. He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius's question said to them, "Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a Prophet?" Abu Sufyan replied, "I am the nearest relative to him (amongst the group)."
Heraclius said, "Bring him (Abu Sufyan) close to me and make his companions stand behind him." Abu Sufyan added, Heraclius told his translator to tell my companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man (The Prophet) and that if I told a lie they (my companions) should contradict me." Abu Sufyan added, "By Allah! Had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet. The first question he asked me about him was:
'What is his family status amongst you?'
I replied, 'He belongs to a noble family amongst us.'
Heraclius further asked, 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same (i.e. to be a Prophet) before him?'
I replied, 'No.'
He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'
I replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.'
He said, 'Are his followers increasing or decreasing?'
I replied, 'They are increasing.'
He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim (to be a Prophet)?'
I replied, 'No. '
Heraclius said, 'Does he break his promises?'
I replied, 'No. We are at truce with him but we do not know what he will do in it.' I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that.
Heraclius asked, 'Have you ever had a war with him?'
I replied, 'Yes.'
Then he said, 'What was the outcome of the battles?'
I replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we.'
Heraclius said, 'What does he order you to do?'
I said, 'He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our Kith and kin.'
Heraclius asked the translator to convey to me the following, "I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Apostles come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man was following the previous man's statement. Then I asked you whether anyone of his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative, and if it had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his ancestral kingdom."
"I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies before he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative. So I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah. I, then asked you whether the rich people followed him or the poor. You replied that it was the poor who followed him. And in fact all the Apostle have been followed by this very class of people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You replied that they were increasing, and in fact this is the way of true faith, till it is complete in all respects. I further asked you whether there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact this is (the sign of) true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative and likewise the Apostles never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replied that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship any thing along with Him and forbade you to worship idols and ordered you to pray, to speak the truth and to be chaste. If what you have said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it (from the scriptures) that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I were with him, I would certainly wash his feet."
Heraclius said, "Bring him (Abu Sufyan) close to me and make his companions stand behind him." Abu Sufyan added, Heraclius told his translator to tell my companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man (The Prophet) and that if I told a lie they (my companions) should contradict me." Abu Sufyan added, "By Allah! Had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet. The first question he asked me about him was:
'What is his family status amongst you?'
I replied, 'He belongs to a noble family amongst us.'
Heraclius further asked, 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same (i.e. to be a Prophet) before him?'
I replied, 'No.'
He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'
I replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.'
He said, 'Are his followers increasing or decreasing?'
I replied, 'They are increasing.'
He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim (to be a Prophet)?'
I replied, 'No. '
Heraclius said, 'Does he break his promises?'
I replied, 'No. We are at truce with him but we do not know what he will do in it.' I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that.
Heraclius asked, 'Have you ever had a war with him?'
I replied, 'Yes.'
Then he said, 'What was the outcome of the battles?'
I replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we.'
Heraclius said, 'What does he order you to do?'
I said, 'He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our Kith and kin.'
Heraclius asked the translator to convey to me the following, "I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Apostles come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man was following the previous man's statement. Then I asked you whether anyone of his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative, and if it had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his ancestral kingdom."
"I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies before he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative. So I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah. I, then asked you whether the rich people followed him or the poor. You replied that it was the poor who followed him. And in fact all the Apostle have been followed by this very class of people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You replied that they were increasing, and in fact this is the way of true faith, till it is complete in all respects. I further asked you whether there was anybody, who, after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact this is (the sign of) true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative and likewise the Apostles never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replied that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship any thing along with Him and forbade you to worship idols and ordered you to pray, to speak the truth and to be chaste. If what you have said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it (from the scriptures) that he was going to appear but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I were with him, I would certainly wash his feet."
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Polygamy and Islam
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Oscar wilde said, " "Bigamy is having one spouse too many. Marriage is the same."
Theres a few issues here, in the current period polygamy is seen as something strange, yet it is okay for a man to have a mistress or girlfriend outside his marriage.
Islam is a religion not just for this time but all time therefore polygamy maybe needed in some times not others. Due to the circumstances of that time, After the 2nd world war the german said that polygamy was permissible because of a shortage of men. In England there was such a thing called trigamy which was when a man married three times, this occured here from the 7th to 19th centuries.
Philip Kilbride, an American anthropologist of Roman Catholic heritage, in his provocative book, Plural Marriage for our Time, proposes polygamy as a solution to some of the ills of the American society at large. He argues that plural marriage may serve as a potential alternative for divorce in many cases in order to obviate the damaging impact of divorce on many children. He maintains that many divorces are caused by the rampant extramarital affairs in the American society. According to Kilbride, ending an extramarital affair in a polygamous marriage, rather than in a divorce, is better for the children, "Children would be better served if family augmentation rather than only separation and dissolution were seen as options."
According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, of the 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygamy, and 4 had polyandry.
In Judaism, it was outlawed in the 11th century, Christianity
Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy, and wrote about it in The Good of Marriage (chapter 15, paragraph 17), where he stated that though it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." He declined to judge the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygamy. In another place, he wrote, "Now indeed in our time, and in keeping with Roman custom, it is no longer allowed to take another wife, so as to have more than one wife living [emphasis added]."
The history of Mormon polygamy begins with claims that Mormonism founder Joseph Smith received a revelation from God on July 17, 1831 that some Mormon men would be commanded to practice "plural marriage". The July 12, 1843 recording of a Smith revelation on plural marriage is now canonized as scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants by the LDS Church[24].
In Islam, polygamy is allowed, with the specific limitation that men can only have up to four wives at any one time. However, the Qur'an specifically states that men who choose this route must deal with their wives as fairly as possible, doing everything that they can to spend equal amounts of time, money on each one of them. Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional Islamic law which permits polygyny, certain elements within Islam challenge its acceptability. For example, polygyny in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Syria, and Lebanon is prohibited by law. In other countries they have to prove their ability to look after the woman, in terms of housing and expenditure.
Thanks for asking the question because if you didn't then I wouldn't have looked into all this! The reason why women cannot have several men at the same time is because it causes friction that will cause murder and we cannot be sure you the child belongs to, even DNA testing is not as reliable as first thought
Oscar wilde said, " "Bigamy is having one spouse too many. Marriage is the same."
Theres a few issues here, in the current period polygamy is seen as something strange, yet it is okay for a man to have a mistress or girlfriend outside his marriage.
Islam is a religion not just for this time but all time therefore polygamy maybe needed in some times not others. Due to the circumstances of that time, After the 2nd world war the german said that polygamy was permissible because of a shortage of men. In England there was such a thing called trigamy which was when a man married three times, this occured here from the 7th to 19th centuries.
Philip Kilbride, an American anthropologist of Roman Catholic heritage, in his provocative book, Plural Marriage for our Time, proposes polygamy as a solution to some of the ills of the American society at large. He argues that plural marriage may serve as a potential alternative for divorce in many cases in order to obviate the damaging impact of divorce on many children. He maintains that many divorces are caused by the rampant extramarital affairs in the American society. According to Kilbride, ending an extramarital affair in a polygamous marriage, rather than in a divorce, is better for the children, "Children would be better served if family augmentation rather than only separation and dissolution were seen as options."
According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, of the 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygamy, and 4 had polyandry.
In Judaism, it was outlawed in the 11th century, Christianity
Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy, and wrote about it in The Good of Marriage (chapter 15, paragraph 17), where he stated that though it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." He declined to judge the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygamy. In another place, he wrote, "Now indeed in our time, and in keeping with Roman custom, it is no longer allowed to take another wife, so as to have more than one wife living [emphasis added]."
The history of Mormon polygamy begins with claims that Mormonism founder Joseph Smith received a revelation from God on July 17, 1831 that some Mormon men would be commanded to practice "plural marriage". The July 12, 1843 recording of a Smith revelation on plural marriage is now canonized as scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants by the LDS Church[24].
In Islam, polygamy is allowed, with the specific limitation that men can only have up to four wives at any one time. However, the Qur'an specifically states that men who choose this route must deal with their wives as fairly as possible, doing everything that they can to spend equal amounts of time, money on each one of them. Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional Islamic law which permits polygyny, certain elements within Islam challenge its acceptability. For example, polygyny in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Syria, and Lebanon is prohibited by law. In other countries they have to prove their ability to look after the woman, in terms of housing and expenditure.
Thanks for asking the question because if you didn't then I wouldn't have looked into all this! The reason why women cannot have several men at the same time is because it causes friction that will cause murder and we cannot be sure you the child belongs to, even DNA testing is not as reliable as first thought
Monday, December 17, 2007
Why do Muslims?
Why do Muslims say Islam is the 1 true religion when you see the following?
1.around 70% of the Quran was copied from the Bible.
2.Muhammed's only claim to being an authentic prophet was the beautiful writing style of the Quran.
3.When Muhammed contradicted himself he said that Allah abrogated (cancelled) certain commands.
4. Since Allah's words and the Quran are eternal and have always existed-how is it that the "Satanic verses"got in?
5. If the Quran is God's word,why does it say that "Egypt owes its beauty to the rain" when actually it is because of the Nile.
6.Muslims state that Classic Arabic is a sacred language,so why did the Quran borrow much vocabulary from Ethiopian,Syriac+others?7.If the Quran is a miracle why do Muslims not believe that Beethoven (he was deaf from birth)also was a prophet of God,or Mozart whose 1st composition was at age 5 should be deemed a prophet too,as well as Shakespeare. also the Ahadith says Muhammed did miracles,the Quran says he did none--contradiction
Answer
Let me give you a sensible rebuttal.
1. In the links there is a book that gives 200+ ways that the Quran corrects the Bible. There are many ways the Stories are different and what is the same tell you something, the source is the same God. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) couldn't read or write so how could he do this?
2. Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) lineage goes back to the Prophet Ismail and to his father Ibrahim (upon them both peace). His ancestors had light in their foreheads until he was born. He would talk to his mother whilst he was in the womb and when he was born light came out of her. Once a man came to him and said he won't believe until this Lizard believes, he asked the Lizard who said I testify that there is no god but God and that you are his Messenger. He had some pebbles in his hand who people could hear praise of God from them.
3. The Quran was revealed in stages and took the people from their sins slowly. So intiaily wine was restricted then prohibited.
4. This is a fabricated story, there is no basis for truth in it.
5. I cannot find this, please reference it. If it is in there then this what linguists might call hyperbole.
6. Every language borrows from other languages and cultures. In England the word curry is not an English word neither is the word tea comes from China. What can be more English than the word Tea?
7. Prophethood finished with Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Quran says "The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad SAW to show them a Miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon). And if they see a Miracle they turn aside and say: Transient magic." 54-1 and 2.
This disproves all the questions that you asked.
If I can help you any further please contact me, peace.
1.around 70% of the Quran was copied from the Bible.
2.Muhammed's only claim to being an authentic prophet was the beautiful writing style of the Quran.
3.When Muhammed contradicted himself he said that Allah abrogated (cancelled) certain commands.
4. Since Allah's words and the Quran are eternal and have always existed-how is it that the "Satanic verses"got in?
5. If the Quran is God's word,why does it say that "Egypt owes its beauty to the rain" when actually it is because of the Nile.
6.Muslims state that Classic Arabic is a sacred language,so why did the Quran borrow much vocabulary from Ethiopian,Syriac+others?7.If the Quran is a miracle why do Muslims not believe that Beethoven (he was deaf from birth)also was a prophet of God,or Mozart whose 1st composition was at age 5 should be deemed a prophet too,as well as Shakespeare. also the Ahadith says Muhammed did miracles,the Quran says he did none--contradiction
Answer
Let me give you a sensible rebuttal.
1. In the links there is a book that gives 200+ ways that the Quran corrects the Bible. There are many ways the Stories are different and what is the same tell you something, the source is the same God. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) couldn't read or write so how could he do this?
2. Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) lineage goes back to the Prophet Ismail and to his father Ibrahim (upon them both peace). His ancestors had light in their foreheads until he was born. He would talk to his mother whilst he was in the womb and when he was born light came out of her. Once a man came to him and said he won't believe until this Lizard believes, he asked the Lizard who said I testify that there is no god but God and that you are his Messenger. He had some pebbles in his hand who people could hear praise of God from them.
3. The Quran was revealed in stages and took the people from their sins slowly. So intiaily wine was restricted then prohibited.
4. This is a fabricated story, there is no basis for truth in it.
5. I cannot find this, please reference it. If it is in there then this what linguists might call hyperbole.
6. Every language borrows from other languages and cultures. In England the word curry is not an English word neither is the word tea comes from China. What can be more English than the word Tea?
7. Prophethood finished with Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)
The Quran says "The Hour has drawn near, and the moon has been cleft asunder (the people of Makkah requested Prophet Muhammad SAW to show them a Miracle, so he showed them the splitting of the moon). And if they see a Miracle they turn aside and say: Transient magic." 54-1 and 2.
This disproves all the questions that you asked.
If I can help you any further please contact me, peace.
Patience in Islam
There are two types of patience in Islam:
1. Patience in tribulation
2. Patience in obedience
Heres some Quran to help illistrate this virtue
"Seek Allah's help with patient perseverance and prayer. It is indeed hard except for those who are humble." (2:45)
"Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere." (2:153)
"Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives, and the fruits of your toil.
"But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Those who say, when afflicted with calamity, 'To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return.' They are those on whom descend blessings from their Lord, and mercy. They are the ones who receive guidance." (2:155-157)
"Oh you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy. Vie in such perseverance, strengthen each other, and be pious, that you may prosper." (3:200)
And be steadfast in patience, for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous to perish." (11:115)
"Be patient, for your patience is with the help of Allah." (16:127)
"Patiently, then, persevere - for the Promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your faults, and celebrate the praises of your Lord in the evening and in the morning." (40:55)
"No one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but persons of the greatest good fortune." (41:35)
"Verily man is in loss, except such as have faith, and do righteous deeds, and join together in the mutual enjoining of truth, and of patience and constancy." (103:2-3)
"It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West. But it is righteousness to believe in Allah and the Last Day, And the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; To spend of your substance, out of love for Him, For your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; To be steadfast in prayer And give in charity; To fulfill the contracts which you have made; And to be firm and patient, in pain and adversity And throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing. Qur'an 2:177
Through every difficulty there is relief. Verily, through every difficulty there is relief. Qur'an 94:5-6
1. Patience in tribulation
2. Patience in obedience
Heres some Quran to help illistrate this virtue
"Seek Allah's help with patient perseverance and prayer. It is indeed hard except for those who are humble." (2:45)
"Oh you who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer, for God is with those who patiently persevere." (2:153)
"Be sure We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives, and the fruits of your toil.
"But give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Those who say, when afflicted with calamity, 'To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return.' They are those on whom descend blessings from their Lord, and mercy. They are the ones who receive guidance." (2:155-157)
"Oh you who believe! Persevere in patience and constancy. Vie in such perseverance, strengthen each other, and be pious, that you may prosper." (3:200)
And be steadfast in patience, for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous to perish." (11:115)
"Be patient, for your patience is with the help of Allah." (16:127)
"Patiently, then, persevere - for the Promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your faults, and celebrate the praises of your Lord in the evening and in the morning." (40:55)
"No one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but persons of the greatest good fortune." (41:35)
"Verily man is in loss, except such as have faith, and do righteous deeds, and join together in the mutual enjoining of truth, and of patience and constancy." (103:2-3)
"It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West. But it is righteousness to believe in Allah and the Last Day, And the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; To spend of your substance, out of love for Him, For your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; To be steadfast in prayer And give in charity; To fulfill the contracts which you have made; And to be firm and patient, in pain and adversity And throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing. Qur'an 2:177
Through every difficulty there is relief. Verily, through every difficulty there is relief. Qur'an 94:5-6
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Christan response to the story about the Imam
Islam covers all the bases.
You see I believe in Jesus as a Prophet akin to the ebonites who were massacred in early Christianity. They did not believe in the Trinity which was something that wasn't accepted as a doctrine until after the 4th century at the behest of the roman empire.
The original message of Jesus has been changed because all the Prophets called to the worship of one GOD.
So did Jesus worship himself?
And if you believe that God can have a child and that God needs something to create something. Then how can what you believe to be God be all powerful? If he needed Mary to create something?
Do you see how none of the Christan doctrine makes any rational sense?
What the first commandment? "I am your Lord."
Second commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Third commandment? "Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol"
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven because they don't believe in the Trinity?
Or is it easier to believe that Christianity was changed by the enemies of God to add this.
Think about it. What I have said makes sense!
You see I believe in Jesus as a Prophet akin to the ebonites who were massacred in early Christianity. They did not believe in the Trinity which was something that wasn't accepted as a doctrine until after the 4th century at the behest of the roman empire.
The original message of Jesus has been changed because all the Prophets called to the worship of one GOD.
So did Jesus worship himself?
And if you believe that God can have a child and that God needs something to create something. Then how can what you believe to be God be all powerful? If he needed Mary to create something?
Do you see how none of the Christan doctrine makes any rational sense?
What the first commandment? "I am your Lord."
Second commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Third commandment? "Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol"
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven because they don't believe in the Trinity?
Or is it easier to believe that Christianity was changed by the enemies of God to add this.
Think about it. What I have said makes sense!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Why cant a non muslim man marry a muslim woman?
Polygamy for men shows shows how excellent the woman is when she can be fulfilled by one man. And how empty the man is because he needs more the one woman.
According to sacred law a Muslim man can marry a women who is a Christian or Jew and or sabeans (believers in the Prophet Yahya - there are some of these in Iraq).
A Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim man. Why? This seems like its wrong doesn't it? Please let me explain. A Muslim man has to respect the religion of his non-Muslim wife, he believes in her Prophet, Moses, Jesus and Yahya (upon them all peace).
He respects her book and he has to by sacred law to pay for her daily needs: food, housing etc. A non-Muslim man on other hand doesn't believe in her Prophet or religion. So he could cause her to loss in her religious action and possibly cause disbelief.
For example he might prevent her fasting because he doesn't like it or he might stop her praying. He may also refuse to pay for any of her daily needs, he not obliged to do this.So the reason here is, that the non-Muslim man cannot fulfill her rights either worldly or religiously. If he did then he would be Muslim. This is in order to protect the woman from harm.
Does this make sense, please ask me to clarify if you do not understand.
According to sacred law a Muslim man can marry a women who is a Christian or Jew and or sabeans (believers in the Prophet Yahya - there are some of these in Iraq).
A Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim man. Why? This seems like its wrong doesn't it? Please let me explain. A Muslim man has to respect the religion of his non-Muslim wife, he believes in her Prophet, Moses, Jesus and Yahya (upon them all peace).
He respects her book and he has to by sacred law to pay for her daily needs: food, housing etc. A non-Muslim man on other hand doesn't believe in her Prophet or religion. So he could cause her to loss in her religious action and possibly cause disbelief.
For example he might prevent her fasting because he doesn't like it or he might stop her praying. He may also refuse to pay for any of her daily needs, he not obliged to do this.So the reason here is, that the non-Muslim man cannot fulfill her rights either worldly or religiously. If he did then he would be Muslim. This is in order to protect the woman from harm.
Does this make sense, please ask me to clarify if you do not understand.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
A proof of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him)
A proof of Islam?
How does a Bedouin who lives in the middle of the desert change the world?
He wasn't born in Alexander, Damascus or any centre of learning
Then how can his teachings, within 23 years, change an idol worshipping people to people into those who founded governments with administration? pension systems? With charity coming directly from the public funds? with water systems coming directly into houses?
Who do you know that within 23 year changed an entire race of people? From people who used to bury their daughters to people who gave them rights in inheritance? Who still effects the lives of Millions even today?
This is the proof how can an unlettered beduion change the world like this without divine assistance? You must them conclude that Muhammad is the final messenger of God.
Open your mind watch this video and then tell me what you think and not before.
The video is called "Legacy of the Prophet."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8_92XSDsoA
How does a man who showed no interest in poetry or literature of the Jews or Christan's come up with a book?
Its like me giving you a computer from my pocket without any prior knowledge of how to use it!
This can only come from the divine!
The stories in the Quran are different to the ones in the bible. read the book 200+ ways the Quran corrects the bible.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/200%2B-Ways-Quran-Corrects-Bible/dp/0972851887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196900893&sr=1-1
All the battles of the were defensive.
Tribes fought them and they would do defend.
Edwards Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823
"The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab."
He lived in a mud hut and spend periods in Medina surviving on just dates and water because he had no food.
For a period of two months there was no cooked food in his house. He died with no riches in house.
Does this sound like a blood thirsty king?
Or does this sound like a Prophet?
How does a Bedouin who lives in the middle of the desert change the world?
He wasn't born in Alexander, Damascus or any centre of learning
Then how can his teachings, within 23 years, change an idol worshipping people to people into those who founded governments with administration? pension systems? With charity coming directly from the public funds? with water systems coming directly into houses?
Who do you know that within 23 year changed an entire race of people? From people who used to bury their daughters to people who gave them rights in inheritance? Who still effects the lives of Millions even today?
This is the proof how can an unlettered beduion change the world like this without divine assistance? You must them conclude that Muhammad is the final messenger of God.
Open your mind watch this video and then tell me what you think and not before.
The video is called "Legacy of the Prophet."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8_92XSDsoA
How does a man who showed no interest in poetry or literature of the Jews or Christan's come up with a book?
Its like me giving you a computer from my pocket without any prior knowledge of how to use it!
This can only come from the divine!
The stories in the Quran are different to the ones in the bible. read the book 200+ ways the Quran corrects the bible.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/200%2B-Ways-Quran-Corrects-Bible/dp/0972851887/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196900893&sr=1-1
All the battles of the were defensive.
Tribes fought them and they would do defend.
Edwards Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823
"The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab."
He lived in a mud hut and spend periods in Medina surviving on just dates and water because he had no food.
For a period of two months there was no cooked food in his house. He died with no riches in house.
Does this sound like a blood thirsty king?
Or does this sound like a Prophet?
An Islamic perspective of the Christan Trinity?
An Islamic perspective of the Christan Trinity
This is not a personal attack. This is an attempt to make you understand the Muslim point of view and why we have a problem with the trinity.
Please do not be upset by this.
You see I believe in Jesus as a Prophet akin to the ebonites who were massacred in early Christianity. They did not believe in the Trinity which was something that wasn't accepted as a doctrine until after the 4th century at the behest of the roman empire.
The original message of Jesus has been changed because all the Prophets called to the worship of one GOD. Likewise did Jesus who is like all the prophets (upon them all peace).
So did Jesus worship himself?
And if you believe that God can have a child and that God needs something to create something. Then how can what you believe to be God be all powerful? If he needed Mary to create something?
Do you see how none of the Christan doctrine makes any rational sense?
What the first commandment? "I am your Lord."
Second commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Third commandment? "Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol"
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven? how can that be?
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven because they don't believe in the Trinity?
Or is it easier to believe that Christianity was changed by the enemies of God to add this.
Think about it. What I have said makes sense!
Most of the answers here are rejecting the view of the rest of the Prophets that God is one and there is nothing similar to him. Therefore you have rejected the first three commandments. Don't you see how dangerous that is?
You can you believe in the Bible that you have now? When its been chopped and changed over the years and the oldest manuscipt isn't until the first century? At the nicean creed there was 200 books of the bible where are they now?
Ebounites were the true Christan's and they believed in One God and Jesus (upon him peace) as a Prophet.
If you read history then you see Paul hated the Brother of Jesus, James.
Many Christan's of the day said Paul was a heretic and James the true inheritor. Paul was protected by the Romans because he was mixing paganism with Judaism which is what they now call Christianity.
1. I am the Lord thy God
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
3. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol
In the bible Jesus speaks to God if there we part of the same being would one part need to talk to the other part?
This is sound logic and something that a Muslim could say to a Christan. Muslims believe that divinity is only for God and hes not give it anything, nor is it possible because God attributes are uncreated.
Yet if you believe the Christan ideology, then you cannot accept that God is all powerful if he needs something, anything. Then you get into circular reasoning if you say that god can give birth then surely then god was given birth to, right?
So you see that innocent question can only take you one logical conclusion and that is not present in Christan trinity.
It is however present in Islamic theology we believe that GOD was not given birth to nor does he give birth nor is like his creation. So you must at least consider Islamic theology because here we make rational sense.
Where did this complex Trinity teaching originate? The Christian Century, in its May 20-27, 1998, issue, quotes a pastor who acknowledges that the Trinity is “a teaching of the church rather than a teaching of Jesus.” Even though the Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus, is it consistent with what he taught?
Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Our heavenly Father, whose name is Jehovah, is described in the Bible as being superior to his Son. For example, Jehovah is “from everlasting to everlasting.” But the Bible says that Jesus is “the firstborn of every creature.” That Jehovah is greater than Jesus, Jesus himself taught when he said: “My Father is greater than I.” (Matthew 6:9; Psalm 90:1, 2; Colossians 1:15; John 14:28, King James Version) Yet, the Trinity doctrine holds that the Father and the Son are “equally God.”
The Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus or of the early Christians. As noted previously, it is “a teaching of the church.” In its 1999 issue on the Trinity, The Living Pulpit observed: “Sometimes, it seems that everyone assumes that the doctrine of the trinity is standard Christian theological fare,” but it added that it is not “a biblical idea.”
The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) discusses the Trinity at length and admits: “The Trinitarian dogma is in the last analysis a late 4th-century invention. . . . The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.”
The Bible tells of many gods and goddesses that people worshiped, including Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech. (1 Kings 11:1, 2, 5, 7) Even many people in the ancient nation of Israel once believed that Baal was the true God. So Jehovah’s prophet Elijah presented the challenge: “If Jehovah is the true God, go following him; but if Baal is, go following him.”—1 Kings 18:21.
The worship of pagan gods grouped in threes, or triads, was also common before Jesus was born. “From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity,” observed historian Will Durant. In the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings wrote: “In Indian religion, e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahmā, Siva, and Viṣṇu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.”
What happened to the universe whilst he was busy with carpentary? Did the universe fall to bits whislt he was busy with something?
How can a god be sinful?
Islam is the only path of the Prophets left because it is free from the belief that is free from pagan belief.
This is not a personal attack. This is an attempt to make you understand the Muslim point of view and why we have a problem with the trinity.
Please do not be upset by this.
You see I believe in Jesus as a Prophet akin to the ebonites who were massacred in early Christianity. They did not believe in the Trinity which was something that wasn't accepted as a doctrine until after the 4th century at the behest of the roman empire.
The original message of Jesus has been changed because all the Prophets called to the worship of one GOD. Likewise did Jesus who is like all the prophets (upon them all peace).
So did Jesus worship himself?
And if you believe that God can have a child and that God needs something to create something. Then how can what you believe to be God be all powerful? If he needed Mary to create something?
Do you see how none of the Christan doctrine makes any rational sense?
What the first commandment? "I am your Lord."
Second commandment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
Third commandment? "Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol"
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven? how can that be?
So if you believe all this that came with all the previous Prophets before Jesus. Does that mean that they won't enter heaven because they don't believe in the Trinity?
Or is it easier to believe that Christianity was changed by the enemies of God to add this.
Think about it. What I have said makes sense!
Most of the answers here are rejecting the view of the rest of the Prophets that God is one and there is nothing similar to him. Therefore you have rejected the first three commandments. Don't you see how dangerous that is?
You can you believe in the Bible that you have now? When its been chopped and changed over the years and the oldest manuscipt isn't until the first century? At the nicean creed there was 200 books of the bible where are they now?
Ebounites were the true Christan's and they believed in One God and Jesus (upon him peace) as a Prophet.
If you read history then you see Paul hated the Brother of Jesus, James.
Many Christan's of the day said Paul was a heretic and James the true inheritor. Paul was protected by the Romans because he was mixing paganism with Judaism which is what they now call Christianity.
1. I am the Lord thy God
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
3. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol
In the bible Jesus speaks to God if there we part of the same being would one part need to talk to the other part?
This is sound logic and something that a Muslim could say to a Christan. Muslims believe that divinity is only for God and hes not give it anything, nor is it possible because God attributes are uncreated.
Yet if you believe the Christan ideology, then you cannot accept that God is all powerful if he needs something, anything. Then you get into circular reasoning if you say that god can give birth then surely then god was given birth to, right?
So you see that innocent question can only take you one logical conclusion and that is not present in Christan trinity.
It is however present in Islamic theology we believe that GOD was not given birth to nor does he give birth nor is like his creation. So you must at least consider Islamic theology because here we make rational sense.
Where did this complex Trinity teaching originate? The Christian Century, in its May 20-27, 1998, issue, quotes a pastor who acknowledges that the Trinity is “a teaching of the church rather than a teaching of Jesus.” Even though the Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus, is it consistent with what he taught?
Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Our heavenly Father, whose name is Jehovah, is described in the Bible as being superior to his Son. For example, Jehovah is “from everlasting to everlasting.” But the Bible says that Jesus is “the firstborn of every creature.” That Jehovah is greater than Jesus, Jesus himself taught when he said: “My Father is greater than I.” (Matthew 6:9; Psalm 90:1, 2; Colossians 1:15; John 14:28, King James Version) Yet, the Trinity doctrine holds that the Father and the Son are “equally God.”
The Trinity is not a teaching of Jesus or of the early Christians. As noted previously, it is “a teaching of the church.” In its 1999 issue on the Trinity, The Living Pulpit observed: “Sometimes, it seems that everyone assumes that the doctrine of the trinity is standard Christian theological fare,” but it added that it is not “a biblical idea.”
The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) discusses the Trinity at length and admits: “The Trinitarian dogma is in the last analysis a late 4th-century invention. . . . The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.”
The Bible tells of many gods and goddesses that people worshiped, including Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech. (1 Kings 11:1, 2, 5, 7) Even many people in the ancient nation of Israel once believed that Baal was the true God. So Jehovah’s prophet Elijah presented the challenge: “If Jehovah is the true God, go following him; but if Baal is, go following him.”—1 Kings 18:21.
The worship of pagan gods grouped in threes, or triads, was also common before Jesus was born. “From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity,” observed historian Will Durant. In the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, James Hastings wrote: “In Indian religion, e.g., we meet with the trinitarian group of Brahmā, Siva, and Viṣṇu; and in Egyptian religion with the trinitarian group of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.”
What happened to the universe whilst he was busy with carpentary? Did the universe fall to bits whislt he was busy with something?
How can a god be sinful?
Islam is the only path of the Prophets left because it is free from the belief that is free from pagan belief.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
The age of Aisha (May Allah be pleased with her) when she married the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
This question is asked by many non-Muslims and is used to hurt Muslims who do not understand this, This was an answer that I had prepared for a Christian.
He married Aisha in contract initially and then she lived with him three years later. The contract did not mean that they lived as man as wife this did not occur until after she has reached maturity.
There are varying reports about her age when she married him some sources say 6,9,12,15 and the Shia say 18. According to Sheikh Hamza Yusuf all the narrations about her age at the time of marriage are singular narrations therefore there isn't one that stands out and we can affirm that narration.
In any case when she married him, she was fully formed woman, in other words capable of child birth. This was perfectly normal in that time, as it was the practice of the Arabs at that time to marry women at 12, when they had reached puberty and they did not live together until three years after that.
In most of the books, scholars generally say the age was twelve and then she went to live with him when she was fifteen, after the emigration to Medina.
This was a normal marriage in this time because another woman Khawla said why don't you marry Aisha, this confirms it as a practice of the people.
Don’t forget that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a dream where the angel Jibril was carrying a person and he asked who is was, the angel said it is your wife, the cloth was uncovered and it was Aisha, this happened three times. She was married to him before the Hijra to Medina and did not live with him until after which was some three years.
"But do you mean to tell me that the man who in the full flush of youthful vigour, a young man of four and twenty (24), married a woman much his senior, and remained faithful to her for six and twenty years (26), at fifty years of age when the passions are dying married for lust and sexual passion? Not thus are men's lives to be judged. And you look at the women whom he married, you will find that by every one of them an alliance was made for his people, or something was gained for his followers, or the woman was in sore need of protection." - - Dr Annie Besant (Dr Annie Besant in 'The Life and Teachings of Mohammad,' Madras, 1932)
A noted British author has observed, "No great religious leader has been so maligned as Prophet Mohammed. Attacked in the past as a heretic, an impostor, or a sensualist, it is still possible to find him referred to as "the false prophet."
A modern German writer accuses Prophet Mohammed of sensuality, surrounding himself with young women. This man was not married until he was twenty-five years of age, then he and his wife lived in happiness and fidelity for twenty-four years, until her death when he was fourty-nine. Only between the age of fifty and his death at sixty-two did Prophet Mohammed take other wives, only one of whom was a virgin, and most of them were taken for dynastic and political reasons. Certainly the Prophet's record was better than the head of the Church of England, Henry VIII." Geoffrey Parrinder, Mysticism in the World's Religions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976, pg. 121)
Ayesha(ra) was engaged to someone else before she got engaged to Muhammad(saw):
Lady Ayesha(ra) was already engaged to a non-Muslim man named Jober Ibn Al-Moteam Ibn Oday. Back then, the people of Mecca did not object to Ayesha(ra)'s engagement to Jober because she was physically mature enough to be considered for marriage. Her parents saw that and they engaged her to Jober. It was only after this did the engagement take place, after she had already been proposed to!
In the Jewish Torah it states than any father who hasn’t married his daughter by the age of twelve, has dishonoured her. Henry the 8th wed Anne Boleyn aged twelve.
Some Hindis marry when their brides are aged twelve, the Jewish tradition has about what age a woman should be when she marries, some say 6 others say 9 and 12.
Mary mother of Jesus according to Christain sources was 12 when she gave birth to Jesus (upon them peace).
There are several reasons for this marriage, Aisha (may God be pleased with her) reported the second most narrations about him (over two thousand), she was the first female scholar and she taught hundreds if not thousands of students.
She corrected other companions when they made mistakes, she was a living authority of religious knowledge in her time. Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was also married to Safiyyah, the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the leader of a Jewish tribe in Arabia. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)married her when she was 16 years old and guess what? He was her third husband; she was married twice before him.
So, how old do you think she was when she got married to her first husband? Probably around 12 or 9, just like `A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her).
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica—which is a Western source written by non-Muslim scholars and scientists — puberty is “in human physiology, the stage or period of life when a child transforms into an adult normally capable of procreation,” which essentially means “sexually mature.” She was engaged before him to the son of Uqbah ibn Muayt. He was one of the idol worshipers of the Quraish, who had abandoned her because of her father’s strong position in supporting Islam.
Also, when Khawlah bint Hakim suggested to him to marry Aisha, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, thought thoroughly whether to accept or to refuse. He took into consideration his relation with Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him).
People who try to compare one time with another really misrepresent that time.
Many people forget how amazing Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was, after the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) passed away, she did not marry again. She loved him that much that she could not bear to marry anyone else.
Thomas Hardy in the 1900's married his secretary who was 40 years his junour. So this is not unheard of in the history books.
Clint Eastword married Dina Ruiz who was 35 years younger than him. He is 79 and she is 44!
Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin and when she died he spent the rest of his life grieving over her.
John Milton author of Paradise lost married a 16 year old.
Even Bruce Forsyth married a woman who was thirty two years his junior! So what it this then?
Also see this link about a chinese girl aged nine gave birth to a healthy child.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1247889/Chinese-girl-9-gives-birth-health-baby-boy.html
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was 13 years old and Romeo was 25 so was that rape then? Was one of the greatest love stories that man ever wrote really rape? Or it something that we do not understand? And if this was wrote about then don't you think that this was very common in those days?
People who bring slander to this are really showing what they have in themselves because when a dog backs at the moon, it does not a make a difference to it.
He married Aisha in contract initially and then she lived with him three years later. The contract did not mean that they lived as man as wife this did not occur until after she has reached maturity.
There are varying reports about her age when she married him some sources say 6,9,12,15 and the Shia say 18. According to Sheikh Hamza Yusuf all the narrations about her age at the time of marriage are singular narrations therefore there isn't one that stands out and we can affirm that narration.
In any case when she married him, she was fully formed woman, in other words capable of child birth. This was perfectly normal in that time, as it was the practice of the Arabs at that time to marry women at 12, when they had reached puberty and they did not live together until three years after that.
In most of the books, scholars generally say the age was twelve and then she went to live with him when she was fifteen, after the emigration to Medina.
This was a normal marriage in this time because another woman Khawla said why don't you marry Aisha, this confirms it as a practice of the people.
Don’t forget that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had a dream where the angel Jibril was carrying a person and he asked who is was, the angel said it is your wife, the cloth was uncovered and it was Aisha, this happened three times. She was married to him before the Hijra to Medina and did not live with him until after which was some three years.
"But do you mean to tell me that the man who in the full flush of youthful vigour, a young man of four and twenty (24), married a woman much his senior, and remained faithful to her for six and twenty years (26), at fifty years of age when the passions are dying married for lust and sexual passion? Not thus are men's lives to be judged. And you look at the women whom he married, you will find that by every one of them an alliance was made for his people, or something was gained for his followers, or the woman was in sore need of protection." - - Dr Annie Besant (Dr Annie Besant in 'The Life and Teachings of Mohammad,' Madras, 1932)
A noted British author has observed, "No great religious leader has been so maligned as Prophet Mohammed. Attacked in the past as a heretic, an impostor, or a sensualist, it is still possible to find him referred to as "the false prophet."
A modern German writer accuses Prophet Mohammed of sensuality, surrounding himself with young women. This man was not married until he was twenty-five years of age, then he and his wife lived in happiness and fidelity for twenty-four years, until her death when he was fourty-nine. Only between the age of fifty and his death at sixty-two did Prophet Mohammed take other wives, only one of whom was a virgin, and most of them were taken for dynastic and political reasons. Certainly the Prophet's record was better than the head of the Church of England, Henry VIII." Geoffrey Parrinder, Mysticism in the World's Religions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976, pg. 121)
Ayesha(ra) was engaged to someone else before she got engaged to Muhammad(saw):
Lady Ayesha(ra) was already engaged to a non-Muslim man named Jober Ibn Al-Moteam Ibn Oday. Back then, the people of Mecca did not object to Ayesha(ra)'s engagement to Jober because she was physically mature enough to be considered for marriage. Her parents saw that and they engaged her to Jober. It was only after this did the engagement take place, after she had already been proposed to!
In the Jewish Torah it states than any father who hasn’t married his daughter by the age of twelve, has dishonoured her. Henry the 8th wed Anne Boleyn aged twelve.
Some Hindis marry when their brides are aged twelve, the Jewish tradition has about what age a woman should be when she marries, some say 6 others say 9 and 12.
Mary mother of Jesus according to Christain sources was 12 when she gave birth to Jesus (upon them peace).
There are several reasons for this marriage, Aisha (may God be pleased with her) reported the second most narrations about him (over two thousand), she was the first female scholar and she taught hundreds if not thousands of students.
She corrected other companions when they made mistakes, she was a living authority of religious knowledge in her time. Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was also married to Safiyyah, the daughter of Huyayy ibn Akhtab, the leader of a Jewish tribe in Arabia. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)married her when she was 16 years old and guess what? He was her third husband; she was married twice before him.
So, how old do you think she was when she got married to her first husband? Probably around 12 or 9, just like `A’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her).
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica—which is a Western source written by non-Muslim scholars and scientists — puberty is “in human physiology, the stage or period of life when a child transforms into an adult normally capable of procreation,” which essentially means “sexually mature.” She was engaged before him to the son of Uqbah ibn Muayt. He was one of the idol worshipers of the Quraish, who had abandoned her because of her father’s strong position in supporting Islam.
Also, when Khawlah bint Hakim suggested to him to marry Aisha, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, thought thoroughly whether to accept or to refuse. He took into consideration his relation with Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with him).
People who try to compare one time with another really misrepresent that time.
Many people forget how amazing Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was, after the Prophet (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) passed away, she did not marry again. She loved him that much that she could not bear to marry anyone else.
Thomas Hardy in the 1900's married his secretary who was 40 years his junour. So this is not unheard of in the history books.
Clint Eastword married Dina Ruiz who was 35 years younger than him. He is 79 and she is 44!
Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin and when she died he spent the rest of his life grieving over her.
John Milton author of Paradise lost married a 16 year old.
Even Bruce Forsyth married a woman who was thirty two years his junior! So what it this then?
Also see this link about a chinese girl aged nine gave birth to a healthy child.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1247889/Chinese-girl-9-gives-birth-health-baby-boy.html
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was 13 years old and Romeo was 25 so was that rape then? Was one of the greatest love stories that man ever wrote really rape? Or it something that we do not understand? And if this was wrote about then don't you think that this was very common in those days?
People who bring slander to this are really showing what they have in themselves because when a dog backs at the moon, it does not a make a difference to it.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
What does Salam alikum mean?
Salam alikum means upon you peace. This is what the angels will say to the people when they first enter heaven. The greeting is peace/ salam in Arabic.
The full greeting is Salam alikum rahmutallah wa barakutu/May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you; saying this gets you thirty rewards.
Salam alikum rahmutallah gets you twenty and salam alikum gets you ten.
This comes from the time in heaven when God/Allah commanded Adam upon him peace to greet the angels. He said, "Salam alikum rahmutallah" the angels replied, "Salam alikum rahmutallah wa baraktu." Adding blessings.
Amazing that just by greeting someone you get rewarded for saying a few words!
The full greeting is Salam alikum rahmutallah wa barakutu/May the peace, blessings and mercy of God be upon you; saying this gets you thirty rewards.
Salam alikum rahmutallah gets you twenty and salam alikum gets you ten.
This comes from the time in heaven when God/Allah commanded Adam upon him peace to greet the angels. He said, "Salam alikum rahmutallah" the angels replied, "Salam alikum rahmutallah wa baraktu." Adding blessings.
Amazing that just by greeting someone you get rewarded for saying a few words!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
What non-Muslims say about Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him)
Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so
Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so."
A. S. Tritton in 'Islam,' 1951
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one hand and the Qur'an in the other is quite false.
De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London, 1923.
History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.
Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823
The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab.
Edward Gibbon and Simon Oakley in ‘History of the Saracen Empire,’ London, 1870
"The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force."
“It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran....The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. ‘I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God’ is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.”
Reverend Bosworth Smith in 'Muhammad and Muhammadanism,' London, 1874.
"Head of the State as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a police force, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man ruled by a right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all the powers without their supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
"In Mohammadanism every thing is different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we have history....We know of the external history of Muhammad....while for his internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation....on the Substantial authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt."
Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris 1890. (Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of Islam,' London 1913.)
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically....the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris, 1854.
"Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, Persia Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul.
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls.
"On the basis of a Book, every letter which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together peoples of every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of man but that of reason.
"The idea of the unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of the fabulous theogonies, was in itself such a miracle that upon it's utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His life, his meditations, his heroic revelings against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years in Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen... This dogma was twofold the unity of God and the immateriality of God: the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with words.
"Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs.... The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"
Mahatma Gandhi, statement published in 'Young India,'1924.
I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.
Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.
"If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."
"I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”
Michael Hart in 'The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons In History,' New York, 1978.
My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the secular and religious level. ...It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. ...It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
Dr. William Draper in 'History of Intellectual Development of Europe'
Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.
Arthur Glyn Leonard in 'Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Values'
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets, that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all the magnetism of true inspiration.
Philip K. Hitti in 'History of the Arabs'
Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth of unpromising material, a nation, never welded before; in a country that was hitherto but a geographical expression he established a religion which in vast areas suppressed Christianity and Judaism, and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace within its far flung boundaries the fairest provinces the then civilized world.
Rodwell in the Preface to his translation of the Holy Qur'an
Mohammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force and life that resides in him who possesses an intense faith in God and in the unseen world. He will always be regarded as one of those who have had that influence over the faith, morals and whole earthly life of their fellow men, which none but a really great man ever did, or can exercise; and whose efforts to propagate a great verity will prosper.
W. Montgomery Watt in 'Muhammad at Mecca,' Oxford, 1953.
His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as a leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement - all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems that it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.... Thus, not merely must we credit Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to be attained with difficulty.
D. G. Hogarth in 'Arabia'
Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted a canon which millions observe this day with conscious memory. No one regarded by any section of the human race as Perfect Man has ever been imitated so minutely. The conduct of the founder of Christianity has not governed the ordinary life of his followers. Moreover, no founder of a religion has left on so solitary an eminence as the Muslim apostle.
Washington Irving 'Mahomet and His Successors'
He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source.
In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints.
His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory, as they would have done had they been effected for selfish purposes. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from affecting a regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonials of respect were shown to him. If he aimed at a universal dominion, it was the dominion of faith; as to the temporal rule which grew up in his hands, as he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.
James Michener in ‘Islam: The Misunderstood Religion,’ Reader’s Digest, May 1955, pp. 68-70.
"No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit in the support of the freedom of conscience."
“Like almost every major prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God’s word sensing his own inadequacy. But the Angel commanded ‘Read’. So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment of the earth: "There is one God"."
“In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred and rumors of God 's personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, ‘An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being'."
“At Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: ‘If there are any among you who worshiped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you Worshiped, He lives for ever'.”
Lawrence E. Browne in ‘The Prospects of Islam,’ 1944
Incidentally these well-established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.
K. S. Ramakrishna Rao in 'Mohammed: The Prophet of Islam,' 1989
My problem to write this monograph is easier, because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that “there is no compulsion in religion” is well known.
http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/quote1.html
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so
Thomas Carlyle in 'Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,' 1840
"The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only."
"A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so."
A. S. Tritton in 'Islam,' 1951
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one hand and the Qur'an in the other is quite false.
De Lacy O'Leary in 'Islam at the Crossroads,' London, 1923.
History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.
Gibbon in 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' 1823
The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab.
Edward Gibbon and Simon Oakley in ‘History of the Saracen Empire,’ London, 1870
"The greatest success of Mohammad’s life was effected by sheer moral force."
“It is not the propagation but the permanency of his religion that deserves our wonder, the same pure and perfect impression which he engraved at Mecca and Medina is preserved after the revolutions of twelve centuries by the Indian, the African and the Turkish proselytes of the Koran....The Mahometans have uniformly withstood the temptation of reducing the object of their faith and devotion to a level with the senses and imagination of man. ‘I believe in One God and Mahomet the Apostle of God’ is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honors of the prophet have never transgressed the measure of human virtue, and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion.”
Reverend Bosworth Smith in 'Muhammad and Muhammadanism,' London, 1874.
"Head of the State as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one; but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a police force, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man ruled by a right divine, it was Muhammad, for he had all the powers without their supports. He cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in keeping with his public life."
"In Mohammadanism every thing is different here. Instead of the shadowy and the mysterious, we have history....We know of the external history of Muhammad....while for his internal history after his mission had been proclaimed, we have a book absolutely unique in its origin, in its preservation....on the Substantial authority of which no one has ever been able to cast a serious doubt."
Edward Montet, 'La Propagande Chretienne et ses Adversaries Musulmans,' Paris 1890. (Also in T.W. Arnold in 'The Preaching of Islam,' London 1913.)
"Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically....the teachings of the Prophet, the Qur'an has invariably kept its place as the fundamental starting point, and the dogma of unity of God has always been proclaimed therein with a grandeur a majesty, an invariable purity and with a note of sure conviction, which it is hard to find surpassed outside the pale of Islam....A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvelous power of winning its way into the consciences of men."
Alphonse de LaMartaine in 'Historie de la Turquie,' Paris, 1854.
"Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntarily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to subvert superstitions which had been imposed between man and his Creator, to render God unto man and man unto God; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he (Muhammad) had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design, no other instrument than himself and no other aid except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert. Finally, never has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world, because in less than two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and in arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia, and conquered, in God's name, Persia Khorasan, Transoxania, Western India, Syria, Egypt, Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, and part of Gaul.
"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws, and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislations, empires, peoples, dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls.
"On the basis of a Book, every letter which has become law, he created a spiritual nationality which blend together peoples of every tongue and race. He has left the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial God. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the followers of Muhammad; the conquest of one-third the earth to the dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of man but that of reason.
"The idea of the unity of God, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of the fabulous theogonies, was in itself such a miracle that upon it's utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one-third of the world. His life, his meditations, his heroic revelings against the superstitions of his country, and his boldness in defying the furies of idolatry, his firmness in enduring them for fifteen years in Mecca, his acceptance of the role of public scorn and almost of being a victim of his fellow countrymen... This dogma was twofold the unity of God and the immateriality of God: the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with words.
"Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of Ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs.... The founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire that is Muhammad. As regards all standards by which human greatness may be measured, we may well ask, is there any man greater than he?"
Mahatma Gandhi, statement published in 'Young India,'1924.
I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.
Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936.
"If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam."
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."
"I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.”
Michael Hart in 'The 100, A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons In History,' New York, 1978.
My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the secular and religious level. ...It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. ...It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitles Muhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.
Dr. William Draper in 'History of Intellectual Development of Europe'
Four years after the death of Justinian, A.D. 569, was born in Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all men, has exercised the greatest influence upon the human race... To be the religious head of many empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human race, may perhaps justify the title of a Messenger of God.
Arthur Glyn Leonard in 'Islam, Her Moral and Spiritual Values'
It was the genius of Muhammad, the spirit that he breathed into the Arabs through the soul of Islam that exalted them. That raised them out of the lethargy and low level of tribal stagnation up to the high watermark of national unity and empire. It was in the sublimity of Muhammad's deism, the simplicity, the sobriety and purity it inculcated the fidelity of its founder to his own tenets, that acted on their moral and intellectual fiber with all the magnetism of true inspiration.
Philip K. Hitti in 'History of the Arabs'
Within a brief span of mortal life, Muhammad called forth of unpromising material, a nation, never welded before; in a country that was hitherto but a geographical expression he established a religion which in vast areas suppressed Christianity and Judaism, and laid the basis of an empire that was soon to embrace within its far flung boundaries the fairest provinces the then civilized world.
Rodwell in the Preface to his translation of the Holy Qur'an
Mohammad's career is a wonderful instance of the force and life that resides in him who possesses an intense faith in God and in the unseen world. He will always be regarded as one of those who have had that influence over the faith, morals and whole earthly life of their fellow men, which none but a really great man ever did, or can exercise; and whose efforts to propagate a great verity will prosper.
W. Montgomery Watt in 'Muhammad at Mecca,' Oxford, 1953.
His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as a leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement - all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems that it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad.... Thus, not merely must we credit Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to be attained with difficulty.
D. G. Hogarth in 'Arabia'
Serious or trivial, his daily behavior has instituted a canon which millions observe this day with conscious memory. No one regarded by any section of the human race as Perfect Man has ever been imitated so minutely. The conduct of the founder of Christianity has not governed the ordinary life of his followers. Moreover, no founder of a religion has left on so solitary an eminence as the Muslim apostle.
Washington Irving 'Mahomet and His Successors'
He was sober and abstemious in his diet and a rigorous observer of fasts. He indulged in no magnificence of apparel, the ostentation of a petty mind; neither was his simplicity in dress affected but a result of real disregard for distinction from so trivial a source.
In his private dealings he was just. He treated friends and strangers, the rich and poor, the powerful and weak, with equity, and was beloved by the common people for the affability with which he received them, and listened to their complaints.
His military triumphs awakened no pride nor vain glory, as they would have done had they been effected for selfish purposes. In the time of his greatest power he maintained the same simplicity of manners and appearance as in the days of his adversity. So far from affecting a regal state, he was displeased if, on entering a room, any unusual testimonials of respect were shown to him. If he aimed at a universal dominion, it was the dominion of faith; as to the temporal rule which grew up in his hands, as he used it without ostentation, so he took no step to perpetuate it in his family.
James Michener in ‘Islam: The Misunderstood Religion,’ Reader’s Digest, May 1955, pp. 68-70.
"No other religion in history spread so rapidly as Islam. The West has widely believed that this surge of religion was made possible by the sword. But no modern scholar accepts this idea, and the Qur’an is explicit in the support of the freedom of conscience."
“Like almost every major prophet before him, Muhammad fought shy of serving as the transmitter of God’s word sensing his own inadequacy. But the Angel commanded ‘Read’. So far as we know, Muhammad was unable to read or write, but he began to dictate those inspired words which would soon revolutionize a large segment of the earth: "There is one God"."
“In all things Muhammad was profoundly practical. When his beloved son Ibrahim died, an eclipse occurred and rumors of God 's personal condolence quickly arose. Whereupon Muhammad is said to have announced, ‘An eclipse is a phenomenon of nature. It is foolish to attribute such things to the death or birth of a human being'."
“At Muhammad's own death an attempt was made to deify him, but the man who was to become his administrative successor killed the hysteria with one of the noblest speeches in religious history: ‘If there are any among you who worshiped Muhammad, he is dead. But if it is God you Worshiped, He lives for ever'.”
Lawrence E. Browne in ‘The Prospects of Islam,’ 1944
Incidentally these well-established facts dispose of the idea so widely fostered in Christian writings that the Muslims, wherever they went, forced people to accept Islam at the point of the sword.
K. S. Ramakrishna Rao in 'Mohammed: The Prophet of Islam,' 1989
My problem to write this monograph is easier, because we are not generally fed now on that (distorted) kind of history and much time need not be spent on pointing out our misrepresentations of Islam. The theory of Islam and sword, for instance, is not heard now in any quarter worth the name. The principle of Islam that “there is no compulsion in religion” is well known.
http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/quote1.html
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Polygamy in Islam and other religions
Oscar wilde said, " "Bigamy is having one spouse too many. Marriage is the same."
Theres a few issues here, in the current period polygamy is seen as something strange, yet it is okay for a man to have a mistress or girlfriend outside his marriage.
Islam is a religion not just for this time but all time therefore polygamy maybe needed in some times not others. Due to the circumstances of that time, After the 2nd world war the German said that polygamy was permissible because of a shortage of men. In England there was such a thing called trigamy which was when a man married three times, this occurred here from the 7th to 19th centuries.
Philip Kilbride, an American anthropologist of Roman Catholic heritage, in his provocative book, Plural Marriage for our Time, proposes polygamy as a solution to some of the ills of the American society at large. He argues that plural marriage may serve as a potential alternative for divorce in many cases in order to obviate the damaging impact of divorce on many children. He maintains that many divorces are caused by the rampant extramarital affairs in the American society. According to Kilbride, ending an extramarital affair in a polygamous marriage, rather than in a divorce, is better for the children, "Children would be better served if family augmentation rather than only separation and dissolution were seen as options."
According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, of the 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygamy, 588 had more frequent polygamy, and 4 had polyandry.
In Judaism, it was outlawed in the 11th century, Christianity
Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy, and wrote about it in The Good of Marriage (chapter 15, paragraph 17), where he stated that though it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." He declined to judge the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygamy. In another place, he wrote, "Now indeed in our time, and in keeping with Roman custom, it is no longer allowed to take another wife, so as to have more than one wife living [emphasis added]."
The history of Mormon polygamy begins with claims that Mormonism founder Joseph Smith received a revelation from God on July 17, 1831 that some Mormon men would be commanded to practice "plural marriage". The July 12, 1843 recording of a Smith revelation on plural marriage is now canonized as scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants by the LDS Church[24].
In Islam, polygamy is allowed, with the specific limitation that men can only have up to four wives at any one time. However, the Qur'an specifically states that men who choose this route must deal with their wives as fairly as possible, doing everything that they can to spend equal amounts of time, money on each one of them. Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional Islamic law which permits polygamy, certain elements within Islam challenge its acceptability. For example, polygamy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Syria, and Lebanon is prohibited by law. In other countries they have to prove their ability to look after the woman, in terms of housing and expenditure.
Thanks for asking the question because if you didn't then I wouldn't have looked into all this! The reason why women cannot have several men at the same time is because it causes friction that will cause murder and we cannot be sure you the child belongs to, even DNA testing is not as reliable as first thought.
Theres a few issues here, in the current period polygamy is seen as something strange, yet it is okay for a man to have a mistress or girlfriend outside his marriage.
Islam is a religion not just for this time but all time therefore polygamy maybe needed in some times not others. Due to the circumstances of that time, After the 2nd world war the German said that polygamy was permissible because of a shortage of men. In England there was such a thing called trigamy which was when a man married three times, this occurred here from the 7th to 19th centuries.
Philip Kilbride, an American anthropologist of Roman Catholic heritage, in his provocative book, Plural Marriage for our Time, proposes polygamy as a solution to some of the ills of the American society at large. He argues that plural marriage may serve as a potential alternative for divorce in many cases in order to obviate the damaging impact of divorce on many children. He maintains that many divorces are caused by the rampant extramarital affairs in the American society. According to Kilbride, ending an extramarital affair in a polygamous marriage, rather than in a divorce, is better for the children, "Children would be better served if family augmentation rather than only separation and dissolution were seen as options."
According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook, of the 1231 societies noted, 186 were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygamy, 588 had more frequent polygamy, and 4 had polyandry.
In Judaism, it was outlawed in the 11th century, Christianity
Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy, and wrote about it in The Good of Marriage (chapter 15, paragraph 17), where he stated that though it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." He declined to judge the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygamy. In another place, he wrote, "Now indeed in our time, and in keeping with Roman custom, it is no longer allowed to take another wife, so as to have more than one wife living [emphasis added]."
The history of Mormon polygamy begins with claims that Mormonism founder Joseph Smith received a revelation from God on July 17, 1831 that some Mormon men would be commanded to practice "plural marriage". The July 12, 1843 recording of a Smith revelation on plural marriage is now canonized as scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants by the LDS Church[24].
In Islam, polygamy is allowed, with the specific limitation that men can only have up to four wives at any one time. However, the Qur'an specifically states that men who choose this route must deal with their wives as fairly as possible, doing everything that they can to spend equal amounts of time, money on each one of them. Although many Muslim countries still retain traditional Islamic law which permits polygamy, certain elements within Islam challenge its acceptability. For example, polygamy in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Syria, and Lebanon is prohibited by law. In other countries they have to prove their ability to look after the woman, in terms of housing and expenditure.
Thanks for asking the question because if you didn't then I wouldn't have looked into all this! The reason why women cannot have several men at the same time is because it causes friction that will cause murder and we cannot be sure you the child belongs to, even DNA testing is not as reliable as first thought.
Friday, November 09, 2007
My intentions are good. Is the road to Hell paved with good intentions?
Not in Islam it isn't.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of God be upon him) said, "Actions depend on intentions." so if your intention is good and the action doesn't work out. Then you are rewarded for your good intention.
In fact there is another prophetic narration that states if a person has a bad intention and doesn't do the wrong action and leaves it. This is written as a good action!
So what about when someone does a good action - a Muslim is rewarded ten times what anyone else is and this increases with sincerity. And if this is doubled in Ramadan, like double points on your store card.
So, in Islam if your intentions are good there is reward and if your intentions are bad yet you don't do the wrong action then you are rewarded. So tell me where does a Muslim loose?
Your intentions are good and expect a reward. For a Muslim good intentions help you on the path to paradise.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of God be upon him) said, "Actions depend on intentions." so if your intention is good and the action doesn't work out. Then you are rewarded for your good intention.
In fact there is another prophetic narration that states if a person has a bad intention and doesn't do the wrong action and leaves it. This is written as a good action!
So what about when someone does a good action - a Muslim is rewarded ten times what anyone else is and this increases with sincerity. And if this is doubled in Ramadan, like double points on your store card.
So, in Islam if your intentions are good there is reward and if your intentions are bad yet you don't do the wrong action then you are rewarded. So tell me where does a Muslim loose?
Your intentions are good and expect a reward. For a Muslim good intentions help you on the path to paradise.
The reward of Muslim women in paradise
The Quran states in the chapter called "The Woman" [4:32]
"Women shall derive benefit from what they aquired. Ask, therefore, God [to give you] out of His bounty: behold, God has indeed full knowledge of everything."
"Women shall derive benefit from what they aquired. Ask, therefore, God [to give you] out of His bounty: behold, God has indeed full knowledge of everything."
So anyone thinks that women will not get anything and that the reward of men is better, better read the Quran and check himself. Women will be rewarded for they have aquired of good deeds and righteous actions. Do not let men fool you into thinking that somehow women are going to get less than men. This is simply not true read the verse and reflect.
Men and women will be rewarded appropriate for their good works in this world and a woman does a lot more than a man! So who do you think is going to get more reward? The one who does little or the one who does a lot? It's quite simple isn't? She will be rewarded for looking after her family, cooking, cleaning etc; if done with an sincere intention for God/Allah.
Don't you think that God/Allah is just and will give more to women, if they have done more? Yes of course he will. Anyone who does more will get more and anyone who does less will not be oppressed.
A righteous woman’s beauty in paradise is more than the beauty of the maidens in paradise. So much so that they will almost be jealous! If a maiden of paradise spat in the sea, all the seas would turn sweet, so what then would be the beauty of a righteous Muslim woman in heaven? Amazing!
One scholar told me that the rewards of the women in the Quran is implied because they are more bashful than a man. A man needs it to be spelt out to him and a woman can read between the lines.
"They shall have whatever they wish with their Lord." [Qur'an: Surat Zumar, 34]
In Paradise, if we wish for something, it will be there before us. No one will find anything less than everything they could possibly wish for; this includes women.
It can be a neglected question sometimes there is an emphasis on the reward of men and not on the reward of women. Therefore know, women that God is just and you will not be wronged; your reward is ample and awaiting you.
Please answers below this is also link to another answer
Women's reward in Paradise in Islam
http://sheikhynotes.blogspot.com/2010/01/womens-reward-in-paradise-in-islam.html
As well as the answer below...
So your question is what will women get in paradise? A female teacher answers this question below:
"In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Praise be to Allah. May the peace and blessings of Allah shower upon our Beloved Messenger, his family, companions, and those who follow them.
Dear questioner,
The Qur'an gives women spiritual parity with men in terms of their status before Allah, their religious obligations, and the recompense of their deeds. The pleasures of paradise, including pure and righteous companions, are not exclusively for men. Allah says in Surat al-Baqarah verse 25, "But give glad tidings to those who believe and work righteousness, that their portion is Gardens, beneath which rivers flow. Every time they are fed with fruits there-from, they say: "Why, this is what we were fed with before," for they are given things in similitude; and they have therein companions pure (and holy); and they abide therein (for ever)."
These "companions pure (and holy)" are called azwaj mutahhara in Arabic. Azwaj is the plural of zawj, which means mate, spouse, or companion. The promise in this verse is directed at the believers at large, both males and females, that they will have righteous spouses awaiting them in Paradise. Some scholars have said that if a believer so desires, she or he will be reunited with their spouse from earthly life.
Although the Qur'an mentions hur al-ain for men, or "wide-eyed virgins," this does not necessarily preclude the existence of handsome male companions for female believers.
And Allah knows best.
Umm Salah (Zaynab Ansari)"
Sources
http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?HD=7&ID=5006&CATE=145
Monday, November 05, 2007
Have you heard the joke about the Priest, the Rabbi and the Imam?
There was an Egyptian king who wanted to see which religion was true, Christianity, Judaism, Islam.
He called a Priest, a Rabbi and an Imam, to see which one would present the best argument.
The Christan priest was told to go first, he said no the Jews were here first so the Rabbi should go first. They argued then agreed for the Imam to go first.
The Imam was asked to present his case, he said, “If the Jews are right then the Muslims and Christians are okay because believe in Moses. If the Christians are right then the Jews have a problem and the Muslims are okay because we believe in Jesus. But if the Muslims are right then the Jews and Christians have a problem because they don’t believe in Muhammad.” (peace and blessings of God be upon him).
He called a Priest, a Rabbi and an Imam, to see which one would present the best argument.
The Christan priest was told to go first, he said no the Jews were here first so the Rabbi should go first. They argued then agreed for the Imam to go first.
The Imam was asked to present his case, he said, “If the Jews are right then the Muslims and Christians are okay because believe in Moses. If the Christians are right then the Jews have a problem and the Muslims are okay because we believe in Jesus. But if the Muslims are right then the Jews and Christians have a problem because they don’t believe in Muhammad.” (peace and blessings of God be upon him).
New Blog
Peace be upon you
This is a new blog dedicated to answering the questions that are commonly asked of Muslims.
The letter below the title is a letter that the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) sent to invite a leader of the time to Islam. This is what we seek to do here. We hope to answer your question to clear up any misconceptions about Islam that you may have.
God willing this site will be useful for all who seek guidance.
This is a new blog dedicated to answering the questions that are commonly asked of Muslims.
The letter below the title is a letter that the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) sent to invite a leader of the time to Islam. This is what we seek to do here. We hope to answer your question to clear up any misconceptions about Islam that you may have.
God willing this site will be useful for all who seek guidance.
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