Religious Discussion and Q&A Thread

[amar_kun]

thanks kiddo7 for your question. this shows your sincere quriosity in knowing us more.

this is going to sound really stupid but...
what exactly does alhamdulillah mean?
I think I have a vague idea but I am not sure...

my lecturer once said, "no question is a stupid question if you asked it. a stupid question is the one that you chose not to ask, and then you became stupid in the end of my class, since it will remain unanswered ."

alhamdulillah came from two words. alhamd-lillah. alhamd means 'all praise'. lillah means 'to God'.

we muslim say alhamdulillah whenever we get something good happens to us and our friends. so we say it to be thankful to God for His blessing to us.

wallahua'lam (God knows the best)

[conan]

well I dont know if praise is the right word, alhamd means thanks in arabic, so its a word of thanks for god, in the deep spiritual discipline of islam we were taught to say it if something good happened to us as thanks, or if something we see as bad as acceptance.

so it means thanks or gratitude to allah.

by the way, about aura and womens activites, I would just simply advise them to get a closed gym, if there is no men there, there ok with wearing casual clothes, we have a few facilities like this in the middle east, but there isnt a lot unfortunately.

[Azurel]

by the way, about aura and womens activites, I would just simply advise them to get a closed gym, if there is no men there, there ok with wearing casual clothes, we have a few facilities like this in the middle east, but there isnt a lot unfortunately.

well, not every country has such facilities and muslim women must still observe the hijab among non-muslim women unless it's a muslimah gym.

and you can't just avoid interaction with non-muslim, it's better to cover the aurat while doing those activities with other non-muslims, helps to foster bonds don't ya think?

[kiddo7]

I might be a little late to still address this topic as it has been practically hammered out in great detail already.

I just thought i would give a simply analogy to help understand the issue with the "many Bibles", seeing as how Jesus also always tought in parables.

The most relevant and easy to understand illustration I could think of, especially for the members of this forum, can be found in our RTS threads. The bible is like the RAW of a manga with the original being written in Greek(new testament) and Hebrew(old testament) all the other "versions" of the bible are like the various translations that are made available to us each week. You will have noticed that we have multiple translations to english and also other languages. this however does not imply that we have rewritten the story. All the translations are still considered to be the same manga as the raw. Now as to wich translation is the most reliable and accurate?... That might be debatable and could depend on the readers subjective opinion among a whole host of other things. In fact, you will also find that the same group does not provide the most accurate translation every week. So we have experts on the issue, our translators(scholars, theologians, etc.) who create translation clarification threads(concordances, devotionals, etc) for us. And sometimes there are tricky passages that just will not translate to English properly.

So you seethe many translations we have and use spring from a desire to understand the bible as best as we can and should not be misconstrued as an indication that the bible is not reliable anymore.

[phnt0m]

Wow, this is a very good thread indeed. It sure opened my hearts to Islam more and more after reading all this discussion that your having (I'm Muslim since born actually).

I agree with you Azurel. But as a boy I can't say it without thinking what will the women think about this issue. It's better to workout in open gym with others than in a closed gym.
It will of course foster our bond (is it mengeratkan silaturrahim? I'm not really sure how to translate it directly) faster and make non-muslim like to learn and understand Islam more and more by days.



Sorry if my English is bad. I'm still not used to it.

[conan]

well, not every country has such facilities and muslim women must still observe the hijab among non-muslim women unless it's a muslimah gym.

and you can't just avoid interaction with non-muslim, it's better to cover the aurat while doing those activities with other non-muslims, helps to foster bonds don't ya think?

well non muslim females can join in too, the only condition is separation, but it could work both ways, its personal preference really.

[belle_chan]

assalammualaikum,
first of all,i want to congratulate amar for starting this wonderful thread.

and about the aurat,i just want to add a piece of information taken from our Holy Al-Quran :

"And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protects their private parts(from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e their bodies,faces,necks and bosoms) and not to reveal their adornment except to their husbands, or their fathers,or their husband`s sons,or their sister`s sons, or their (Muslims) women (i,e their sisters in Islam),or the (female) slaves whom their right hand posses, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children who have no sense of feminine sex. And let them not to stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And all of you beg Allah to forgive you all, O believers,that you maybe successful." An Nur 24:31

well non muslim females can join in too, the only condition is separation, but it could work both ways, its personal preference really

btw,i go to an opened gym twice every week.i face no problem at all with me having to observe my hijab and everything.so,i agree with conan that its really your personam preference.

[amar_kun]

alaikumussalam belle_chan.

thank you for you reply. it is good to see more and more muslim coming and helping in this thread.

welcome the the thread and have fun!

[Gold Knight]

^ Heh, neat allusion, kiddo7. Pretty relevant here, and you're absolutely right. And unfortunately, some people throughout history purposely made their versions inaccurate and unreliable for their own selfish goals. That is why any Christian should never be satisfied with what they are told from just one source.

(Just a suggestion, 'Leen. I think these Q&A threads, while commendable in their goals, probably belong in the World News forum, since it is there where we deal with issues that might require a LOT of patience and understanding.)

[Zaloof]

Al Salam 3alaikom

hi brothers and sisters of Islam, its wonderful that we have a thread like this here in MH, also feel free to ask me also more questions about Islam.

and thank u amar-kun for making such a great thread

[woody_green]

Hello and peace be with you.

Here in the Philippines, some Muslims still practice polygamy. However, only those who can afford to support many wives and children are allowed to do so. So, here's the question: do other Muslims from other countries still practice polygamy, or do they only prefer one partner? If they still do, is this practice only permitted to those who can afford? Thank you very much.

[amar_kun]

waalaikumussalam Zaloof.. welcome to the thread!!

peace be upon you, woody_green! thank you for asking insyaAllah (with God Will) I will try to answer as best that i could.

i think it is better to refer to Allah word's in alQuran regarding this matter. it is stated in the fourth surah in alQuran, anNisaa' which means Women. So women has a very high status in Islam. they even have a surah about them, not even men have this privillage

O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, by Whom you demand one of another (your rights), and (to) the ties of relationship; surely Allah ever watches over you. And give to the orphans their property, and do not substitute worthless (things) for (their) good (ones), and do not devour their property (as an addition) to your own property; this is surely a great crime. And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two AND three AND four (mathna WA thulatha WA rubaAAa); but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course. And give women their dowries as a free gift, but if they of themselves be pleased to give up to you a portion of it, then eat it with enjoyment and with wholesome result. (Surah 4:1-4)

ok, now back to the question.
basically, as far as i know there is no muslim country that forbid muslim from doing
polygamy. it is quite a personal choice for the man either he wanna do polygamy or not. yes, islam put a very strict for those who wanna do polygamy. he must be potent financially, and physically, he must be just between his wives, he must not abused them.

in the end, it is still up to the men whether they want to do polygamy or not. from my experience, there is very very few muslim that i know that practice polygamy.

however this polygamy actually solved a lot of problems in the society. if you go back to the time of the prophets and companion, mostly the one who became the 2nd wives are widows whom husband died during the war. so by marrying them actually is to help them to raise their family and kids in a proper family.

and as you know, the population of women nowadays is more than men. so, even though all men get married, there will be still women who unmarried. and by allowing polygamy go into practice, the problems for the unmarried women will be solved.

i hope my answer will satisfy your query.. if other muslim brothers and sisters have other points that i've omitted, your answers are very welcome here

[Azurel]

Well, polygamy is still practised in my country and malaysia too. But it is banned in some countries like Turkey and such. Polygamy is not something to be taken lightly so a man can't have as many wives as he wants just because he wants to. Yes, he must be able to afford taking care of his wives but he must also be able treat them all fairly. Less than 5% of muslim marriages are polygamous and I think there are lesser such marriages in our generation. maybe we are a sentimental and romantic bunch of ppl compared to our ancestors who are more practical and idealistic.


And w'salam zaloof!

didn't noe u are a muslim too ^^

[amar_kun]

oh.. is there a rule in turkey that not allowing polygamy? wow.. i didnt know that.. it seems that nowadays you can practice islam easier in a non-muslim country than a muslim country.

once an islamic scholar was asked during a television show in UK, "In your opinion, what is the country that resemble an 'Islamic Country' the most?"

"UK. US comes next. both countries are more islamic than any other islamic country in the world since both practice justice, allow rights to citizents, take care of the poor.... "(i forgot the whole answer but it is something like that )

[Azurel]

i've heard from my fren who's turkish that although turkey is an islamic country, all their practices are reversed like they don't allow headscarf in a government office or something like that.. He simply puts that Turkey is a weird country.. His word not mine