Religious Discussion and Q&A Thread

[kiddo7]

I liked the youtube video. informative while entertaining. I also watched another one by him called Islam while flying lol funny as they come.

anyway watching his videos made me think of some questions to ask.
Here goes:
1. I noticed that both he and you seem to make a distinction between Islam and Muslim.
I always used to think they are pretty much two words for the same thing. Could you maybe give a simple definition for the two words, explain what the differences are, and which is which.
thanks.

2. The guys mentioned the issue of girls and head covering. Is this part of culture or is it part of Islamic teaching? Is it something that still needs to be taken very seriously? I know that the jews have their own rules about headdress and actually so have the Christians, if you read the bible very closely. there is a passage that talks about covering/uncovering your head when entering a house of prayer. Though Many have come to believe that the wearing of a covering was more meant to be symbolic of respect and humility towards God and therefore if your heart is right, You will remain in God's favor.
How exactly does this work for you?

[amar_kun]

I liked the youtube video. informative while entertaining. I also watched another one by him called Islam while flying lol funny as they come.

thank you kiddo7 for taking your time watching the videos. i think he got about 13 videos now. it would be very nice if you could watch all of em because he has a very wide knowledge about today's islamic issues and he addressed it in an entertaining and fun way! i just cant stop myself laughing whenever i watched his videos. lol

by the way, this is Muslim while Flying. it is quite a good one, lol! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nolNcJ1G7w

Could you maybe give a simple definition for the two words, explain what the differences are, and which is which.

Basically Islam is the religion brought by the prophets. It came from arabic word which means 'submit'.

Muslim refers to the people whose religion is Islam. Muslim is derived from the word Islam and it means 'people who submit'.

Ideally, a muslim should obey all teachings of Islam and behave himself as what Islam asked him to do. However, sadly that is not the case today. Not every muslim depict the true islamic belief and teachings. There are many muslim who do not translate the teachings of islam in his life, and this gave a very bad image to the muslims. They also tend to mix their cultural backgrounds with religion and this create a lot of confusion to both muslim and non-muslim (this is mainly the issues which is discussed in the video).

So Islam is a pure religion from God, brought by the prophets so that all people can live a happy life in this world. Muslim however are people whose religion are islam, but it is up to them whether they wanna follow the teaching or not.

2. The guys mentioned the issue of girls and head covering. Is this part of culture or is it part of Islamic teaching? Is it something that still needs to be taken very seriously?
How exactly does this work for you?

Head covering is a part of Islamic teachings. While there is a lot of muslim feminist organization going against this and put foward their arguments, most of the islamic scholar agreed that the head covering is compulsory for muslim lady once they reached puberty. Even other women who submit to God like Virgin Mary wore head covering which are shown in all pictures that related to her.

wallahua'lam (God knows the best)

[TechnoMagus]

sorry haven't watched the vid yet, but its in the works!

okay this is quite a sensitive one...remember the furor over the carricature/strip which depicts the Prophet (peace be unto his name)? i think one of it made fun of Him telling the newly arrived soul of a suicide bomber that they ran out of virgins in Paradise or something like that.

i know that it is taboo to portray the Prophet (pbuh) with a face and it was insensitive of them to do that. however my liberal minded self also understands the intention of that strip, that it is doubtful that the Prophet and Allah (peace be unto their name) would condone such terrorist acts. even people of other faiths would sometimes make light-hearted remarks on their religious figures in a light casual conversation.

my questions are:
--whether the furor was only because they depicted the face of the Prophet (pbuh) or also the context and/or the entire incident itself?
--is it okay to discuss Allah and His Prophet (peace be unto them) in such a light casual even humorous manner?
--what are your thoughts on this?

-----------------------------------------

on the "accidental" eating of pork...the muslims i've encountered have strictly followed this rule. an acquaintance even asks me when we are eating whether the food has pork before partaking of it.
to which i casually reply, "oh, this is pork-flavored rice and pork-flavored chicken..."
jokingly of course, (since it is clear that it has no pork) which i take back later... (i hope i did not offend)

but on some gatherings, i see him drink some beer. well, personally, we're not all perfect, and i don't like to intrude on these kind of things...

[amar_kun]

my questions are:
--whether the furor was only because they depicted the face of the Prophet (pbuh) or also the context and/or the entire incident itself?

in my opinion (i repeat, this is my opinion ), i think the furor ignited because of lack of understanding of Islam, for both parties. it takes two to tango.

if the non-muslim understands islam, then they will be not doing things that will offended the muslim. and if a muslim understands islam, rather than angry and cause havoc to people who do caricatures, they should educate the people about islam, so that there will be no misunderstanding between them.

from understanding there will come respect, and from respect there will come love.

--is it okay to discuss Allah and His Prophet (peace be unto them) in such a light casual even humorous manner?

it is not okay in islam to make joke about God, and any prophets (peace be upon them)
while we muslims do crack joke, there are certain boundaries that we shouldnt pass.

1) we should not lie in our joke
2) should not involve words of Koran, Prophets sayings or and fundementals of Islam (it is because those who make joke of this show their disrespect of this, and this is not an act of a believer to mock God's words)
3) should not harm others in the joke, emotionally or physically
4) should not joke excessively

for further reading pls read this: http://www.islamhouse.com/en/modules...article&sid=60

wallahua'lam (God Knows the best)

[TechnoMagus]

Thank you amar-kun, that was very helpful!

[amar_kun]

You're welcome Technomagus, .

[pseudorca]

Alhamdulillah, kudos to you for making this thread amar_kun, I shall hang around too just in case I can answer some of the questions ^_^

[Leen]

Hey there, Muslims. I am just a curious Christian trying to learn more.

The angel Gabriel sent this "wahyu" to Prophet Muhammad first. So by right, he is the first Muslim? What about Abraham then? Is he older than Muhammad or what? Is he a Muslim too?

Also, girls not covering their "aurat". What does your religion say about girls that don't cover their heads and other body parts? Also, don't you think that it is kind of restricting to have to wear long sleeves all your life and cover your head all your life? No offense here, but when I worked in a restaurant last time, I just pitied an Arab woman who was trying hard to drink some soup with her whole head covered except her eyes. Why is Islam so strict about dress code that my crappy university also imposes it on all non-Muslim? No offense again.

Third question. Christianity and Islam posses more similarities that we know of. I learned about Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism,...etc and I found Islam and Christianity to be VERY same except for one thing. Christianity has a bible that divides into Old Testament and New Testament while the Quran of Islam is not divided into any testament. Here's the thing. A lot of things that are mentioned in Quran are parallel with what that are mentioned in Old Testament. For example, the forbidden food, the circumcision, etc are also mentioned in the bible. Plus, we believe in the Messiah too.

The real difference here is:

Christian believes that the Messiah is here. He is Jesus Christ. He came to save sinners by dying on the cross for her. Because he had come to wash away our sins, we no longer have to worry over the traditions in old testament such as burnt offering, circumcision, no pork diet, and more.

Muslim however believes that the Messiah has yet to come. Muslim does acknowledge Jesus as one of their prophet but refused to believe him as the Messiah. Is that true? If yes, why? If no, who is that Messiah that you are waiting for?

Fourth question:
How do you treat your Quran? Do you have to place it on that special stand all the time? Can you write in it? Can you take notes in it? Or is it too holy that you cannot do anything to it?

That's all for now. Thanks.

[Leen]

Well, having amar-kun posting a Islam Q&A, I think that MH deserves a thread on Christianity too. We are looking for mutual understanding here, aren't we? I am not a pastor or a Christian scholar, but I will try my best to answer any questions that you have. Other Christians are welcomed to answer the questions too.

[conan]

I never knew about this thread, well better late than never, salam to all the brothers and sisters, and to non muslims too.

leen, your questions are very deep and scientific, I am surprised, this really interests you, ok first question about abraham, I would think that abraham was the first muslim, becuase it sasys so explicitly in the quran, this is my humble translation of the verse, I might be able to get you the number of the verse and chapter later if you, " ibrahim was not jew nor a christian, he was a " haneef" muslim" I really dont know what "haneef" means but it is an adjective, eventhough I am arabic the quran is a very classic arabic therefore sometimes even for us arabs we get confused but it has a special dictionary I can use for it, so thats about ibrahim.

the womans aurat is a very controversial issue, and I am a male therefore it is not my place to talk about it, I will leave to a female sister to talk to you about it, but I will give you the termas definition according to females anyway, it is what is not allowed to be showed to alien men, to women its everything but their whole face and both their hands, face cover is not obligitary to women, eventhough some scholars say its obligitary many say its not, and you are allowed to choose by yourself, if you wish to talk about the political and social issue regarding this, I will gladly do so, but again I would rather a female sister answer this for you instead of a male.

your third not about the bible and quran is true and I appluade you for noticing becuase most people are ignorant of this issue, in islam according to prophet mohammed there have been the following holy books:
quran-mohammed
bible(injeel (arabic))-jesus
tawrah is the jews holy books name in arabic but I dont know what its name in hebron or english is and its moeses's holy book, and the zabur (arabic name) for david or dawud (arabic).
to us the quran is miraculous in many ways, one of them is that it is unchangable unlike the others, the others were teachings for the prophets and their people, but they were not miraculous, the quran is and it cannot be changed by an oath given by allah in the quran itsself, so you see where the simalarity comes from, if you want to talk about this in more detail about specific issues I do not mind too.
I dont know what you mean by the messiah exactly, but we dont believe that jesus was put on the cross or died, before all that happened jesus was raised to the sky to come back again, the diciple who btrayed had his face changed to resemble jesus as a punishment, and he was the one on the cross, thats the basic difference about jesus.

about treatment of the quran, I would treat it respectfully, I dont know what a scholars exact thoughts on this but it is what we do, and in many tales of the propthet and companions and the people who followed them the quran was treated with respect so I really couldnt answer the reast of your question, but why would you write on it or take notes, I think you can take notes, becuase scholars wrote cooks which had bits of the quran verses and then their explanation for example after the verses, and I would wirte my name on the firs blank page if I wanted to, but thats all I would do.
whew that was exhausting, hope I gave you good enough answers, I have to study now, exams are on the way.

[amar_kun]

thank you leen, my lovely malaysian friend. your effort to ask us questions shows your determination to understand us muslim more so that there will be more understanding, respect and love between each other in the future

okay your first question about abraham (ibraheem in arabic). actually brother conan already answer your question quite well. thank you conan!! (actually the verse of holy Quran that conan mention before is 3:67)

i might add a few information about this matter. since Abraham is one of the chosen Messenger of God, let me explain about the status of prophets in islam. actually believing in the prophets is one of 6 main pillar of faith (Iman) in our religion.

the six pillars of faith (iman) are:

1) believe in One God Almighty
2) believe in Anglels
3) believe in holy scriptures (Zabur/Psalm, Taurat/Torah, Injil/Bible, alQuran/Koran)
4) believe in prophets (from Adam until Muhammed)
5) believe in the end of the day (alQiyamah)
6) believe in qadar (fate)

this is a Prophet's saying that related to Iman

Also on the authority of Omar, who said : One day while we were sitting with the messenger of Allah there appeared before us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black; no signs of journeying were to be seen on him and none of us knew him. He walked up and sat down by the prophet. Resting his knees against his and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs, he said:"O Muhammed, tell me about Islam". The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammed is the messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He said:"You have spoken rightly", and we were amazed at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly. He said: "Then tell me about eman ."He said:"It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof." He said:"You have spoken rightly". He said: " Then tell me about ehsan ." He said: "It is to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you". He said: "Then tell me about the Hour". He said: "The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me about its signs." He said: "That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and that you will see the barefooted, naked, destitute herdsman competing in constructing lofty buildings." Then he took himself off and I stayed for a time. Then he said: "O Omar, do you know who the questioner was?" I said: "Allah and His messenger know best". He said: "He was Jebreel (Gabriel), who came to you to teach you your religion."
narrated by Muslim

So in Islam, we must believe in all the messengers of God. It is said that there are 313 messengers was sent down to guide people to the right path, and 25 is mentioned in alQuran and every muslim must study all the stories of all them and take the moral of their stories into our everyday life.

the messengers are
1. Adam
2. Idris/Enoch
3. Nuh/Noah
4. Hud/Eber
5. Soleh/Shaloh
6. Ibraheem/Abraham
7. Luth/Lot
8. Ismail/Ishmael
9. Ishak/Isaac
10. Yaqub/Jacob
11. Yusuf/Joseph
12. Ayub/Job
13. Shuib/Jethro
14. Musa/Moses
15. Harun/Aaron
16. Zulkifli/Ezekiel
17. Daud/David
18. Sulaiman/Solomon
19. Ilyas/Elijah
20. Ilyasa'/Elisha
21. Yunus/Jonah
22. Zakariya/Zacharias
23. Yahya/John
24. Isa/Jesus
25. Muhammad/Muhammed

so in our belief, each of the messenger starting from Adam until Muhammed are Muslims as they invite people to serve and worship the same God. That is why you might find a lot of similarities especially between Judaism-Christianity-Islam because we are serving for the same God.

Why God keep on repeating sending a new messenger while He already send Adam with the true religion? This is because, people tend to go astray due to following their desires. So another messenger is sent to bring back the people to the straight path. And usually the coming of the next messenger is already mentioned by God in His holy scriptures so that the people will expect his coming and follow him.

This is an example how God told the people to expect the coming of another prophet. In this verse, God tell people to expect the coming of Prophet Muhammed"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee (Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." Deutronomy 18:18

erm.. i think i have to stop for here right now. InsyaAllah (with God will) i will continue after i have my dinner

alhamdulillah (all praise to Allah). i just have my dinner. now lets answer the next question. Aurat. Aurat means the body part that you need to cover from other people except your family. It applies to both men and women who reached puberty

all the islamic rulings only applies to people after they reach puberty. this means that all children never have sins. so if a child, whether a muslim or non-muslim dies before they reach puberty, they will go to Heaven

Aurat for the men are between their belly button to their knee. Aurat for the women are all her body except their face and palm. There are many purpose of aurat that have been discussed by the scholars. However i will try to list a few of the points here.
1. so that a muslim can be recognized and distinguished from the others
2. to protect the lady from the gaze of people with sick mind

As for the face veil, majority of the scholars agree that it is not compulsory to wear it. Actually most people who wear face veil is because they wanted to, as they feel safer wearing it, not because they are push to wear it.

As for the crappy university in Malaysia who impose the non-muslim to wear long sleeve and long trousers/long skirt is to make them safe from the gaze of the sick minds of malaysian people. it is for your own good, i hope you wont get mad to them

Third Question, about the messiah. Actually I am not too clear about the word messiah. what do you mean by messiah? InsyaAllah i will try to answer it again later.

Fourth Question, about how we treat alQuran. We treat alQuran respectfully by reading it, memorizingit, studying it, understanding it and applying it in our daily life. About the special stand, it is just a custom to use it. About writing notes, my alQuran is full of notes .

[conan]

well even though I live in the uk and in my original country in the middle east I had two chritian neighbours, I dont claim to know much about christianity, first you mentioned the messiah in your post in the islam q and a thread so you answer here and there if you like, also, whats so different about catholic, protistant and orthodox christianity, and finally, could you explain the issue of the old testament and the new testament becuase I dont get it.
thanks.

[amar_kun]

peace be upon you, leen . i hope with this thread we can clears any ambiguity about christianity..

this is my question.. i've heard in a few talks in youtube that christian have many version of holy bible.. so how many version of holy bible do you have? and what is the difference between each version?

ok, that is my question for now.. bye!

[kiddo7]

is the prophet Ilyasa peace be upon him the same as Elija from the old testament?

[conan]

is the prophet Ilyasa peace be upon him the same as Elija from the old testament?

I would think he is, but you might have to make sure, but I opened the old testemant once and read from it, the prophets stories were almost identical, so you can make sure by comparing what events happened to him that were stated in the quran and the bible, if you can tell me what the old testament says about elija I can make sure and also direct you to the chapters and verses related to him in the quran.