A Muslim's Guide to Islam

[Phrossack]

How do my posts look so far? Are they choppy and incomplete? Is the information well presented?

They're pretty good. I'd cite some sources, though--I believe what you're saying, but if I were to bring up your points in a discussion and someone challenged them, I would only be able to say that I got the information listening to a Muslim guy.

 

[Funky]

They're pretty good. I'd cite some sources, though--I believe what you're saying, but if I were to bring up your points in a discussion and someone challenged them, I would only be able to say that I got the information listening to a Muslim guy.

If it helps, I can confirm that what he has written is true. In some parts he has left out some rather crucial information, for example that the origin of the Sunni-Shia divide goes back to the conflict over Muhammed's successor, or what exactly the influence of the different schools of Islamic jurisprudence has been on the dominant interpretations of sharia (particularly the Hanbali school). I also would have started by giving an overview of the ideological basis of Islam, the Koran, the sunna (the life and the habits and instructions of Muhammed as laid out in the sira and the hadith), the practise of sharia (derived from the Koran and the sunna and concretised by the schools of jurisprudence), and the dominant dogmas of exegesis and interpretation.
Nevertheless, it's a decent start; maybe I'll be able to join in later - but I already spent two hours writing a post in another thread.

 

[Borachio]

OK. I'm all in a favour of learning more about Islam.

But for the moment I'll cut to the chase: which sect is the correct one? (And I'll just study that, and ignore all the others - which must necessarily be wrong.)

To narrow it down a bit, who's right on the succession issue? The Sunni or the Shia?

 

[Thorgalaeg]

That is the million question as in everything. Who is wrong and who is right? Never ending story. The best way is to become a sufi and simly spin around and around until you feel sick. You cant go wrong with that.

 

[Borachio]

I don't mind feeling sick. Which sometimes precedes the spinning round and round, in my experience.

And I do have a book written by a Sufi on my book case. It's only a very thin publication, but I can't make head nor tail of it.

 

[classical_hero]

Why is the phrase "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) used so frequently and we don't here the phrase "God is love", coming from Muslims? I don't even know what the transliterated phrase is, which show how little I hear it from a Muslim's mouth.

 

[Senethro]

Why is the phrase "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) used so frequently and we don't here the phrase "God is love", coming from Muslims? I don't even know what the transliterated phrase is, which show how little I hear it from a Muslim's mouth.

Poor effort 2/10 non-RD quality troll.

Additionally, if you don't know what the phrase is then how do you know you do'nt hear it?

Moderator Action: Don't accuse other people of trolling in an RD thread.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889

 

[Atticus]

Why is the phrase "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) used so frequently and we don't here the phrase "God is love", coming from Muslims? I don't even know what the transliterated phrase is, which show how little I hear it from a Muslim's mouth.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

 

[Sommerswerd]

I don't even know what the transliterated phrase is

ishq allāh... or;
ma'būd allāh

You're welcome

 

[jackelgull]

Why is the phrase "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) used so frequently and we don't here the phrase "God is love", coming from Muslims? I don't even know what the transliterated phrase is, which show how little I hear it from a Muslim's mouth.

When a Muslim says God is great, usually it is because something lucky happened to him/her, like finding a good deal he/she did not expect. God in his greatness bestowed a favour upon them. The reason God is love isn't generally used is because it is redundant. God is great covers the magnanimous of Allah, as well as his power. His magnanimous nature is why the gift was given to you, and his power is what allowed him to give the gift.

You might be interested to know that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: 'To God belongs 99 names, 100 minus 1, anyone who memorizes them will enter Paradise; He (God) is odd (odd number, he is the Only One), and He loves odd numbers (such as 99)'

One of those names is Al-Wadud, the loving one.

 

[Sommerswerd]

When a Muslim says God is great, usually it is because something lucky happened to him/her, like finding a good deal he/she did not expect. God in his greatness bestowed a favour upon them.

See - Hallelujah

 

[Tee Kay]

Can you talk a little about Quranists and other Muslims who don't follow the Hadiths and traditional schools of law and instead insist on their right to interpret the Quran for themselves? As far as I know, they're a minority of even Western Muslims, let alone in more conservative societies, and many conservatives even consider them apostates.

Also, I've always been puzzled by how people can justify abrogation, if the Quran is considered the perfect and complete word of God.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

When a Muslim says God is great, usually it is because something lucky happened to him/her, like finding a good deal he/she did not expect. God in his greatness bestowed a favour upon them. The reason God is love isn't generally used is because it is redundant. God is great covers the magnanimous of Allah, as well as his power. His magnanimous nature is why the gift was given to you, and his power is what allowed him to give the gift.

They also say Allahu Akbar when bombs are falling on their heads. Would it translate as "Oh my God!" in such cases or being reduced to bits is considered fortunate?

 

[Cheetah]

They also say Allahu Akbar when bombs are falling on their heads. Would it translate as "Oh my God!" in such cases or being reduced to bits is considered fortunate?

Yeah, it seems like a very common Middle Eastern thing to say at tons of events: Explosions, goals during football matches, lightning strikes, you name it. It's also widely used by Arabic speaking atheists, so in some ways it is quite removed from the divine connotations.

See - Hallelujah

Or Israel/Yisrā'ēl which literally means "El perseveres" - El being the Canaanite chief deity which became the Abrahamic/Jewish god when Judaism formed around 400 BCE.

Israel, and tons of other names from the area has El in it: Ariel (Lion of God/El), Bethel (House of El), Daniel (Judged by El), etc. It just seems that invoking God/a god in Middle Eastern culture has always been a thing.

 

[Cutlass]

Good thread so far. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sommerswerd]

They also say Allahu Akbar when bombs are falling on their heads. Would it translate as "Oh my God!" in such cases or being reduced to bits is considered fortunate?

In that context I would read it as similar to Job saying, essentially "God hath given and God hath taken away. Let the name of God continue to be praised" (after being stricken with disease and losing all his children and property as part of a divine "test").

 

[jackelgull]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. So far, I've been busy looking for reputable sources to give a more meatier post on the schools of fiqh.

And on Allahu akbar, I've only heard it used when good things happen, but that can just be the difference of being a Muslim in America, and a Muslim in the Middle East.

 

[Borachio]

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

I've never understood this saying.

Spoiler :

(actually I do, but I'm pretending I don't)

How could you see a speck of sawdust in someone else's eye if your own is obscured by a plank?

And I would like you to take into consideration that I have had sawdust in my eyes.

Very painful it was, too.

When a Muslim says God is great, usually it is because something lucky happened to him/her, like finding a good deal he/she did not expect. God in his greatness bestowed a favour upon them.

Actually, I've overwhelmingly heard it being said by Muslims when something really unlucky (like being bombed) has happened.

 

[Cheetah]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. So far, I've been busy looking for reputable sources to give a more meatier post on the schools of fiqh.

Your posts and answers have been quite good and informative so far. I don't think you actually need to go looking for official sources unless we come across some actually contested point.

 

[Funky]

Your posts and answers have been quite good and informative so far. I don't think you actually need to go looking for official sources unless we come across some actually contested point.

I may be able to arrange that.

Jackelgull, I have found the differences between the Islamic schools of jurisprudence to be quite uninteresting in a modern-day discussion about laws and morality when they don't disagree on whether or not, say, homosexuals or adulterers should be punished, but just on what is the correct punishment (i.e. death penalty, or "only" flogging). In light of the fact that all the schools mandate things like the death penalty for apostasy or the practise of stoning, would you agree that such legal frameworks are out-dated and vile, and if yes, that they should be discarded or at least thoroughly revised?