Ask me about Islaam

[JM]

JM, can God lie?

[FONT=&quot]No. God cannot act contrary to His nature, but I believe you knew that...and please, do not create a false dilemma by offering an either / or rejoinder. [/FONT]

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

Yes there religion was Abrahamic but they twisted it and corrupted it long time ago, they too believed that there is only 1 God.

When Prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) entered the Kaba he found pictures of some angels and pictures of Abraham and Ismael he was angry of them and commanded that these pictures should be removed.

Pagans had an Abrahamic religion, meaning they considered Abraham their father, too... Who were these pagans then? Fortunately, that information is made up, at best it is hearsay of muslims.

you are comparing Mary with god, are you suggesting that she is a goddess?

No I am not. What you are asking here is a non-sequitur. There is no comparison. If you can be certain of such things as a muslim, then it is possible for Christians to do the same. No need for double standards.

Allah taught us math not Greeks, he taught Greeks what they never new and since when they are the inventors of math?

the verse says: Taught man that which he knew not

Man(humans) is not necessarily a Muslim.

Another unfounded claim. It is one thing to say that God's creation had the ability to discover things, which still evokes Divine design and capacity, but suggesting God taught us math would probably require a divine document, Calculus I was revealed to such such prophet in tablets, therefore it is in use today, silly idea. For things you don't know, read up... Greeks and math is a well known combo. Mathematics is a Greek word in origin.

Aretas (martyr) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This doesn't actually prove anything, it talks about monophysite heresy, which was in actuality a misunderstanding in wording. The link talks about a different person linked to the alleged heresy, and it is such an isolated event, nice try, it just doesn't fit the profile you suggested.

we don't ask prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to pray to us we don't believe that he is all-hearing or any other human.

Muhammad is dead and everyone else before him(but Jesus ofc and the Antichrist) but that won't make Jesus or the antichrist all-hearing.

Abu Bakr said when Prophet Muhammad died: (who ever worshipped Muhammad, Muhammad is dead. And who ever worshipped Allah, Allah is alive and he never dies.)

Prophet Muhammad fought the acts of the pagans, they did the same thing, they claim they only worship 1 God and these idols are nothing but to pray to God for them.

Muhammad's understanding of the afterlife was limited then. Saints of Christianity are dead in the physical world, they don't cease to exist. Further muslims could not possibly fathom that the idea of Heaven is entirely different as it was taught in Christianity, it is the mystery of God that works through the saints, and they never cease to pray in the afterlife. How do they hear our requests? I don't know, it is God's mystery, certainly God is capable of letting such thing happen. It doesn't have anything to do with omniscience of God.

First of all this 1*1*1 can't apply to your definition of God because you say father=/= son and 1=1, anyway what I meant is:


Son = God

Father = God

Holy spirit = God

that means father = son = holy spirit

Why not... Who says we have to use the "+" sign but not the "*" sign? Who says it is not 1+1+1/0? If 1=1 that means we can not create a simple math line as 1*1=1? The more you try math to define God, with finite numbers to define an infinite being you will do the same mistake...

Trinity contradict simple math, unless father is part of God and not god himself, same to son and holy spirit.

Hello, God is not a math problem, are we listening? We don't add, subtract, multiply numbers to define God's nature.

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

Yeah Allah is one but he is not finite or limited

He is one but not limited, but when He is triune in one essence He is limited, illogical, etc. More reasons for an intellectual not to believe in Allah because there can be no other definitions possible other than Muhammad's. If everything passes Muhammad's standards test, then it is good and logical. Islam Allah is indeed limited to the logic of the muslim.

 

[humblemuslim]

Then Allah is one in the finite sense, like the number...Allah is limited.

3 is finite as well...I am hoping this was not meant to be a serious argument.

Anyways, Christians believe they are monotheistic. Such a statement aims, but fails, to undermine all monotheistic views.

That is because the magnitude of essence is independent of the magnitude of beings.

 

[JM]

3 is finite as well...I am hoping this was not meant to be a serious argument.

That was the point of my argument, please re-read my post.

Anyways, Christians believe they are monotheistic. Such a statement aims, but fails, to undermine all monotheistic views.

Once again, Muslims are Unitarian monotheists, Christians are Trinitarian monotheists. If you want a convince a large mass of people to submit make it simple and easily repeated. ( ex. shahada)

That is because the magnitude of essence is independent of the magnitude of beings.

No comment.

 

[HumbleSiPilot77]

That is because the magnitude of essence is independent of the magnitude of beings.

Elaboration of such statement is necessary not to undermine the Christian doctrine.

 

[Yusha']

Thanks all for having patience with me while I was busy for a few days. I will now get back to answering all of your questions, inshaa Allaah.

 

[Yusha']

How does one wash himself "seven" times? Get in and out of shower seven consecutive times? Why seven? These rituals makes no sense when there is no background to them.



Such a flawed logic. First, all animals are unclean in terms of sanitary standards, that established we still eat some of them according to our standards. Further the hadith makes NO mention of the motive why dogs can not be kept, and pigs being unclean here has no relevancy to dogs except to re-iterate that muslims don't eat pork, everyone knows that. In addition, some far east countries serve dogs as delicacy, no one mentions dogs can not be eaten or it is a great sin to touch them. Nothing comes into the body can defile it, what comes out of the heart and mouth does.

Dogs are unclean animals, even scientifically its proven their saliva is very unhygenic. This is why its not allowed to keep them except for guarding livestock or for hunting or these kinds of legitimate reasons. Keeping them as "pets" is definitely something sinful in Islaam.

I am aware that in some countries, dog meat is a delicacy, (I think Korea and parts of China), I think most civilized human beings find that absolutely disgusting.

As for your religion, I am also aware that it has absolutely no dietary laws whatsoever. Our religion, however, preaches that what you eat has a major impact on your soul and your faith, which is why pork is definitely forbidden. We find that in places, (such as southern United States where I used to live), where pork is very common dish, obesity and sexual immorality prevail, especially among the african-american people there who love to eat pork and look at their state. 70% of them are born out of wedlock according to American health statistics, so you can see how such a simple thing like diet can effect your spiritual health. Why do you think God forbade pork in the first place in the Torah? It wasn't for nothing if you ask me.

 

[Yusha']

This is not a problem, the truth is never obscured or distorted, historically Christian body always believed the same.

That's a lie. From the very beginning, Christianity had major differences. Reading the New Testament we even see those differences among the twelve disciples themselves. We see contradictory portrait of Jesus in the four "gospels", one portrays him as a Jewish rabbi, another as a demigod.

The early Christians were divided into numerous sects, the followers of Paul, what modern western scholars call the "proto-orthodox", I highly suggest you read Barrie Wilson's How Jesus Became Christian

There were also the Gnostics, the Ebionites, the Monophysites, the Arians, the Nestorians, the Marcionites, and the list goes on and on. Even today there are so many Christian denominations, just open your local phonebook you'll see different kinds of churches, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Christian scientists, Adventists, Unitarians, Oneness Pentecostals, and all kinds of evangelical churches, which are challening the mainstream churches and are growing by the day, while traditional churches like anglican, methodist, and catholic are losing their flocks.

Intercessions are called from the saints are to ask them to pray for us to their Creator Jesus Christ also. If one can ask his friend to pray for him, they can also ask the saints to pray for them to God as Christianity doesn't teach death is the end of a soul, and they ceased to exist.

The difference between you asking your friend to pray for you is that your friend can hear you and is alive. Asking a dead person to pray for you is like asking an idol made out of wood or stone to pray for you...they simply cannot hear you. Read how your own bible condemns idol worship.

Islaam teaches that God is under no compulsion to accept prayers from someone because that person is dear or beloved to Him. To give such kind of intercessory powers to someone is nothing but shirk.

So is Kabaa where muslims stone the "devil" and touch and kiss the meteorite.

The pillars which represent the devil are not idols. Stoning is an act of rejection, not worship, in case you didn't know.

Kissing is also not an act of worship (otherwise that means we worship whatever or whoever we kiss). The black stone which we kiss has no power to benefit or harm, it is nothing but a stone which has no power at all. The reason we kiss it is solely because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was found kissing it. Thus it is an act of imitation of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

The reason Christians get confused about this is because they fail to understand what constitutes an act of worship, and so they think that kissing something or someone means you are worshipping it!

Ignorance doesn't know any boundaries. Mary doesn't answer prayers, she prays for us to God.One can not assume that we do not pray to God nor worship Him. God prohibits SUBSTITUTION in worship to Him, not accessory.

God not only prohibits substitution in worship, He prohibits accessory as well, which is why He says "I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other god besides me". Here the word besides doesn't mean "you shall not substitute any god in my place", ask any ordinary Christian, he will tell you it means "you shall not worship anything ALONGSIDE Me"

The same difference when one bows to the pagan shire in Mecca. Allah is in there? No.

You claim to be an ex-Muslim yet you say that we believe Allaah is inside the shrine in Makka? I seriously doubt your claim to be an ex-Muslim based on this alone. Allaah is not inside His creation, all Muslims believe this. Allaah is above and beyond the heavens and the earth, His throne extends ABOVE the heavens and the earth. The Kaaba is a building, you can say its like a temple dedicated to the worship of Allaah. It contains no images or idols. It is just a mosque and one of the shrines of Islaam. It marks the direction in which we are suppose to pray, just like in Judaism the Western Wall marks the direction in which they are suppose to pray, but no reasonable person suggests that Jews worship the Western Wall, it is merely a remnant of their temple dedicated to the worship of God, same like our Kaaba.

 

[Yusha']

In Christianity, we have a belief, a firm belief that God is omnipotent. He can do whatever He wants. If He wants to re incarnate Himself, then so be it. 2 billion Christians are in existence because He chose to reincarnate Himself. God can pray to God. My friend, whatever makes you believe we are in the slightest bit bothered as to whether or not we look like polytheists to non-Christians? We know in our hearts who we worship. Isn't that surely better than some outside speculation trying to persuade Christians to become Muslims?

My friend, let me tell you something. I am a Christian. It was a personal choice. Admittedly, my understanding of Christian theology isn't up to scholarly standards. But you know what? I couldn't care less! I have found truth in Christianity- it may not be a truth you are happy with, it may be a truth you unwittingly believe is pagan in nature. But at the end of the day, I will die a Christian, and I will go to Jesus, and we shall laugh about the arguments I engaged in online about His legitimacy. Because, my friend, I know the truth. And as Jesus said 'The truth will set you free'.



That is the difference between you and I. In my religion, judging others is strictly prohibited by Jesus, which is exactly why you will not find me making false assumptions on who you worship.
God Bless, it's nearly 1.00am.

If you have found peace and satisfaction in your beliefs, than that's good for you. I only suggest that you should study more about your beliefs and continue to pray to God for guidance, even if you feel you are guided. I also firmly believe that Islaam is the truth and that I have been guided to the truth, yet still as a Muslim I continuosly repeat the verse of the Quraan in all my prayers "Guide us to the straight path".

We also believe that Almighty God is Omnipotent, He has power over all things. However, we believe that God is not some rosy idea or abstract concept that has no real meaning. We believe God is a Real Person who exists and possesses certain qualities that make His Divine, Onnipotence is definitely one of them. We believe that only God possesses these Divine qualities, He shares them with no one. We also believe that God is Holy and thus does not commit qualities of imperfection, such as lying, injustice, etc. Now if someone asks you "can God lie?" or "can God make a duplicate of Himself so we have 2 Gods instead of one"...he will tell you "God can do anything, He can surely do this as well." Then what will you say? It's not a question of what God can or cannot do, its a question of what does God consider as something befitting of His Holiness and Majesty? Lying is definitely not befitting of His Majesty, neither is becoming a human being.

Because God, in the Bible, defines Himself very clearly, and one of those definitions is that He is not a man (Numbers 23:19)

 

[Chesterton]

Our religion, however, preaches that what you eat has a major impact on your soul and your faith, which is why pork is definitely forbidden. We find that in places, (such as southern United States where I used to live), where pork is very common dish, obesity and sexual immorality prevail, especially among the african-american people there who love to eat pork and look at their state.

I guess it affects the mind too. We Southerners enjoy watching cars go around in circles. Pork leads to NASCAR.

 

[Wicked Willow]

Dogs are unclean animals, even scientifically its proven their saliva is very unhygenic. This is why its not allowed to keep them except for guarding livestock or for hunting or these kinds of legitimate reasons. Keeping them as "pets" is definitely something sinful in Islaam.

With regards to the saliva: the same could be said about many other animals, most of whom are not considered "unclean" by Islam - and about human beings, while we're at it. The human mouth is a cesspool of bacteria, even though we brush our teeth several times a day, and woe to the poor chap who gets bitten in a brawl.


Could it be that Mohammed simply didn't like dogs?

 

[Yusha']

Wrong, read the rest. God is not a man That he should lie - Break his promises made to his people for their preservation and benediction.
And what is the point? That God "can not" do any of these? Why? Because Islam says so, however it clearly violates the sovereignty of God. God is not limited with any of these. He can and does step among His creation, experiences with His creation.
Exactly, this is WHY we don't believe it. Because it tries to change what was already known.

Read my above post about the question of "God can do anything".

As for Numbers 23:19, it consists of two kinds of statements, general and particular, in general God says He is not a man and not the son of a man, and than He makes a particular statement that He does not lie. It would be like me saying, "I am not a Christian that I eat pork". Here I am making two statements, one general and one particular. In general I am affirming that I am not a Christian, than in particular I am stating that I don't eat pork.

Mark 10:18 Christ questions the man who calls Him good without thinking of the consequences of his words. What is the logical outcome, if Christ questioned "why do you call me good?" Does that mean Christ is NOT good? NO! It simply means, when you call me Good master, are you ready to accept what you are IMPLYING?

Your interpretation doesn't fit well with the context. Remember that this person who called Jesus as "Good teacher", after being explained by Jesus that only God is good, STOPPED REFERRING TO JESUS AS "GOOD", AND SIMPLY CALLED HIM "TEACHER" (Mark 10:20)

Obviously it meant that this person didn't catch what Jesus was trying to say, unlike you some 2000 years later, you seem to know what Jesus really meant, unlike this person who was actually in his presence. Furthermore, why didn't Jesus rebuke this person and tell him "I didn't mean you have to stop calling me good teacher, I just mean that do you know that by calling me good teacher you are affirming that I am God, which I am?" Instead, the New Testament says: "Jesus looked at him and loved him." (Mark 10:21, NIV)

How does God pray to Himself? To understand Jesus as God on earth praying to His Father in heaven, we need to realize that the eternal Father and the eternal Son had an eternal relationship before Jesus took upon Himself the form of a man. When Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took upon Himself sinless humanity He also took on the form of a servant, giving up His heavenly glory.As the God-man, He had to learn obedience (Hebrews 5:8) to His Father as He was tempted by Satan, accused falsely by men, rejected by His people, and eventually crucified. His praying to His heavenly Father was to ask for power (John 11:41-42) and wisdom (Mark 1:35, 6:46). His praying showed His dependence upon His Father in His humanity to carry out His Father's plan of redemption, as evidenced in Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17. His praying demonstrated that He ultimately submitted to His Father's will, which was to go to the cross and pay the penalty (death) for our breaking God's law (Matthew 26:31-46). Of course, He rose bodily from the grave, winning forgiveness and eternal life for those who repent of sin and believe in Him as the Savior.
None of the were Jesus Christ who was crucified. What "chinese" believed has no bearing on what Apostles of Christ taught us. This is same as saying, pagans filled the Kabah with idols therefore it was built as an idol house.
Have you ever been a Christian? If not, how can you dare to judge what Christians believe?
And you approve this verse? How can you approve this verse when a post before you accused Christian God with ANTHROPOMORPHIC qualities? Can your Allah be "jealous" too like men?

God is nothing at all like man. I find you suggestion that God would strip Himself of His Heavenly glory and lower Himself (according to Paul even lower Himself before angels Hebrews 2:7) an absolutely repugnant blasphemy. Angels are a creation of God, God would never lower Himself beneath the rank of Angels.

Islaam never gives the quality of "jealousy" to God, that comes from your religion (Exodus 20:5).

 

[Yusha']

With regards to the saliva: the same could be said about many other animals, most of whom are not considered "unclean" by Islam - and about human beings, while we're at it. The human mouth is a cesspool of bacteria, even though we brush our teeth several times a day, and woe to the poor chap who gets bitten in a brawl.


Could it be that Mohammed simply didn't like dogs?

Not liking dogs has nothing to do with it. As you may know, Islaam emphasizes purity very much, it is very important for Muslims to remain ritually pure, which is why we wash our hands before eating (without drying the hands), wash and dry the hands after eating, we offer prayers in state of ritual purity, we have to wash our entire body in a ritual bath known as ghusl if we become impure due to sexual intercourse or wet dream. Likewise another ritual is intinjaa, where we wash the private parts after relieving ourself from the toilet. So all of these purity laws are a core part of Islaamic spirituality. Thus coming into contact with unclean animals, such as dog or pig, falls under this category.

Our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم did not have a personal dislike for dogs, except for one type of dog which is black and has a white spot on its head, because this is a demon-possessed dog that is a devil and this type of dog was exterminated from Arabia.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم even told his companions the parable of a prostitute woman who ran back and forth from a well to feed a dog that was dying of thirst. Even though this woman was a prostitute, Allaah forgave all her sins for this act of kindness to a dog.

 

[Yusha']

Sure, you reject Paul as a false prophet then quote a letter your reject?

The only reason I quoted it is obviously because you consider it to be the word of God.

The famous Imam Abu Hammid Ghazali disagrees with you

I am not a blind follower of Ghazzaalee (who himself was an 'Asharee while I belong to the Salafee sect). We don't follow anyone's opinion unless it has proof from the Quraan or the sayings of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

 

[Yusha']

lionroar0 has a good point. If I was a Christian and I asked a Christian to pray for me, I'm not worshipping that Christian. I'm asking for God's help.

The difference is that asking someone who is alive to pray for you, who can hear you (or if he is far away can hear you via a telephone) than that is not worship. However, asking someone who is dead to pray for you, you are giving quality of omnicience and all-hearing to such a person, qualities which belong to God exclusively, thus by giving a dead person the divine quality to hear from everywhere and know what is in your heart, you are making that dead person into an idol. Only God knows what is in our heart and only He can hear from anywhere.

How has Judaism committed shirk?

Although Jews do not believe in trinity or incarnation, they have also committed shirk in different ways.

Firstly, their concept of God, especially what is taught by Kabbalah such as pantheism falls under the definition of shirk. Secondly, they have turned the graves of their prophets into shrines and pray to God at these shrines. This is a type of shirk, because it is forbidden to decorate graves and turn the graves into shrines or places of worship. All places of worship must be dedicated to Allaah only, prayer therein should be solely for Him. A place should not be considered as "holy" or "blessed" because a prophet or a saint happens to be buried there. Thus they have turned their dead prophets into idols by making their graves into places of worship.

Here is an example, Jews are making pilgrimage from far to the grave of the prophet Joshua عليه سلام they have turned his grave into a shrine, they think his grave contains supernatural blessings because he is buried therein. Such a belief no doubt constitutes shirk.

In Islaam, all graves must be level to the ground, cannot be decorated, plastered over, placing lamps or candles in them, prostrating in them, praying in their direction, all of these things constitute shirk and are hated by Allaah.

Another example of shirk committed by Jews when they follow the Talmud which is the words of Rabbis, and they make it into the words of God, even though the rabbis whose words constitute the talmud did not receive any revelation from God. Thus by making their words into laws, they give their rabbis and saints the authority which belongs to God alone, only He has the right to make laws.

 

[Supreme]

From what I've heard so far of Islam, it seems to have an infinite amount of silly rules. You CAN'T eat pork. You CAN'T keep dogs. You HAVE to dress like this. You HAVE to pray five times a day. One thing I certainly think Christianity is further ahead in Islam is that all the silly regulations were dimissed by Jesus. He narrowed everything down to two rules: Worship and love God alone and love your neighbour. No food makes you 'unpure', no animal is 'evil' (why would God create evil animals anyway?), there's no specific clothes, and you can pray whenever you want, preferably when you're on your own and therefore cannot boast. What I can't understand is why Islam, a religion that is 1400 years old, borrows from the rules of pagan cultures thousands of years before Muhammeds birth, and why such silly quirks are a necessary part of your religion?

 

[Yusha']

A question about Islam and it's God Allah:
Who showed more love? God? or Allah? For it is written in my Bible, "No one hath greater love than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends"
A while ago, a Muslim who i've known to be a good friend of mine for 3 years came up to me, saying to me, "Why do you believe on your God Jesus? Why not worship the One True God Allah?" I replied to him saying, "My God loved me so much that He died for me, just so that I could live. You expect me to give that up for one who hasn't done that?", he then, to my suprise, answered saying, "No. I do not expect you to give that up, if I had that, I wouldn't even give it up."
So my question stands. Allah, being God, the One True God even. Why hasn't He shown the greates act of Love, and forgiveness?

Firstly, God does not die, He is eternal. Eternal means without beginning and without end. And Our Allaah is Al-Hayy (The Living God) who never dies and will never die. Our God was not strung up naked on a cross to be mocked and humiliated at. Rather, it is our God who punishes the wicked people and bestows mercy, forgiveness, and love to the believers who believe in Him alone and do not associate any partners with Him.

Now if God died for your sins, that means you can commit as many sins you want, because he dying on the cross covers past, present, and future sins? no. As long as you believe Jesus is "lord and savior" you can drink all the alcohol, smoke all the cigarettes, eat all the pork, gamble, commit adultery, all you want, because you are already saved? Trust me I lived in America for a few years, I've seen how this kind of mentality that "i am saved" leads to people having the most unrighteous lifestyle you can imagine. Just look at America which is supposedly the most christian country, and look at the number of divorces (which is against the New Testament ironically), number of kids born out of wedlock, etc.

Now compare to a country like Saudi Arabia, the most Islaamic and righteous society of the world.

 

[Chesterton]

The difference is that asking someone who is alive to pray for you, who can hear you (or if he is far away can hear you via a telephone) than that is not worship.

What do Muslims believe happens to a person immediately after death?

 

[Supreme]

If you have found peace and satisfaction in your beliefs, than that's good for you. I only suggest that you should study more about your beliefs and continue to pray to God for guidance, even if you feel you are guided. I also firmly believe that Islaam is the truth and that I have been guided to the truth, yet still as a Muslim I continuosly repeat the verse of the Quraan in all my prayers "Guide us to the straight path".

Indeed, I do pray everyday for such guidance. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit guides me daily.

It's not a question of what God can or cannot do, its a question of what does God consider as something befitting of His Holiness and Majesty? Lying is definitely not befitting of His Majesty, neither is becoming a human being.

This is gold, you are turning God into an object where you yourself decide what God does. You are turning Him into something that you want Him to be, into what you, not God, decides what is befitting for God. In Christianity, we cannot question what God wants to do or what we think is befitting for him.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم even told his companions the parable of a prostitute woman who ran back and forth from a well to feed a dog that was dying of thirst. Even though this woman was a prostitute, Allaah forgave all her sins for this act of kindness to a dog.

This is another reason why I would never become a Muslim. The Quran just seems (no offense) rather sub standard. In the Gospels, every passage is just ringing of truth and is absoloutely quotable. I mean, the parable you have just described seems pretty mediocre to the parable of the lost son, or one of the countless other fantastic parables.