In your opinion, why would God create us to “exercise freewill”? What is “exercising freewill” according to you?  What is the nature of “freewill”?   

Thanks for this explanation! I was not aware there were different interpretations. In your perspective, is there a Muslim on earth today that has not sinned?    I was aware of this fact, but I guess my concern is always the fact that, despite the Quran instructing Muslims to read the Injil and the Taurat, and more or less to take the people of the book seriously, they have disregard both largely.    Now I know that Muslims have reasons for not believing in these books (at least completely) but I feel that that poses major problems. If you believed that the Quran was only partly true or corrupted in some way, who would be able to say what was true or not? How could you even trust it as God’s words if you were confident it had been messed with? In Islam, just as in Christianity, we must have faith that people treated the scriptures honestly and preserved what was said, even if we both don’t have our originals.    By the time Of Muhammad we already had our scriptures so surely Allah would not have wanted Muslims to read the same scriptures we have today if he knew they were corrupted. He would not have wanted Muslims to engage with the people of the book if they were believing in corruption. I understand some believe in a lost book but no one has ever found that book, and the books that Christians and Jews were following are the same as in the days of the prophet. So this confuses me.    You believe that God preserves his word. You believe that God preserved the Quran despite attacks, etc. Why would he not have preserved the very words he instructed you to read as well? I feel like if I were a Muslim that would bother me a bit because even the corruption of man cannot stop God from preserving whatever he wants to. And I believe that’s what he did with the Bible despite 250-300 years of intense persecution, destruction of Satan and corrupt ideas along the way.    Now, I understand that people have different views on what the scriptures mean. Obviously some are way off and some are right. You will always have that, even with the Quran. But interpreting differently what you believe to be accurate and interpreting something you believe to be inaccurate are way different.    Our scriptures call Jesus Messiah too, but also Son of God, Son of Man, I am, good shepherd, light of the world, Lord God, etc. I believe this not only because I read and study about the last 2,000 years and see historically how people have worked to preserve the Bible, but also because I believe God has been in this process. And I know we may disagree on how great scholarship would have been, but still the question is, would not God have preserved the words that he instructed Muslims to read? Even if we had no evidence and God simply said it, wouldn’t that be enough? Just some thoughts... I appreciate you saying you respect my beliefs. I respect your too and I believe we can have good and respectful conversations regarding our faiths without having to insult each other in any way. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with some in this Chatroom, but I thank you for your respect!    God bless you richly!

The pundits didn't even want more than one brush. Or two: "us" and "them". It's more profitable. 

I was rather referring to the ones who generalise and paint whole groups with the same brush, not you. 

https://www.al-islam.org/nahjul-balagha-part-2-letters-and-sayings/letter-25-instructions-assessors-and-collectors-zakat   If khums is greater than zakat then how come Imam Ali does not address it in Nahjul Balagha even once?