StrugglingForTheLight

Salam I thought I would bring up this issue as it something that bothers me and keeps me from a firm faith. Why in Islam are woman not given equal rights? For example, for divorce, why is a man allowed to divorce a woman simply because he doesn't want to be married anymore while the woman has to go through a court and show that some of her rights are not being taken care of and simply can't get divorced for simply being dissatisfied with the marriage? Why do men inherit more money then women (upon death of parents)? Why are women required to ask permission to leave the house and go somewhere? Why are women required to obey the husband? Why can't a woman be allowed to refuse to have sex with her husband upon the husband's request? Don't these laws seem sexist?

The Syrian War What You're Not Being Told

Salam I want a sincere honest discussion about this issue. I will be presenting proofs against it from what I understand of Quran, ahadith and reasoning. I believe we are suppose to learn religion from people who know more then us about it and I believe the ahadith taught the latter was suppose to be the structure of society. Moreover there is an explicit verse that shows this. This is not the same however as Taqleed. I also believe judges are suppose to be Fuqaha and so is the top government. Government is not an authority on people however. This is also not the same as Wilayatal Faqih which asserts a person has that authority of Imams as far social and political issues go and people ought to submit to it. This is not true. This is somewhat a matter of semantics but the perspective does a huge difference and also changes the duty of people when they realize that there is no power or authority but it's rather a trust given to people by people worthy of it by the people to judge between people by justice. And this trust is given to the hands of people and believers all participate in this manner. I will get into details first by reason, then ahadith, then verses in Quran about this issue.

I think this is one of the strongest arguments for Shiism. Sunnis say this was meant to only illustrate the position of Harun taking place of Musa in his absence but doesn't give all the rest of the honors that Harun had with Musa. The question, then, is what the purpose of saying "except there is no Prophet after me". If the Prophet didn't state this, we would have to assume, it was only meant with that position, because we know Ali is not a Prophet alongside Mohammad like Harun was to Musa, but since he mentioned this an exception, doesn't that mean "the place of Harun to Musa" includes that of Prophethood and is not solely about taking temporary leadership. And doesn't that mean all other honor Harun has with respect to Musa, Ali has to Mohammad. This include him being a chosen vizier of Mohammad, a partner of his mission,the closest to him, and an exalted chosen leader alongside Mohammad?

وَمَا مَنَعَنَا أَنْ نُرْسِلَ بِالْآيَاتِ إِلَّا أَنْ كَذَّبَ بِهَا الْأَوَّلُونَ ۚ وَآتَيْنَا ثَمُودَ النَّاقَةَ مُبْصِرَةً فَظَلَمُوا بِهَا ۚ وَمَا نُرْسِلُ بِالْآيَاتِ إِلَّا تَخْوِيفًا {59}[shakir 17:59] And nothing could have hindered Us that We should send signs except that the ancients rejected them; and We gave to Samood the she-camel-- a manifest sign-- but on her account they did injustice, and We do not send signs but to make (men) fear. Sometime ago I came up with the solution that this verse meant that only reason God would stop sending Messengers with signs when he did was due to former people rejecting the signs. When people would reject the signs, he eventually would stop sending Messengers as a result. Now that I've thought about it, I have an issue with this interpretation. The problem being that the effect of those denying Messengers would end up going away giving reason to sending more Messengers, but in some places, God would send Messengers and not in other places. For example, he sent and sealed the Messenger in Arabia, but could of sent it else where or sent more Messengers. When he sent Isa he could of sent Messengers else where as well. Therefore this being only thing preventing God from sending with signs doesn't seem to make sense. It also being about why God would not send miracles with Mohammad (pbuh) also doesn't make sense, since it never prevented it from happening in the past that Messengers were sent with miracles and is an illogical reason aside from that. Looking for some assistance in this regard.

Salam 1. Reflection over the indirect verses of "series of guides" and "chosen families" as a summary. The Quran through out has emphasized on verses about when Prophets founded a nation, they would be followed up by a series of guides, mainly messengers or prophets themselves. Although revelation to humanity has come to an end, the wisdom of such structure doesn't go away with that. The whole point of all those verses was to emphasize on the way of guidance of God and be admonishment and reminder to us, and be of relevance to us. The truth of these verses and light would not make sense if there would be no series of guides to succeed the final Messenger. And the emphasis on Prophetic chosen families would not make sense if there was none for this nation. To be continued inshallah.

You are right Shiaman. This is my last post. I have to reform myself and gain knowledge. ma'asalama

ten trillion?

If you try to help people understand things, you often come to greater understanding of yourself. In Saheefa Sajjadiya, it says "And make us callers towards you". When people shy away from propagating the truth and not enjoin others to follow it, they make excuse themselves under some righteous pretense that their laziness and lack of resolve to help others and help God's cause is really virtuous because people can decide things for themselves. When people see other Muslims sin, they think, well they already know better, why make it weird by giving advice to leave the evil. We shy away from commanding to good and forbidding evil, and then the only ones being commanded to good and forbidding evil is people convinced they are following it anyways and it becomes as the saying goes "preaching to the choir". I'm not saying to be pushy with your beliefs on to others or go to door to door like Jehovas, but propagating Islam is important. Teaching and spreading knowledge is important.

The Prophet summoned people to Islam. If he left people to themselves, we would not have Islam right now.

Yes I do, but most importantly, I believe God does (so it's not about what I wish). I think people are too much emphasizing on celebrating diversity and differences, while I believe we should strive hard as a society, in ones, twos, groups, etc, to come to the truth of this issue. Quran is a miracle from God. It's a divine gift. The Wilayah of Ahlulbayt is how completed his favor upon humanity and completed his religion. My personal wish maybe that God didn't send a religion at all, and that we can create our own standards depending on perceptions we grow to gain. Perhaps I wish there is nothing evil in sex out of wedlock to society or the individual. This is it. I believe I ought to submit to God. I believe the same is true of humans. I believe we ought to seek the truth of this issue. If no religion is true, I want humanity to come to that conclusion. If Islam is the truth and it certainly is, then I do want humanity to recognize this great gift. And I do believe Messengers wanted to prepare the world for Mohammad the final Messenger, but society didn't receive the Messengers and their revelations well enough, and didn't guard God's teachings. I believe the umma was suppose to prepare the world for Imam Mahdi. I do believe in propagating Islam and it's teachings and that calling people to Islam and summoning people to the creed of Abraham, is enjoined by God. I believe in sharing knowledge and that society ought to become enlightened with the path of submission to God through his chosen ones, mainly Mohammad and Ali, and their family.

I don't mean to say Muslims want to force Shariah, but they do want society to become Muslim and then implement the Shariah. This is while if societies become Christian for example, they will not implement a "Christian Shariah". The people who are afraid are not afraid of a minority implementing the Shariah on a majority, they are afraid when we (and seems like it will happen) become the majority. Part of the light of Quran is that it teaches to judge by what God revealed and implement his teachings. Muslims don't believe they as a minority have the right to implement this on a majority, but as society gravitates to Islam (fasting growing religion), what will be the end when it becomes majority?

Salam 1. Muslims are a threat to every culture out there and secular law, because, they seek to replace the order of humans with that of the Divine order while other religions and people have their own culture and also take on cultures of others and make their own rules, as well as implement secular law. Christianity and Judaism has many of the same original rules of Islam, but, their people don't seek to implement them in today's world. This is why in Surahs that advocate these teachings it's also emphasized not to fear people but fear God, not fear a blame of a blamer, and be sincere to God in his love and firm against the disbelieving people. Every people abandoned this duty but obviously we cannot. To be honest, we are in between rock and hard place. Without an Imam present among us, the laws of Islam are distorted to a degree yet it's not like we can ignore the laws of God as a society, we believe in the wisdom and teachings of the Shariah. God knew we would have to endure, which is why, when you read about the Surahs teaching these things, it's emphasized a lot to have patience, to help God's cause, to be firm and seek assistance of God against the disbelieving people, to judge by what God revealed and refer all matters of dispute in society to God and his Messenger, and that we ought to no take others as authority besides those who God approved of. We are in a critical point and we desperately need the of the Imam of time to clarify the teachings of Islam. We will not establish justice without him and we will not unite the world on Islam without him. At the same time, we are lost of words to defend every law of Islam. This is again why insight is needed on our part and not simply "we hear and obey" as in we follow God, but we need to truly perceive wisdom and defend the religion on insights from God. 2. Even though it's a minority, there is too much of a significant minority that believe in violence and terrorism. They see the ideals they strive for not to serve humans but as an end in themselves in which they are willing to sacrifice human lives for. I personally am scared of this minority growing and becoming even more of a significant portion of Muslims. I am afraid because I see we don't guard against Iblis and his waswas, we take for granted for what we whispers to us as Islam, and people take zeal and extremism to be a sign of piety and being religious. I'm afraid of these people growing and becoming more significant, so I don't blame people not aware of the teachings of Islam for fearing it. I know Islam teaches against the path of these extreme idiotic zealous fanatics, but Satan has his way of making people ignore the clearest and brightest of teachings in God's book. 3. Some of the laws Muslims and their scholars advocate do go against the human nature in reality, that they truly are immoral. People don't understand why we don't give up these morals and are scared of our mindset that is not willing to budge an iota of gram with what every human knows is true of human morality and dignity. This is because we are in state that prefers following the structure of authority in our society rather then enjoining truth. There are some matters that Quran has clarified but yet we abandon...and we don't like accepting these teachings now particularly because the west advocates them while we don't. We are going to have be truthful. We cannot tell people, we don't want "Islam" to be implemented, yet we have to be honest and say "we cannot say the Islam presented by our religious leaders and institutions is the true Islam". We await the Mahdi with a waiting of one who wishes to prepare society for him and is not willing to budge on the divine order that the final Messenger came with. We believe in theocracy, and we believe in God's laws and implementation of his teachings. We know the perfect implementation will only occur by Imam Mahdi. But society has to love to come to God and his guardian. People are scared and I don't blame them. Without Imam Mahdi appearing, Islam on overwhelming majority scale can create huge injustice in how it has been passed down to us. It's carriers have not truly carried it and misrepresent it's teachings. I'm scared myself of Shariah become dominant in the world without Imam Mahdi. We see in some places women getting raped and then when coming out, they get accused of zina and lashed, and are punished or if married, are stoned to death. This is just one example. Imagine on a world scale this happens. Are societies going to stop rape because they wear the outer cloak of Islam? People are scared, because, they are stuck between a rock and hard place. Deep down inside they feel Islam will become dominate as people gravitate to the idea of submitting to God over that of human orders and authority. Yet they realize that the people attributing teachings to God have attributed quite a few of ugly things and things they aren't willing to budge on. The mess will only be solved by recognizing we need a leader and guide from God. The remaining one of God's chosen ones, the inheritor of all knowledge and wisdom revealed by God, and the true seer of wisdom and justice.

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ ۖ فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُمْ بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ {5} O humans! surely the promise of Allah is true, therefore let not the life of this world deceive you, and let not the deceptions deceive you respecting Allah. إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا ۚ إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُوا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ {6} Surely the Shaitan is your enemy, so take him for an enemy; he only invites his party that they may be inmates of the burning fire. الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ وَأَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ {7} (As for) those who disbelieve, they shall have a severe punishment, and (as for) those who believe and do good, they shall have forgiveness and a great reward. أَفَمَنْ زُيِّنَ لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ فَرَآهُ حَسَنًا ۖ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۖ فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَاتٍ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ {8} What! is he whose evil deed is made fairseeming to him so much so that he considers it good? Now surely Allah makes err whom He pleases and guides aright whom He pleases, so let not your soul waste away in grief for them; surely Allah is Cognizant of what they do If we can just hear these words once in our hearts as they ought to be heard. It would be game over and the deceptions would be unveiled. If we can hear these words in our hearts and see the sincere admonishment of God which is a sincerity on absolute level, and it's admonishment he speaks to the core of our being, the deception would be over, the Satan would know he stands no chance. But we take it as some sort of game....we don't take it seriously this trial we in.

Salam Satan makes us belittle wisdom in this world. We know these things to be true but he wishes for us to belittle the wisdom and make great the world he inspires us by his deceptions. What you said is beautiful, true, but usually, people awaken to these things in the truest sense when it's too little too late. We care so much about our physical appearance (I go to the gym to make myself look better for example) but we neglect our spiritual image. Or we put on mask and don't care who we are inside in God's eyes, the one who truly defines us.

Allah [swt] will never guide an unjust people unless the people leaves their injustice. This is repeated in Quran, and this a holy name of God, that God doesn't guide disbelievers or unjust people. What I meant is given that, when people commit to injustice and aren't willing to budge no matter how manifest the matter becomes to them, there is times nothing God or his chosen ones can do. He warns them, he calls them back, but ultimately, he never guides them in their state, until they change their state. Just as Quran says "God doesn't do atom's worth of injustice" and that is characteristic of God, the reality is that God is high above forcing unjust people to become good. It would go against his sublimity to do that. He doesn't simply awaken them and guide them, they have to change. To suggest otherwise, would go against one of the major themes in Quran. It would make a mockery of the trial on earth, that Allah guide and misguides randomly, but rather, God guides those who strive in his ways, and he misguides the unjust who value things on par with him and obey the Taghut and follow the Taghut over him. He never has and will never change a state of people until they change what it is in themselves.

Have you read the verse: كَيْفَ يَهْدِي اللَّهُ قَوْمًا كَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِيمَانِهِمْ وَشَهِدُوا أَنَّ الرَّسُولَ حَقٌّ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَاتُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ {86} [Shakir 3:86] How shall Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their believing and (after) they had borne witness that the Messenger was true and clear arguments had come to them; and Allah does not guide the unjust people. Yes God can force people to believe, but that wouldn't be guiding them per their free-will. That would be forcing them to be what they don't want to be and guiding them against their will. Allah [swt] can force things to us, but what I meant, is that no amount of clarification from God and guidance from him, at certain points can guide people because of their unjust state. I meant in the state Allah [swt] wishes to test humanity giving them free-will, at times, there is nothing he can do, for he doesn't change a state of people until they change their state, and he doesn't force people to the straight path, so working with his guidelines, like the fact he doesn't guide the unjust people, there comes times when there is nothing more he can do to guide us and awaken us.

Salam Bro, in this holy month, where Shayateen whispers are overpowered by breeze from the Arsh and Higher planes of existence...I wish for you to reflect over the following verses: ...say: no recompense do I ask for it except the love of the near kin (of Mohammad) and whoever does a good we will increase him therein verily God is Forgiving Thankful. say: no recompense do I ask for it except for who wants to, may take a path to his Lord. say: whatever recompense I have asked you of it it is for yourselves, verily my recompense is with God.... say: I do not ask you a recompense regarding that is but a reminder to the worlds. And you not ask them a recompense for it that it be but a reminder to the worlds. say: I ask you no recompense regarding it (and I am not of those who affect) That is but a reminder to the worlds. Or do you ask them a recompense so they are overwhelmed by debt? Or do you ask them a recompense so indeed the recompense of your Lord is greater and he is the best of those who provide sustenance. And verily you call them to a straight path.

There is a clash of cultures, that is for sure. But there are things that are against Islam in Muslim countries and are more vital importance with regards to justice and fairness, but we don't care. Some people the central emphasis has become about avoiding unlawful sex and the laws surrounding that, eating halal meat, and avoiding alcohol. That is fair and good to do, but is this all we should be known for by the west? It's time to raise our game a little, get to be known for our philosophical outlooks and reflections, our spiritual insights, for being free of the deceptive world and it's allurements....be known for our mercy to the poor and oppressed, be known for charity and kindness, be believers that Quran describes as holding back their anger and forgiving when they get angry. The fact is we are hated, because, this all we tell people of Islam. We can't pork, we can't drink alcohol, and we can't date, and our women must cover... Like people are going to wonder why are we being forbidden these freedoms? We are meant to show a different path, but we show the same tracks in adhering to culture, leaders, and blind following what we have no knowledge of. We aren't that army of "Rabaniyoon" that Quran teaches all Prophets commanded people to become. We are as greedy for Dunya as everyone else. Our manners toward God, his Messenger, Imams, and people in general, are not much better then others. We aren't carrying the light. I am sure if we step up our game, and be known for other than what we clash with the west with now , it will become easier to practice faith and more people would as well be attracted to it.

I feel more liberty to express my views here about religion then anywhere else. I don't feel oppressed or marginalized. Of course, Islam is hard to hold on to, because it doesn't tolerate insincerity to God and valuing things on par with God and warns either it's going to be God at the center of your heart and goal in life or Satan is going to be that though people are unaware of their worship of Satan when they do worship him, and because it's of a higher realm that teaches to go against our base desires and what we wish to be free to do. If one truly believes in the moral teachings of God's right upon humanity on earth and the degree of evil of turning away from that right, they will be distressed in whatever society they grow in. The Taghut is everywhere right now, there is very little of what Quran emphasizes in Suratal Asr "those who enjoin upon each other the truth". Truth doesn't matter to most societies and people, we are united on not finding the truth but following our culture, religions, sects or leaders.

There shouldn't be confusion with Ghadeer declaration and Quran. The Imams [as] all would teach the true interpretation. The fact is if people don't guard against Satan, there is nothing God or his chosen ones can do to make people tread the right path. There are somethings that there is no turning or twisting away from Quran aside from the issue of Imammate but people turn away from it. God commanded Bani-Israel to one thing in reality to Worship God sincerely, and that included keeping up of prayer and giving of charity, etc... The way to express their sincerity was submission and adherence to the Imams appointed by God who guide by his command. The book of Musa called the people to the Imams but obviously something went wrong despite all the clarification in that. I don't understand why people don't accuse Harun of neglecting his duty to stop Shirk. Why didn't he fight? Ali called people to the straight path, as did the rest of the Imams. If people are sincere in their Salah and want to submit to God and follow the path of his guidance, the path of those who God bestowed favor upon, they would be easily guided to high true noble Quran. Lastly our Imams are not like ISIS willing to shed blood endlessly for an ideal that society doesn't accept. Yes a minority strong force of Imam Ali could of defeated his enemies by God's permission, but what is the point of that? What lesson would it teach us? For example, should a minority of Muslims living in Canada fight the government to establish Islam and the truth? Is this the way to go about transforming society?

2. Suratal Hud and emphasis on special meaning of family. Within Suratal Hud there is emphasis that Nuh's son is not included in his family which is implied because his conduct is other then righteous. That is to say, no one who conduct is other then righteous can be included in his family. The Angels also tell Sarah that she shouldn't wonder at being given Isaac in old age to be followed up by Jacob. Because that is the "affair" of God, the mercy and blessings of God being upon them the people of the household. If this would happen to me, I should wonder. Why? But a chosen person like Sarah or Abraham, should they wonder? No, as they are blessed with God's mercy in creation and all blessings in creation are upon them, this should not be an issue that seems strange at all. The blessings of that level are of course not on all offspring of Abraham and Sarah. Rather, we know, that such blessings are only upon the chosen ones. The emphasis and going out the way to emphasize on this special meaning of family shows that there is such a family in this nation. It makes no sense to emphasize on this yet there being no such family in this nation. The introduction of course is so we understand who the family of Mohammad is, and understand that this is not all new in God's way, it's not the first time that God defined a special meaning of family in this way.

I second that! Great work S. M. H. A.

Salam brother, I myself believe I went into this approach you mentioned. I read ahadith and interpretations, but at the end, I relied on the clear light of Quran to unlock what what yet to become light and clear signs from it as far as the issue of Shiism and Imammate go. If you wish to discuss the issue of the family of Mohammad in Quran I can. I believe every verse is important in Quran. For example, a verse like "And Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob". They manifest what other verses are emphasizing on, and form a part of the argument of the Quran. One thing though I did that I feel most people who believe in Quran don't do and is the reason they become Sunni or remain Sunni, is I distrust initial recitations often because I know Satan and his forces like to keep people away from the high Quran and understanding it in honorable high appreciation to it's verses. The Quran itself warns that regarding hard hearts, they would incline to what Satan suggests regarding the recitation. There is a lot of WASWAS and SIHR that forms what Quran calls the "JIBT" that is tied with the Taghut and belief in it, and this is why the last two Surahs are a must to recite as much as possible. The Quran itself can be darkened through Shayateen and people can become blind to it's true light and high form. Everyone assumes others are misguided but don't guard against Shayateen and their whispers to their own heart. In this way they become blind to clear flows, clear themes in Quran, emphasis, and belittle so much verses as rrelevant to guidance and belittle the admonishment to humanity and the interlinked way of Quranic verses with another. Ameen to your prayer.

I would say we are all spiritually ill, I would however define that differently then "mentally ill".