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Wikipedia notes: as well as: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh So, is YHWH the same as Allah? As a Christian, I certainly consider him my God, the only true God of all things, and the only one deserving of worship. I would consider Allah the Islamic "spin off" (I don't mean that in a rude or offensive way) of YHWH. Thoughts or other opinions/viewpoints?

SalamAlaykum Brothers and sisters, I hope you are well. I had another question that came in my mind. We have ancient texts of the Jewish Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) that the name of the LORD was YHWH. But what about according to Islam? Was wondering if one of the names of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى was YHWH or if it's a man made name. Would really appreciate if a knowledgeable brother or sister can reply Jazakallah khair

The teachings of Islam: Believe in God and the Prophet and obey them. Believe in divine justice and judgment after death and model your life so that you can survive the judgment satisfactorily. Honour, respect, help and obey your parents, even if they do not fulfil their obligations to you. But do not obey them if they ask you to commit a wrong. Help those in need financially and otherwise but without a motive and as far as possible, on the quiet. Do not let your generosity be commonly known. Have special consideration for disadvantaged groups, such as orphans, women, old people, strangers in town etc. Don’t deceive anyone in a private or in a trade transaction. Stick to patience in all adversities. If someone arouses your anger, forgive that person. Try and forgo your right to retaliate. Don’t treat a woman in distress as your heritage. Do not take advantage of women or of anyone weaker than you. Do not charge interest on a sum of money you lend someone. If a debtor finds it difficult to pay back the loan on the due date, reschedule the debt so that he has more time. And if you write the debt off completely, it is even better. Never let your courage fail you. Be brave. You live only once. If you have slaves, treat them as family. It will be better to let them go. And if they want to go, you must not stop them. But if they wish to stay, share your wealth equally with them. Be firm. Do not allow yourself to be unduly influenced. Behave in a manner where your behaviour is described as graceful, even if someone tries to bully you or acts unjustly to you. Judge justly. If you know that your son has committed an offence, speak against him in court, if you are asked to give evidence. Do not allow your love for your relatives to lead you to injustice. Always speak kindly, even if you wish to avoid a person, who wishes to mislead you or is otherwise a pest or a nuisance. Place your trust entirely in God and no one else. Do not bear false witness. Do not gamble. Do not consume intoxicating drinks. Reflect deeply into the mysteries of life. If you have committed a sin, ask for God’s forgiveness. If you have sinned against a human being, ask the person to forgive you before you seek divine forgiveness. And repent, that is, promise never to repeat the sin again Respect your guests and neighbours even if they are atheists or agnostics or belong to another religion. Be the first to greet people. In other words, when you meet someone on the street or elsewhere, greet him first, that is, before he tries to greet you. Repel evil with good. In other words, if someone does evil to you, do not respond to him with evil, rather with good. Do not engage with those who mock your religion. Leave them alone but depart from them gracefully. When your eyes fall upon a person of the other sex, lower your gaze or at least turn your eyes to something else. Sex outside a legal relationship is not permitted. Homosexuality is a very grave sin. Don’t be scared to go to battle in self-defence. Do not attack anyone except in self-defence. Always seek a peaceful solution to your problems. Do not resort to violence until your adversary does so. Give the other person the privilege of a first strike. Live simply. The Prophet’s own simple life is confirmed by the following scholars: Barnaby Rogerson, The Prophet Muhammad, 2003, p. 73: (1) Muhammad made no use of Khadijah’s wealth (other than to give alms to the poor) and maintained his same simple existence and his life as a merchant. Karen Armstrong, Muhammad – A Biography of the Prophet, 1993: (2) Muhammad gave a large proportion of the family income to the poor and made his own family live very frugally. (p. 81) (3) Muhammad himself always lived a simple and frugal life, even when he became the most powerful sayyid in Arabia. He hated luxury and there was often nothing to eat in his household. He never had more than one set of clothes at a time and when some of his Companions urged him to wear a richer ceremonial dress, he always refused, preferring the thick, coarse cloth worn by most of the people. [Sayyid means leader] (p. 93) (4) He hated to be addressed with pompous, honorific titles, and was often seen sitting unaffectedly on the ground in the mosque, frequently choosing to sit with the poorest members of the community. (Page 230) Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ix, taken from the digitised version of Google Books, p. 324: (5) The good sense of Mahomet despised the pomp of royalty; the apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire, swept the floor, milked the ewes, and mended with his own hands his shoes and his woollen garment (6) Many weeks would elapse without a fire being kindled on the hearth of the prophet. Washington Irving, Mohammed, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2007, p. 94: (7) The style of living of the prophet himself was not superior to that of his disciple . . . He swept his chamber, lit his fire, mended his clothes, and was, in fact, his own servant. Syed Ameer Ali, The Spirit of Islam, Delhi: Low Price Publications, 1923 (1997): (8) Mohammed was extremely simple in his habits. His mode of life, his dress and his belongings, retained to the very last a character of patriarchal simplicity. Many a time . . . had the Prophet to go without a meal. Dates and water frequently formed his only nourishment. (p. 120-121) (9) Modesty and kindness, patience, self-denial, and generosity pervaded his conduct, and riveted the affections of all around him. With the bereaved and afflicted he sympathized tenderly . . . He shared his food even in times of scarcity with others, and was sedulously solicitous for the personal comfort of everyone about him. He would stop in the streets listening to the sorrows of the humblest. He would go to the houses of the lowliest to console the afflicted and to comfort the heartbroken. The meanest slaves would take hold of his hand and drag him to their masters to obtain redress for ill-treatment or release from bondage . . . At night he slept little, spending most of the hours in devotion. He loved the poor and respected them, and many who had no home or shelter of their own slept at night in the mosque contiguous to his house. Each evening it was his custom to invite some of them to partake of his humble fare. (p. 120)

SalamAlaykum Brothers and sister I'm currently creating a simplified Tafsir which is very easy to read and the format is not boring, but coming across this ayat it has put it to a pause lol وَمَا جَعَلْنَا أَصْحَابَ النَّارِ إِلَّا مَلَائِكَةً ۙ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا عِدَّتَهُمْ إِلَّا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِيَسْتَيْقِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَيَزْدَادَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِيمَانًا ۙ وَلَا يَرْتَابَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۙ وَلِيَقُولَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ وَالْكَافِرُونَ مَاذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ بِهَٰذَا مَثَلًا ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَمَا هِيَ إِلَّا ذِكْرَىٰ لِلْبَشَرِ {31} [Shakir 74:31] And We have not made the wardens of the fire others than angels, and We have not made their number but as a trial for those who disbelieve, that those who have been given the book may be certain and those who believe may increase in faith, and those who have been given the book and the believers may not doubt, and that those in whose hearts is a disease and the unbelievers may say: What does Allah mean by this parable? Thus does Allah make err whom He pleases, and He guides whom He pleases, and none knows the hosts of your Lord but He Himself; and this is naught but a reminder to the mortals. Let me put those parts I'm interested the most in bullet points ...and We have not made their number but as a trial for those who disbelieve, that those who have been given the book may be certain and those who believe may increase in faith, and those who have been given the book and the believers may not doubt... According to the Tafsir, the number 19 which in this Chapter is about the angels, is also mentioned in the TORAH Here is the Question Can a knowledgeable brother or sister please tell me where in the TORAH and the Gospels it mentions anything to do with 19 Angels that Guard the Hell. Jazakallah Khairyan

Dear All Calgary Alberta has thrown the gauntlet to other big cities in uniting religions instead of dividing them. An Inter-faith week was celebrated recently and winners were announced. For anyone interested, their website is http://worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com/ They are represented on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/world.interfaith.harmony.week/ The parent organisations are http://www.acommonword.com/ http://ammanmessage.com/ http://www.islambuddhism.com/ http://www.altafsir.com/ Also represented are http://rissc.jo/?mc_cid=ba39356111&mc_eid=aa0c94c60c and http://www.aalalbayt.org/en/ Let us hope our little planet could benefit from this peace venture. Cheers

Reposting my old post and summarizing some comments to it. Quite a few Christians, especially Protestants, claim the following combination of beliefs that I find highly disturbing: 1) That “pharisaic” Judaism and its central text, Talmud, are “satanic” 2) That Islam is similar to Talmudic Judaism and therefore, by extension, is also “satanic” 3) That the entire world must support the state of “Israel” and that Palestinians are bad, because they don't support it. Since I studied in traditional anti-Zionist rabbinical institutions, I am well familiar with this topic and I would like to say a few words about it. Interestingly enough, these beliefs represent in a distilled form the original core idea of Zionism and demonstrate its origins very well. In colonial times, various British and American Protestant theologians of the early 19th century started spreading the idea of the “restoration of the Jews”. Based on their peculiar interpretation of the Christian Bible, they came to believe that if the Jews will gather in Palestine and establish there their own state, such event would trigger the Second Coming of Christ. Apparently, this idea originated from the Catholic Jesuit circles, but found a solid ground among the Anglo-Saxon Protestants, some of whom came to believe to another weird idea that they are the descendents of the original Hebrew tribes and therefore have the right to control Palestine. This website has a large collection of historical articles about these developments within Protestant groups. Contrary to Judaism, these people viewed Jews as a race and not a religion. The colonial West in the 18th and 19th centuries was in general obsessed with racial and nationalist theories. The Church condemned the Jewish Talmud since the Middle Ages, primarily because it sharply criticizes the Christian Trinity doctrine and because is written is a style that most Christian couldn't comprehend. After the series of liberal revolutions, more and more assimilated Jews became emancipated in the Western society, but due to the spread of nationalism, new anti-Jewish currents emerged in the West. In contrast to traditional anti-Judaism of the Church, these new currents were based on racial mythologies. Some assimilated Jews picked up the “brilliant” solution that early Christian Zionists offered for them: to establish their own state, based on the “enlightened” Western values of secular nationalism and colonial attitudes to non-Western people. Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, wanted originally to convert all Jews to Christianity, but later modified his views and supported “plain” secularization. Here comes a major paradox: those British and American Christians who supported this idea really wanted the Jews (and everyone in the world) to become Christians, but wished them to move to Palestine, where they could serve as allies of the colonial West. They didn't want anything “Talmudic”; they just wanted to create another “civilized” Western colonial state like South Africa. Traditional Talmudic Jews, on their hand, were totally opposed to Zionism, because the Talmud explicitly forbids this idea of gathering in Palestine and establishing their own state. This idea contradicts the basic Jewish belief that only the true Redeemer sent from God can gather them in a miraculous way and even that is not universally accepted. According to some more esoteric Jewish teachings, the future messianic Redemption of universal harmony will transcend state politics altogether. This is the real Zionist “conspiracy”: the entire Zionist movement started as a result of cooperation between Anglo-Saxon Protestants and anti-traditional assimilated Jewish nationalists. The Talmud as such plays no role in classical Zionism, except that some isolated concepts from it were adopted as secularized slogans, often in a completely twisted fashion. 90% of Jewish Zionists, let alone the Christian ones, are unable to read the Talmud at all. At best, they may consider it an important historical piece of Jewish literature. Typical high-rank supporters of the Zionist state like bankers and politicians are usually totally secular and have no serious Jewish education. As long as they thinks and acts like their right-wing Protestant Christian fellow ruthless businessmen, they are “cool”. If they would act "Talmudic", they wouldn't fit into the club. Since the Zionists captured and twisted the minds of many Jews, new heretical varieties of Judaism emerged from this confusion. Such notorious fascists as Baruch Goldstein or Meir Kahane undoubtedly considered themselves followers of the Talmud. We hear now chief rabbis and famous religious figures supporting Zionism and spreading hatred against the Palestinians and Muslims. How did this happen? Simple enough and in some ways quite similar to Wahhabi currents in Islam. The Talmudic corpus and related literature is a very large and complicated collection of texts, which may be compared to the Muslim Hadith collections. The Quran (5:32) contains an explicit quote from the Talmud and affirms the basic traditional Jewish belief that the Talmud contains supplemental parts of Moses' prophecy, which has been transmitted through oral narration. The above verse is found only in the Talmudic literature and not anywhere in the Bible. A number of other verses in Quran also have parallels in the Talmud and not found in the Scripture. Besides orally transmitted information from the prophets, the Talmud contains many legal decisions that the Talmudic sages derived using certain logical rules, which were also transmitted from Moses. It also contains historical rabbinical decrees, esoteric interpretations of the Scripture, theological and ethical discussions, various folk legends and even ancient medicinal remedies. Those Christians who tried to study the Talmud and came to hate it didn't get what it is all about. The Talmudic literature is a extremely large and diverse collection of discussions about all sorts of things, recorded during many centuries mostly in Persia and written in a very Persian multilayer story-inside-story style. The largest and most reliable collection is called “Bavli”, which means the Babylonian or Iranian Talmud. It's written mostly in Sassanian dialects of Aramaic, not in Hebrew. Practical law or advices comprise only a fraction of the Talmud and are a matter of debates and analysis. Many narrations and interpretations are rejected by the Talmudic text itself, but were still considered worth recording or allowing an esoteric interpretation. In some cases, parallel narrations allow to decide, which variant is more reliable in practice. A number of schools within Judaism, somewhat like Islamic madhhabs, derive various laws from the Talmud by somewhat different rules. One school considers a certain narrator or some text more practically reliable than another etc. No one in traditional Judaism, since the Middle Ages, derives any law directly from the Talmud without consulting first classic commentators and existing practical legal literature. Proper understanding of the Talmud requires years of systematic study and reading lots of commentaries. Maybe, this link to another Shiachat thread could help the readers to understand where most of these old Christian accusations come from. Anti-Muslim writers use the Ahadith in the same exact fashion, taking things out of context or by amplifying weak rejected narrations. Many Talmudic discussions are related to similar theoretical issues. Capital punishment was abolished in Judaism about 2000 years ago, because no one is considered righteous enough to serve as a judge or witness for such serious cases. Even when capital punishment existed, it was very rarely practiced by the line of tradition that became what's known today as rabbinical Judaism. Only very directly committed offenses, with at least two righteous male witnesses and a proper warning, could lead to death penalty. In many cases, the Talmud discusses, whether some weird and disgusting actions could be punished, in theory, by a human court, or whether one who did them may perform certain religious rituals. Such discussions also help to understand the metaphysical, philosophical and esoteric underpinnings of various laws. One classic example that Christians constantly use against the Talmud is that a Jew who kills a non-Jew is exempt from death penalty. First of all, some commentators explain that it only applies to people who worship idols and have no morality, and not to Christians and Muslims. Murder of a Jew or non-Jew is a terrible sin, whether punishable by human means or not. Second, the Talmud lists many other situations when a murderer is exempt from penalty. The general line in the Talmud is to find all possible ways and arguments to avoid death penalty. A court who would kill even one person in 70 years would be considered a “bloody court” and some sages provided a logic that, in Islamic terms, avoids “hudud” altogether. Another classic example Christians use against the Talmud that it allegedly teaches that sex with a girl below 3 years is permitted. Absolutely not! What it says that if such undoubtedly disgusting act happened, the girl would still be considered a virgin and her honor would not be blemished. The main and most famous complaint against the Talmud is its alleged teachings of Jewish supremacy. The Talmud never considers non-Jews “subhuman”. That's simply a fabrication. But it does contain pretty harsh statements about idol worshipers and teachings about the Jews' being a people who receive special and unique blessings from God, if they carefully follow Judaism. One main source of controversy and potential misunderstanding is that the Talmudic texts sometimes conflate the terms "goy" (non-Jew) and "akum" (abbreviation of "Star worshippers"), because most non-Jews, when the Talmud was written, were "by default" idol worshippers of various kinds. Careful analysis of parallel narrations shows that all this negative stuff is about idolaters. The Talmud praises non-Jewish monotheists, including some Persian kings and other people. Another example. Current standard editions of the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 37a) contain the following: Therefore, humans were created singly, to teach you that whoever destroys a single soul of Israel, Scripture accounts it as if he had destroyed a full world; and whoever saves one soul of Israel, Scripture accounts it as if she had saved a full world. The oldest version of this Talmudic quote correspond exactly to the Quran 5:32 and don't mention Jews in particular. The Yerushalmi Talmud, the Midrashim and several other parallel transmissions of this quote also don't mention the word "Israel". Even in the case of the common Babylonian Talmud editions, this quote makes a difference between Jews and immoral non-believers, but does not, exclude non-Jews who practice an ethical monotheistic religion, as it is easy to prove by the internal logic of the same Talmudic tract, which praises non-Jewish monotheists and equated them with the Jewish High Priest who served at the Jerusalem Temple (Sanhedrin 59a). In Islamic terms, this is an example of a "weak Hadith". The basic practical Talmudic structure of categories of believers/unbelievers, as their are interpreted in Judaism, goes as follows: Good people: Torah-observant Jews, who receive special blessings for following Moses' prophecy. A convert to Judaism is a Jew. According to traditional Judaism, it doesn't matter, whether Jews today are descendents of the ancient Hebrews or Khazars or Romans. Righteous non-Jews, who follow the prophecy of Noah and receive special blessings. Muslims are usually included in this category or in a somewhat different respected category of people. Trinitarian Christians are included by many opinions, but it's a matter of debate. Some schools of thought completely equate Muslims and Christians with the Jews on social and spiritual level. More liberal rabbinical authorities include all ethical people into this category, including polytheists and atheists, using basic ethics as the main criterion of righteousness. I personally agree with this opinion. It's a duty for Jews to support, love, help, treat well, respect all good people. Bad people: Classic idolaters of Antiquity. In times of peace, Jews must treat them well and with hospitality, deal with them fairly, help their poor, but the basic attitude is to stay away from them, not to get too friendly and not to help them too much. Ex-Jewish outright heretics and non-believers. The worst category in the Talmud. No love, no good treatment here. According to some hardcore opinions, they may be killed even without a court decree. To secular Jewish readers: No, neither me nor most Orthodox Jews today accept this attitude. People get confused and come up with all sorts of ideas. Some atheist definitions of nature or philosophical ground of being are more theologically sound than some other people's weird ideas about God, who may better decide, who is a heretic and who is not. The “gray zone”: Many classic sources of rabbinical law say that the Talmud condemns only the seven ancient Canaanite tribes who practiced human sacrifices or other ancient nations like the Romans who would come to a circus to entertain themselves watching animals tearing people apart or forcing slaves to fight each other to death. So, even someone would erect today a statue, proclaim it as a deity and bow to it, there is still room to disregard this behavior, love and respect such a person. Or, esoterically, one may say that everything is a reflection of God's names and this person in his heart really worships God. On the other hand, because the status of Trinitarian Christianity is a matter a debate in Judaism and because the Church systematically persecuted, killed, tortured and humiliated the Jews until recent times, there are many Orthodox Jews who avoid having close friendship with Christians and have negative opinions of their religion. For Christian readers: No, I don't agree with this attitude and many Orthodox Jews don't. But there is enough room for opposite opinions here. More inclusively minded Orthodox Jews tend to value ethical behavior over religious beliefs, while more hardcore Orthodox tend to regard people as heretics and idolaters for any slight deviation. In any case, traditional Judaism requires to treat everyone nicely and fairly. Traditionally, Islam was always considered the closest religion to Judaism. Christianity, on the other hand, was often viewed negatively, although there are many highly positive opinions on it, i.e. by Menachem Meiri, Jacob Emden and Elia Benamozegh. Very many classic commentaries to the Torah and Talmud were written in Muslim countries, often originally in Arabic. Most classical schools of rabbinical law were established in Muslim countries. The Zionists turned the Jewish history upside down. They discarded the long history of Jewish-Islamic cultural synthesis and invented the myth of “Judeo-Christian” civilization. Classical Judaism with its Talmud, which explicitly forbids the Jews to create a state in Palestine and which was written in a “politically incorrect” region (Iraq and Iran), has no place in classical secular Zionism. But here comes a surprising twist. After the Nazi genocide of millions of European Jews, the Zionist movement captured the attention of most Jews who were well familiar with the long history of traditional Christian anti-Jewish hatred. But the Zionist's best allies and the originators of their ideology were some Protestant sects who don't exactly like Judaism. So the Zionists projected the history of Christian anti-Jewish persecution on the Muslims. To be fair, persecutions did happen under various Muslim rulers, but they were not nearly as common as in the Christian world and they were actions of certain corrupt individuals and not an integral doctrine of religion. The Jews perfectly understood that, but the Zionists seized the moment after the Nazi genocide and managed to confuse many people. Another factor that helped this confusion was that the governments in some Muslim countries made the conditions of the local Jewish communities unbearable after the Zionist state was established and forced them to leave the Arab countries. This was a very bad move, which only popularized Zionism and helped to created this new myth of anti-Jewish Muslim hatred. The final factor is the Salafi/Wahhabi type of Muslims who basically copied the old Christian hatred against the Jews. So, two very anti-traditional and somewhat similar movements, both strangely connected to Anglo-Saxon Protestantism in their ideology - Wahhabism and Zionist pseudo-religion - started fighting each other and polluting the world with their ideas. As a result of all that, new forms of “religious” Zionists emerged. All negativity against the idolaters and oppressive types of Christians that one can find throughout the history of Judaism was redirected in a highly amplified and concentrated form to the Muslims. The fact that this negativity has to do with theology (idols and Trinity) was ignored. On the contrary, Muslims became somehow equated in this Zionist twisted version of Judaism with the worst kind of idolaters, who should be normally still treated nicely and without trying to dominate them. But here is a catch: one may kill “even the best of idolaters”, according to the Talmud, during a military combat. The “religious” Zionists declared that their state is in constant war with the Muslims who want to kill all Jews. Such twisted logic basically gives a license to kill. The same exact logic is used by Wahhabis who removed the concept of “Ahl Al-Kitab” from their version of Islam and consider everyone at permanent war with Muslims. There is a good book written by Yakov Rabkin, A Threat from Within: A Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, which explains how traditional Judaism and Zionism are totally incompatible. The author is an Orthodox Jew and a history professor. I strongly don't recommend books written by anti-religious authors (Israel Shahak) or fanatical right-wing Christians (David Duke, Israel Shamir), because such authors usually have no serious knowledge of Judaism and often promote hatred against both Jews and Muslims under a mask of “anti-Zionism”. I hope this rough introduction is clear enough. If people here will find these topics interesting, we could go into more detailed discussions. There also also esoteric trends in Judaism, kind of similar to Bektashis or Alawites, who tend to emphasize things like personal devotion and non-literal interpretations over fixed rules. My main interest on this forum is not battling Zionism. I am trying to apply Henry Corbin's methodology to Jewish philosophy and esoterica, and I find studies of Hadith and Irfan in comparison to Talmud and Kabbalah very refreshing and important.

I gave this channel hell before, but I give them some credit for this video:

Naturally take some of the claims with a pinch of salt, but overall very interesting

Watch it live on Ahlulbayt TV on July 17 http://ahlulbayt.tv/live/ Lebanon stands today as a site for millions of pilgrims from different faiths. Today we know there are over 30 prophetic sites in this region. Join Sheikh Adam Awada as he tours three prophetic sites and sheds some light about the history behind them and what they mean for the local community.

Hearing from some of the old Christian members, the claim that Jesus was a Jew, and now seeing this video, I am a bit astonished. Please don't think I approve of what he says about divinity of Jesus or ordinary Jews (though what he says may apply to the most of the Pharisees of old and Zionists of today). But, anyway, it seems the Biblical belief is such on the part of Jesus that he is definitely not a Jew.

Dear brother Insha Allah Salams I have made a request to you by email. Hope you will kindly have a look at it and let me have your decision. Regards baqar

Asalaaamulikum ArRahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu Created a website for debate & general discussion. http://open4discussion.the-talk.net/ This is not a spam or troll related thing. I wanted to create a dialouge website for quite sometime.. and I see many websites and forums... But most turns ugly and users start attacking each other... which I can not stand for.. Relgion is a beautiful.. and it is part of the human society.. I would like to have the Shia Brothers and Sisters to join also.. I am a muslim, sunni by label I guess, but I do know pletty and have high respect for Ahlul-Byht... i DO highly, respect the Exoteric & Esoteric view too, though not everyting is fully except either in my mind and or heart.. Would like to hear the brothers respond.. Saalaamulikum..

Salaam Alaikum, I am curious if the day of Ashura is commemorated in any way in other faiths such as Christianity or Judaism? Did the prophets mention that this is a day of mourning for mankind? I know the Jews also follow the lunar calendar, do they have any special days around the time of Ashura? Thank you. Wasalaam

If I'm not mistaken we Muslims believe that all Jews (before Christianity was founded) and all Christians (before Islam was founded) go to heaven. In other words those religion were the correct religion at that time and now Islam is the correct religion. Just the other day however I was thinking, why didn't God simply ensure that he wouldn't need to repeatedly send down a new religion by ensuring that Judaism was a solid religion in the first place. The reason I didn't post this question before was because I thought I had found the answer. I considered that maybe Allah looked at religion almost in the way an engineer may look at a building or a bridge. It can only survive for so long yet does so much good and as soon as that bridge, building or religion "expires" a new one will arrive. And though that makes sense (to me anyway) I realised just recently that the reason an engineer builds a bridge (even though its use will expire) is because he/she can not prevent the cause of deterioration in the bridge. Allah on the other hand COULD HAVE PREVENTED Jews and Christians from falling astray by foreseeing that he would need to repeatedly send down his message and ensuring that Prophet Moses could be the last Prophet and bring down the message that Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammed (pbut) would have brought, saving them the trouble (and I don't mean that in any offensive way, like I say I am a Muslim myself. I'd just like to rid myself of this doubt and strengthen both my knowledge and my belief). Thanks for reading (and responding)

Israel, which has robbed its Palestinian victims blind since 1947, has another demand to make. It wants them to recognise it as a “Jewish state”. Palestinians should mock this entity’s leaders all the way back to Vienna, where Theodore Herzl’s Zionist delusions were born. Israel Not A Jewish State Judaism teaches that the right for the Jewish people to have self rule in the Holy Land is not unconditional. Since the destruction of Holy Temple over two thousand years ago, the Jewish people have been exiled from this land by Divine decree. The Talmud tells that God obligated us not to rebel against the ruling bodies, and not to take the land of Israel by force (see Babylonian Talmud tractate Kesubos 111A). You see, the secret is out: It now appears that those people who call themselves Israeli Jews are not Jews after all, but the descendants of Eastern European converts to Judaism, who had no genealogical connection to the ancient Israelites. The aggression that Zionism presents in originally taking the Holy Land by force from its indigenous inhabitants is the first flag that exposes this movement for what it is — a real deviation from Judaism. Judaism forbids Jews from taking the land away from those who currently have jurisdiction over it. That such things should be done not only in opposition to Judaism, but in the name of the very Judaism it defies is simply large-scale fraud. Zionism, once exposed, proves to be the greatest enemy, the worst nightmare, to the Jewish religion and it’s practitioners, that exists to date. Zionism, strikes out regularly at Jews who remain true to Torah and its precepts. There are many Jews who protest against the very existence of the State of Israel, and who are quite vocal, albeit peaceful, about their opposition. Whenever Zionist policies or activities run counter to the Torah stance, Torah-true Jews come forward to unmask the Zionism. Many believe that the second worst thing that ever happened to Jews was the establishment of state of Israel. Liberation of Palestine The population in Palestine was 600,000 people of which 10% were Jewish, 90% were Palestinian Muslims and Christians and 99% of the land was owned by Palestinians. Most Palestinians believe that: * The only real road to Peace is the full and unconditional Liberation of the whole of Palestine, liberation from the supremacist ideology and liberation from the perpetrators. That will inevitably mean a return to the original, peaceful society Palestine was before the Zionist invasion. The true and sincere aspirations of Palestinians are long lasting Peace, Justice and Freedom. We believe that this will restore the true foundations of the Palestinian society. * Palestinians are always grateful and appreciative of the hard work and dedication of all their supporters whomever they are, however, Palestinians have NO obligation to hold back their march for freedom, to curtail their aims or to smother their rights for the sake of accommodating and not offending their Jewish supporters or to adopt the aims and objectives of the anti-zionist Jewish supporters instead of their own. * Palestinians have the ultimate right to aim for the full Liberation of their occupied Homeland, and to that effect select strategy and tactics of Resistance most suitable to achieve the reinstatement of their inalienable rights. * Palestinians have the ultimate right to choose their vision for their future, of FREE Palestine including the type of government, the writing of constitution, the construction and implementation of their legal and judicial system, which stems from and corresponds to their ethics and reflects and protects their culture. * It is the privilege of Palestinian to decide who should stay in liberated Palestine and who is not, using the legal procedure of their own choice. * All refugee and their descendents have the unconditional right to come back home, they, the rightful indigenous owners are also entitled to the reinstatement of ALL confiscated (stolen) land and property, compensation for all their losses over the many years of exile and they are also entitled to Palestinian citizenship wherever they are. * The aims and dreams of most Palestinians are not confined to the change of zionist regime or the vacuous declaration of abandonment of zionism by the Jewish-zionist occupiers, but rather to the FULL Liberation of Palestine and the restoration of all their rights. More than 100 countries have so far officially recognized Palestine as a state based on the 1967 borders, the boundaries that existed before the Israeli regime captured East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. ============================================================= “Lebanon has been a member state of the United Nations since 1945 and yet this did not prevent Israel from occupying southern Lebanon from 1978 until 2000. Israel’s occupation of Lebanon ended not because of any international pressure, but only because the Lebanese resistance drove Israel and its collaborating militias out“ ============================================================= http://www.israelversusjudaism.org/ http://shervinandpolitics.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/israel-not-a-jewish-state/