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The book of Isaiah 61:1-4 says: The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance; to comfort all who mourn, 3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify him. 4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the former devastations; they will renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. I've meditated on this passage for the last couple of days and found multiple aspects of it very comforting. I often find that I'm so broken and captive by my sin and shame that I'm helpless to free myself. However, this passage brings hope that God can do what I cannot! Points that mean a lot to me: My soul has been wounded by sin and shame. But God has healing in store for my heart Sin has captured and imprisoned me. However, God has declared liberty and freedom! I'm no longer bound to those things. I cry and grieve my shortcomings like one who mourns and wails, but instead, God has made me crowned and dressed me as royalty. I will be called a tree of righteousness, full of strength and standing tall. God is glorified and praised by how I've been changed. The places in my heart that are run down and empty He helps build back up into being full of life and flourishing. Question 1: What are your thoughts on these verses? Question 2: How do you find encouragement when discouraged by human brokeness?

Salaam, Who taught or revealed the Gospel to Jesus? Since we believe Jibraeel revealed the Qur'an to our Nabi and Jibraeel is the Arcangel of Revelation, who revealed the Gospel to Jesus and is there any evidence? Same question for Ibrahim and Musa... Did Allah speak directly to Abraham and Moses? Did Allah also speak directly to Jesus and Muhammad and is there any evidence? By "evidence" I specifically mean Ayats in Qur'an, Hadith or anything from our Imams stating these things. Thank you!

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

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

Hi friends. While reading up on the topic of Imam Mahdi, I came across the following narration: Jabir Ibn Yazid al-Jo'fi from Imam Muhammad Baqr: "...The reason why Hazrat Mahdi (as) is known as Hazrat Mahdi (as) is this; he will be directed toward a secret matter, will extract the Torah and other Divine books from a cave in Antioch and will judge among the Jews with the Torah and among the Christians with the Gospel." (Al-Mahdiy al-Mawud) It leaves me with a few questions. 1.) I came across this narration on a non-Shia website, but it seems to be from a Shia source. Is this narration considered reliable? 2.) Is the belief that the Mahdi will restore the true form of previous scriptures generally held within the Shia IthnaAsheri community? 3.) What happens after the true form of these scriptures is restored? The same website had a narration that some Jews and Christians become Muslim, presumably observing the Shariah of Muhammad. What about the rest? Does a restoration of the true form of Jewish law occur (based upon "will judge among the Jews with the Torah")? If so, does this render Judaism a purified sort of Jewish Islam? 4.) Any theories on how a pure version of the Torah might have come to a cave in Antioch? I have some thoughts about the gospel, but the Torah has me stumped. Thanks so much for your thoughts and knowledge.

I am under the general impression that Muslims view the bible as either corrupted or wrongly interpreted by Jews and Christians. Most of what I know, I learned from Wikipedia. Many people in the western media seem to portray Islamic culture as underdeveloped and violent. I personally feel their is some truth to this reality. What Assyrians, Copts, and Maronites go through at times seems awful. But, I can't overlook the Violence in the Judeo-Christian scripture. This is a command from Moses in the Torah, " so kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man" Numbers 31:17. This is an actual statement from Moses in the Torah. Moses ordered his military commanders to kill the native inhabitants of Canaan (Palestine). The Judeo-Christian God seems far more violent than the God of the Quran. Do Muslims see the reestablishment of Israel as a prerequisite of the coming of the Kingdom of God?

The bible mentions in Genesis the covenant that God made with Abraham and that of Ishmael becoming a great nation: Genesis 17:20King James Version (KJV) 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. Do you think the 'Twelve Princes' refers to the 12 Imam's? They were technically from the progeny of Ishmael? Do you know if there are any other links that could be made within the Bible or the Torah to Islam that has to do with some sort of forecast like the above example? I know there's something about 'a greater sacrifice' when Abraham was put to a test by God...Right?

As-salaamu `alaikum / šǝlāmā Ahl as-sunnah wa l-jamāʻah and Shīʿah assume that the ˀewangelīōn [= Gospel, ܐܸܘܲܢ̈ܓܸܠܼܝܲܐ] and ˀōrāytā are entirely corrupted, thus, there is no truth and guidance therein. Furthermore, they assume that the original ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā were lost, however some parts can still be found, they say. Verily, the Qur'ān do acknowledge some corruption, however, it's not tantamount to wholesale corruption of the ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā, truth can still be extracted from the previous scriptures. Alāhā ÓÈÍÇäå æÊÚÇáì also pardoned the people of the book [= ahl ktab; yahuwd/hadoo and nasraya/nazarenes (ܢܨܪܝܐ)] for concealing their scriptures. “Have you any hope that they will be true to you when a party of them [= fariqun min'hum] used to listen to the word of God, then used to change it, after they had understood it, knowingly?” [2/75] Kindly note that this is not referring to all 'ahl ktab' but some of them [= ... when a party of them ...]. Some verses afterwards, one gets further information that some of 'ahl ktab' were also gentiles [= ummiyuna, Syr. arāmāyā; ˁammǝmāy (ܥܡܡܝܐ, root ˁmmy)] who had no understanding of the scripture, but only followed their own desires and speculations: "And there are among them 'Gentiles', who know not the Book, but (see therein their own) desires, and they do nothing but conjecture". "Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say: "This is from God," so that they may take from it a small price!- Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby" [2/78-79] Comprehension of the context and audience is the clue. This statement was mainly in relation to the Arab Jews and Nazarenes at the time of the Prophet (pbuh) and what they recognized as scriptures in the 6th-7th century. There were amongst them people of the previous scriptures that did distort the scriptures for some reasons. However, this did not mean that the complete ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā was corrupted or had become wholly impossible to perceive or discern due to the alterations. The Qur'ān never tells the believers that the previous scriptures are wholly altered and therefore truth and guidance can't be found therein, in fact, the veracity of the ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā is vouched by the Qur'ān: But why do they come to you for decision, when they have (their own) Torah before them? therein is the (plain) command of God; yet even after that, they would turn away. For they are not People of Faith. [5/43] The cogitation that the ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā are wholly corrupted and therefore truth and guidance can't be found therein is unwarranted from the Qur'ānic point of view and this is caused by misapprehension on the part of many Muslims who don't know the contents and history of the ˀewangelīōn and ˀōrāytā.

(bismillah) (salam) Adam's children married each other. That was because the law for Adam's family was incredibly simple compared to the message of Rasoolallah (saw). As the human population culturally evolved, Rasools, prophets of high status, came at different times to improve upon the rules of the past prophets. Prophet Yaqoob (as) had two wives whom were sisters of one another. By today's standards, this is haram, as it is forbidden to marry two sisters at the same time according to Shariah Law. However, this law did not apply in the time of Prophet Yaqoob (as). I have a question. To my knowledge, in the (original) Torah, Allah gave Bani Israel a set of laws which are more strict than the ones we have today. Does that mean Allah abrogates his own laws? It is well established that Shariah Laws can never change. Are the laws of the original Torah given to the Muslims under the leadership of Musa (as) considered Shariah? To my knowledge, the Injeel removed some of the crippling restrictions given to the Jews. Is this true? If this is true, then why would Allah enjoin laws which are crippling to begin with? Is each set of divine laws an addendum to last ones, adding new ones, or a destroyer and editor of past ones, removing them and changing them all together?