The last few weeks had me contemplate about islam

[ElitistSomali]

I have really had very deep thoughts about the purpose of life and what the hereafter would look like for the last weeks.

I was raised in a non islamic evironment and as teen i never experienced islam at first hand. Now as an adult i have been trying to give it a chance but always got delayed.

It was not until about 5 months ago, i came across a youtube channel called EFdawah and i could easily relate to alot of the things said. My question to you guys whi are muslims what is the most difficult part of being a muslim in the west?

 

[Genie]

I have really had very deep thoughts about the purpose of life and what the hereafter would look like for the last weeks.

I was raised in a non islamic evironment and as teen i never experienced islam at first hand. Now as an adult i have been trying to give it a chance but always got delayed.

It was not until about 5 months ago, i came across a youtube channel called EFdawah and i could easily relate to alot of the things said. My question to you guys whi are muslims what is the most difficult part of being a muslim in the west?

As a muslim female my struggles would be different to yours , but I would say ur lifestyle mostly is very very different to that of the west rather than promoting drinking , sex out side of marriage , drugs and basically all things degenerate Islam as a way of life its different it all about modesty , respect , justice etc as a woman I wear a hijab which makes me stand out out tbh thats about it the rest is more of a spiritual fight between your inner self. The hate for muslims is growing and this has catapulted a lot of youth to retreat and either get angry and defensive or leave all together.

Its a big struggle ahead I won't lie but so are most things may Allah help ease you into this , I wish I was more helpful.

 

[Shadow]

Not Muslim at the moment but,

1. I have a problem with Slavery not being haram in the Quran

2. Why did Allah play favourites with those in the middle East, whether it's Israel or Arabs

3. I feel like Islam is just for Arabs

4. I find it wierd how our prophet has been dead for centuries. Didn't other nations have prophets they can talk to and ask questions? Why are we different?

People say I shouldn't ask too many questions but I don't understand that logic.

 

[GeKo]

Not Muslim at the moment but,

1. I have a problem with Slavery not being haram in the Quran

2. Why did Allah play favourites with those in the middle East, whether it's Israel or Arabs

3. I feel like Islam is just for Arabs

4. I find it wierd how our prophet has been dead for centuries. Didn't other nations have prophets they can talk to and ask questions? Why are we different?

People say I shouldn't ask too many questions but I don't understand that logic.

1. It'd be a very long response if I were to answer this but keep in mind this was 1400 years ago and the world was a very different place. Islam always encouraged the freeing of slaves and gave the slaves rights as well, Muslims were told to treat their slaves like a family member and to give them the same food and clothes you are wearing. Omar Suleiman gives a much better response on this frequently asked question.

2. Some things are beyond our knowledge and we aren't able to understand why at first, but it makes logical sense the more we introspect and keep our emotions out of it. The arabic language before islam was going through a renaissance, poetry and written script were developing and the language was being enriched by it. This series of events were important for Islam since the Quran was to be written in Arabic. This and many other reasons would make sense for the Arabs to have the final Prophet, but the deen is for everyone. The linguistic miracles in the Quran alone will show you why Arabic was choosen.

3. In the Prophet's last farewell sermon "... Indeed, there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor of a white over a black, nor a black over a white, except by taqwa. Have I conveyed the message?"
You must've heard this many times I understand, but don't let some racist arab change your mind on the deen, we're all individuals and we're all flawed.


4. No Prophet lived forever, the Qur'an and hadith are our guide.
Yes, the companion's of the Prophet asked him all sorts of questions, they would ask him question that people today would be ashamed to ask. But there's nothing to be ashamed of when you have a genuine question.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

[Shadow]

1. It'd be a very long response if I were to answer this but keep in mind this was 1400 years ago and the world was a very different place. Islam always encouraged the freeing of slaves and gave the slaves rights as well, Muslims were told to treat their slaves like a family member and to give them the same food and clothes you are wearing. Omar Suleiman gives a much better response on this frequently asked question.

Th

2. Some things are beyond our knowledge and we aren't able to understand why at first, but it makes logical sense the more we introspect and keep our emotions out of it. The arabic language before islam was going through a renaissance, poetry and written script were developing and the language was being enriched by it. This series of events were important for Islam since the Quran was to be written in Arabic. This and many other reasons would make sense for the Arabs to have the final Prophet, but the deen is for everyone. The linguistic miracles in the Quran alone will show you why Arabic was choosen.

3. In the Prophet's last farewell sermon "... Indeed, there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab, nor of a non-Arab over an Arab, nor of a white over a black, nor a black over a white, except by taqwa. Have I conveyed the message?"
You must've heard this many times I understand, but don't let some racist arab change your mind on the deen, we're all individuals and we're all flawed.


4. No Prophet lived forever, the Qur'an and hadith are our guide.
Yes, the companion's of the Prophet asked him all sorts of questions, they would ask him question that people today would be ashamed to ask. But there's nothing to be ashamed of when you have a genuine question.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Thanks man! I appreciate it.

 

[Shadow]

1. It'd be a very long response if I were to answer this but keep in mind this was 1400 years ago and the world was a very different place. Islam always encouraged the freeing of slaves and gave the slaves rights as well, Muslims were told to treat their slaves like a family member and to give them the same food and clothes you are wearing. Omar Suleiman gives a much better response on this frequently asked question.

But wouldn't it better to just free them? Maybe I'm just looking at it from my view but I'd rather be free than a slave that is treated fairly. Imagine how being a slave would affect your pysche. You'd pretty much be dirt.

 

[cinina]

Why am I Muslim? Well... I could give you hundreds, if not thousands of things that reaffirm my faith at any given moment but at the crux of it- the single concept that keeps me Muslim- is my understanding of Allah. Allah is so completely perfect that I never have to negotiate new information with my understanding of Him- what I mean by this is that many purported challenges to my faith are simply misunderstandings of the concept of Allah.

As for the second question, I think that regardless of where you are (the West/ a Muslim country) you’re going to face challenges of the same difficulty. It depends more on where your weaknesses lie rather than external factors.

@ElitistSomali
I wish you well in your search for knowledge and I pray that your heart is opened up to Islam. It felt very weird just now seeing ex-Muslims insult Islam as if they had no knowledge of it; I guess this makes up for it somewhat: the fact that you, an outsider, can see through the flimsy conspiracy that lured them out of the religion. Please think for yourself and enquire freely; we (Muslims) want to support you. Good luck!

 

[ElitistSomali]

Why am I Muslim? Well... I could give you hundreds, if not thousands of things that reaffirm my faith at any given moment but at the crux of it- the single concept that keeps me Muslim- is my understanding of Allah. Allah is so completely perfect that I never have to negotiate new information with my understanding of Him- what I mean by this is that many purported challenges to my faith are simply misunderstandings of the concept of Allah.

As for the second question, I think that regardless of where you are (the West/ a Muslim country) you’re going to face challenges of the same difficulty. It depends more on where your weaknesses lie rather than external factors.

@ElitistSomali
I wish you well in your search for knowledge and I pray that your heart is opened up to Islam. It felt very weird just now seeing ex-Muslims insult Islam as if they had no knowledge of it; I guess this makes up for it somewhat: the fact that you, an outsider, can see through the flimsy conspiracy that lured them out of the religion. Please think for yourself and enquire freely; we (Muslims) want to support you. Good luck!

Much appreciated

 

[GeKo]

But wouldn't it better to just free them? Maybe I'm just looking at it from my view but I'd rather be free than a slave that is treated fairly. Imagine how being a slave would affect your pysche. You'd pretty much be dirt.

Yes and it was encouraged to set them free. Most of the slaves at the time were prisoners of war. From my understanding in those times, when you conquered a place and let the people all free, they'd reproduce and conquer you again.

The world was different back then, it was a very common practice all major religions allowed it and Islam gave them rights.

Being a slave in Islam wasn't as rigid as you'd think. People were able to move up the ranks, pay off their bondage and even become rulers.

I say give Omar Suleiman a full watch, he has other lectures on the same topic in more depth. It's easy to look at the world back then with 21st century thinking and think how barbaric it was.

Morality without a religious compass is so subjective, just 30 years ago, it was disgusting to be gay in the west, now its so normal. What society values changes, many of us are just followers to wider society but Islam doesn't change.

 

[Shadow]

Yes and it was encouraged to set them free. Most of the slaves at the time were prisoners of war. From my understanding in those times, when you conquered a place and let the people all free, they'd reproduce and conquer you again.

The world was different back then, it was a very common practice all major religions allowed it and Islam gave them rights.

Being a slave in Islam wasn't as rigid as you'd think. People were able to move up the ranks, pay off their bondage and even become rulers.

I say give Omar Suleiman a full watch, he has other lectures on the same topic in more depth. It's easy to look at the world back then with 21st century thinking and think how barbaric it was.

Morality without a religious compass is so subjective, just 30 years ago, it was disgusting to be gay in the west, now its so normal. What society values changes, many of us are just followers to wider society but Islam doesn't change.

Alright fair enough

 

[Genie]

But wouldn't it better to just free them? Maybe I'm just looking at it from my view but I'd rather be free than a slave that is treated fairly. Imagine how being a slave would affect your pysche. You'd pretty much be dirt.

Not really ...if you think about it the slaves made up the a huge majority of working class at that time , free all the slaves the economy , and overall society will be hugely effected in negative manner , rather encouraging the freeing of slaves was implemented. it was slower and allowed society to adjust rather than a deep end kind of thing ...if that makes any sense. It was just so that no one got hurt. To those who were enslaved they were to be patient and to those who owned a slave they were ordered to respect them , have mercy on them and well to treat them justly and laster the overall freeing fo slaves was encouraged.

I hope I made sense.

A good example is how Islam slowly promoted the stopping of consumption of alcohol it was slowly revealed bit by bit it wasn't stop immediately there is 0 wisdom in that. Rather alcohol negativity effects were told then they told to cut down on it then to stop it on say ramadan and then they were encouraged to prohibit the use of alcohol altogether.

 

[Abkaal]

But wouldn't it better to just free them? Maybe I'm just looking at it from my view but I'd rather be free than a slave that is treated fairly. Imagine how being a slave would affect your pysche. You'd pretty much be dirt.

Dr. Jonathan Brown:

consent. They were conceived of as harm inflicted on the wife. And in Islamic history wives could and did go to courts to complain and get judges to order husbands to desist and pay damages. So yes, non-consensual sex is wrong and forbidden in Islam. But the operating element to punish marital rape fell under the concept of harm, not non-consent.

5) Slavery in Islam: Muslims began curtailing slavery early on. In the 1000s, the great Persian scholar Juwayni gave a fatwa that slave girls captured in Central Asia should not be sold as concubines. In the 1780s, the scholar-king of Senegal Abd al-Qadir Kan abolished slavery in his realm and banned the French from slave trading there (note: this preceded the beginning of organized abolition in Britain. In fact, the first abolitionists cited Kan as a model ruler). In 1846 (before Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation), Ahmad Bey, the governor of Tunis, banned the slave trade there and emancipated all slaves in his realm. By 1900, many leading Muslim scholars had agreed that slavery should be prohibited. As Muslim states signed treaties banning slavery in the early twentieth century, the practice all but disappeared (if you’re thinking, hey, what about bonded laborers today or convicts in America… I agree! That’s the whole point I was making in my paper: don’t get fooled by labels that make slavery invisible, look at the realities behind them. Watch the documentary 13th (link)).

A crucial point is that slavery isn’t one thing. It has varied dramatically across time and space, from the horrors of racist, inhuman chattel slavery on the plantations of the American South to mukataba in the Ottoman Empire. Mukataba was an emancipation contract for a fixed time and with rights to own property and marry; it was closer to being a wageworker in a 19th-century British factory than what we think of as American slavery. In the Islamic world, slaves actually ruled entire states. The ruling dynasty of one empire, the Mamluks, was all slaves. The administrative and military elite of the Ottoman Empire, the most powerful and richest people in the realm, were technically slaves of the Sultan.

In the Quran and Sunnah, the only avenue left for slavery was dealing with people who had been captured in war. All other forms were outright abolished. The Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) guaranteed them appropriate food, clothing, shelter and no overly taxing labor. They could be disciplined no more harshly than one’s own kids. The Quran instructed owners to make mukataba agreements with slaves if they were fit and able to make it on their own, and Muslim scholars understood that it was better to keep those who were otherwise too old or unable to fend for themselves as slaves rather than setting them free to starve. The Quran and Sunnah made clear over and over that freeing slaves was one of the best deeds a Muslim could do. The Shariah saw freedom as the natural state (asl) of all humans. And, as the legal maxim stated, the Shariah “aimed towards freedom.”

As Muslims spread out across the globe and new peoples and cultures entered the faith, existing traditions of slavery took on an Islamic veneer. Sometimes the humane values of the Shariah prevailed. Sometimes local customs and systems of exploitation continued, moderated only a little by God’s law. Slavery in Islam was never tied to one race, but in certain times and places it could become racialized, as happened with the prevalence of black African slaves in Egypt in the 1700s-1800s.

Slavery of some sort has existed in almost every human society since the dawn of time. Moses, Jesus, the Buddha, Aristotle and Plato all considered the slavery in their times to be accepted features of life. Islam considered slavery, even in its restricted form, to be an ‘incapacity,’ an injustice (zulm), as the Muslim jurist Shaybani called it around the year 800 CE. But it was an economic and social condition, and it was usually temporary. As economic life changed in the 1800s, Muslim societies saw that this institution could be gotten rid of completely. The great Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abu Zahra summed it up: Islam would welcome a day when slavery was banned.

The deep disgust we feel at slavery is precisely why we need to talk about it. Slavery in Islam raises the critical question of how we as Muslims deal with elements of our tradition that clash with values we feel deeply today. It forces us to think about whether right and wrong change over time. If they do, can we make universal claims about morality? Can we judge people in the past by present-day values, and can the past make moral demands on us today? If, on the other hand, right and wrong are fixed and don’t change over time, then who in history defines them? Jesus or modern human rights? Aristotle or Lincoln? The Quran clearly sought to restrict and regulate slavery in Arabia at the time, and there’s a strong argument that it aimed to end slavery altogether. The Prophet Muhammad ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) freed every slave given to him. But how do I as a Muslim deal with the fact that God and the Prophet ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) did not abolish slavery altogether? Would it have been too economically disruptive, so that gradual abolition would be better? This was the answer offered by the famous scholar Rashid Rida, who pointed to the challenges America faced in integrating former slaves after the Civil War.

As a Muslim today, I can say emphatically that slavery is wrong and that Islam prohibits it. This has been the consensus of the ulama, and it’s well within the power of states to prohibit what was previously allowed if doing so serves some public interest (maslaha) (this is known as taqyid al-mubah, restricting the permitted). It’s easy for me to say this looking back on slavery in American history, because American slavery was a manifestation of the absolute domination of one human being by another that is, in my opinion, a universal wrong across time and space.

I actually think it was trying to. No other religious/political movement until very recent history had such emphasis on the virtue of freeing slaves. A slave could even free himself by teaching people how to read/write.
Also
1. There is a daleel to abandon slavery. There is no hasanah in taking a slave but there is in freeing them so 100% it is islamically valid to make slavery haram.

2. Even slavery in those times is not even necessary. The khalifs had four choices.
One to free prisoners of war,
Two to ransom them for freedom ( often happened in prophets time if the slave could teach ten Muslims to read and write he was freed)
Three they are taken as captives (slaves) by the khalifa who would allocate them to individuals.
Four. If there was no possibility of pacifying the male slaves. And the resources of taking them captive is not possible and they are a great risk to Muslims then they can be executed.

In Islam if you hit a slave you must free him. A woman cannot be separated from her child. They must eat what you can and they must wear what you wear. This is not djamgo unchained that shit is always haram.

If you can't even hit them how can you rape them??? Absurd.

Why didn't the prophet just free all war captives? Because he did it twice out if the kindness of his own heart to two Jewish drives during the medinan period and they both reinforced the enemy and posed further risk to Muslims. They don't deserve immediate freedom they were enemies of Muslims who were going to kill them.the critical crime in capitivity the blatant violation of dignity, humiliation, sufferinv etc has always been haram from day one. Only the freedom to leave and go is not there and for justifiable reasons as mentioned ( they are a threat etc)

Slavery (real accurate term is war captive not slavery) is a temporary solution to a problem that only existed in those times.

 

[Shadow]

I think my problem is that I look at the evil shit some Arabs do and equate that to Islam

 

[Hybrid]

that are just so many things wrong with Islamic culture today. many normal things like dating, sex, woman dressing freely ae considered haram and because of terrorism, the worldwide perception of Islam has become more problematic. Islam should be reformed

 

[Jake from State Farm]

I have really had very deep thoughts about the purpose of life and what the hereafter would look like for the last weeks.

I was raised in a non islamic evironment and as teen i never experienced islam at first hand. Now as an adult i have been trying to give it a chance but always got delayed.

It was not until about 5 months ago, i came across a youtube channel called EFdawah and i could easily relate to alot of the things said. My question to you guys whi are muslims what is the most difficult part of being a muslim in the west?

im probably not the best person to reply because i am not the most religous. but ill give you my simple thoughts on this.
hardest part is staying on the deen, at least for me. i grew up in a majority non muslim area.barely any muslims here. i did hang out with other muslims in my area but as i got older, especially towards middle school and high school i wasn't around other muslims often. i fully grew accustomed to western culture. i still am. its my life. i was mostly a cultural muslim. raised in a muslim family, prayed every once in awhile, attened jumah prayer on fridays, and during Ramadan was when i was praying the most.

Islamophobia is a problem here but i honestly haven't faced any serious issues.i just sometimes get shocked looks from non muslim whenever i tell them i am muslim. since media portrays muslims as brown arab terrorist i don't really fit the criteria. to them i was just a muslim dude who watched anime and played video games. the only time i felt kind of nervous about ever attending a masjid was after the paris attacks. A group of armed men showed up to a near by mosque that i attended and just protested outside of it for like a week or two. i didn't attend jumah prayer there for like months.

https://news.vice.com/article/gun-t...y-against-islamization-outside-a-texas-mosque
This the incident

 

[Idil-Beydaan]

that are just so many things wrong with Islamic culture today. many normal things like dating, sex, woman dressing freely ae considered haram and because of terrorism, the worldwide perception of Islam has become more problematic. Islam should be reformed

Islam can’t change and I don’t think it will reform like Christianity or Judaism
That is one of the most important aspects of the deen
Why do you think allah repeatedly revealed and reminded people of how the people of the book (Jews Christian etc..)changed their books.
That is the biggest of sins one can do
Islam cannot be modified, the quraan cannot change. One can say it’s not compatible with today, and I think that’s the point it’s a test from Allah.

 

[Idil-Beydaan]

I didn’t have much struggles growing up in a very religious family. I was also sheltered a lot and home schooled for much of my schooling years. Even after being exposed to different opinions, I chose Islam because of many many reasons. Islam aided me in the dark, helped me through difficult times in my teenage hood and gave me an identity. But what I do differently than my parents or family, I try to understand and research things. I started reading up on the meaning of the quraan and the wisdom behind of many religious acts we do. Although when I told my parents about how they never bothered to explain things but made me a hafidh and taught me so many areas of faith, they say they did teach me tafseer but for me until I stood up and starting buying books and listening to english lectures I feel like I only worshipped my parents before. When I found my spirituality, religious acts became simpler. It wasn’t for anyone but God. But still my parents are still after me they sign me up to classes and push me to Ijazahs (An ijazah (Arabic: الإِجازَة‎, "permission", "authorization", "license") is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such authority. It is particularly associated with transmission of Islamic religious knowledge.) but I refuse politely now I tell them that instead of memorising more things I will go to lectures about the basic faith and Understanding the meaning of the quraan. They’ve taught me a lot, I didn’t find it useful back then but now I find it useful because I know -thanks to all that I’ve learned -what i don't really understand which is like 60% of it. And I used that as my starting point and a map to rebuild my spirituality and truly learn about Islam with true sincerity.

 

[Idil-Beydaan]

I think my problem is that I look at the evil shit some Arabs do and equate that to Islam

That is a common thing
Islam does not equates Arab
It’s a religion for all
But people can’t help making an amalgamation the two because of politics and other reasons.
We believe in the day of Judgement
And on that day everyone will be there. All nations. The nations before the nation of Muhammad. Nations of other ethnicities with prophets of different ethnicities to muhammad. But in the end, regardless of your ethnicity, gender and background. Allah will judge you accordingly and that is to your action in this world. It does not necessarily that an individual who prayed, fasted and payed alms will go to heaven. No! Those people may also go to hell as well. Why you ask? Well maybe he wasn’t sincere with his action or so and so forth. And on the other hand a man whos never prostrated to god can go to Jennah. And there is a man in the prophets time that was given that blessing.
There’s a lovely story about two men of Banu Israel
One was pious and serious about his worship
The other wasn’t at all
One day the former told the latter that he will no go to jennah. Guess who when to hell! The pious man. Why? That is because

 

[Bidaar Wanagsan]

Slavery has no place in Islam, but it does have a place in man made hadiths. Books like Sahih Bukhari and Muslim claim the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) owned sex slaves and beat them. Total blasphemy. Arab slave owners used to castrate blacks to stop them from reproducing, which is why although America has a high black population, Arab states don't have any significant numbers of blacks even though Gulf Arabs had slavery as late as the 1960s, over a hundred years after the West abolished it.

Salafis try to hide this from Westerners that they're trying to convert in order to make their disgusting ideology look not quite so barbarous, just as they never tell them that that if they decide that Islam is not for them after converting, they'll be executed based on man made hadiths that deny freedom of religion.

Other hadiths claim that there used to be verses in the Quran about stoning which were lost when a goat ate it. Another verse that they claim was lost is one that says you can suck women's breasts to become their mahram, a practise which Saudi sheikhs still promote- at first it was ten suckings, but it was reduced to five. A third hadith says that a whole chapter of the Qur'an was lost. Astagfurullah. This is insane, but try telling that to worshippers of "sahih" hadiths.

There is a white YouTuber who used to make dawah videos calling people to Islam, but the inhumanity of these hadiths made him leave the deen and now he makes videos attacking Islam by quoting the prophet's alleged sayings about slavery. It's always man made hadiths that turn people away, never the Quran: