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Then they're missing the whole point of the prayers. It's not the physical ritual that is the goal, though it is certainly all-important that you do it right (if only as an expression of respect to the Deity that you are dedicating this prayer to^note It is our belief that during prayer, a Muslim is about the closest thing he can ever get to Allah. If were headed to have a personal meeting with your president/prime minister/monarch (and assuming that you don't hate his/her guts), you would want to dress in your finest clothes and make sure you move and act in the most respectful and well-mannered way, right?); it's about the whole ritual inducing you to reflect upon yourself, what you have done, and what you plan(ned) to do in the future. The Quran explicitly talks about how the prayer is supposed to result in the Muslim's faith and piety being reinforced through the reminder of Allah's omnipresence, greatness, and many other such things that escape my mind at the moment. If it does not result in that, then the only "benefit" the Muslim gains from performing the prayer is that he did what was required from him; he does not earn any of the... "virtue points", I guess is the closest made-up equivalent I can come up with in English, that are tallied for weighing at Judgment Day against accrued "sin points" from committing evil deeds.

BTW, someone on this site had asked a question about the hijab, and my answer then has a lot of relevance to the expected counter-response to my reaction above. Unfortunately, I don't remember whether it was in a thread or in a PM, and so can't cite it directly. I do remember the basic gist of my argument, though: If you have a fresh apple, would you keep it exposed to the elements, or would you make sure to put it in a well-sealed container to prevent it from rotting quickly? If you have a jewel that you consider very precious to yourself, would you keep it out in the open where everyone and their mother can put their grabby hands on it, touch it all over, and ruin its beautifully shiny surface with the imprints of their probably grimy fingers? Or do you keep it in a glass container, put rope/cord barriers around it, and warning signs not to touch the container or remove/touch the jewel without express permission from yourself?

This the core of why the modesty standards for women are more bodily extensive than for men: Women are considered that more precious as human beings than men are. So when Islamophobes accuse us Muslims of gender discrimination, one could say that they are ironically correct for the wrong reasons, because it's technically men who are "discriminated against" in essence.

edited 6th Jan '15 5:42:56 PM by MarqFJA

Assalamu Alaikum!

So, I've been lurking this thread for a while and never posted for some reason. But, anyways, I've been Muslim my whole life , not that that matters or anything..

edited 10th May '15 8:10:29 PM by MacronNotes

... Macron? I didn't know you were Muslim.

No one did because I never said I was until now.

The holy month has come again this year. Stay strong guys!

-pokes thread awake-

To keep this thread from getting stale again... I'll introduce a topic.

What's your favorite surah(s) to read in the Quran and why?

... Well, that's a tough question. It would help if I actually memorized a substantially large portion of the Quran's surahs. (Which I do not, if it wasn't obvious.)

I don't either. The only ones I can remember on hand are some of the Juz-amma ones which is not a surprise since a couple of them have no more than 10 ayats...

For me, it's Al-Insyirah/Al-Inshirah. It's something I mentally recite whenever I'm going through times of stress - "Surely, with each difficulty there is ease".

Also, on an unrelated note, my older posts in this thread was...rather crass. *facepalm*

Al-Balad for me. It's fairly short as well, but the central theme of doing good instead of losing yourself in your own problems is something beautifully uplifting.

Welp, fasting is over - Eid Mubarak, all!

An interesting answer to the oft-asked question on Islam's compatibility with the theory of evolution — more specifically, human evolution.

Summary:

1. All humans came from Adam and Eve, who were created by direct divine intervention without biological parents whatsoever.
2. All life other than humans are subject to the law of natural selection and the consequential process of species evolution (which, implicitly, also applies to the theory of common descent), with the explicit caveat that such laws and processes are things that God put into place from the very beginning like He did with all other things in the universe, not something that emerged independently of God's designs.
3. There's nothing in the scriptures that contradicts the possible existence of any number of ancient ape species that evolved into bipedal and large-brained tool-users long before Adam and Eve's descent to Earth (heck, modern chimpanzees have been seen using tools from their natural environments, like sticks and rocks!). However, as stated in Point #1, such animals could not have been the ancestors of the human species.

Hey guys wha's up!

I'm doing a research about progressive all timey characters and I would like your help.

As you know, muslim characters have,relatively recently being accepted in mainstream media (Faisa and Ms Marvel to name a few).

But I'm wondering if ther ever was a cool muslim role model character during the time most people wasn't as accepting with fictional muslim fictional rolemodels. When everyone wasn't accepting of them (Someone during the 40' (or earlier) or maybe in the 60's at the latest). A book, a comic, or a film would be cool.

The thing is that I want to give him or her the spotlight!

Thank you for your help!

edited 22nd Oct '15 10:53:08 PM by RPGLegend

Hey guys! I'm actually agnostic, but I have a question (possibly a stupid question) about Islam and I figured this was the best place for me to ask.

Let's say that I talk a bit with a Muslim woman either IRL or online, and I find out that we believe some of the same things. (Political, not religious.) She seems pretty cool to me.

My question is: should I ask her out, or should I not?

EDIT: To elaborate, I haven't had much luck finding out what to do via Google. I'd normally assume it depended on the person and how religious they were, and perhaps that's the correct assumption. But I've seen stuff like "Muslims don't do the dating thing" and "Muslims don't date non-Muslims". On the other hand, I just in the last few minutes came across somebody's blog entry commenting on how there are Muslims dating non-Muslims...which this person thought was a bad thing.

On top of that, two people having different beliefs can always be a potential obstacle to a relationship. I do know some things about Islam, like only eating halal meat and no drinking booze. I do drink sometimes, and while I'd never try to convince anybody that they should drink too, I do wonder if it could be a problem. Even if I avoided drinking around her.

There are some other things I'm curious about, but those can wait until later, I guess.

edited 24th Oct '15 3:32:41 PM by KilgoreTrout

I'm not the best-versed in these matters but here's my two cents:

Yes, Muslims don't do the dating thing. In Islam, we believe that when two people go on a date, the third one present is Satan. So if you wish to know more about her, do it in the vicinity of her parents, or ask one of her friends to come along.

The only people outside of their faith that Muslims are allowed to marry are Christians and Jews, and even then this is restricted to Muslim husbands and non-Muslim wives. So if you do end up falling for her, you'll have to convert to Islam first.

Yeah, pretty much. Of course, there are a not-so-insignificant number of self-proclaimed Muslim individuals and families who aren't so observant of that (and possibly of other Islamic teachings).

Thanks guys. I'm glad I know now, even if it does have me kind of bummed.

(Oh well, if I can survive not being able to date certain people because of Incompatible Orientation, I can survive this too...)

I know it's been a year, but anyone still out there?

I'm here. What's up?

Nothing in particular. I'd never been to the forums and I was just browsing through when I found this group. It was pretty neat to find, so I thought I'd check for activity.

And of course, Ramadan Kareem.

edited 27th Jun '16 4:01:14 PM by SoapheadChurch

Hey! Ramadan Kareem to you, too!

Eid Mubarak everyone! Give a moment today to thank Him for another year well lived, connect with your loved ones, and spare a thought - or if you could, a hand - for your brothers and sisters worldwide.

Something I tried to keep in mind every day while fighting through a major depressive episode last summer break. It's something I've been struggling with for half my life, pretty much, and sometimes I feel like a failure for being unable to fend it off for good and letting it interfere with my life so much. But maybe there's no trick to it - we're all tested as suits our strength and ability, after all.

Non-Muslims' lack of knowledge on Islam is really starting to annoy me. Sharia Law is always used as shorthand as "look how terrible Islam is". Feminists don't understand that women are just as valued as men in Islam. The Quran and some of the more archaic laws are always taken out of context and twisted to fit other people's agenda. It's difficult to correct such widespread misconceptions on the Internet without getting shut down by antis. Moreover, it's hard to do these things nowadays when you've got extremists like ISIS running around, and they are seen as the representation of Islam instead. While clarification by scholars is always a good thing, it rarely ever makes it beyond the Muslim community. It's also sad when ignorant and intolerant hardcore Muslims end up driving away people from Islam. Sorry for the rant but I don't know how much longer I can keep it to myself.

Don't be sorry, for I too share your grievances, and it's good to know that I'm not alone in this on this site.