Skip to main content

Please regard this polemic as an exercise in education and not an indulgence in blasphemy. These are questions that were posed to me and are not mine.

 

Note- I know Shaitaan is not available to respond but he can email his responses to me and I will publish them.

 

  1. Which God asks its followers to reaffirm their commitment to him 5 times a day? Is it that they have weak spirits and need to show their commitment?
  2. Why is there a percentage ascribed to the concept of blessings, especially on certain days or in some months (like blessings are doubled during the month of Ramadaan or your chances of getting to heaven increases if you depart this world during that month?
  3. Why is there a sliding scale of blessings for certain acts like blessings are quantifiable and not binary like being pregnant or not being pregnant?
  4. Why is the current state of development of the Muslim world (being so low compared with the West, China and India, etc.) explained away that God is testing his followers? Or is it that this life does not matter and the eternal one after this life matters?
  5. Islam does not brook symbolism - no portraits, not exulting of humans and the human form - yet one must face the Kaaba to pray and Angels and Prophets clearly have a higher status to be venerated? (BTW, this is one of the knock against ISIL by Al Qaeda that some dude declared himself the Caliph of all Muslims because he is the direct descendant of Islam's holiest of Prophets (I may be wrong tat there is a hierarchy amongst God's Prophets, even though it is customary to repeat On whom be peace or ṣalla llāhu ʿalay-hi wa-sallam).

I would encourage other questions and please no flame as this is intended purely to be an academic inquiry.

 

Replies sorted oldest to newest

 

Please regard this polemic as an exercise in education and not an indulgence in blasphemy. These are questions that were posed to me and are not mine.

 

Note- I know Shaitaan is not available to respond but he can email his responses to me and I will publish them.

 

I will take a shot at this based on my understanding.

 

  1. Which God asks its followers to reaffirm their commitment to him 5 times a day? Is it that they have weak spirits and need to show their commitment? Salaah is not to show Allah one's commitment to Him. He is believed to already know that. As the Prophet stated, "Salaah keeps a person away from shameful things". That is the objective. One who truly observe salaah is too pre-occupied with the remembrance of Allah that he avoids getting into trouble. All the matters of numbers and sins and blessings are in the ahadiths so one has to treat them as such.  
  2. Why is there a percentage ascribed to the concept of blessings, especially on certain days or in some months (like blessings are doubled during the month of Ramadaan or your chances of getting to heaven increases if you depart this world during that month? Here again are just stuff determined by the jurists on the strength of the ahadiths. The only numbering given in the Qur'an is where it states that "He that doeth good shall have ten times as much to his credit: He that doeth evil shall only be recompensed according to his evil" There is the other passage abut how one corn grain can multiply into 7 ears bearing 700 grains which is used by the ahadiths in some of their numbering. Same with the value of Ramadan where the 10 times quote above is used to give 10 blessings for each obligatory action and then the 1000 months which I think the Qur'anic passage is using more to demonstrate the value of the actual night that the Qur'an descended the heavens rather than every year's lailatul qadr. The Qur'an is very basic on its advise. Do good deeds and you are rewarded. Make mischief and you get punished plain and simple. It even stated that God does not intend that believers should go through hardships yet we see practices of believers standing and counting how many times they recite the Qul in their lailatul qadr salaah. All made up things to make the practice of Islam difficult which was not what Allah or Muhammad intended. There are a lot of numbering speeches given by imams that if you pay attention to them you will end up with whiplash.
  3. Why is there a sliding scale of blessings for certain acts like blessings are quantifiable and not binary like being pregnant or not being pregnant? As pointed out above, there is really no such thing. Again, because of Allah's intent for believers to not over-exert themselves, people with certain conditions are exempt from certain rituals. It is more about the excuse than the rule.
  4. Why is the current state of development of the Muslim world (being so low compared with the West, China and India, etc.) explained away that God is testing his followers? Or is it that this life does not matter and the eternal one after this life matters? This is where Muslims make a huge mistake. I know I can be accused of using the ahadiths when it is convenient and maybe that is exactly what I do. As a follower of Islam, I used the Qur'an as the barometer for other Islamic materials. The areas of the ahadith that agree with the Qur'anic concepts are fine with me. To this effect, the Prophet advised his followers to work for this world as if they are going to be her forever and work or the hereafter as if they are going to die tomorrow. That is so clear that we are supposed to pretend that we will be here forever so those who are ignoring this world are actually disagreeing with his advise. Unfortunately the religious leaders like it this way because they get to control the minds of the followings. Meanwhile the rest of the world is moving right ahead. I once read that the technology of the press machine was presented to the Muslim world leaders about 200 years before it went into effect but they ignore its importance. Imagine how much more Qur'ans could have been printed and distributed during that time not to mention other books of learning. Muslims need to get with the times. 
  5. Islam does not brook symbolism - no portraits, not exulting of humans and the human form - yet one must face the Kaaba to pray and Angels and Prophets clearly have a higher status to be venerated? (BTW, this is one of the knock against ISIL by Al Qaeda that some dude declared himself the Caliph of all Muslims because he is the direct descendant of Islam's holiest of Prophets (I may be wrong tat there is a hierarchy amongst God's Prophets, even though it is customary to repeat On whom be peace or αΉ£alla llāhu ΚΏalay-hi wa-sallam). The facing of the Kaaba was granted to the Prophet because he wanted a direction to focus on. It was also given to all his followers. More to do with a universal direction/fellowship so to speak. I have yet to meet a Muslim who sees the kaaba as an object of worship. It is never on my mind during salaah and I doubt it is on any other worshipper's. It is probably a good idea that we have it because it give us something uniform since so much around us is so disunited. Islam does not teach that angels have higher standings than humans. It is the other way around. There are some angels who have excelled while there are others who have not. Now prophets are of a higher stature because the belief is that Allah has chosen them. We revere Muhammad because he is our own no different than we would cherish our kids more because they are ours. All prophets had their responsibilities which they fulfilled completely. ISIL are just evil scumbags and even if one of so was a direct descendent of Muhammad it does not mean squat. After all, Abraham was so much different from his father. 

I would encourage other questions and please no flame as this is intended purely to be an academic inquiry.

 

 

FM
Originally Posted by ksazma:
 

I would encourage other questions and please no flame as this is intended purely to be an academic inquiry.

 

 

The two of you are doing an injustice to our religion.

This is not the place reason being majority of the folks here has no basic knowledge of Islam. you two  guys are Islamic knowledgeable to an extent so what will happen its like teaching cOLLEGE MATERIAL TO GRADE SCHOOL STUDENTS.

Chief
Originally Posted by Mitwah:
Originally Posted by Chief:
Originally Posted by skeldon_man:

Chief guh pack some lashes pan Riff baxside. Riff harass de man about posting of a lent message.

Kari need some lash right now.

If Kari want to learn religion from GNI responses then he need more than lash SK.

Chief, this why I like you.

 

I will add further, people like Shaitaan is winning when topics like these are started.

It may come over like it is fun but what Shaitaan and Freak does is simply  constantly mocking muslims and Islam. Calling a bar a masjid is like saying   Scores( topless joint) is   St Patrick's cathedral.

 

I am all for Freedom and will never complain to admin. The thoughts posted here on GNI is a reflection of that poster true self in real life.

 

 

 

Chief
Originally Posted by Kari:

Brother Chief, I do not need to learn about Islam from GNI. I'm interested to hear responses from posters here - Muslim and non-Muslim alike. It's about the responses, not about learning about Islam. These questions are not mine but posed to me - I just paraphrased them for presentation and context.

Posters here are not qualified to answer such complex Islamic questions.

Is like coming to this forum with medical questions, what answers do you expect to get?

If you want to do justice to the person who posed those questions then you should have forwrded to a person who is qualified to answer them. The current Imaam of Masjid Al Abidin studied 8 years at AlAhzar Unversity and I am sure he will be more than happy to answer such questions.

Chief
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
How am I mocking Islam? So called religious men have frequented Tropics, do u want to sweep dat under de rug? De freakin masjid is adjacent that's a fact

Btw, quit bein so righteous you were seen havin beers today. Are hajis allowed to indulge?

This is the danger I am speaking about. You are now swearing that I was having beers today all because I was tagged in a picture at Madison Square Garden having lunch and a beer bottle was in front of me.

How can you answer to yourself and your lord for this type of mischief?

How will you liek someone to scandal your daughter ofr a member of your family  name if  they were tagged in a picture  where there was alcohol.Will it be fair to say that they were drinking alcohol?

Chief
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
leave my daughter outta dis ya hear me, all yuh had to say was de bottle wasn't yours id'a been fine with your answer
No f u ck in need to get personal

So is it not personal when you come and write on a public forum that I was seen me  drinking alcohol? You see how defensive you get when it comes to your very own. when you join Shaitaan( digest the name Shaitaan) to malign , haraas and defame others, they are people's children, parents and brothers and sisters too. Don't you think Minister Manikchand has a father? If your child held a public postion and she is over wight, you will be the first to want to kick sopmeone iff they call her a fat bitch.

Chief
Originally Posted by Chief:
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
leave my daughter outta dis ya hear me, all yuh had to say was de bottle wasn't yours id'a been fine with your answer
No f u ck in need to get personal

So is it not personal when you come and write on a public forum that I was seen me  drinking alcohol? You see how defensive you get when it comes to your very own. when you join Shaitaan( digest the name Shaitaan) to malign , haraas and defame others, they are people's children, parents and brothers and sisters too. Don't you think Minister Manikchand has a father? If your child held a public postion and she is over wight, you will be the first to want to kick sopmeone iff they call her a fat bitch.

Chief, I am not criticising Stingah here. I am glad to see that you have taken the moral high ground here. I have called out some posters here before on calling the lady deragrogatory names, making the same argument about our own family members. You know, some of these guys never learn.

FM

Skeldon man I am not a saint but sometimes we have to take a step and say enough is enough. Stingha is not a bad guy but he do get carried away.

Over the years Shaitaan has been on GNI he has been banned more than any other memeber.

The only reason he is in trouble so many times is because he do not know when to stop. Everything is not joke, people's religion and their family for the most part has to have  some limit.

 

 

Chief
Originally Posted by skeldon_man:
Originally Posted by Chief:
Originally Posted by GT Stingaa:
leave my daughter outta dis ya hear me, all yuh had to say was de bottle wasn't yours id'a been fine with your answer
No f u ck in need to get personal

So is it not personal when you come and write on a public forum that I was seen me  drinking alcohol? You see how defensive you get when it comes to your very own. when you join Shaitaan( digest the name Shaitaan) to malign , haraas and defame others, they are people's children, parents and brothers and sisters too. Don't you think Minister Manikchand has a father? If your child held a public postion and she is over wight, you will be the first to want to kick sopmeone iff they call her a fat bitch.

Chief, I am not criticising Stingah here. I am glad to see that you have taken the moral high ground here. I have called out some posters here before on calling the lady deragrogatory names, making the same argument about our own family members. You know, some of these guys never learn.

Minister Manickchand is a public figure involved in politics. That's what is done on a Political Forum, politicians are ridiculed and being female does not put anyone off limits. Personal attacks on forum members is against the rules of the forum. There is no policy stipulating that female politicians are not to be ridiculed.

Mars
Originally Posted by Chief:

Skeldon man I am not a saint but sometimes we have to take a step and say enough is enough. Stingha is not a bad guy but he do get carried away.

Over the years Shaitaan has been on GNI he has been banned more than any other memeber.

The only reason he is in trouble so many times is because he do not know when to stop. Everything is not joke, people's religion and their family for the most part has to have  some limit.

 

 

I do not criticise religion. I know less of Hinduism than I know of Chritianity. My wife always asked me why I don't know much about the religion I was born in. I always said, it's not your religion; it's the way you treat your fellow man. We are here to help each other survive our daily lives. I have always said, "Keep families out of your insults".

FM
Originally Posted by Chief:

Mars everyone gets carried away when debating politics or religion. However, if I  say something one time or two times and I  realize that it is getting personal then  it is time to stop.

Personal attacks on fellow members I can understand. Politicians are however not off limits regardless if they are women.

Mars
Originally Posted by Mars:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Mars everyone gets carried away when debating politics or religion. However, if I  say something one time or two times and I  realize that it is getting personal then  it is time to stop.

Personal attacks on fellow members I can understand. Politicians are however not off limits regardless if they are women.

Then expect supporters of that politician to either take offense or battle with you.

This week we heard former Mayor  Guliani sayong that President Obama is not patriotic and immediately Mayor De Blassio jumped on him .

Chief
Originally Posted by Chief:
Originally Posted by Mars:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Mars everyone gets carried away when debating politics or religion. However, if I  say something one time or two times and I  realize that it is getting personal then  it is time to stop.

Personal attacks on fellow members I can understand. Politicians are however not off limits regardless if they are women.

Then expect supporters of that politician to either take offense or battle with you.

This week we heard former Mayor  Guliani sayong that President Obama is not patriotic and immediately Mayor De Blassio jumped on him .

Nothing wrong if we argue about politicians. However, this forum has rules against personal attacks on forum members. If I make fun of a PPP politician, I don't see anything wrong if a PPP supporter argues against what I say or make fun of an opposition politician. That's why it's called a political forum. Just don't attack me personally or all hell will break loose after that. This forum is different to public figures having public spats. We have rules which prohibit personal attacks on other members. There are no such rules in person as long as you do not get libelous.

Mars
Last edited by Mars
Originally Posted by Chief:

Unlike you Mars, I am thick skinned and can take attacks.

Anyone can say anything and what I have learn over the years is that  truth  manifests itself after time.

I'm thick skinned too. I just fire back. I don't go running to Admin. 

 

You are thick skinned and you threaten to hunt me down and kick me if I rile you up a lil bit?

Mars
Originally Posted by Mars:
Originally Posted by Chief:

Unlike you Mars, I am thick skinned and can take attacks.

Anyone can say anything and what I have learn over the years is that  truth  manifests itself after time.

I'm thick skinned too. I just fire back. I don't go running to Admin. 

 

You are thick skinned and you threaten to hunt me down and kick me if I rile you up a lil bit?

Thick skin ain't mean that I will not beat you up.

Chief

This thread was meant as an academic exercise.

 

Chief, I read the Holy Quran by the time I was 10 years old.

I studied Comparative Religion at Queen's College in first form.

I spent some time - not enough - reading the transliteration (not translation which has a temporal context) of the Quran in 6th century classical Arabic with a Bahranian classmate at City University in London, UK.  I was steeped in Hegelian Idealist philosophy as well as Marxian dialectics, and thus wanted to interpret the Quran from a dialectical perspective.

 

I mention the above because it isn't that I wanted to have people on GNI teach me about Islam. My mother is a Hajjin (twice). My older brother is a Haji. I wanted to hear academic thoughts on questions that people raise in a temporal context - like modest dress means hijab or burkah necessarily or boxy black fully covered dresses in 140 degrees Fahrenheit as I saw in airo and elsewhere in Egypt? Or would the Caribbean dress suffice?

 

I'm not sure where GT Stingaa and you got into it and you were correct in your responses. GT Stingaaa has as much acknowledged this by stopping the dialog, though his ole ass reference was undignified and doesn't embellish his image here.

 

So let's see this as a discovery of knowledge.

Kari

All this conjecture is due to the misunderstanding that God is male--things would be clarified if you believe that a Goddess is the creator of the universe due to intuition. The Goddess created man for sex and companionship and he is bigger to be physically dominating to her erotically. People reject religion subconsciously because it is unnatural to force your conscience to worship God thinking he is male. God is insecure in his control so he causes man to kill man--man is master of this world and not God and God is jealous of this so he makes man serve him by worshiping him. Any God without a Goddess like Islam and Judaism and Christianity is a *****. Hinduism has female Goddesses. Woman is supposed to be the leader of the household because in her there is sanctity of the pregnancy which sustains creation's life. Can you feel the power of my psychosis (laugh)?

 

Please note that there were attempts by people to eliminate the female gender from our human race by switching the direction of the mind's origin with reference to the body to delete it. I know this because I think they switched my arms because a brand my auntie Radha gave me when cooking Roti when I was young was on the left arm and not the right arm it is presently on. The gender switch was done for the sake of homosexuality and I believe these people were God's chosen--the Jews. 

 

Repent God, worship man.

Ronald Anthony Arjune

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×