Beyond Shahada Options

[Honu]

This post is meant with the utmost respect.

As I understand it, the shahadah is a simple statement in two parts. First "There is on God (and his name is Allah)" and "and Mohammed (swt) is his prophet."

OK, but what if you have doubts about the purity of the Quran and some of the other pillars of Islam?

Anti-Muslims (and you know who your are) are requested to post elsewhere.

[Jim]

This post is meant with the utmost respect.

As I understand it, the shahadah is a simple statement in two parts. First "There is on God (and his name is Allah)" and "and Mohammed (swt) is his prophet."

OK, but what if you have doubts about the purity of the Quran and some of the other pillars of Islam?

Anti-Muslims (and you know who your are) are requested to post elsewhere.

Quite simply, the 5 pillars and six basic beliefs (of which belief in Quran is specified) are what one comes to a realization to which makes one a Muslim.

Doubts are natural and a healthy skepticism enables you to delve into the details and learn more about the faith, its practic, its origins, its texts and their authenticity, etc.

I think that one can accept Islam, the pillars and beliefs, without having full knowledge and with a healthy skipticism as long as he or she has the proper intention in accepting Islam. Let's face it, we don't come this far by taking anyone's word for it. We have to find out what is true on our own. Others can assist in imparting basic knowledge ('ilm) but ultimately we figure out what is right for ourselves.

When I reverted, I didn't understand or have knowledge of a fraction of what I know now. I had some skepticism. However, I made it a point to learn. I trusted in God alone to guide me and took everything people said with a grain of salt... sometimes a few grains

It is how I dealt with the Christians and the Bible when I was a Christian and how I deal with Muslims and the Quran as well. Both on equal footing.

It's nothing that can be forced on people through aggressive dawah, parroting verses, confrontation or whatever. God helps you come to a realization in your heart and assurance that what you are looking at is authentic and the pillars and beliefs are guidance to the right path.

[guardian1]

note to honu - it's "there is NO God but God..." , not "there is on God..."

i'm just sayin'...

[Honu]

Thanks for the correction shiekh guardian.

[Jim]

lol

[Faaz]

This post is meant with the utmost respect.

As I understand it, the shahadah is a simple statement in two parts. First "There is on God (and his name is Allah)" and "and Mohammed (swt) is his prophet."

OK, but what if you have doubts about the purity of the Quran and some of the other pillars of Islam?

Anti-Muslims (and you know who your are) are requested to post elsewhere.

Salaam Honu

Let me first correct the above statement.
There is no god but God
Mohammed (sas) is the prophet of God

Allah(swt) is the Arabic word for the GOD, it is not a name given to God of Muslims as usually thought of by some non-muslims. the word Allah is used by all Arabic speakers muslims, christians and pagans etc for the God.

SWT= subbhana watala which is for Allah(swt) SAS is sallillah hu alhiwaslim which means peace be upon him and is reffered with respect to Prophet Muhammed.

It is customery for muslims to use swt and sas respectively for Allah(swt) and Muhammed(sas).

So by speaking these two sentence with sincerety in front of a muslim a person becomes muslim, shahada means to testify, so basically a person is testifying that he/she believes that there is only one God and Muhammed is His messenger.
basically we are testifying to the oneness of God, The God of Abraham, Moses, david, Jesus and all other prophets know and unknown.

As to having doubt about certain things, as brother Jim said it is human nature to doubt and question everything, Allah(swt) says in the Quran to question, challenge, inspect and satisfy yourself about every thing. Do not follow anything or any advice blindly, Allah(swt) encourages us to use our intellect, be inqusitive.

The only way to remove doubts is to study and ask questions to knowledgeable scholars, and there are many available.
Reading Quran by ourselves is great, but to really undersatnd it we have to either have a teacher or read different tafsirs, and we need to read atleast a couple of tafsirs to actually get the gist of it.

One more aspect of being muslim is practicing moderation, Prophet(sas) said the best is to follow the middle path. that is avoid either exterme. In essence as Allah(swt) says in Quran, we have made this deen(religion) easy for you.

So once a person says his/her shahada, He/she is a muslim. but there are certain obligations on him/her to become a practicing muslim.

1. obligatry prayers 5 times a day
2. Zakat
3. Fasting during Ramadan
4. Hajj

Islam defines anything which is harmful to you, your family, your community, humanity at large and all living things to be sin, as a muslim we are commanded to stay away from sins.

If you have any questions please do not hestitate to ask, I will do my best to answer them, if I dont know the answer I will help you to find the right person who can answer. May Allah(swt) guide you to what is best for you.

Faaz




This post has been edited by Faaz: Jun 30 2008, 09:11 PM

[fatima2003]

Brother you need a guide in your religion, having a good teacher is good... I have 3 sheikh's now i learn form regularly..... once a week on sunday is one for 3 hours we are learn me hadeeth sciences and learning how to rate a hadeeth without help... (not sure how to say this in english) I have another for whom tuesday night is reserved to go through 3irfan (and some saturdays).. and the other is when ever i need him to answer a dumb question and helps me with the little things i don't have down yet perfect..... I will also soon be studying farsi..... but this will be next year i think......

I read in my spare time... anything i can get my hands on to read that concern religion.... usually they are recommended by the sheikh's who help me to learn......If i have 2 minutes i pick up the book and read and i take it with me wherever i go.......

you do not have to devote as much as I do...I am strangely driven..... but take your spare time to learn what your questions are find the answers.... but find them from the scholars....... im serious on this..... find a good good masjid and sit with the shiekh and tell him your feelings and concerns and ask to attend some quran classes etc. He will be happy to help you.....

if I have 3 sheikh's who do all this trouble for me...... and i am a woman....lol.... they will definitely sit with you.... np

This post has been edited by fatima2003: Jun 30 2008, 10:09 PM

[Jim]

Brother you need a guide in your religion, having a good teacher is good... I have 3 sheikh's now i learn form regularly.....

I gave an post to your comment here:

http://islamfactor.org/index.php?showtopic...amp;#entry18015

[jazain]

note to honu - it's "there is NO God but God..." , not "there is on God..."

i'm just sayin'...

finally....someone gets eric, oh sorry, emperor eric, instead of eric getting me.

[jazain]

eric you and i had a discussion nearly a year ago. remember? before ramadan. you thought ramadan would help you choose islam or not. but i see you still have questions. its normal. it took me more than 5 years to make a decision because there were so many things that were just different than what i believed for more than 40 years of my life. its not the easiest thing. sometimes i get a little nervous for ppl who accept islam easily without learning as much as they can because you see some of these ppl stop practicing later or decide islam was just not for them. i know there are ppl who say become a muslim first thats the important step then you can learn later. well no, because some ppl can not reconcile their beliefs with islam. some ppl never agree and then they have the dilemma..do i continue or do i leave islam.

i did not say shahada til i did believe. i spent years fighting against islam. but i felt like a muslim. i asked myself why dont you want to believe jana? i just didnt want to let my old beliefs go. i prayed more and asked for guidance. and somehow, Allahu alim, i did start to believe and i was able to let my old beliefs go. and trust me, that is saying ALOT. i dropped alot of weight at that time (spiritual weight). i felt free. and i could go on to say shahada. but i wont lie, there were times afterwards that i still would have those old thougts, ask myself if i made the wrong choice. its normal and its something that nearly every revert experiences....at least the ones ive spoken to. you can either let those nagging thoughts (shaitan has a lot to do with this) get the best of you, or kick them to the curb and keep trudging forward.

[Romaica]

Life is a constant fight with shaitan (satan) if you truly ask Allah for guidance He will help you. Personally there were times when my iman was low, mind you I'm a born Muslim, but I NEVER stopped believing in Allah. All I asked for is for guidance, strength and help and alhamdulillah I got it.
My point is that its natural to have doubts, some bad thoughts from shaitan even if you were born & raised Muslim, nobody said shaitan was an easy enemy.
Be objective and open to accepting other ideas and insah'Allah Allah will guide you to the right path.