U think islam is a STRICT religion, bcz of things like music is forbidden (which is not 100% accurate, bcz some types of music is allowed)? OMG, how hard would ur life be without music??!!!
Life isn't hard without music - I went without music for the first 13 years of my life. Country music drove me mad. It wasn't until I began listening to the radio on my own that I found it enjoyable. I only have one life to live, and I feel that while I'm here I might as well enjoy it to some extent. I like to think of it as making the best out of something that's full of misery and despair. It was also suggested that music can stay in your head and lead to... shirk, I believe? Well, for some maybe, but I have a terrible time just memorizing lyrics. I don't have this problem when I need to focus on something else.
I assume ur a christian right.
Not entirely correct. In fact I find many Christians aggravating but as long as they're not hurting anyone that's their business (By aggravating I mean the notion that people lived with dinosaurs and so on, the "bible thumpers" and the sheep who are scared to ask themselves questions about their religion).
Well do u know the ten commandments? Have u followed them all? I doubt that u have (dont get me wrong-im not judging u). But u accuse other muslims of not following their religion and at the same time ridicule those that do.
I know the ten commandments, asking me if I can recite them all is going to end badly, and asking me if I follow all of them I can't say that I do, but if you ask the Jews about the Ten Commandments (I was looking over some Jewish forums earlier), they'll tell you that the Ten Commandments apply only to Jews - the Gentiles (non-Jews) need only follow the
Noahine Laws, which number 7 laws in all and which all mankind is meant to abide.
Your statement makes no sense... It is like if I say "You (Sacred_Thouth) study and learn English, but yet you don't know it nor understand it"... Could you please convey your logic here??? You seem to have lost me!!
Let me clarify: What I meant was, since Arabic is meant for
all Muslims to know, and if we remember that
not all Muslims speak Arabic as their native tongue, it can be much harder to understand. Let me illustrate. Let's say, "I am a Muslim born in America. My parents speak English and my native language is English. I have professed the Shahada and now I am learning Arabic so I can truly understand the Qur'an." Okay, but now I have to learn an entirely new language and I have to understand all the nuances and all the complexities of it, I have to have a dictionary handy and - let's say I do attain a working grasp - I still doubt I'd be able to fully comprehend it for many, many years. And even then, there's a chance I can walk away with incorrect ideas from it.
Let me illustrate another example. "I am from India and my parents are Muslims, and I was born a Muslim. My native language is Hindi but as a good Muslim I must also know Arabic to understand the language." Now, let's say I read the Qur'an cover to cover, and I know all the Arabic words. Do I really
know what I've read? It's open to debate. I hypothesize that one reason this extremism among the Taliban may stem partially from this.
Furthermore, "I have read the Qur'an, and I can bring up any defense against your allegations/arguments/misconceptions with a handy quote." I truly believe for some, it is a handy "get out of a discussion free card." You have your Qur'an, but can you (an ambiguous "you" as I am not pointing to anyone in particular) can maintain a philosophical debate on it, because you actually know what it is you're quoting?
Moving on: God and God Alone knows who and who will not enter Heaven, it's part of a facet of theology called Predestination, in which God knows who will and will not enter Heaven before they are even born. This is also embraced by Protestants of the Christian denomination. The concept of Predestination seems a little restricting to me - it shows that even though God is all-knowing, it means that some (or many of us) will have no chance of entering into Heaven regardless of how noble and just and worshipful we live our lives. I don't of course feel that this is an excuse to be godless and not care, but at the same time it makes me wonder if you can't know for certain, what are you potentially wasting your time for?
I feel that not only did God give 3 different books to 3 different groups of people, He also gave those books to those people because it suited them best. For the Jews God gave the Torah, for the Christians He gave the Bible, and for the Muslims He gave the Qur'an. Each group is very different and yet, very much the same. I feel that each of these Books relate to the experiences of each of those groups, and so I find it hard to see that any one group can be any more or less valid than the other. Oh, and a fun fact: Christians did not call themselves "Christians" for a long time (300 years I think?) Until then, they were simply "Jews that believed that the Messiah had come." Judaism was the parent of Christianity and in many ways that can be seen in Catholicism (a popular joke, "Nobody can guilt their children better than a Jewish or Catholic mother"
)
I'm more of one to think that even though God is all knowing that our deeds and our merits play some part, no matter how great or how large, in influencing our entry or denial into paradise. But I am also one to think that God loves his creation too much to let us all perish in Hellfire for all eternity - If God is Just, then it seems fair to assume that He will make us pay our dues until we are cleansed of them and are finally able to join the righteous.
I KNOW this is blasphemous and heretical, but before you point that out, know that I've gotten the same thing from Christians as well. Everything I said makes me wonder.
Ultimately, I feel it fair to think that if anything, God gave these Books to these people as a means of living a righteous life,
not as a means of saying who is right and who is not. If someone feels right in their heart, good, if they are "unrighteous," why take it upon yourself to insist the other person is wrong, is that not between that person and God? - as some of you have tried to do with me? - I know that there's a handy quote floating around that some of you are eager to share with me, but it's like I say to Mormons who try and convince me to join their religion: "If you believe we are all going to Heaven anyway, why are you trying so hard to get me to join you?" (Mormon belief is that everyone is going to Heaven regardless of how good or bad you are in life).
