I'm a Muslim, ask me anything

[UnderBlue]

So I thought I'd join the bandwagon too! I'm a Muslim, and ask me anything. :)

(Please note: I'm very happy to answer questions about my beliefs and my experiences, but not interested in debating issues or bashing please. Please start your own thread if you want to do that. Thanks)

Also, please bear with me if I take a while to reply. I have pelvic pain today and a trip planned to the beach tomorrow, so apologies in advance if I take a while to reply. I will try my best :)

[babba2014]

Hmm, for some reaaons Mumsnet didn't show me there are several other pages, so aploit if your question was already answered.

[babba2014]

@racingsnail1

Allahu Akbar simply means God is the greatest.

Over the last 10+ years I guess we've just had to deal with it being used at times like that. We can't do anything about it. People now are afraid of that term! What can we do except ignore and keep justifying our religion against the crazy people who use God's name?

We say Allahu Akbar in prayer, when going up the stairs, after prayer and there's a huge reward for saying it because every time we do, it is securing another thing for us in Paradise. Never fear it, for the majority of Muslims who follow Islam properly and not ruin its core which is peace (and not terror) use it in the most calming of ways daily and these things cannot be seen in the news.

[babba2014]

@chickedychicked

Very interesting question! We can always question Islam despite being Muslims but we shouldn't be arrogant. Sometimes we talk for the sake of talking and questioning and I am guilty of this but if we did sit and learn with a scholar, our kinds would be at rest.
God revealed the Qur'an to His most favourite creation to ever exist. We are told in this very Qur'an, the book/word of God to follow Muhammad (peace be upon him). Example:

Allah showed great kindness to the believers when He sent a Messenger to them from among themselves to recite His Signs to them, purify them and teach them the Book and Wisdom, even though before that they were clearly misguided. (Surah Al `Imran: 164)

And there are other examples. So how can we follow him without looking at the hadeeths? How else can we follow him? Where would we find the info on how to follow him? Because it's not all in the Qur'an.

The Qur'an tells us to pray, to fast etc but doesn't tell us how to. How can we know how to pray the five daily prayers without looking at the hadeeth? How do we fast without knowing what we can or can't do? When does it start and end? We know nowadays people fast but they still drink water but if we look at the hadeeth we will see that it is abstaining from everything. Or we know in prayer we have to first make an intention, then raise our hands, then say a prayer, then the first Surah in the Qur'an, then another Surah, then go down in ruku, say a prayer, stand up, go down etc etc. How would we know how the Prophet prayed without looking at the hadeeth? The hadeeth is where we find how to follow the same Muhammad mentioned in the Qur'an for everlasting happiness in the hereafter :) Wow, this post may sound quite stern but it's not, read it with a smile :)

The hadeeth shows his best example, how he dressed (simply), his advice on how to live in this world (like a traveller on a journey), how to talk to others around us, manners - manners play a huge part in our religion. God does not need to mention all of this in the Qur'an, he sent His messengers to explain all that to us. The Prophet Muhammad is so beloved to God that even before we were created his name was written on God's arsh (let's translate that as throne, doesn't mean God sits there!). When Adam ate from the forbidden tree, he looked up to ask for forgiveness from God and saw the name Muhammad. If we were to ignore his words, ways and the way the people around him lived, we would be very deprived.

I've studied several hadeeth books from start to finish. They have the most amazing advice, examples and stories and to ignore it would be a real shame. I could take a pic of them if you wish :)

[chickedychicked]

I get what you're saying babba but what about where it states in the Quran that the quran is all you need and is final and complete?
The hadeeths contain very good advice I agree with that but why would God wait 200+ years after the quran was written, to give us that information? And if it contains anything that is a must for a Muslim then why's it not important enough to be in the Quran?
God doesn't make mistakes so why miss all this info from a book that states that this is all you need?

[UnderBlue]

Hi everyone! Hope you are all well and enjoying the great weather

I received a PM (and hence an email notification) from the lovely @Owlet08 with some questions, so I've returned to answer them. If any of you have any questions, please do PM me the link to your question, or let me know you have posted it, and I will answer it.

Sorry just realised she's asked me to reply as PM rather than answer them here! So I will do that now.

@chickedychicked I have answered this question in this thread. I went to look and realised you have already asked this question and I already answered it. I've copied it below anyways as you may have missed it:

You asked:

^I have a question, I want to say I hope it's not offensive to you firstly.
I've read the quran in English with my exDH many times and it states that there is no book but the quran (that you need to follow) and everything a Muslim needs to do/know is in the Quran, so why do a lot of Muslims follow hadiths(books written many hundreds of years after the quran was sent down)?^

That is a very good question, and definitely not offensive!

Hadiths are collections of what the Prophet Muhammad said. These were recorded down in his life and after it. The hadith books were compiled together around 200 years after his death, but they were extremely strict rules about which sayings of his were included, as obviously time had passed (and people do make things up or mishear), and despite being written down, someone could have added or edited the sayings. However, the rules were very very stringent about what would be included in the major hadith books. For each of the sayings in that book, all the narrators had to be recorded and each narrator's profile was checked to see if they were honest people. So each saying goes something like this: I heard from X who heard from X who heard from X who was sitting next to the Prophet in the mosque and heard Prophet Muhammad say: "The best among you is the best towards his wife ... (just an example)." The compiler did a multtiude of things to ensure its authenticity, including checking the profiles of each of these people in this chain. If there was ever doubt, he would not include this saying in his book. For example:

Imam Bukhari (the famous hadith compiler) traveled to meet a man in order to take hadith from him. But he saw this man calling his horse with an empty vessel in his hand, as if there was food in that vessel, moving it in order for the horse to come near so he can grab the horse. So Imam Bukahri asked him, “What is in that vessel?” And the man said, “Nothing.” Then Imam Bukhari said, “By Allaah, I will not take hadith from you, because you are a liar.”

Similarly, each hadith had to be narrated by multiple all authentic people. So if he found one person saying this is what the Prophet said, and despite having sound people in that chain, because it is just by one person, he would not include it in the hadith book. It would have to be a hadith that he heard directly from many people with all souund narrations, and it was a well known hadith too. And they had to fulfill ALL of the above criteria (and others too, I can't remember at the top of my head) to be included in the hadith book, and there were very very stringent rules, and the chains (and the hadith content itself) are constantly academically critiqued (and the critique is always welcomed), even now, almost 12,000 years later.

Coming back to your original question as to why Muslims follow the hadiths (the prophet's sayings) as well as the Qur'an is because a) the prophet's sayings explain the Qur'an (and never contradict them), b) there are some things that are explained in the Prophet's sayings and not in the Qur'an, like how exactly to pray salah (the 5 daily prayers). So you can't understand the Qur'an without hadith, and c) God commanded Muslims in the Qur'an to follow the Prophet:
"Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah , then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (Surah 3:31)

Sorry I went on a bit blush, I hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions smile

[LornaMumsnet]

We're just moving this over to our AMA topic.

[Mssal]

Aoa i am very worried as i have come to know about lgbt being taught to primary school students what do u say about it and also qny good tips to raise good kids in this society

[Xenia]

You can raise good kids by teaching them if there is a God she makes plenty of people gay and that is part of her plan and if you deny that you deny the wisdom of that God if there is one.

[Grinchly]

And, if these men have little respect for the white girls, they will have even less respect for their women at home.

This is an interesting comment OP , can you expand a little ?

[MeadowHay]

A few months ago DH suggested I start a thread like this, I was too afraid of abusive so I didn't, but it's a good job I didn't anyway as you've already done one around the time my DD was born! And it's comforting see for the most part people were respectful.