Messages

1

General Issues / Questions / Re: to consider on ablution

« on: August 10, 2020, 07:45:57 AM »

From verse 5:6

clean your faces and your hands to {almarafiq}
and wipe with your heads and [wipe] your feet to {alkaabayn}
and if you were to be avoided then {ttaharuu}

and if you were sick or on {safar} or someone came from [among] you from {ghaait} or {lamastom} the women then you didn’t find water then {tayammamu ssa3idan tayiban} then wipe with your heads and [with] your hands from it.

How wiping works:
let’s take for example a table. Let’s say the table is wet from cleaning with “water”.

When it is said wipe your hand, then your hand should be wiped.
But if it is said wipe with your hand,then you should wipe something with your hand.

We wipe the table with a cleaner, the cleaner afterwards is wet.
I hope you see my point here.

I originally wanted to talk about this verse:
someone came from [among] you from {ghaait}

when I was looking at the structure of the verse I found out that this one start with 3rd singular compared to others 2nd plural.
Which made me think that the 3rd person is a condition for “us”
literally if someone from us came from {ghaiit} then WE should {tayammamu} if water not found

what do you think?

Salam youmu,

Good catch!

I check the arabic

بِوُجُوهِكُمْ

you are correct!

Now that you have pointed this out, I will need to "bookmark" this verse and contemplate on alternative understanding which is able to explain the wordings.

May God increase us in knowledge.


Wassalam,
Ade

2

Introduce Yourself / Re: Hello, I'm an Ex-Atheist convert to Islam

« on: August 10, 2020, 07:30:11 AM »

Salam everyone 

I'm not new to Islam. I converted many years ago.

I'll give a brief background of myself: My family is a conservative Evangelical Christian family from the west coast. I became an atheist after I read Richard Dawkin's book titled "The God Delusion" and I was convinced God did not exist. This was a common trend among my friends too--this person had much influence in the culture. At the time, this book's arguments seemed extremely well formed and sound. As such, I began joining atheists in online debate against theists. I became familiar with the works of Sam Harris, Hitchens, Dennet. These are other popular atheists--and at the time, they the only vocal atheists with a popular presence. I went to college with a Muslim and we'd have many debates on atheism vs theism. Overtime, I remember him telling me that I should look at both sides of the argument. I am debating online theist laymen and that I should be reading the works of academic atheists and theists--the postings of the laymen are nowhere near the academic debates on religion. So I started doing this and overtime, the arguments against theism I've known have been shown to be poor arguments--even by academic atheists! As I started reading the works of theists, I began to slowly lose my faith atheism. It didn't seem so clear cut as the popular atheists made it. It was too ambiguous and it was not apparent at all that God doesn't exist.

One major thing I've gained from this research is I've gotten myself well situated with academic philosophy and critical analysis. This will carry on with me for life. After a while, I saw that The proposition [God does not exist] is itself a faith about the nature of reality. And as I became more and more convinced by the theist arguments, I became a theist. However, I began researching religions. I had more of curiosity of the eastern religions so I started to focus initially on them-- I definitely looked heavily into Wicca, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha'.

So much more research took place, and ultimately (years later), I became Muslim. The funniest thing about my conversion to Islam is that it was catalyzed by the website "AnsweringIslam". This is a website that is critical of Islam and attempts to show contradictions in the Quran or scientific errors in the Quran. There are so many of those websites, but the one that I was using was answeringIslam. I was trying to convince myself Islam was false. Ultimately, through the Islamic responses to answeringislam, Islam and the Quran gained more credibility. I was noticing that Muslims always refer to the original Arabic--so I looked into learning Arabic--nothing significant, but just enough to be able to understand word-for-word translations and be more careful with the Arabic. I found the Quran gained so much credibility and so did Islam after my studies.

This is just a short explanation. This was a long journey and nothing happened overnight. This was all a gradual transition back to theism and then to Islam. This happened over 10 years.

But over those years, I've learned many skills in critical analysis, reasoning, and textual criticism.

I'm not new to this forum either! I'm not much of a poster on forums. I used this forum to search certain alleged contradictions in the Quran and to see your responses.

What prompted me here first is an ex-Muslim who posted on ShiaChat (this is a shia forum, although I'm not Shia, I do also check out that forum--I look at many forums) about 13:3 being a contradiction with science and so on. I noticed that the responses to him were very weak, I also noticed that online no one mentioned double fertilization before. There are usually websites like "miracles of the Quran" that cover this, but I didn't see it covered. So I created an account and debating with him on ShiaChat. Ultimately, he stopped responding. I also looked at this forum and still, I see no one answered 13:3 here! So I just copied and pasted from what I wrote on ShiaChat on here. And then I went on all the other Islamic forums I know and posted the same thing. This wasn't talked about enough by Muslims, so I wanted to make sure that each forum had this information. I did not want to be quiet about this because many anti-Muslims will keep on using this to show a contradiction, I want to ensure Muslims have the tools to defend Islam. That's what brought my here as a poster 

Salam mclinkin94,

Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it!


Wassalam,
Ade

3

Questions/Comments on the Quran / Re: seven heavens

« on: August 01, 2020, 09:14:27 PM »

salam everyone

i would please like your opinion as to what you think the seven heavens are

i take the verses literally and indeed there are seven heavens, but the question is, can we know/observe them?

surah 71 verse 15 has nuh pbuh telling his people:

“did you not see how God created seven heavens in layers?”

nuh pbuh tells his people “did you not see how..” ... so does that mean perhaps the seven heavens are “visible” to us and we could observe them? (or maybe they were visible to nuh pbuh people only? or to no one?)
however the thing is that nuh pbuh uses the word “how” ... so  rather than “do you not see the seven heavens”, nuh pbuh says “did you not see HOW (kayfa)...”  so what do you guys think is meant with the word “how”?

any comments please welcome

thank uuu

peace

Salam tutti_frutti,

[71:15] “Do you not see how God created seven heavens in layers?”
[71:16] “And He made the moon to illuminate in them, and He made the sun to be a lamp?”


If we read further the next verse, I believe the seven heavens are visible/observable by us as (not only by people of Nuh).

The reason is obvious:
- first, we can observe the moon and the sun (they are in seven heavens)
- second, if God is asking "do you not see/understand/think/consider/know HOW ...", then it implies the ones being addressed have (or will have - since Quran often mentions things that can be appreciated better in far future) the ability to understand the HOW.


As for what the seven heavens are, you might want to check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3ttEA1rbs

The above is the interpretation that is only possible in our age with the advance of science and technology (I am sure there are other interpretations as well and I am all ears to hear all of them). People in the past definitely have different interpretation and people in the future might have different interpretation as their science and technology advance further.


Wassalam,
Ade

4

Questions/Comments on the Quran / Re: The fruits He made in pairs. (13:3)

« on: August 01, 2020, 08:25:01 PM »

I am really sorry, I have been reading this post and I got so sad that people are making a problem about 13:3. I just have to discuss this here. Please forgive me for bringing back an old topic, but I NEED to address it because this thread had no closure!!

Salam mclinkin94,

There is nothing wrong about replying an old thread especially in this case you bring insights to others.

Like you said in "introduce yourself" section, "Don't leave any thoughts that support Islam unsaid!"   

Actually, it is not a contradiction, and in fact, it is a major miracle--if you understand the science behind plant development.

Let's start with:

[Quran 36:36] Exalted is He who created (in) pairs all things.

This is an example of the inferiority of the English translation compared to the original Arabic. This verse does not say "in" pairs all things. Rather, if you look at a word for word translation, it says "the pairs", not "in pairs". That is, Allah created "all the pairs" of the Earth. i.e He created all the existing pairs, so what.

kol=all

In arabic you can say "kol alazwaj or "alazwaj kollaha" interchangeably.

[Quran 51:49] And of all things We created two pairs...

In Arabic, (مِنْْ) “min“ could mean "some of"

Definitions:  from, some, some of .

Some of, of. Indicating a segment of; a portion of. In other words, "Some of all things we created pairs" in essence: "a part of all things are made into pairs".

[Quran 13:3] and from all of the fruits He made therein two mates

Same thing as above. A part of all the fruits have in them pairs. In other words: of all the fruits, there are pairs within them (fi-ha). This could be referring to some of the fruits with seeds which are diploid (have two sets/pairs of chromosomes, from the male and female components of the plant)

Believe it or not, this verse is a significant MIRACLE. It is something, the prophet Muhammad could not have known! Let me explain. This verse uses the terminology "zawjayni ith'nayni"--which is weird terminology. Zawjayni means "two"/"pair" and Ith'nayin also means "two". That means 4 in total! (2 pairs)! What???! That doesn't make any sense?!! Actually it does:

Double fertilization: "The launch of seed development in flowering plants (angiosperms) is initiated by the process of double fertilization: two male gametes (sperm cells) fuse with two female gametes (egg and central cell) to form the precursor cells of the two major seed components, the embryo and endosperm, respectively." From: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2014.00452  

This is a peer reviewed scientific article, so cut the BS from those atheist/anti-Muslim websites that claim this Quranic verse is a contradiction because plants only have 1 sperm and 1 egg and that no plants have 2 pairs of sperm and eggs. WRONG THEY ARE!! Double fertilization happens in some fruits (not single fertilization, DOUBLE fertilization). I cannot believe the stupidity and ignorance of anti-muslim apologists and the BS they spew on their websites and forums!

Now, did 7th century Arabs have a concept of double fertilization? How did Muhammad (pbuh) know??
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems to be that Allah is appealing to 7th century Arabs' astonishment with duality/dualism of the world and is saying "you see that thing that you are astonished by?--Allah created it". Allah said this in such a way to appeal to 7th century Arabs' dispositions while not making it a contradiction for future generations. Allah may have wanted to make it sound like to the 7th century Arabs that he was talking about duality in the world (Quran must support 7th century belief by relating to their dispositions) AND the objective nature of reality that will be discovered through science). If Allah said "and everything that exists in the heaven and the Earth are made in pairs", that would be a clear scientific error, but notice how the Quran was careful to avoid this. It is only human interpretation that messes things up; It is only the English translators that mess things up.

Thanks for the insights!


Wassalam,
Ade

5

Introduce Yourself / Re: Hello, I'm an Ex-Atheist convert to Islam

« on: August 01, 2020, 08:14:20 PM »

Salamu Alaikum. This site is not new to me at all--I've looked at the search function many times in the past and I must say that your posts here have ultimately led to my conversion to Islam.

Thank you very much and please do not silence your voice or your thoughts online--it helps many. Don't leave any thoughts that support Islam unsaid!

Salam mclinkin94,

 

If you don't mind, would you share the story of your turning point from atheist to islam?


Wassalam,
Ade

6

Questions/Comments on the Quran / Re: Zani

« on: July 29, 2020, 11:55:56 PM »

I commited zina 4 years ago.Can i still considered as 'zaniya'? I dont know arabic and i dont know if this world means who had comitted zina or who still commits zina.I dont do it anymore.And i know 24:3 .Can somebody fluent in arabic help me? I am wondering this because i want to marry someone and he never commited zina.Can we marry after i repent?

Salam sister asdfg,

If you don't mind, would you clarify a bit on what you did 4 years ago? Perhaps what you did does not fall under zina

You might want to have a look at the discussion in the following thread:

https://free-minds.org/forum/index.php?topic=12031.msg89825#msg89825


Wassalam,
Ade

7

Questions/Comments on the Quran / Re: Al Quran - Structural Analysis attempt

« on: July 29, 2020, 09:47:53 PM »

Salam Iyyaka,

I am looking forward to the English version of your work (I check the pdf it is still under construction).


Wassalam,
Ade

8

General Issues / Questions / Re: The fuel of hell and the new life forms of heaven

« on: July 29, 2020, 10:11:32 AM »

salam

regarding the jinn and angels to be of same creation, there is a verse that makes me actually think perhaps no (if anyone can help)

i forgot the verse number but it was when The God tells us He asks the angels if humans took them as allies to which the angels reply no humans took the jinn as allies

does that separate the creations into angels and jinn rather than angels being jinn that were given control or jinn being not achieving rank of angels?

Not quite as per what you described ...but maybe these are the verses that you are looking for?

[34:40] And on the Day when We gather them all, then We will say to the malaikah/controllers: “Was it you that these people used to serve?”
[34:41] They will say: “Be You glorified. You are our Master, not they". Nay, they were serving the Jinn; most were believers to them.

9

General Issues / Questions / Re: The fuel of hell and the new life forms of heaven

« on: July 29, 2020, 09:57:36 AM »

Salam Ayman,

Sorry a little bit out of topic ...I just check your website: http://www.quran4peace.org/ (English section)

I am looking forward to the completion of all chapters in English (so far only 3 chapters are available in English).


Wassalam,
Ade

10

General Issues / Questions / Re: When were we dead as per 2:28?

« on: July 29, 2020, 09:21:08 AM »

Peace Ade

Then how do we explain 40:11 if the first Lifeless/dead state was not by causing death.

40:11 They will say, "Our Lord, You have made us die twice, and You have given us life twice. Now we have confessed our sins. Is there any way out of this path?"

Salam seekingtruth1111,

[2:28] How can you reject God when you were lifeless [perfect verb] and He brought you to life [perfect verb]? Then He makes you lifeless [imperfect verb], then He brings you to life [imperfect verb], then  to Him you will be returned [imperfect verb].

Context: in this life
First lifeless => completed/done (when we were nothing, we were lifeless)
First life => completed/done (our current life)
Second lifeless => not yet completed/to be done (we will be lifeless)
Second life => not yet completed/to be done (we will be brought to life)

[40:11] They will say: “Our Lord, You have made us lifeless twice [perfect verb], and You have given us life twice [perfect verb]. Now we have confessed our sins. Is there  any way out of this state?”

Context: in the hereafter
lifeless twice => completed/done (when we were nothing + when we were lifeless after first life)
life twice => completed/done (first life + brought to life in hereafter)


Wassalam,
Ade