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 29:14
And We certainly sent Noah to his people, and he remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years, and the flood seized them while they were wrongdoers.


Do you guys take this verse literally or figuratively? If figuratively then how do you interpret it?

The Qur'an is both beautiful, powerful, eloquent, appealing, profound, and seductive. The one word I wish I could use to describe it is "true".

I won't get into a super detailed post but today I came to the conclusion that the Qur'an, the absolute crux of my faith, is not the divine word of God. I converted 3 years ago from a family with no Muslims. I read the Qur'an, fasted, and prayed. I loved everything about Islam and it was the most beautiful thing to happen to me. My life turned around and my way of thinking changed. I've had doubts every once in a while but never substantial ones. Only now have I truly sought to look at the Qur'an objectively and whether or not a perfect God sent this book as a message for all mankind for all time.

It comes after deep study and logical thought. I basically started feeling true doubt about a month ago. I kept going back to the source of my faith which is the Qur'an. I would always laugh derisively of how Christians put so much stock in the Bible when it is clearly full of contradiction and it is illogical so I knew I had to put my own scripture under the magnifying glass.

I don't even know if Christians care if some of the Bible is wrong but the crux of Qur'anic authority and relevance is that the Qur'an is the DIRECT WORD OF GOD. Every single verse is a miracle! Every single letter was uttered by the Divine. That means if even one LETTER of this book disagrees with science, reality, logic, or human reason then I must question the entirety of the revelation.

So I scoured the Qur'an for contradiction, immorality, and anything that would suggest that a being less than perfect created it. I used my own translation of the Qur'an, online testimonies, online videos, and different translations and found several verses which simply don't reconcile with my logic, reason, and rationality as a human being. These verses do NOT come from a perfect God and therefore I must reject the revelation's claim to divinity.

By comparing the ATTRIBUTES of God laid out by the Qur'an and contrasting it with the realities of the actual revelation and its message I can not honestly say that this book is from God. Despite how much I want to believe that the Qur'an and Islam are true, I must be honest with myself.

It truly pains me to say that I must now as a seeker of truth, renounce my faith in the divinity of the Qur'an this day.

I feel like I'm losing my faith for a few reasons I won't get into yet.

My issue is how do I know the Qur'an is the word of God? Why should I believe that God wrote the Qur'an?

How do I reconcile verses that allow me to hit my wife, wage war on disbelievers, and claims like the moon was split in two?

How do I know if I'm "feeling God" or if it's just some chemicals in my brain? Is God really here with me? Am I praying to God or to my window?

I've been losing my faith lately not only in the Qur'an but in God Himself. I look at the Christians and tell them their books are clearly not the word of God yet I don't look at my own scripture with the same rational mind.

I'm truly questioning right now whether my experiences in this world are evidence of a divine God or if they are mere creations of my brain chemistry.

I'm also questioning whether the Qur'an which I've set so much trust and faith in is truly a divine document.

Which I did not expect to have as a convert. I'm beginning to question the validity of my own beliefs and experiences with God.

It's an extremely strange feelings because I've built my current identity around the belief that God is real, and my main goal in life should be to serve Him.

I don't even know what to think right now. I was watching a video of a Muslim who deconverted and it led me to a couple other videos and now I'm just unsure like is there a chance I'm wrong? I've read atheist material before and never has it affected my faith or belief like this. I think since I chose to convert 2 years ago that this is the first time I'm TRULY doubting God's existence and the relevance of my "worship". Whether trying to live by the Qur'an is really worth it and if the God I'm praying to is actually acknowledging me somewhere.

I think back on the experiences where I thought I "felt God" and I question whether I was truly connecting with the divine or whether some chemicals in my brain made me feel an intense emotion. I have no evidence to suggest that God is real yet still I believe.

Is the Qur'an truly from God? That is the question I must answer. Is it truly a clear book without contradiction? If there is even one contradiction or man-made letter in the Qur'an then it is not from God. I look at the Christians who put their faith in a book with as many flaws and holes and clearly man made material as the Bible and I wonder why they blindly follow it but I have no evidence that my own holy book is divine.

Just experiencing a lot of doubt right now.

I made a new friend in one of my classes at school. An Indian brother. He seems very nice and respectful and he's the first Muslim in my age group I can see myself becoming friends with. Living in the US I don't meet many Muslims, especially being a convert who isn't Arab or Persian. Also he doesn't treat me any differently despite my piercings and my tattoos (some of which were before my conversion and some after). He told me his family decided a surprise trip for Ummrah and he thought about me (we were just discussing hajj and ummrah a week prior) when his father told him. He said we should pray for each other while he leaves and that he would send my regards to the Prophet when he went on Ummrah. I told him "Thank You" and alhamdullilah and wished him a safe trip because that's the polite thing to do.

But of course in my heart I don't believe that the Prophet(pbuh) requires my prayers or dua or regards and I don't believe the Prophet intercedes on behalf of his Ummah. I feel that our prayers should not be directed toward the Prophet and I think it is part of the Sunni deifying of the Prophet that people think they need to offer something to the Prophet to gain favor with Allah.

On the other hand I believe everything lies within our intention. This brother is without a doubt more pious and observant than me. I'm sure he is an upright brother and I don't feel like I should focus on our differences because that's not really constructive. We're both still Muslims aren't we? I don't think him being a Sunni means he's not a good Muslim or he's going to hell or even that he's committing shirk. He's submitting to God in the best way he knows how.

So while internally I didn't believe in what he felt and in that moment I felt like we had slightly different beliefs, at the same time I'm not sure if the Islamic community benefits from labeling ourselves and breaking up into sects. If we all just accept each other for our differences and unite on our similarities it would be much better, not just for Muslims but for people in general.

[O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware. (49:13)]

The idea of Islamic culture is a misnomer to be more exact. That there's an underlying culture that belongs specifically to Islam is not accurate in today's world. I could even argue that never once has there been an 'Islamic Culture' even in the times of Muhammad(pbuh).

For example at the time of the origin of Islam, the culture of the religion was defined as the culture as practiced by the Arab bedouins who first converted to it. While many customs and traditions of the genuine deen were indeed a part of it, it was also a mix of Arab culture, customs, and traditions, because the original and sole practitioners of Islam at the time were Arab desert nomads. So of course everything that they did, was associated not only with their ethnic culture but with their religious identity.

But as Islam spread to Persia, India, Africa, and Europe, many cultures adopted the deen of Islam yet retained their own cultural identities. The cultures of the people of North Africa changed when Islam was adopted but they still retained their own cultural identities. The Indians who adopted Islam also had a shift in culture yet still had a cultural identity separate and different from the original Arabs.

Fast forward to today where Islam is spread to all corners of the globe. Culturally, a Muslim in California and a Muslim in Saudi Arabia are quite different yet their beliefs are likely similar. The idea that to be a true Muslim, one must embrace the culture of the Arabs I think is an issue in today's deen and also a fallacy.

Humility and modesty are universal notions that the Qur'an preaches. Yet why should modest dress for me, a young male in Los Angeles have to include a kufi and a thobe? Won't a long sleeve shirt and pants suffice? Why should a young woman have to wear a hidjab to show her modesty? Is professional loose-fitting attire not good enough?

The notion of Arab/Persian superiority or that all aspects of Western or foreign civilizations are from shaitan are a fallacy.

There are hadiths about men not looking like women and vice versa and also not to copy other cultures. What if you come from a place where that line is more blurred? A place where women don't typically cover their heads, or a place where it's normal for men to have their earlobes pierced? Should you then have to adopt the Arab perspective when there are thousands of different cultures in the world? Why is it that things like hidjab and beard are not found in the Qur'an but are a standard around the world for Islamic piety? It seems the hadith want us all to look, think, and act the same when God in the Qur'an has said O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one another. Lo! the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is Knower, Aware. (49:13)

The idea of traditional Arab customs being the standard is an enemy to growth and reform in Islam. When a Muslim convert in the Western world is told that their culture is religiously inferior or is the culture of shaitan, because of their style of dress or cultural norms, and that they need to adopt more Islamic (Arab) customs to please, God that have no basis in the Qur'an, that is wrong and uninviting.

When the Muslim community can move past cultural bias and judge based only on the Qur'an, the community will be far better off. We need to unite in our similarities and accept our differences and as the Qur'an says And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah hath revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth which hath come unto thee. For each We have appointed a divine law and a traced-out way. Had Allah willed He could have made you one community. But that He may try you by that which He hath given you (He hath made you as ye are). So vie one with another in good works. Unto Allah ye will all return, and He will then inform you of that wherein ye differ.(5:48)

[undeniably saw the Prophet Muhammad in my dream and no one can convince me otherwise.]

I had a dream a week or 2 ago... I saw the Prophet(pbuh) in my dream. I couldn't see any detail in his face and he seemed extremely distant though he was standing right next to me but I undeniably saw the Prophet Muhammad in my dream and no one can convince me otherwise.

At first I didn't even want to believe it it has taken me 2 weeks to accept but now that I have had this dream I am absolutely positive the sahih hadith are true and I must follow the Sunnah.

The crazy thing about this dream is I prayed for a dream from God about 1 or 2 months prior to the dream occurring. I have been on the fence the past 5-7 months about whether or not I need to align my beliefs to the hadith or not but now I am sure I must. I prayed for a dream from God and I prayed for God to show me whether I should embrace the hadith and the Sunnah or stick to only the Qur'an. I now have my answer alhamdullilah.

Let me paraphrase the dream. I was walking along a plain in the alternating between my own body and the form of a large powerful lion. One second I would be walking and look down and see my own arm. The next second I would look down and see large powerful lion paws.

Anyway as I'm walking these little rats kept eating their ways from inside my own body to come out of my body. It was extremely painful I would feel an itch then a pair of teeth would rip its way out of the backside of my flesh. This would happen in my human body and my lion body.

Now as I'm walking these demon-like hell hounds were appearing all around me and giving me menacing looks but I wasn't scared in my lion body only in my human body.

Now suddenly as I'm walking these hell-hounds suddenly turn on me and begin attacking me and killing me. As I'm laying on the ground panicking from fear and dying, a figure of a man appears in the shroud of this intense blazing light and my mind yelled out "Ahmad!" (and in my head it clicked or I decided this was Muhammad) and he came to me and resurrected me by touching me with his light and when I got up he was gone. I'm sure that this was the Prophet the wave of peace that washed over me was so real and palpable when he appeared and the blazing and glorious light he was surrounded by was awe inspiring I might as well have seen him while I was awake.

After that the hell-hounds seemed to quiver at my presence and I soon woke up with that blazing luminous image of Muhammad embedded in my mind's eye. When I awoke I instantly thought of the hadith about seeing the Prophet in dreams and I realized that the dream from God I had prayed for had actually arrived!  

Book 029, Number 5639:
Jabir b. 'Abdullah reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who saw me in a dream in fact saw me, for the satan cannot assume my form.

Book 029, Number 5637:
Abu Qatada reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who saw me in dream in fact saw the truth (what is true).


I could not believe it for I am not devout nor pure but I prayed to God and a couple months later I received the sign I was looking for.


Now after 2 weeks of deliberation and soul-searching I have finally come to terms with what this dream means and I will interpret it for anyone who's interested for when it first happened I was skeptical and reluctant to face reality.

The rats coming outside of my body represent that I was ruining myself from the inside.

I was in a form of a lion because of my forceful and proud personality. I saw myself as a lion in the dream because in reality I see myself as a man's man or someone stronger than most men. I actually like to think of myself as a lion and not a man when I need to feel powerful or confident so there's no coincidence.

I had a false sense of security walking among my enemies in the dream because I was in a strong lion body but still I was quickly destroyed. This shows that the path I was walking was a path where I thought myself powerful enough or self-sufficient to take care of myself.

I thought I could ignore the Sunnah and still walk the right path but I was wrong.

Only after the light of Muhammad touched me was I able to walk the path safely and without fear. This shows that only by embracing the Sunnah am I truly walking the right path and I'm absolutely convinced of the truth of this dream.