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Salamu Alaikum everyone,

It looks like I haven't been on in 7 years. Going through some struggles I became discontented from my faith and found it hard to reconnect. I feel I am making a turn for the better being more secluded lately.

How is everyone doing? What is new here?

There is a very old cemetery in the town I live in that I've walked through since I was kid. A lot of history there, plus I see it as a reminder of how life inevitably ends. My wife told me today that it is wrong per the Quran to walk through the cemetery unless you are visiting a loved one. She read (in arabic) what she said was a verse from the Quran that she said translated to something like, when visiting the cemetery to visit a loved one do so with respect. I do not remember this being a part of the Quran and feel she may have been quoting a hadith mistakenly. Has anyone heard this "verse". Also, if so, I would not see this as forbidding entry to a cemetery, though she said because it specifically mentions "visiting" it does. Any insight?

Very entertaining Fox News segment: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zaki-hasan/reza-aslan-and-the-fox-ne_b_3671667.html

According to the host you shouldn't write about religions that aren't your own as you will be biased in your opinion, even on an academic/scholarly level. I really hope they convey this message to Robert Spencer or any of the other non-muslim/anti-muslim "scholars" they have on.

I just started reading Zealot (on chapter 4) anyone else picked it up yet?

[repents, believes and does good work]

I've always read on Fatwa sites that if you miss any salat (prayers) that you have to make them ALL up. Even if it is years of missed prayers. For example (from the traditional perspective of 5 daily prayers) if you haven't prayed in 10 years you would have to make up about 18,250 prayers. I recently came across this in the Qur'an which made me think about this:

19:59 Then generations came after them who lost the prayer, and followed desires. They will find their consequences.
19:60 Except for whoever repents and believes and does good work; they will be admitted to Paradise, and they will not be wronged in the least.

So in the first ayat it talks about people who stopped praying, followed their own desires and thus will face the consequences of their actions. The second ayat says except whoever repents, believes and does good work. So wouldn't that mean if you stopped praying and you repented, increased your faith and started doing good works you would be forgiven by God? Am I missing something here? 

I am going to say "C" for all. Muhammad was the prophet of Allah so I don't believe stating so is shirk. In fact in stating so you are just confirming that you are a follower of the message which he delivered (the Qur'an). Though the shahada is not mentioned in the Quran I don't see how it is forbidden by the Quran as there is nothing untrue in the statement. I do agree that some (not all) Quranist take things that Muslims do that are not in the Quran and advise against them because they are not mentioned in the Quran even though the Quran does not forbid it. While at the same time they criticize the Sunni and the Shia for banning things that are not mentioned in the Quran. (Again I would like to say some not all.)

I think you would be interested in reading this article: http://americanunitarian.org/grantshahada.htm It's a Unitarian Christian advocating for a Unitarian Christian shahada. (The rest of the site is really informative too) As they believe in one God and Jesus as the messenger of God (and not God himself) I feel they are also submitters to God, not committing shirk and a part of our brethren.

I have also heard the argument brought forth about a Muslim being one who submits to the one God, regardless of whether they are a  Jew, Christian or any other name they go by and a momin (believer) is one who believes in the message of the Quran brought by prophet Muhammad. The justification for this is linguistics based on the use of both words in the Quran. I have not done enough independent investigation to comment on this (maybe someone else here has), but there is a logic to this theory and a difference in shahada could distinguish this. (Though I am not saying it is necessarily required to. Just throwing around ideas.) For more on the Muslim/momin theory I suggest you read 'Notes on Islam' by Sir Ahmed Hussain. There is a free kindle download at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Notes-on-Islam-ebook/dp/B0082X9Z76

Allah knows best.
 

I found it entertaining and thought it presented a relatively credible narrative, as these things go. The film can easily be perceived to legitimize torture, which is a bit disturbing, though I have little doubt that most if not all people will tell what they know if subjected to the now infamous simulated drowning the americans seem to favor as their go-to method of "enhanced interrogation".

Strangely I did not see it as legitimizing torture, and I am very anti-torture (I'm with Shepard Smith, "WE DO NOT TORTURE!"). The way I viewed it was we did torture (unfortunately) and the people who did it probably felt it was justified and a useful tactic, thus the characters in the movie would be written in that light. It is similar to Quentin Tarantino's defenses for his movie 'Django Unchained'.

Just saw Zero Dark Thirty, can't comment on it's historical accuracy but as I a film I found it entertaining. Did anyone else see it? Any thoughts?

[SarahY]

SarahY  That was a very well written, researched and informative response. I find it interesting when I hear people say Quran guided Muslims are following their "whims and desires". Maybe some do, but for the most part from my experience I've found them to be very sincere in their quest to determine God's will.

One thing I have always wondered, assuming that anything un-Quranic is an innovation, is the Prophet died in I believe 11 AH and the Al-Muwatta was compiled in 163 AH. Though 150 years is a long time, it also relatively short for the amount of "innovations" that would have taken place.

Plus the compiler was an Arab and compiled it in Medina. This is significant because of the criticism often given to the hadith of the compilers being Persian and or borrowing Persian rituals and customs.

Again it is also interesting what the Al-Muwatta doesn't mention that latter was adopted.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight to how these traditions could have been inserted, in the city of the Prophet in a period of 100-150 years. (I am not arguing one way or another, just asking questions that are spinning around my head)

[As you will see many times various companions of the A?immah ( مهيلع ملاسلا ) wanted to pay al-Zakāh on other than these nine things, but our A?immah )عليهم السلام( vehemently said that the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآلهوسلم( has ?forgiven what is apart from that? ( عفا عما سوى ذلك ). This means that al-Zakāh is only obligatory on these nine things and nothing else. We cannot do Qiyās (analogous reasoning) and make al-Zakāh obligatory upon paper currency or upon anything else.In this document I will bring only the aḥādīth that are considered authentic by our scholars...From Jamīl said, I heard Abā `Abd Allāh )عليه السلام( say about the amount for al-zakāh. So he )عليه السلام( said: ?It is established on nine things, the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآله وسلن( has forgiven what is apart from that. Al-Tayyār1 said: ?We have a grain, it is called rice‟ So Abū `Abd Allāh )عليه السلام( said to him, ?We have many grains also.‟ So he (al-Tayyār) said to him )عليه السلام( : ?And (is there zakat) upon it?‟ He )عليه السلام( said: ?Did I not tell you, the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآله وسلن( has forgiven what is apart from that?‟ From it is ?Gold and Silver‟. Three from the animals, ?Camels, Sheep and Cows‟, and from the vegetation of the earth are ?Wheat, Barley, Raisins and Dates‟From `Abd Allāh bin Sinān said, Abū `Abd Allāh said: ?When the verse of al-Zakāh was revealed ?Take from their wealth a charity, so you would purify and cleanse them with it? (9:103). It was revealed in the Month of Ramaḍān, and the Messenger of Allāh ( نلسو هلآو هيلع الله ىلص ) commanded a caller to call to the people that Allāh has made zakat farḍ (obligatory) upon, just like he has made salat obligatory upon them, so Allāh )عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ ( has obligatory upon them from the Gold and Silver, and has made obligatory charity from the camels, cows, sheep, and from wheat, barley, dates and raisins. And he called for them in that in the Month of Ramaḍām and has forgiven them what is apart from that?]

Salaam,

There are many small differences among the shia's and sunii's (including the 4 schools of fiqh) concerning the "zakat". All agree to pay once a year 2.5% over all your property. The differences are mostly on when exactly, how to calculate it, which things you can neglect, etc.

The Quranists consider Zakah as the purification of the Soul, and the Sadaqa as the obligatory tax (which traditionalists consider as recommanded)

In regards to Shia/Sunni differences, something interesting I found in he article I posted above was that the Jafari School (not sure about other Shia schools) does not recognize zakat to be paid on paper currency. I did some more research on this and found a Shia website that stated the same thing.

http://www.revivingalislam.com/2011/10/zakat-in-shia-islam.html:

As you will see many times various companions of the A?immah ( مهيلع ملاسلا ) wanted to pay al-Zakāh on other than these nine things, but our A?immah )عليهم السلام( vehemently said that the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآله
وسلم( has ?forgiven what is apart from that? ( عفا عما سوى ذلك ). This means that al-Zakāh is only obligatory on these nine things and nothing else. We cannot do Qiyās (analogous reasoning) and make al-Zakāh obligatory upon paper currency or upon anything else.

In this document I will bring only the aḥādīth that are considered authentic by our scholars...

From Jamīl said, I heard Abā `Abd Allāh )عليه السلام( say about the amount for al-zakāh. So he )عليه السلام( said: ?It is established on nine things, the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآله وسلن( has forgiven what is apart from that. Al-Tayyār1 said: ?We have a grain, it is called rice‟ So Abū `Abd Allāh )عليه السلام( said to him, ?We have many grains also.‟ So he (al-Tayyār) said to him )عليه السلام( : ?And (is there zakat) upon it?‟ He )عليه السلام( said: ?Did I not tell you, the Messenger of Allāh )صلى الله عليه وآله وسلن( has forgiven what is apart from that?‟ From it is ?Gold and Silver‟. Three from the animals, ?Camels, Sheep and Cows‟, and from the vegetation of the earth are ?Wheat, Barley, Raisins and Dates‟

From `Abd Allāh bin Sinān said, Abū `Abd Allāh said: ?When the verse of al-Zakāh was revealed ?Take from their wealth a charity, so you would purify and cleanse them with it? (9:103). It was revealed in the Month of Ramaḍān, and the Messenger of Allāh ( نلسو هلآو هيلع الله ىلص ) commanded a caller to call to the people that Allāh has made zakat farḍ (obligatory) upon, just like he has made salat obligatory upon them, so Allāh )عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ ( has obligatory upon them from the Gold and Silver, and has made obligatory charity from the camels, cows, sheep, and from wheat, barley, dates and raisins. And he called for them in that in the Month of Ramaḍām and has forgiven them what is apart from that?

Just interesting that there is such a difference in opinion.