Muslim-Mumin Dichotomy

[CavemanDoctor]

Peace all,

A great article here on freeminds regarding the differences between muslim and mumin may be found here: http://www.free-minds.org/articles/gods_system/mumin.htm

I wanted to ask a few things regarding it, to get your opinions. For those of you who havent read the article, it basically shows that muslims are those who believe in one God and do good works. A mumin, on the other hand, is one who goes even further, and becomes truly righteous/faithful by believing in one God, accepting His messengers/scriptures, having no doubt, performing salat/zakat, giving to charity, etc.

So a mumin, according to the Qur'an, is taking on a much bigger duty by accepting God's message.

So now, since a muslim is not one who necessarily accepts God's messengers/scripture, but simply only believes in God and does good, does that mean one can be a muslim even if he/she reads the Qur'an, and thinks it's not divine, or even goes so far as to completely trash it?

And even another question, 2:221 says we shouldnt marry someone who is a mushrik but should instead marry someone who is a mumin. Does this mean we can only marry mumin, and cannot marry muslims? Or is the Qur'an here simply making a distinction between mushrik and mumin, and not muslim and mumin? See also 4:25 and 5:5.

[adley]

Salaam CavemanDoctor,

Regarding the trashing thing, I don't think a muslim will do that. My reason is that someone that believes in One Almighty God, without associating any partners with Him, and strive to do good works, even though the muslim may not believe that the quran is from God, however when she reads it, she will know that its main message is the same as her basic creed. Thus, I think trashing is not necessary here.

As far as I understand it, to be a muslim you have to first quit being a mushrik. I reason this based on the first commandment in 6:151. The 2:221 says that a believer is better than a mushrik; but a muslim is also a certain kind of believer of quranic values as I understand it -- believe in One Almighty God without associating any partners with him. And I also understand 2:221 as a continuation from 2:218 which addresses those who believe. If someone is a believer, then this ayat applies; and vice-versa.

Just a thought.

=adley=

[ik75243]

peace

IMO rejecting/trashing the quran would make them 'rejecters'.

[prashant_kumar]

In the Quran, I found the terms used in three ways:

1. a mumin is asked to be mumin.

4:136   O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His messenger and the Scripture which He hath revealed unto His messenger, and the Scripture which He revealed aforetime. Whoso disbelieveth in Allah and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers and the Last Day, he verily hath wandered far astray.


2. a mumin is aksed to be muslim.

2:208   O ye who believe! Come, all of you, into submission (unto Him); and follow not the footsteps of the devil. Lo! he is an open enemy for you.
3:102   O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah with right observance, and die not save as those who have surrendered (unto Him).

3. a muslim is asked to be mumin.

49:14   The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Ye believe not, but rather say "We submit," for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts. Yet, if ye obey Allah and His messenger, He will not withhold from you aught of (the reward of) your deeds. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.

The terms ?Iman? and ?Islam? have been used in various way to denote different states of a person?s affairs and from different perspectives.

I wish to add with what has been said in the article. As I understand, Iman and Islam are related to each other like seed and plant, where both the seed and the plant grows, and both interacts with each other and one affects the other. Basically, Iman is the life-world-view, the mentality, the attitude and the tendency of a person, and Islam is the pattern of behavior of the person that springs from Iman. This is from the perspective of first-person-position or the introspective method by the person, or the position of God.

Iman and Islam has got other connotations which is related to the legal aspects of the community of the believers where things are judged from behaviorist point where data are processed from human-third-person-position. From this perspective, a hypocrite is also considered a mumin and a muslim if he conforms with the minimum acknowledgement of commitments to the community and the minimum levels of activities as expected by the community.

The Quran?s usage of the terms encompasses all these areas.