This is a bit off the main topics of this blog but i want to update you on the situation in the country where I live and why it's so hard for people like me to work there and continue this work here
I wanted to write this blog to inform everyone of why I'm not active that much, because if you didn't know I live in Iraq, but also I wanted to give my take on the current situation, this is just my rant.
the iraqi goverment and it's own shiat religius parties have been quite helpfull and responsive, and i mean that in a regressive manner, we in iraq starting from mosul to najaf to samawa to karbala and now in baghdad near saha alhuria (The Freedom Yard) starting from hezbullah to badir to islamic dawah partie many of overment pranches have engaged in violent response, first cutting elextricsity (as if it was good from the start), to severly crippling water serveses, and even now for the past 3 days banning internet untill we internet savies uses VPN to go to social media (albeit very unstable and slow) and many of us IT proffesonals tried to provide the best proxy method to allow people to acess internet, but so far VPN is the only solution and still with it the internet is the worst, several political figurs actually blaming current situation on the people, the current PM al'abadi went so far as to call violent protesters (as if they were actuall are) savages and curropted, while acknowldging the rights for the people to protest, the stiuation was so bad several serverses that I mentioned erliar starting from south to middle of iraq went down, apart from district of kurdistan
many of the basic requests of the protesters like providing water supplies, electricity and fixing the sever unemployment on top of the already insanely hot temperature that is above 50 were repeated from 2009 even tell now in 2018, the government keep on saying "we listen" yet does nothing
the government never delivered even on a simple a task as a rich state like Mosul, our country produces only 44.5% participated in the latest election
the protesters continued to storm several goverment affiliated parites that are also inlined with Iran
right now the casualties are over 10 killed in just a few days as police and armed forces opened live bullets on protesters
right now with this horrible internet service, it took me more than an hour and a half to write and post this blog after many failed attempts
my take on this is that any country the US and it's allies (now canada want's a peice of the imperialism cake) touches they turn it to a waste land, ever since US invasion and so called project iraqi freedom we have been going throw termoil, untill the US killed zarqawi and by process created ISIS from that, the boggyman that islamophobes use againse islam is the frankistaine of US and it allies, I can't tell you how much contempt I have for the US, and with every year pass the more I see that self-loathing hate among so called iraqis asking for secular state (as if we didn't have that already during saddam time) to fix the issue, they think religion is the cause of this, not some forign power that destablized the region 15 years ago as any sane indivual would, the moste vial of the peole I meet from time to time is those arabs who hate themselves because of what we got to this point, not blaming this on the acutall forign factor but to a 1400 year old religion that if implemented properly will onle result in fixing this diar situation
we don't need secular nation we had that and a monarchy ever since 1940s none of them worked
What do you thinks about Ramadan in polar regions ? Scholars have found some solutions (following on a location where the night/day cycle is better...) but those are man made and not given by the quran or haddits.
ReplyDeleteSorry for not responding in time, Internet is really restricted right now in iraq so i can't do much research anyways
Deletemy view and view of many scholars i looked up is that the night and day cycle that is determinant there should be based on the nearest region with proper night and day, for example Iraq saudi arabia and syria share the same timing doe to how close they are to each other, the place that is the closest to the region should be take, that is what is considered better
"but those are man made and not given by the quran or haddits."
how does that logically follows?
It does not follow because it is not a conclusion, simply a side note (or a premiss) about a problem that was not immediately apparent to the early Muslims.
DeleteJus to clarify do you mean if Quran or Hadith don’t discuss a certain issue it doesn’t exist or does not need human thinking to be resolved? Quran is a book of guidance. It requires us to think critically. If during the time of prophet and the early companions the issue did not arise does not mean that it does not exist or doesn’t require humans to think and come to a solution.
ReplyDeleteOnce again context comes into place here. We do not know if they ever had to deal with an issue like that especially since Islam probably hadn’t even spread to those parts yet. Obv once Islam spread to those areas and this issue arose the Muslims living in those areas had to deal with it appropriately. Just like Muslims living in cold countries have to wear very warm clothes such as jackets, mufflers, snow boots etc although I myself am at least not aware of these things being worn by the early Muslims simply because the climate of their area did not demand such clothing.
The problem is that since fasting is a religious matter, the fact that your prophet didn't give you guidance about it is, for me, strange. We are not talking about a normal aspect of life here, like drink when you are thirsty, but to a religious obligation. And of course islam has spread here, since those area are occupied by scientist and some are Muslims, that why scholars had to find a solution for the Muslims here. And some scholars even opposed the moving the time thing and stated that you have to fast 6 months (day and day) or physically leave the area.
DeleteYour argument that prophet did not give guidance about fasting is a subjective opinion. When you say he didn't give guidance about it do you mean that it’s bad he did not discuss an issue that did not exist in his time. You must understand that his job was to provide guidance on how to practice Islam and not find a solution to every problem that would come until the end of times. If there is any evidence that Islam had spread to the Polar Regions when he was alive and the prophet was aware of the problem then we could have a case that he didn't know what to do. But since in his time the issue did not exist he did not deal with it. With regards to you finding it strange, he did give guidance on how to fast in a “general sense”, its importance, purpose of fasting, the process etc. as well as answer any issues and questions that arose during his time.
DeleteIslam is not an intolerant religion that wants to create hardships and problems for people. What’s important to remember is that Muslims living in polar regions live in exceptional circumstances and so that why scholars differ on how to deal with them and that’s why the procedures they follow to fast maybe a bit different due to their context. No shortcoming can be blamed on the prophet for an issue that he did not face and the obvious expectation is to use our own God given critical thinking ability to deal with problems whether the be religious or worldly long as they do not contradict any core Islamic principles.
Not the best analogy but think of it this way.This is like calling a computer programmer incompetent for not giving instructions on how to fix a bug that occurred in the software a long time after his death when during the programmers life the bug never occurred so he/she never had to deal with the problem. The expectation is that other programmers living today who understand the software would deal with the bug using their own critical thinking ability.
The problem is that if he was supposed to give you guidance, by your own metaphor, he made a poor job and could have given a glitch-less software. Especially if the software is made for eternity because he is the last programmer ; Here muslims that follow the wrong solution are going astray.
DeleteIf i'm not mistaking, was he not supposed to communicate with a being of higher knowledge that could have dictated him the solution even if he didn't know there was a problem ?
Do you think islam/sunna are buggy ?
Forgive me this is gonna be long and I don’t think we are going to convince each other so I will just write it all once. Your understanding seems to be based on the same logic of the extremists where you follow Islam in a black and white manner. The verses of the Quran were revealed based on their appropriate context to deal with the issues that emerged during prophet’s time. God communicated with him and provided him guidance of the problems that existed in his time. It is our job to use our God give intellect to think and find solutions to problems.
DeleteRegarding guidance not being provided once again it’s completely your own subjective opinion since guidance has been provided. Just because he did not discuss an issue that did not exist in his time does not mean that we as human beings have no guidance. We still gotta use our brains. Think of it this way Quran says the penalty for stealing is cutting off hands. But after the prophet passed away and famine struck the Muslims abolished/stopped the penalty. The Quran nowhere does it say that you stop it if this happens but the Muslims abolished it because the context was not right and the government itself could not fulfill its obligations to the ppl so carrying out such a punishment would be unjust. During the prophets time there is no evidence far as I’m aware that famine struck or something happened that lead to govt. not fulfilling its obligations. This stop on punishment was done by the early Muslims and no issues occurred because everyone living in that society knew the situation and why such an action was being implemented.
With regards to my metaphor I already said it’s not a good example. I just said that to explain how the computer programmer cannot be held accountable for a future problem that occurs. The programmer has already established the software and given instructions on how to run it. Likewise prophet has already given us guidance on purpose of praying, fasting, perform hajj etc. Your argument that God should have told prophet about how to deal with every single situation does not make sense since the core concepts were explained and guidance on how to follow them was provided. Furthermore guidance was given based on the context of that time which I think you really need to understand. We as Muslims are supposed to use our brains and derive guidance form Quranic verses and apply them based on the context of our time. Example would be pants below the ankles were considered a sign of arrogance in the prophet’s time since clothing was not in abundance. That’s why he admonished ppl who wore their garments below their ankles. You will see their were exceptions as some companions had some problems with their garments but he explained that since they were not doing such a thing in arrogance its all right. In today’s society at least where I live clothing is not a luxury. Everyone can afford clothes it says nothing about you. Saying that I’m arrogant because I wear my jeans below my ankles doesn’t make sense since God knows that’s not my intention nor is it my intention to make someone else feel lower than me. Ofc for fasting there is no reason to suggest we shouldn’t fast anymore since I can’t imagine how the societal changes would prevent us from observing Ramadan once a month. Now how long you fast, how you fast could change based on the context which is what we are discussing. Core concepts are known but exceptional cases that occur still require human thinking for religion and for worldly aspect.
Since I couldn’t post it all together just wrapping up No I don’t think Islam and Sunna are buggy since your entire argument rests upon your subjective opinion where you expect the solution for everything to be present and not expect ppl to use their own brains. If you could prove to me that there was a religious issue that prophet was aware of and he was stumped as to how to deal with it then you have a case. Your argument that Muslims that follow wrong solutions are going astray also doesn’t stand since you will see Islam barring the extremists and intolerant Muslims has always had a rich history of difference of opinion. Since the issue is not whether Muslims should fast (which is a core concept of Islam) or not but how they fast diff opinions are more than welcome.
DeleteI don’t normally bother getting involved in debates so I apologize if I came off as rude. My views will be much more different than the traditionalists who stick to tradition blindly without looking at the context so don’t be surprised if you find a diff answer than I gave. This is one main reason I think Muslims intellectually in comparison to the rest of the world have fallen behind because we do not focus on the context but just pick and cite verses and hadiths and follow tradition blindly. If you do respond I may see it but I won’t bother responding since I don’t normally do it and I avoid debates such as these since they normally do not get us anywhere.
Expanding on the above religious interpretation, there are some Hadiths which represent the Prophet disliking the people asking too many questions regarding some subjects. The rationale being the more detailed a religious obligation becomes the more restrictive and therefore, the more difficult it becomes. For example, the incident of God commanding the Jews to sacrifice a cow mentioned in the Qur'an.
DeleteThen call to mind the other event: when Moses said to his people, "Allah commands you to sacrifice a cow," they replied, "Do you mean to have a jest with us?" He answered, "I crave Allah's protection from behaving like ignorant people."
Then they said, "Please make a request to your Lord to give us some details of the cow." Moses answered, "Allah says that the cow should neither be old nor immature but of middle age. Do, therefore, as you are bidden."
But they further asked, "Please request your Lord to make it clear to us of what colour she should be." Moses answered, "He says that she should be of yellow colour, so deep and bright as to delight the beholders."
Again they said, "Pray your Lord to specify for us the kind of cow that is required; for cows (of this type) look alike to us. We shall then find her, if God so wills."
Moses answered, "Allah says that she should be a cow which has not been yoked nor has ploughed the land nor watered the fields; which is sound and whole, without blemish. " Then they cried out, "Now you have given an accurate description. " Then they sacrificed her but they did not appear to be doing this willingly.
(Qur'an 2:67-71)
In the beginning the Jews could have just sacrificed the animal and be done with it, but they persisted - calling for more details and therefore creating more difficulty for themselves. "... the more questions they asked the more they were driven into a tight corner."
Under this context and interpretation, it can be strongly argued that the lack of details is actually a blessing for the Muslims. Now, in contrast to having the problem explained and therefore all Muslims becoming bound to it, there are multiple possible solutions. They can either follow the nearest country which has a practical time table for their fast, or they can decide for themselves a specific number of hours or, they can just follow the instruction "... And upon those who are able [to fast, but with hardship] - a ransom [as substitute] of feeding a poor person [each day]..." (Qur'an 2:184). Some might argue that the last one is actually the divine guidance, provided ~1400 years ago, for this very problem.
In any case, a common understanding among Muslim scholars regarding issues that haven't been absolutely explained in religion, is that scholars debate over them, do Ijtihad and try to reach a consensus. A number of such times, the conclusions being less important than the presence of sincere intentions behind them.
This also represents an interesting plurality of the Islam critics' arguments. At one time, the religion is criticised for being too restrictive, having too many rules and regulations thought up so far in the past; while at another, Islam gets criticised for not having enough details.
- "The problem is that if he was supposed to give you guidance, by your own metaphor, he made a poor job and could have given a glitch-less software. Especially if the software is made for eternity because he is the last programmer..."
DeleteUnder the present interpretation, in this example, it wasn't the Prophet's responsibility to provide a "glitch-less software", and he wouldn't be "the last programmer".
However, a more appropriate example would have been to use, "demand for a new feature" instead of a "bug".
- "Here muslims that follow the wrong solution are going astray."
Under this interpretation, generally speaking, there is no right or wrong solution. Sincerity of intentions is the more important trait here.
- "... was he not supposed to communicate with a being of higher knowledge that could have dictated him the solution even if he didn't know there was a problem ?"
The above verses regarding the test for the Jews.
"The problem is that since fasting is a religious matter, the fact that your prophet didn't give you guidance about it is, for me, strange."
Deletewhat makes you think he didn't give guidance to it?
"We are not talking about a normal aspect of life here, like drink when you are thirsty, but to a religious obligation. And of course islam has spread here, since those area are occupied by scientist and some are Muslims, that why scholars had to find a solution for the Muslims here. And some scholars even opposed the moving the time thing and stated that you have to fast 6 months (day and day) or physically leave the area."
do you have evidence that muslims live there or these scientists some are muslims? but let's assume they are
based on islamic figuq rules for example la tharar wa la tharar, fasting 6 months straight can be abnormal to the human body, therefore scholars as far as i have researched agree that you don't need to fast 6 months but use the time of the closest region avaliable
It is allah's specifications thats drown they in difficulties, he could simply said "the closest to moses"or "I don't care" but he drawn complexity on them. If we follow the unpresice is good logic, the Qur'an should not exist :no details to bother the muslim means maximum blessings...
DeleteAnd I think that you conflate two problems, yes islam is critiqued for its backwardness (but i never heard someone criticise the multiple call to charity of your prophet) but in that case it's a ruling that would be very actual and a proof of the insight of your prophet, the same if he had spoke about prayer in orbit when you experience 16 sunsets per 24 h.
SZA he didn't provide full guidance if you prefer.
I read that they said that you should have to fast 6 months, which is impossible so you have to leave the area to not put yourself in danger.
- "It is allah's specifications thats drown they in difficulties, he could simply said "the closest to moses"or "I don't care" but he drawn complexity on them."
DeleteSo, essentially when Allah does exactly what the Jews ask of Him, you still manage to blame Him. When God does answer the people's desires, their questions, their prayers, its still God's fault. Your argument is truly extraordinary. It appears pretty clear, that in the event that God had done exactly what you are suggesting and not provided any more details, and if the Jews had chosen to not follow God's command, you would have blamed God for that too. "Is the creator of the Universe incapable of even providing a few minor zoological details", you would've exclaimed. "The Jews couldn't possibly be expected to follow the orders of a God who doesn't even answer their such simple prayers."
I suppose you get angry at waiters for serving you and blame them for getting your order correct too?
- "If we follow the unpresice is good logic, the Qur'an should not exist :no details to bother the muslim means maximum blessings..."
I thought the fallacy here would be more intricate but turns out it's a straightforward strawman. It has never been argued here, that imprecise is always good. Sometimes a lack of information causes society to start on the wrong path, and at other times the deficiency opens up new possibilities and allows people to think for themselves, be creative and therefore move forward.
- "... but i never heard someone criticise the multiple call to charity of your prophet..."
It happens, such as religious rituals regarding washing/cleansing.
- "... but in that case it's a ruling that would be very actual and a proof of the insight of your prophet ... if he had spoke about prayer in orbit..."
Will it? In the scenario that the Prophet did happen to mention this particular situation, and Muslims were to use it as proof for their ideology, the critic would have simply countered that other people living during the Prophet's time knew about the phenomenon and therefore they could have informed him of such. After which, all the Prophet had to do was to simply conform his religion to this new information.
Ultimately, it really doesn't make much difference. If "insights" are going to make a believer out of someone, there is always the derivation of the golden ratio (up-to three significant figures) in three straightforward steps from the structure of the Qur'an.
Those who don't want to believe are quite capable of continuing to push the goalpost indefinitely. There could be a thousand "insights", but one would simply ask for a thousand and one. The required proof for belief will always remain the elusive, just one more.
Akhi have you seen this vid and what do you think?
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/itXKWDnJjaw
already addressed it in comment section
DeleteWhere could i find it jazakallah khair i searched around but with no avail. Also have you ever/ will you ever make an article about 4:34 and the claim it says you can beat your wives
DeleteJazakallah khair
Will be making an article about it
DeleteZaid, just wondering, how were sunnis treated before the ISIS problem began?
ReplyDeleteno difference
DeleteTaking things for granted is your government's specialty that's for sure, a pretty vicious circle at the end of the day...
Delete