Let us remind ourselves of two fundamental truths, the first one is the fact that God is already closer than our aorta to us. The second fact to keep in mind is that even the Prophet of God was shown God initiated signs in spite of his stature. Basically, he needed help to break through the blinds of our reality. In view of these two crystal clear positions, if one is still longing to either "achieve" the already done position of closeness to God or to believe that they will be able to see or experience stuff beyond the physical world while still physically embedded in it, then that would necessitate more than what the Prophet of God was able to do on his own for starters. Assuming that, that is what is expected of us.
The Quran, on the other hand, is clear on the issue of meeting the objective of our existence; to acknowledge God's reality and the related belief that there is going to be a day of reckoning and to do good deeds. Deeds where other human beings and God’s other creatures benefit from our actions instead of wasting time on unnecessary rituals that prevent us from doing the former. Especially, after given the assurance from God that if we stick to these three simple truths, we have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Salam,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to ask is there any specific Quranic passage which forbids men and women from imitating each other (men applying make up, cross dressing, etc.)
Also I know that the Quran many times lists the bare minimum requirements for earning paradise as being belief in God, judgement day and being righteous. But doesnt chapter 98 prove u have to be Muslim? Thanks in advance
Salam and thank you for visiting my humble blog.
DeleteNo there is nothing in the Quran that defines either a certain dress code or group dress code on gender lines. What Quran does is gives guidelines on dressing modestly and just one single addendum that is gender specific and that has to do with the injunction of women covering their chest area.
Besides everything in moderation seems to be the reoccurring theme in the Quran.
The root of these innovations can be traced initially to the Hadith literature and then onward to innovations done by the Christian Church and Jewish religious order.
A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this. Deuteronomy 22:5
As far as Al-Bayyina (98) is concerned I could not find anything that would prove you have to be a Muslim. Perhaps if you could elaborate a bit more. Tks
Thanks for your response!
ReplyDeleteWell chapter 98 does say that "those who disbelieve from the people of the Book" will go to Hell, and all the tafsirs I know have interpreted that as the Jews/Christians who disbelieve in the Prophet Muhammad, making the belief in him a must for heaven What else could this verse possibly mean?
I also would like to ask do you believe in the Meccan/Medinan arrangement of the Quran? Do u believe the sources used to find out which chapters wee revealed at which time are reliable and do u believe the topic is relevant? I believe it's very relevant here: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/BBdefense.html
ReplyDeleteBasically, with the Medinan/Meccan arrangement you can prove the Muhammad pbuh's teacher was God and couldn't be anyone else, I'm not saying it's the ONLY way to prove Islam, but it's a very interesting and convincing one. So what do u think about the sources used to find out which chapters are Meccan/Medinan?
Also, what do you think about the usage of science to prove the Quran? It seems that the arguments proving scientific contradictions with the Quran can be.. "convincing" at times?
Salam, all my research (and many many other's) points to the fact that Quran is a Self Reference work and does not need any specific external aid. Of course what is needed to better understand the core message of the Quran is a large dose of logic, critical reasoning and rational thought. If you want to go even further then domain specific knowledge, including scientific knowledge is the only way to benefit from the treasure trove of knowledge embedded in the Quran.
DeleteI have nothing specifically for or against any particular aid like the classification of Meccan and Medidan but my issue has always been with our ability to verify a claim. As things stand, it is near impossible to tell which chapters were revealed when.
There are no contradictions in the Quran because the verifiable Quran says so and hence when you see an apparent contradiction, seek another interpretation. This is a fantastic aid God's mercy has gifted us in order to prevent us from drawing wrong conclusions.
Also have you reviewed this? http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Hadith
ReplyDeleteThey seem to refute the idea of hadith being unreliable quite well. Sorry haha, last time I comment before you reply :P
So how do you interpret chapter 98?
ReplyDeleteSalam, my understanding of the chapter bayinah (98) is pretty straightforward. It has to do with belief in God and His message rather than in the personality of Prophet Mohammad Pbuh. Furthermore, the use of the word مِنْ (from) ensures that not all of the people of the book are to be confined to hell and the clear reference to the best of the creatures and the worst of the creature gives us the full spectrum of belief in God. Hence there is a minimum criteria for salvation and then there is the best option.
DeleteI hope this answers your question.