Ask Me Anything: Muslim Edition

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It’s usually not strictly prohibited, but discouraged and it’s not really something that happens a lot in Arabic or Persian cultures anyway. Western Muslims may occasionally leave flowers. Muslims are supposed to have modest graves, so ideally the marker is supposed to be tall enough that someone won’t step on it and small enough that someone couldn’t sit on it and have very few embellishments. Naturally, this varies from culture to culture.

This is a Western style tomb:

And this is more typical of what you would find in a traditionally Islamic country:
 
I guess its more of a matter of not really having a reason to believe that he is God or the son of God, since under Islam Jesus was a Prophet on par with the other Prophets, and also it is very clearly taught in the Koran that God is one God, undivided and without peer, and believing otherwise (the sin of shirk) is the worst sin one can commit. I know you guys see it differently and I understand the Christian position a little better after having read through the site a bit, but the idea of the Trinity is still way too close to shirk for me to accept.
 
We don’t have that tradition in Islam, so while it may not gel with Christian theology, it makes sense for us. We don’t believe that God gave us marriage strictly for the production and rearing of progeny and to combat sin, but as a holy pleasure for its own sake. So, for us, it’s obvious that there would be marriage in heaven.

I don’t believe suicide bombers are engaging in Jihad in the way that most Muslims would define it. The true Jihad is the struggle of the soul towards God and like I’ve said in an earlier post, there has never been a greater enemy or danger for Muslims than personal sin. The lesser Jihad is the protection of the Islamic community from its enemies, but the suicide bombers are doing none of those things and often they’re killing Muslims in addition to non-Muslims. They’re just tragically deluded people.

If I can categorically reject anything said on this thread and be believed, let it be the allegation that most Muslims applaud suicide bombers. We really, really don’t. It’s frankly gut-wrenching to hear about it. There is nothing holy or right or laudable about some deluded person blowing themself and a bunch of other people up and dying in sin. I don’t doubt that there are people with radicalist views who do celebrate it, but that’s heresy of the most monstrous kind - a “vile sect” as some scholars call it.
 
On what bases do you trust the writings in the Koran? What is it about Islam that you can yield all trust? And lastly, what exactly about the Trinity is unbelievable? You too are a triune being. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body.
 
sorry if this is a strange question and i don’t mean to be disrespectful.
If you wear a hijab, then what do you do when you want to go swimming on a beach? what do you wear?
What about getting a haircut? or seeing a male doctor for a scalp medical problem?
 
Also got some linguistic questions:
  1. what do you think of the idea of making MSA (modern standard arabic) being the predominant Arabic so the dialects can be phased out over time? [i’m thinking the Jewish people seem to be doing a good job at that? – i could be wrong]
  2. I find the Arabic on websites are always so small, which makes it so hard to read for beginners like me. [eg on google maps if you zoom into a city, the font remains the same size!] do you find them too small? [i’m guessing you recognise the words straight away so that you don’t actually read every single letter, whereas i’m still at the stage of trying to see whether there are dots or not.]
 
ratio1 said:
what do you think of the idea of making MSA (modern standard arabic) being the predominant Arabic so the dialects can be phased out over time
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The arabic speaking world is pretty large- maybe not as big as the English and Spanish speaking worlds, but still millions of square miles.

I don’t think this is really that viable for one version to be dominant.
 
In regards to the Trinity, it’s just paradoxical to me. I don’t see myself as being a triune being. The spirit and soul would seem to be me to be the exact same thing and I don’t see my body as being in anyway an entity separate from my soul. There’s just not convincing evidence that would induce me to go past God’s assertion that He is indivisibly One and without peer.

As for the basis of trusting the Koran and Islam, I don’t believe that the Koran and the Islamic faith could have persisted to modern day without the direct hand of God for one thing. The conditions of early Islam were just too difficult otherwise. Mainly, however, I see what God does in my life and the lives of the Muslim people around me and so I simply have faith. That isn’t to say that bad things never happen or that I’ve never had a dark night of the soul sort of period, but I feel in a real and present way that God hears me when I pray and I see the love of God reflected in the Islamic community.
 
With swimming, Muslim women often wear a type of swim suit with a sort of hood that covers the same basic areas as a hijab. There are also sport hijabs that you could wear with like a wetsuit or something that will stay in place easily in the water. Sometimes they’re called birkinis. Here’s a pic of one that’s similar to what I have:


I’ve worn sort of the regular swimsuit on a women only beach and I actually prefer the more covered version. It’s more comfortable.

Usually Muslim women will go to a hair salon that only caters to women, because there’s no problem with being uncovered around only other women and children. The place I go in town basically only does women’s hair anyway but the salon area is separate from the waiting room so men waiting on their wives don’t necessarily see back into the salon. Whenever possible, Muslims go to a doctor of their same sex to avoid any inappropriate contact with unrelated men or women, but if there is no same sex doctor or specialist available, then it’s permissible for a woman to see a male doctor with the stipulation that the exam should only involve viewing or touching what’s strictly necessary for treatment. With younger women, often they’ll go with a close female relative if they have to see a male doctor.
 
yes I understand your perspective. I am surprised that you find it paradoxical. “Oneness” as I’m sure you know does not always mean solid, or solitary. A rock is a solitary form of oneness. It shares no parts. But there are composite forms of oneness, such as one cluster of grapes, an egg, which has three parts, the yoke the whites and the shell, one house with many floors. on and on…

This concept of composite-unity is understood in Deuteronomy 6:4, where the bible declares,

" Here O 'Israel, the Lord our God is “ONE.”

The Hebrew word for “one” there is in a composite unity, not solitary unity. This composite unity is veiled of it’s understanding in the old testament. Only in the New Testament can we see it clearly develop into three persons.

The book of Genesis has the same examples: God said, “Let US make man in OUR own image…” (Genesis 1:26) who was God talking to in the Genesis account?.. some say the angels, but the angels did not create.

“Let US go down there and confound their languages…” (Gen. 11:7) Again God is speaking to someone here in these instances but who? He is speaking to the triune members of the godhead.

When Isaiah the prophet was called, notice the plurality of God’s speech,

"I heard the voice of the Lord saying: "whom shall I send, and who will go for US? then I said, “here am I, send me!” Isaiah 6:8.

All of these passages speak of a composite unity of the one true God.

Why did Mohamed reject this concept? and on what bases?
 
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I think one issue may be that you’re using an English translation of the source material, which may lead to some understandable bias. The use of the plural term elohim in the Torah is quite complex. Elohim can be used to describe multiple gods as well as multiple lesser spiritual beings, specific pagan gods, and also God himself. The key in translation is in looking at how it is conjugated with the various verb forms. Most experts in Hebrew to my understanding typically attribute what you’re talking about to the use of the pluralis excellentiae, which is similar to the “royal we” in English. it does not necessarily imply any sort of actual plurality, it simply magnifies the noun.
 
As a linguist, I’m generally in favor of preserving linguistic diversity as much as possible. Arabic dialects can be as different from each other as French and Spanish in some cases, and it would be a shame to lose some very beautiful Semitic languages. Right now there’s a push to have school children learn MSA alongside local dialects and as education improves I think we’ll start seeing much more multilingualism in the Middle East anyway.

Edit: Oh, your second question! Yeah, I don’t know what’s up with the way Arabic is digitalized but it can be really tiny. I can read it because I’m used to the characters, but a lot of people have the same trouble.
 
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Elohim was and is a universal word for God, Not that there are other gods. But the plurality of God’s speech is not explained away or dismissed. Whatever Jewish scholarship you are siting here, is a hard sell. The English translation to the word US is equivalent to it’s Hebrew counter-part. God was speaking in a plural form without a doubt. Why did Islam reject these passages?
 
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As a linguist myself, I defer to the opinions of people who specialize in the original text. If you can point me towards some well-accepted, peer reviewed scholarship that contravenes the majority view on the linguistics of Elohim, I’m happy to read it. It’s pretty clear from linguistic, historical, and textual context that God was not interpreted in the pre-Christian era as a Trinity. So, we hold to that interpretation.
 
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My point was that evidence of plurality in God’s speech sets a foundation to what is fully developed in the N.T. I was not disputing the word Elohim only how God spoke of himself in a plural form a number of times in the O.T. If you want scholarship this is an old subject with many many reliable sources at your disposal if you really want to know.
 
Yeah, definitely, I’m happy to read new material. I took Greek and Latin instead of Hebrew when I was doing ancient languages, so I’ve only studied it as a survey.
 
Why did Mohammad reject Jesus Christ as the eternal Son? On what bases?
 
We don’t believe that Mohammed (peace be upon him) either accepted or rejected Christ, since that implies it was his inspiration that created the Koran. He simply received the revelation of the Koran from God. So, since the Koran does not teach that Jesus was God’s son but a Prophet, that is what we believe.
 
@shazirah

Peace be upon you.

Two questions:
  1. Do you believe that an honest Christian who leads a good and devout life, and follows Allah to the best of his ability and knowledge, yet in honesty holds to a mistaken belief like the Trinity and Jesus being Allahs Son, still has a good chance of being judged worthy of Paradise in the hereafter?
  2. Are you a Sunni or Shia Muslim or one of the various minority Muslim sects?
 
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Augustinian said:
I don’t think this is really that viable for one version to be dominant.
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Well, it’s happening in China where Mandarin is the dominant language. Dialects are shrinking and more people are speaking Mandarin as their first language.

From a cultural perspective obviously this is a disaster, but from a practical/power perspective, this strengthens China’s position. That’s the whole rationale behind the European Union – you’re stronger when you’re together. there was even an attempt to have an universal European language. [I’m simply talking about the ideal rationale behind the EU, I don’t want to get into a debate about the faults of the EU]

So if Arabs want to be strong, they need to have a single language.
 
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