Various questions for Muslims

[Dolezal]

Don’t know if there are any Muslims on this forum, otherwise perhaps someone knowledgeable of Islam can answer some of my questions.

Besides obligatory prayer such as the five daily prayers, do Muslims also practice intercessory prayer?

Do Muslims venerate the prophets or other people and ask for their intercession? Do they pray to or venerate the Blessed Virgin?

Does Islam have a concept of mortal sin? If not, what should prevent a Muslim from sinning?

Some Catholic apologists have noted that Muslims believe that Jesus Christ will judge the world and therefore also Mohammed. However, in a quick search of the Qur’an I’ve found nothing to support this claim. Is this belief found in a hadith? If yes, is this hadith widely accepted?

Is there a definitive list of hadith all sects of Islam accept?

Is the hadith that says that Aisha was 9 years old when Mohammed consummated his marriage to her generally accepted? Do you accept it? If yes, how do you morally justify pedophilia?

 

[svid2]

I’d love to hear about these things.

 

[jakasaki]

Dolezal:

Besides obligatory prayer such as the five daily prayers, do Muslims also practice intercessory prayer?

No such thing in Islam - they do not. .

Do Muslims venerate the prophets or other people and ask for their intercession? Do they pray to or venerate the Blessed Virgin?

No, they do not

Does Islam have a concept of mortal sin? If not, what should prevent a Muslim from sinning?

Their major sin is called “shirk” - which is to associate partners with “Allah”. They ho have some sort of “moral” sin, but it is mainly considered as an “error” or a “mistake”

Some Catholic apologists have noted that Muslims believe that Jesus Christ will judge the world and therefore also Mohammed.

That is correct. Muslims believe that Isa/Jesus will return for judgement on all. He’ll return in Damascus above a mosque.

In a nutshell, Isa will destroy the anti-christ, break the Cross, eliminate Christianity and make Islam the global religion, Isa will also kill the “swine”.

He’ll stay on earth for 40 years in which time he will marry, have children and die.

However, in a quick search of the Qur’an I’ve found nothing to support this claim. Is this belief found in a hadith? If yes, is this hadith widely accepted?

Yes, it is ahadith. Perhaps if I have time tomorrow, I’ll post Sahih Bukhari ahadith for your review. This is believed for Sunni Islam as well as Shia.

I’m not sure about Ahmadi Islam. The Ahmadi’s already claim that Jesus was in India and died there as well as Mother Mary. She too is buried in India.

Is there a definitive list of hadith all sects of Islam accept?

Sunni Islam have their own, Shia Islam have their own. I’m mostly familiar with Sunni Islam

Is the hadith that says that Aisha was 9 years old when Mohammed consummated his marriage to her generally accepted?

Yes, there is ahadith in Sahih Bukhari transmitted by Aisha where she claims the prophet of Islam married her when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9. Sunny believe in this.

Shia, however, have some sort of animosity against Aisha. Although they classify her as “mother” of all, they disagree with Sunny Islam.

Do you accept it? If yes, how do you morally justify pedophilia?

I’m not a muslim, but I know muslims whether on a personal level or through the internet forums who do accept this practice. Their counter argument is that people of that time period did such things.

My argument is that is their prophet was a “man of God” he would not be doing such things and he also had many wives where he only allowed his fellow muslims to have **only **4 wives.

 

[Dolezal]

Their major sin is called “shirk” - which is to associate partners with “Allah”. They ho have some sort of “moral” sin, but it is mainly considered as an “error” or a “mistake”

Thanks for your answers. The lack of intercessory prayer and a concept of mortal sin (sin that excludes you from paradise) explains why Muslims seem more distant or apathetic to their fellow man (to me anyway). So basically, temporal punishment via religious law, such as sharia law, mostly keeps Muslims from sinning.

That is correct. Muslims believe that Isa/Jesus will return for judgement on all. He’ll return in Damascus above a mosque.

In a nutshell, Isa will destroy the anti-christ, break the Cross, eliminate Christianity and make Islam the global religion, Isa will also kill the “swine”.

He’ll stay on earth for 40 years in which time he will marry, have children and die.

Yes, but is the hadith really widely accepted? All Muslim websites seem to reject the idea of Jesus judging the world (perhaps reacting to Catholic and Coptic apologetics). That’s why I am wondering whether they, Sunni or Shia, have a list of accepted hadith, and would it include this hadith. Islam has no central authority, how do they decide which hadith are authentic? I get the idea from some websites that they are more or less free to accept or reject hadith on a “historical basis” (really their opinion on what is orthodox).

Yes, there is ahadith in Sahih Bukhari transmitted by Aisha where she claims the prophet of Islam married her when she was 6 and consummated the marriage when she was 9. Sunny believe in this.

I am kind of surprised because popular opinion among Muslims, at least Arabic Muslims, such as Egyptians, very much condemns pedophilia, even though imitating Mohammed is very important to them.

I’m not a muslim, but I know muslims whether on a personal level or through the internet forums who do accept this practice. Their counter argument is that people of that time period did such things.

I know a few Muslims too, but there is an unspoken rule which prevents serious religious discussion because they do not distinguish between honest criticism and insult. They are interested in hearing you talk about your religion and in talking themselves about their religion, but they do not accept critique. This makes evangelization very difficult.

My argument is that is their prophet was a “man of God” he would not be doing such things and he also had many wives where he only allowed his fellow muslims to have **only **4 wives.

I suppose they also justify Mohammed’s marriage by reasoning “God knows best”. The acceptance Mohammed’s sexual intercourse with a prepubescent girl is the major thing keeping me from respecting their religion.

 

[CatholicSheila]

I know a number of Sunni Muslims (about a dozen) and each of them makes personal prayer. It is called making d’ua.

Claiming Muslims only pray for the prescribed prayers is no different than non-Catholics only pray ritual prayers such as the rosary. It simply isn’t true. It is a good reason why you should take your questions about a religion to the people who hold to that religion rather than simply accepting what people not of the religion say about it.

 

[Abu_Ismail]

I happened to pass by these forums after many years of not posting and saw these questions, so I thought I would answer them the best I can.

Besides obligatory prayer such as the five daily prayers, do Muslims also practice intercessory prayer?

Do Muslims venerate the prophets or other people and ask for their intercession? Do they pray to or venerate the Blessed Virgin?

There is no prayer in the sense of “solat” (the formal prayer which involves bowing and prostrating), however in terms of supplication (du’a) the scholars have differed over the permissibility of asking for intercession through prophets, pious people, etc. It’s called “tawassul” and it is a disagreed upon matter in Islam. The more literalist schools reject its application after the death of the Prophet while the main schools accept it, in various degrees (some say the Prophet only as per a hadith whereby others extend it to other pious people). Either way it’s not an obligation to make such a supplication.

Does Islam have a concept of mortal sin? If not, what should prevent a Muslim from sinning?

Muslims consider every sin liable for punishment in the Hellfire, big or small, unless repented for. I’m not sure if this fits in with your technical definition of “mortal sin” or not. Repentance involves four things - asking Allah for forgiveness, feeling remorse for committing that sin, resolving not to repeat it, and if it involves the rights of others, then redressing it (e.g. returning stolen property, money, etc). It is our love for Allah and for pleasing Allah, and our fear of displeasing Him that stops a Muslim from sinning, if a person has ‘taqwa’ (loosely translated as being God-fearing).

Scholars have mentioned the “kaba’ir” or major sins (lying, stealing, killing, etc) however my teachers state that even committing a small sin and deeming it insignificant can be as bad or worse than committing a big sin and having a true repentance over it. Ultimately we don’t know what sins Allah will take us to task for, so we resolve not to commit any sins but do the best we can, and intend to fulfil all our religious obligations, and do what we are able to.

Some Catholic apologists have noted that Muslims believe that Jesus Christ will judge the world and therefore also Mohammed. However, in a quick search of the Qur’an I’ve found nothing to support this claim. Is this belief found in a hadith? If yes, is this hadith widely accepted?

I have never heard that Jesus will judge Muhammad (although I don’t admit to knowing every hadith). From what I understand Jesus on his return will follow the law as brought by Muhammad, as that is considered the final revelation for all mankind, and there is no new prophet after him. There are a number of hadiths relating to the end of time and from what I understand they are somewhat hard to interpret and of various degrees of authenticity.

Is there a definitive list of hadith all sects of Islam accept?

Not all sects no, most sunni scholars accept the same hadiths and their gradings, although there are sometimes differences on how they interpret them. There are many examples - one that comes to mind is when the Prophet pbuh came home in the morning and there was nothing to eat, so he proclaimed that “he is fasting”. Now this could be taken two ways, linguistically it simply means that they have nothing to eat, and the other possible meaning is that he intended retrospectively to perform a religious fast (i.e. refrain from food from dawn to sunset). Based on this ambiguity in meaning (but not the actual wording) some scholars have said its permissible to retrospectively intend a religious fast (provided that one hasn’t done anything already to break the fast) while others have said that the intention to fast must still be made before its commencement by taking the linguistic interpretation.

how do you morally justify pedophilia?

Firstly I should point out that this is not an article of faith for Muslims and it’s not something that they are going to be questioned about. Some Muslims have said 9 and some have said 16 based on other hadiths, either way it’s inconsequential as Islam prohibits the consummation of a marriage before a girl has reached puberty, as a bare minimum (and along with other conditions). Furthermore the other of his wives were all older and widowed and therefore it can’t be argued that the Prophet had a primary or exclusive sexual interest with young girls, so pedophilia is not a term that is applicable in this case. Muslims don’t consider it as such, at the very least.

Ultimately there is no evidence anywhere that the marriage between the Prophet and A’isha was anything except completely acceptable and in line with social norms of the time, nor does it stop a community or society today from setting a higher age limit if they deem it necessary, as is the case with most of the Muslim countries. As I mentioned, there are other conditions to marriage besides age and based on these it is certainly not a recommended practice for Muslims of this day and age. Having said that, if such a community and time existed somewhere in the world where the conditions were met then it would not be prohibited in the sense that a person would become liable for punishment from Allah. This is often the case in Islam, where Allah sets the absolute limits which covers all possible situations but gives us freedom to move within those limits to whatever benefits society as a whole.

Hope this helps,

abu ismail.

 

[Zulfiqar]

I’ll answer from the Shi’a perspective, the branch that I belong(ed) to.

Besides obligatory prayer such as the five daily prayers, do Muslims also practice intercessory prayer?

Yes. It’s called “tawassul” or intercession. A very very common phrase is “Ya Ali madad” (O Ali help). However, intercession on all of the Prophets and Imams is considered valid.

Do Muslims venerate the prophets or other people and ask for their intercession? Do they pray to or venerate the Blessed Virgin?

Not generally. My sister asked this question at the masjid (mosque) and everyone was freaking out thinking she had become a Christian (because she asked if it was okay to pray to Jesus). But, according to the Shaykh, it is alright as long as we do it with the right intention (intercession - not actually asking Jesus himself to do anything). As for the Blessed Virgin, not as much. But she is held in very high regard. There is a hadith where she is listed among the best women in the world (along with the wife if Pharoh, Fatima, and Khadijah).

Does Islam have a concept of mortal sin? If not, what should prevent a Muslim from sinning?

Yes. There are major sins and minor sins. The major sins put you in hell. The minor sins only take you to lower levels of heaven. Combined, minor sins can also put you in hell if you do enough of them and often enough. It’s more about intentions.

Some Catholic apologists have noted that Muslims believe that Jesus Christ will judge the world and therefore also Mohammed. However, in a quick search of the Qur’an I’ve found nothing to support this claim. Is this belief found in a hadith? If yes, is this hadith widely accepted?

Yes. When Imam Mahdi returns (he’s alive, but in hiding) Jesus will return to the earth with him to spread peace and justice. However, he will not JUDGE people for their actions. That is left to God.

Is there a definitive list of hadith all sects of Islam accept?

Nope. Bukhari and Muslim are the two most popular. And they are aboslute garbage. Remember that anti-Islam movie a few months back? That was a very very accurate portrayal of Muhammad . . . according to Sunni hadiths. Shias do not accept such filth.

Is the hadith that says that Aisha was 9 years old when Mohammed consummated his marriage to her generally accepted? Do you accept it? If yes, how do you morally justify pedophilia?

Only among Sunnis (terrorists). There is quite clear proof that she was more like 17-20 when they got married. Aisha probably made that story up in order to elevate her status. She also told people that she was his favorite wife (even though he said that the head of Satan comes from her house . . . ) and that she allowed strange men to breastfeed off of her and that Muhammad approved. Absolute garbage and nonesense. Aisha is not reliable at all. She is nothing but a common prostitute. Maybe she was good while Muhammad was alive, but she turned pure evil after his death and I wish her nothing but the most terrible tortures of hell.

 

[Zulfiqar]

Shia, however, have some sort of animosity against Aisha. Although they classify her as “mother” of all, they disagree with Sunny Islam.

Actually, just a slight correct, she is not the mother of all. The wives (plural) of the Prophet are the “mothers (plural) of the believers”. Sunnis elevate Aisha to a very high level and say that she is THE (singular) mother of the believers. This is false. Whatever status Aisha had while married to Muhammad was lost when she tried to kill Ali, turned into a common prostitute, lied through her teeth, etc. She may have been a good Muslim while she was younger, but after the death of Muhammad, things changed.

 

[Eric_Hilbert]

**Members are not allowed to be disrespectful of anyone’s faith or religion, whether it is Catholicism or not. If a member is disrespectful, he will generally be counseled first and suspended if he persists in disrespectful postings.

If the nature of an initial posting is blatantly disrespectful to any religion (e.g., “the pope is the anti-Christ” or “Rome is the Whore of Babylon” or “Muslims are terrorists”), suspension may be immediate and without prior counseling.

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[TexanKnight]

I happened to pass by these forums after many years of not posting and saw these questions, so I thought I would answer them the best I can.

There is no prayer in the sense of “solat” (the formal prayer which involves bowing and prostrating), however in terms of supplication (du’a) the scholars have differed over the permissibility of asking for intercession through prophets, pious people, etc. It’s called “tawassul” and it is a disagreed upon matter in Islam. The more literalist schools reject its application after the death of the Prophet while the main schools accept it, in various degrees (some say the Prophet only as per a hadith whereby others extend it to other pious people). Either way it’s not an obligation to make such a supplication.

Muslims consider every sin liable for punishment in the Hellfire, big or small, unless repented for. I’m not sure if this fits in with your technical definition of “mortal sin” or not. Repentance involves four things - asking Allah for forgiveness, feeling remorse for committing that sin, resolving not to repeat it, and if it involves the rights of others, then redressing it (e.g. returning stolen property, money, etc). It is our love for Allah and for pleasing Allah, and our fear of displeasing Him that stops a Muslim from sinning, if a person has ‘taqwa’ (loosely translated as being God-fearing).

Scholars have mentioned the “kaba’ir” or major sins (lying, stealing, killing, etc) however my teachers state that even committing a small sin and deeming it insignificant can be as bad or worse than committing a big sin and having a true repentance over it. Ultimately we don’t know what sins Allah will take us to task for, so we resolve not to commit any sins but do the best we can, and intend to fulfil all our religious obligations, and do what we are able to.

I have never heard that Jesus will judge Muhammad (although I don’t admit to knowing every hadith). From what I understand Jesus on his return will follow the law as brought by Muhammad, as that is considered the final revelation for all mankind, and there is no new prophet after him. There are a number of hadiths relating to the end of time and from what I understand they are somewhat hard to interpret and of various degrees of authenticity.

Not all sects no, most sunni scholars accept the same hadiths and their gradings, although there are sometimes differences on how they interpret them. There are many examples - one that comes to mind is when the Prophet pbuh came home in the morning and there was nothing to eat, so he proclaimed that “he is fasting”. Now this could be taken two ways, linguistically it simply means that they have nothing to eat, and the other possible meaning is that he intended retrospectively to perform a religious fast (i.e. refrain from food from dawn to sunset). Based on this ambiguity in meaning (but not the actual wording) some scholars have said its permissible to retrospectively intend a religious fast (provided that one hasn’t done anything already to break the fast) while others have said that the intention to fast must still be made before its commencement by taking the linguistic interpretation.

Firstly I should point out that this is not an article of faith for Muslims and it’s not something that they are going to be questioned about. Some Muslims have said 9 and some have said 16 based on other hadiths, either way it’s inconsequential as Islam prohibits the consummation of a marriage before a girl has reached puberty, as a bare minimum (and along with other conditions). Furthermore the other of his wives were all older and widowed and therefore it can’t be argued that the Prophet had a primary or exclusive sexual interest with young girls, so pedophilia is not a term that is applicable in this case. Muslims don’t consider it as such, at the very least.

Ultimately there is no evidence anywhere that the marriage between the Prophet and A’isha was anything except completely acceptable and in line with social norms of the time, nor does it stop a community or society today from setting a higher age limit if they deem it necessary, as is the case with most of the Muslim countries. As I mentioned, there are other conditions to marriage besides age and based on these it is certainly not a recommended practice for Muslims of this day and age. Having said that, if such a community and time existed somewhere in the world where the conditions were met then it would not be prohibited in the sense that a person would become liable for punishment from Allah. This is often the case in Islam, where Allah sets the absolute limits which covers all possible situations but gives us freedom to move within those limits to whatever benefits society as a whole.

Hope this helps,

abu ismail.

Thank you for your responses.

I work with several Muslims. I find them to be honest, hard working and loyal. I have read the Koran out of respect for them to see why they believe and what they believe.

I disagree with their religion, but admire the them. It is a shame that the radicals get all the press.