/ Apr 09, 2019 06:13 PM This page contains the full text of Learning Quranic Arabic for Complete Beginners by Ikram Hawramani. You can get this book on Amazon.com as a paperback and Kindle ebook. Learning Quranic Arabic for Complete Beginners ✽ A Step by Step Self-Teaching Guide to the Arabic Language of the Quran Ikram Hawramani 2019StewardsPublishing STEWARDS PUBLISHING Copyright © 2019 Ikram Hawramani First […]
/ Jan 02, 2019 07:31 PM Master the Basics of Coding in Under Two Hours in Interactive Steps and Visual Examples Methods for using this guide: View the online version on this page (scroll down) Download a free PDF version Download a free Mobi version (for e-readers and ebook-reading apps, zipped) Buy the Kindle version on Amazon Buy the paperback version […]
/ Mar 24, 2019 05:21 PM / 1 Comment on Is ruqya part of Islam? A study of the hadiths on ruqya using probability theory / 3998 viewsThere are numerous narrations that mention ruqya (the use of certain words, prayers or Quran recitations as charms or spells to heal or protect a person). I decided to to conduct a search of all major hadith collections and some minor ones to find all the hadiths that mention ruqya in order to find out […]
/ Feb 25, 2017 04:19 PM / 1 Comment on Measuring Economic and Military Potentials of World Nations with the Human Genetic-Cultural Quality Index (HQI) / 3173 viewsIntroduction What is the biggest predictor of a country’s scientific output, industrial capacity and military prowess? It is not geographic size. For instance, Kazakhstan and Mongolia are huge compared to Israel and Switzerland, yet Israel and Switzerland far outdistance them in all measures of intellectual, technological and military attainment. It is not population. India’s 1.28 […]
/ Aug 12, 2018 03:22 PM / No Comments on How backward is Russia compared to Europe and the United States and when will it catch up? / 3055 viewsBelow is a chart of the scientific output productivity of a number of important countries. Scientific output productivity refers to the number of scientific research papers published by a certain country divided by its population. A higher number indicates that the country is more “scientifically productive”, meaning that it is prosperous and advanced enough to […]
/ Aug 08, 2017 07:21 PM / 16 Comments on Reconciling Islam and Darwinian Evolution: Al-Ghazali’s Matrix and the Divine Template / 26155 viewsIntroduction (Download this essay as a PDF) This essay demonstrates the relationship between Islam and science/rationality through my effort to reconcile Darwinian evolution with the Quran. I am as much a “Darwinian” as any evolutionary biologist and as much a believer in the literal meaning of the Quran as any conservative Muslim. By showing how […]
/ Oct 25, 2018 03:28 PM / No Comments on An Islamic defense of free speech (a critique of Ziauddin Sardar’s views on Rushdie’s Satanic Verses) / 2521 viewsI have had Ziauddin Sardar’s Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim since 2010, but I only got around to reading it recently. This is one of the funniest books written by a Muslim, rivaling the books of Turkey’s Aziz Nesin. In what is perhaps my favorite scene of the book, Sardar camps out in […]
/ Feb 25, 2017 07:50 PM / No Comments on Forecasting the World’s Top 50 Most Powerful Countries in 2035 Using the HQI / 3121 viewsThe following table is a list of 50 countries that are predicted to have the most economic, technological and military power in the world by the year 2035, according to HQI theory. The projected power of the United States is set to 100 to make it easy to compare other countries with it. China’s projected […]
/ Nov 17, 2018 03:28 PM / No Comments on The Muslim Plan for Western Civilization: There is No Plan / 15950 viewsDo Muslims hope to establish a World Caliphate? It is undeniable that some Muslims, including religious scholars, look forward to one day there existing a new Islamic empire that represents “true” Islam and that brings back the glory of the olden days. As is usual with fantasy-land Islam, the thinking is top-down, the caliphate has […]
/ Jun 15, 2015 07:56 PM / No Comments on How to do long-running computations in JavaScript while avoiding the “maximum call stack size exceeded” error / 2007 viewsThe following program calculates the value of the series of the Basel Problem. The result is a number that starts with 1.644934. Like π, this sequence can go on forever, which means the program never exits. Without proper design, such a program runs into the maximum call stack size exceeded error, which is designed to […]
/ Jan 24, 2019 03:01 PM / No Comments on Is democracy permitted in Islam? / 2114 viewsIs the democracy system considered haram in Islam? Managing a country is similar to managing a business or a village. People should do whatever works best in their circumstances. There is a hadith that says the Muslims will eventually establish a caliphate, but as I discuss here, that hadith is unauthentic. The reality is that Islam […]
/ May 11, 2019 12:13 PM / 3 Comments on The Islamic ruling on watching movies / 13700 viewsAoa could you tell me the ruling on watching movies? Even innocent ones? Whenever i look up rulings on this people always say things like all movies are filled with nude women and corruption and it confuses me what am i supposed to do in all my free time if most things young people do […]
/ Apr 16, 2019 04:44 PM / No Comments on Solving the Problem of the Codification of the Sharia / 2732 viewsAbstract I argue that the existence of an inherent contradiction between the Islamic Sharia and codification is imaginary and caused by paying insufficient attention to the nature of the workings of the Sharia and how it relates to the state. So far codification has meant the imposition of the hegemony of the state over the […]
/ Jan 16, 2017 03:18 AM / 6 Comments on Inconsistencies in the Harry Potter Books / 9399 views Introduction This page lists all of the errors and inconsistencies I’ve found throughout my many readings of the entire series (I have Stephen Fry’s reading of the books on my phone as an audiobook, to which I sometimes listen when I’m resting or trying to fall asleep). Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone What Object […]
/ Sep 27, 2017 06:38 PM Selected and Translated by Ikram Hawramani Copyright © 2017 Ikram Hawramani A Brief Primer on Ibn al-Jawzi Abū l-Faraj ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Ibn al-Jawzī (1116 – 1201 CE) was a major historian, hadith scholar, jurist and popular preacher in medieval Baghdad. He is said to have written over a hundred works (some mention as many as […]
/ Jan 22, 2019 01:44 PM / No Comments on On believing that Islamic clerics have ruined Islam / 1323 viewsAssalamualaikum! I am a Kurd from Turkey,my family is Shafi,but I don’t believe sects, imams,şeyhs or mollas I think they ruined our religion,they are not Allah or the prophet? Why does everyone believe them? Isn’t that a sin? Because Allah sends us the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad,the Quran is our guide, why should I […]
/ Apr 27, 2019 09:22 PM / No Comments on Can a Muslim-majority country be run by a non-Muslim? / 2624 viewsAssalamu’alaykum wa rahmatullah. Brother, can a Muslim majority country be run by a non-Muslim? Do the Quran have any specific verse that applies to the prohibition of the non-Muslim to lead them or do the Quran allows them to? (Be it as a President of the whole republic, or as a governor/mayor of the regional […]
/ Jan 08, 2019 04:01 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on women wearing perfume / 15271 viewsAre women allowed to wear perfume? There is no issue with women wearing perfume before close relatives (those known as maḥrams) and other women. As for women wearing perfume in public, there are differences on it. The great Maliki scholar Ibn Rushd the Elder (grandfather of Ibn Rushd) permits the wearing of perfume publicly by […]
/ Apr 05, 2019 10:25 PM / No Comments on The ruling on swearing by the Quran / 1562 viewsWhat does the Quran say about swearing upon it? Is one allowed to swear on the Quran if you are telling the truth? The Quran itself does not mention a ruling on swearing by the Quran. However, since in Islamic theology the Words of God are attributes of Him, swearing by the Quran is the […]
/ Oct 15, 2019 05:18 PM / No Comments on Can you make dua in ruku position? / 3011 viewsRuling on making dua in the position of ruku while praying Making dua in ruku and sujood is permitted. You can use any words you want. References: Fatwa from the Qatari Fatwa Authority (Arabic PDF)
/ Apr 06, 2019 02:26 PM / 14 Comments on Is swearing by God permitted in Islam? The ruling on breaking an oath or promise / 70422 viewsAre you allowed to swear by God? Yes, swearing by God is permitted in Islam. However, there are two types of oaths (swearing) which have different rules. The first one is a casual, rather than solemn, oath. For example many Muslims say “Wallahi (by Allah) this” or “Wallahi that” in casual conversation. This type of […]
/ Dec 24, 2018 01:29 AM / No Comments on Is dawah obligatory when it is awkward and rude? / 2813 viewsIs da’wah an obligatory to all Muslims? What if I am the type of person who dislikes approaching people to give da’wah about Islam, while I myself have an inner turmoil about Islam I need to calm down and fix? It’s the religious people in my country whom insists that it is obligatory for Muslims […]
/ Feb 22, 2017 10:02 PM / No Comments on The 12-Year Min-Max Average: A Simple Method for Calculating Real, Legitimate Economic Growth and Canceling Out Central Bank Manipulations and other Noise / 3010 viewsIntroduction Real economic growth is different from the increase in GDP that comes from monetary expansion. The 12-year min-max method that I have come up with is a way of calculating a country’s GDP growth rate over a 12-year period that aims to cancel out “fake” growth caused by monetary expansion and boom-bust cycles by […]
/ Jul 25, 2017 05:53 PM / 5 Comments on What happened to Islamic civilization? Why did Muslims fall behind in science and technology? / 5393 viewsI wanted your in depth opinion on a particular observation. Muslims, historically speaking, have been responsible for hundreds and thousands of scientific discoveries. What happened to us? Why are we in the stage we are? Only 100 years ago, which is just a little more than one human lifetime, the Ottoman Empire was a sovereign […]
/ Jan 02, 2019 02:25 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on celebrating national holidays (such as New Year’s Day) / 3114 viewsBeginning of translated IslamOnline fatwa Question: What is the opinion of our religion on the fact of certain countries celebrating holidays such as Victory Day, Workers’ Day or New Year’s Day and others? Answer: In the second part of a long study in the book Bayān li-l-Nās min al-Azhar al-Sharīf [A Proclamation to the People from […]
/ Dec 30, 2018 02:46 PM / 1 Comment on The Islamic ruling on building new churches in Muslim lands / 7918 viewsIdeally, Muslims should treat Christians in Muslim-majority lands the way they want Muslims to be treated in Christian-majority lands. The following fatwa by the widely respected Islamic scholar Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi finds it unproblematic for Christians to build churches in Christian-majority villages and cities where they have a need for it. He also supports the […]
/ May 10, 2019 02:29 PM / No Comments on The ruling on using alcohol in cooking / 2093 viewsWhat is your opinion on cooking with alcohol, like wine etc. I know most Muslim ruling is NO on the subject. I am personally liberal in general in life and on this subject also. You simply can’t get drunk on the food cooked with alcohol. As discussed in this previous answer, vanilla extract that comes […]
/ Aug 05, 2018 07:19 PM / 4 Comments on What are the exact rulings on the hijab in the Quran? / 2404 viewsSalam, brother. I have a question to ask. Does Islam has certain rulings on hijab? Because, in my country there seem to be different opinions among the Muslim groups and that they have different version of how women hijab is. This make me confused. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The Quran states that the head and chest […]
/ Jun 05, 2019 09:22 PM / No Comments on The ruling on women riding alone in a taxi car or on a motorcycle / 4307 viewsSalaam. In my country, there is this public transportation service called ojeg (pronounced OH-JACK). It is basically a motorcycle taxi that only counts to 1 passenger per motorcycle unit. In Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) times, he rode a camel together with a woman behind him, with a note that the Prophet and the woman rode the […]
/ Apr 26, 2019 06:44 PM / No Comments on The ruling on working for non-Muslims / 2020 viewsAssalamu alaikum. What is the ruling for a Muslim working for non-Muslims? There is no issue with working for non-Muslims or being partners in business with them. The Prophet PBUH and his Companions used to be involved in all kinds of businesses with non-Muslims; trade, rent and hiring. Source: Fatwa from the Qatari Fatwa Authority […]
/ Apr 22, 2019 11:14 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on donating corpses for scientific research / 1261 viewsThis is a matter of difference among scholars and some prohibit the use corposes for scientific research. But According to a fatwa by the Qatari Fatwa Authority, donating one’s body to be used for scientific research is permitted since it fulfills a good purpose and is not opposed to any of the fundamental precepts of […]
/ Apr 26, 2019 03:28 PM / 1 Comment on The ruling on drinking ejaculate during oral sex / 14997 viewsDuring intercourse, when my wife ejaculates and squirts, am I allowed to drink/ingest it? According to the imams Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfa and an opinion transmitted from Aḥmad, ejaculate (manī) is impure (najis) where from a man or a woman, and since ingesting impure things is forbidden, the ruling is that it is forbidden to ingest […]
/ Nov 07, 2017 02:17 PM / No Comments on What are the manners and rules of performing wudu and prayer? / 1833 viewsWhat are the manners and rules of performing wudu and prayer (for a female)? Learning how to perform ablution and pray properly requires a lot of detail and I cannot give it in an answer or two. Please check out Asad Tarsin’s book Being Muslim: A Practical Guide, which mentions all the details of praying and […]
/ Mar 08, 2019 10:36 PM / No Comments on The rule on writing sexually explicit materials in Islam / 2703 viewsAssalamu Alaikum brother, I just wanted to ask if u have any advice how writers or artists can avoid ‘fahisha’ in their work. When I write fiction I avoid writing about Islam bc I don’t want to mix that which is made up with the truth. At the same time I don’t want to represent […]
/ Sep 08, 2017 02:53 PMWere the Soviet Union to sink tomorrow under the waters of the ocean, the American military-industrial establishment would have to go on, substantially unchanged, until some other adversary could be invented. Anything else would be an unacceptable shock to the American economy. —George F Kennan, American Cold War diplomat and father of “Containment Theory” Introduction A […]
/ Jan 27, 2019 07:08 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on aborting a fetus after four months to save the mother’s life / 2553 viewsSalam, I know that abortion is allowed in Islam before 4 months of pregnancy. But after 4 months, it is not permitted even if there is absolute certainty that the mother will die if she continues with the pregnancy. How can this be? What about the mother’s other children? Why must the mother face certain […]
/ Feb 06, 2019 05:05 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on laser hair removal / 3541 viewsSalamualaykum Is laser hair removal permissible for men? And if it is, in that case, only for those purposes, is it okay if people see the naval button? According to fatwas by the Qatari Fatwa Authority, the Jordanian Fatwa Authority and the Egyptian Fatwa Authority, laser hair removal is permitted, whether for men or women. […]
/ Aug 27, 2019 06:28 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on bowing to show respect / 2605 viewsSalam. In Japanese culture, it’s normal to bow down to someone out of respect. As a Muslim surrounded by Japanese society, most of the times I did this too, but then u know, the feeling of guilt triggered. I know in Islam we’re ordered not to bow down to anyone other than Allah. How to […]
/ Feb 12, 2019 06:17 PM / No Comments on The ruling on breaking a fast that you are making up for Ramadan / 1462 viewsIs it haram to break a fast that you’re making up for Ramadan? While breaking optional fasts is permitted without issue, according to multiple fatwas it is not permitted to a break a fast that one is performing in place of an obligatory fast. If a person breaks such a fast without having an excuse, […]
/ May 14, 2019 01:22 PM / No Comments on The ruling on failing to make up missed fasts until the next Ramadan starts / 1519 viewsAOA last year i found out the fasts that are missed have to be made up at a later time but bcoz i cant cook and no one in my household really makes up missed fasts i couldnt get around to it even tho i always wanted to, i wanted to know if i could […]
/ Apr 23, 2018 04:35 PM / No Comments on Islamic rulings on ear, nose and tongue piercings / 30571 viewsThe contemporary Azhar-educated Egyptian scholar Dr. Khālid ʿAbd al-Munʿim al-Rifāʿī says in a fatwa that the four schools agree that piercing the ear is permissible due to the fact that it serves a common need among women, and that there is no clear evidence against it. He quotes the Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 1350 CE) saying […]
/ Dec 30, 2018 07:03 PM / 6 Comments on The Islamic ruling on dyeing hair (for men and women) / 23302 viewsSummary: Dyeing the hair is permitted in Islam as long as pure black is avoided. Dark shades are permitted. Beginning of translated fatwa from IslamOnline Question: Is it permissible for a man to dye his hair when it becomes gray? What about a woman? It mentioned in a hadith of the Prophet PBUH [that he […]
/ Jan 17, 2019 05:32 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on blowing on food to cool it / 3405 viewsIs it true that it be haram to blow on ones good before eatin even tho it be hot to eat? According to a fatwa from Egypt’s fatwa authority, it is not a prohibition, it is just good manners not do it since it can cause the food or saliva to fly off, and it […]
/ Jan 18, 2019 08:58 PM / 4 Comments on The ruling on watching uncovered women on television / 5666 viewsIn answer to questions regarding whether it is permissible to watch people on television or in public not dressed according to the Islamic dress code, for example watching a female television presenter who does not wear the hijab While the Quran prescribes what Muslims should wear on public, there are no Quranic verses or hadith […]
/ Jul 11, 2018 06:48 PM / No Comments on Ruling on mistakes during sajda al-sahu / 3390 viewsAssalmualaikum, I think I made a mistake in sajda sahw (i’m not sure if I prostated 2 or 3 times) should i regard this as wasawas, is it permissible to do sajda sahw again, or should pray salat again? Do you think you can answer this? Jazakallah khayr Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, According to the Mālikī and Shāfiʿī […]
/ Jan 20, 2019 02:15 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on reconstructing the hymen (hymenoplasty) / 2612 viewsAccording to a study by the Egyptian scholar ʿAbdallāh al-Najjār, who belongs to Al-Azhar University, hymen reconstruction surgery (hymenorrhaphy or hymenoplasty) is permissible in Islam. He says at the end of his study: We conclude from our study that there is nothing in comparative Islamic jurisprudence that implies reconstructing the hymen is impermissible. This is the case whether […]
/ Apr 01, 2017 09:02 PM / No Comments on “So Intoxicated I Am” by Jalal al-Deen Rumi / 1399 viewsSo intoxicated I am, so intoxicated I am today, That out of my hoop I have leapt today! Such a thing that cannot be imagined, That’s how I am, that’s how I am today! In spirit out to the Heaven of Love I went, Though in body still in this world I am today! I […]
/ Feb 06, 2019 04:49 PM / 2 Comments on The Islamic ruling on watching gay anime / 9192 viewsYou can decide for yourself when something is spiritually bad by these criteria: It causes doubt in your heart You do not want the people you respect the most to know you are doing it When you feel very spiritual (for example if it is Ramadan and you have been reading a lot of Quran) […]
/ Nov 16, 2019 09:11 PM / No Comments on The ruling on praying while bleeding or with blood on clothing / 10178 viewsIf one has bleeding wound and that ends up on his clothes, is his wudu or prayer still valid? It is permitted to pray while bleeding. It is also permitted to pray in clothes that have your own blood on them as long as it is not blood from menstruation or childbirth. If it is […]
/ May 18, 2019 02:09 PM / No Comments on The ruling on using lotions that contain alcohol / 1632 viewsAssalamualaikum Is there any objection to using lotions that some of them have alcohol in them. Would that break ones wudu if you used them. thank you Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, As discussed in this previous answer, alcohol is only forbidden when there is a chance of getting drunk from using the alcohol-containing material. Since there […]
/ Aug 12, 2018 05:16 PM / No Comments on Islam’s ruling on cannibalism for survival / 17602 viewsWhat does islam Tell us about cannibalism. considering that one is trapped and can only eat a dead person. such as the crash of the aircraft Fuerza-Aérea-Uruguaya-Flug 571. Thank you for your answer. May Allah bless you The Quran says in regards to eating prohibited things: But if one is forced by necessity, without willful […]
/ Jan 07, 2019 03:09 PM / No Comments on The ruling on the prayer of an alcohol-drinker / 1737 viewsBeginning of summarized translated fatwa from the Jordanian Fatwa Authority Question: There is a hadith that says the prayer of an alcohol-drinker will not be accepted for forty nights. Should such a person wait for forty days before coming back to the prayer? Answer: Our advice to this alcohol-drinker is to fear God and to […]
/ Apr 22, 2019 11:09 PM / No Comments on The Islamic ruling on cremation / 1382 viewsAccording to the Qatari Fatwa Authority, the human body possesses dignity even after death, therefore burning the body is not permitted. An authentic hadith tells us that breaking a corpse’s bones is similar to breaking a living person’s bones. However, the Fatwa goes on to say that if burning human bodies is medically justified (for […]
/ Jan 07, 2019 02:14 PM / No Comments on Islam’s Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science / 2731 viewsNidhal Guessoum’s Islam’s Quantum Question (originally published in French in 2009, published in English in 2011) is well worth reading, mainly for its detailed refutation of various pseudo-scientific defenses of Islam and the Quran that have been offered by others. His detailed critique of Iʿjāz literature and its supporters (such as Zaghloul El-Naggar), who purport to show scientific […]
/ Apr 09, 2018 06:50 PM / 13 Comments on A new approach to the Quran’s “Wife-Beating Verse” (al-Nisa 4:34) / 25814 viewsIn this essay, I present a plausible framework in which traditional scholarly interpretations of 4:34 can be considered correct without this becoming support for violence against women. I argue that the error has not been in understanding 4:34 but in scholarly efforts to justify it. There is a new line of justification that has so […]
/ Apr 19, 2018 04:10 PM / 5 Comments on A Traditionalist Critique of the Islamic Prohibition on Taṣwīr (Making Drawings and Statues of Humans and Animals) / 17945 viewsTo many Muslims today, it will sound patently absurd if someone were to tell them that it is a mortal sin for them to draw a cat. But some religious scholars would tell you that drawing a cat is an act of taṣwīr (the depiction of living things in paintings, sculptures and elsewhere), a sin for which […]
/ Feb 12, 2019 06:08 PM / No Comments on The Closing of the Muslim Mind and the Decline of Islamic Civilization / 2979 viewsA response to Robert R. Reilly’s book The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. Last I year I published then took down an early version of this essay. This is the updated version (also published as chapter 3 of my book An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Understanding Islam […]
/ Apr 10, 2019 03:28 PM / No Comments on The Dark Side of Swearing: The Philosophical Reason Why Using Profanity is Wrong / 2821 viewsA philosophical investigation of why using various forms of profanity is dangerous and harmful in the long-term. Included is a discussion of why using the word “sexy” casually is wrong. The line “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind was one of the most shocking examples of profanity that had been shown on screen up to that time […]
/ Mar 13, 2019 08:53 PM / 6 Comments on Reconciling Free Will and Predestination in Islam with al-Māturīdī and Ibn Taymiyya / 11061 viewsRecently I have been reading many works on Islamic theology (kalām) in order to find answers to certain questions and paradoxes inherent within the Islamic theological worldview. Since I was already familiar with Ashʿarite theology (Islam’s dominant theological school), I decided to focus on al-Māturīdī (d. 944 CE), who represents Islam’s alternative yet orthodox theological […]
/ Apr 30, 2019 06:59 PM / 11 Comments on The Philosophy of Pornography and Masturbation / 22988 viewsWhy is it wrong to watch pornography? Even if a person is not religious, they will still feel guilt and shame about a porn-watching habit. Where does this come from? Even the most free-thinking and atheistic person will have reservations about watching pornography with their family, even if everyone in the family is an adult. […]
/ Jan 19, 2020 12:16 PM / 6 Comments on The Quranic and hadith evidence for prohibiting touching non-mahrams / 77333 viewsAssalamualaikum I came across a hadith on Facebook which says that touching any non- mahram woman is harām. I wanted to ask if that Hadith is authentic, and if it is so, then to what extent does this rule apply in our life. I mean I have female relatives who are quite elder to me( […]
/ Jul 04, 2017 12:02 AM Email: contact@hawramani.com | Twitter Languages: English, Arabic, Persian / Farsi, Southern Kurdish I am a US-based Islamic studies researcher, software engineer and writer. I am currently working on completing Al-Azhar University’s curriculum for ʿālims (PhD Islamic scholars) on my own. I consider the Quran the unchanged Word of God and I derive my worldview from […]
/ Oct 01, 2017 09:00 PM Selected and Translated by Ikram Hawramani Copyright © 2017 Ikram Hawramani Hawramani.com All Rights Reserved A Brief Primer on Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah Ibn al-Qayyim[1] was born in Damascus on January 28th of the year 1292 CE, equivalent to the seventh of Ṣafar of the year 691 AH. His full name is Abū ʿAbd-Allah Shams al-Dīn […]
/ Apr 19, 2019 09:39 PM / 3 Comments on The foundations of morality in Islam: Reason or revelation? / 1367 viewsSalaam. Can I say that religion is one of human needs, and that is to attain inner peace? As for how human beings live on the earth, we are free to make our own rules on how to regulate our people. I know from an Islamic religious group that human should not make their own […]
/ Jul 26, 2018 06:14 PM / No Comments on Why Saudi Arabia does not represent Islam / 2112 viewsDo you dislike the Saudis? If so why? I consider them no better or worse than most other governments, but they are greatly responsible for the negative image of Islam that the rest of the world has about us, and for this reason they deserve to be denounced, as I will explain below. This is […]
/ Jun 23, 2019 07:41 PM / 5 Comments on The Uniqueness of Western Civilization by Ricardo Duchesne / 7822 viewsThere are times when you read a book that completely change your understanding of the world, answering questions you have had for most of your life, and even better, answering questions you did not know you had. This is such a book. Duchesne unites economic analysis, anthropology, history and philosophy in order to make a […]
/ Nov 04, 2017 04:11 PM / 1 Comment on Why is sexual harassment of women common in Muslim countries? IQ and development, not religion / 3284 viewsWhat I have noticed is that in Muslim countries in which there are more modest woman I get more catcalls, harassment, men following me, staring at my body parts etc. I’m not saying I’m for zina, but it feels unfair that they take out their sexual frustration on us. Maybe you’re not able to relate […]
/ Nov 10, 2018 04:59 PM / No Comments on Ijmāʿ as Scientific Consensus: Defining Consensus in Islam and Ending Its Abuse / 8570 viewsIjmāʿ (“consensus”) is one of the most abused concepts in Islam, used as a weapon by many in order to claim that no one has the right to disagree with them. It helps shut down free discussion and intimidate independent Muslim thinkers into keeping silent about their views. Ijmāʾ, as it is used in scholarly rhetoric […]
/ Sep 28, 2017 08:19 PM / No Comments on Understanding Islam’s Sophisticated Approach to Slavery: Why Muslims Practiced Slavery in the Past, and Why They Reject it Today / 3552 viewsBelow are my preliminary thoughts on why Islam’s tolerance for slavery is not necessary unethical. It may sound like nothing but empty apologetics to defend Islam’s toleration of slavery and say that Islam’s goal was to abolish it, when Islam’s Prophet ﷺ and his companions all practiced it widely. And generally this is what much of […]
/ Apr 28, 2017 06:28 PM / No Comments on A bash script for automatically restarting an unresponsive Apache server only when needed / 3025 viewsOne of my servers responds to about 100,000 requests per day. Apache would randomly hang a few times a day, taking all of the websites down. I tried every solution I could find online to prevent Apache from hanging, but nothing helped, so I decided to stop wasting time on it and simply develop a […]
/ Jul 04, 2018 08:16 PM / 1 Comment on Is Islam really pluralistic? An Islamic defense of pluralism / 7235 viewsIf Islamic teachings can be used to defend pluralism, that tells us something very important about the future of Islam. My views are not unique; they are similar to those of the great twentieth century Egyptian scholar Muḥammad ʿAbdallāh Drāz (1894 – 1958 CE), who defended a similar vision in many of his articles and […]
/ Sep 23, 2014 07:07 PM / 5 Comments on How cyber pirates anonymously torrent movies on the internet / 13186 viewsFor my views on Internet piracy see my essay: Why Digital Piracy is Ethical and Necessary We all know that you, as a law-abiding citizen, would never download a car. And yet there are people out there who download movies for free and refuse to add a few more bucks to the billions of dollars that […]
/ Nov 04, 2018 06:48 PM / 6 Comments on A Hadith Scholar Presents New Evidence that Aisha was Near 18 the Day of Her Marriage to the Prophet Muhammad / 34550 viewsThe age of Aisha bint Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with her and her father, at the time of her marriage to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH is one of the thorny issues in modern Islam, used as one of the main talking points against Islam by Islam’s detractors. How could God’s Prophet, a widower […]
/ Nov 19, 2019 03:17 PM / No Comments on Can jinns possess human beings? / 2351 viewsAssalamualaikum I’d like to know what we know about Jinns from the Quraan and the authentic hadiths. Can they possess human beings? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The Quran refers to jinn possession in a few places, for example: Those who swallow usury will not rise, except as someone driven mad by Satan’s touch. That is because […]
/ Aug 19, 2017 05:16 PM / 1 Comment on What is permissible for a Muslim woman to wear in front of her father, other close male relatives, and other women? / 7819 viewsI have a question about clothing. What can a female wear at house in front of her parents and sisters?? There are no clear texts that deal with this matter, and for this reason there is much difference of opinion among scholars regarding it. Some jurists invent chains of reasoning to justify very strict rules […]
/ Jun 28, 2019 11:46 PM / 1 Comment on Hijabis, Niqabis, and Religious Liberties in the Secular State / 3388 viewsWhen I was fourteen, my new geometry teacher paused while taking attendance on the first day of class to inform me that she didn’t allow hats in the classroom. “We’ll have to do something about that,” she added, referring to my headscarf. Sitting at my desk in the back, I gaped like she’d slapped me, […]
/ Apr 28, 2019 09:40 PM / No Comments on Restoring the original interpretation of Surat Quraysh (Quran 106) / 1818 viewsA review of Uri Rubin “Quraysh and their winter and summer journey: On the interpretation of Sura 106.” Surat Quraysh is often translated as follows in English: For the security of Quraysh. Their security during winter and summer journeys. Let them worship the Lord of this House. Who has fed them against hunger, and has […]
/ Sep 11, 2017 06:59 PM / 2 Comments on The Islamic View of Sex Education and Adolescent Exposure to Sexual Scenes in Novels and Films / 4166 viewsMy child loves to read books. Some of the books she wants to read mention sex. She is 13 years old and I don’t know when to allow her to read those books or even when to tell her about sex. I need help with this. Thank you! When a child reaches puberty (and I […]
/ Nov 09, 2017 03:44 PM / No Comments on A Biography of Ahmad Moftizadeh / 3707 viewsKak Ahmadi Muftizada: Darwazayak bo Xabateki Nanasraw (کاک ئەحمەدی موفتیزادە: دەروازەیەک بۆ خەباتێکی نەناسراو, Ahmad Moftizadeh: A Gateway to an Unknown Struggle) is a 394-page Kurdish biography of the great Iranian Kurdish leader Ahmad Moftizadeh written by Sarwat Abdullah, apparently published in 2010. I have been reading all available materials on Ahmad Moftizadeh, since he is […]
/ Nov 02, 2019 08:12 PM / 16 Comments on Women may travel without a mahram for three days and nights: A study of the hadiths / 14548 viewsThere are numerous authentic hadiths that mention restrictions on women traveling without a mahram (a relative like a husband or father). I was recently asked about the exact nature of the restriction, so I decided to do a thorough hadith study using the probabilistic hadith verification method. For those who want the conclusion immediately: the […]
/ Jul 08, 2018 09:42 PM / 1 Comment on The Point of Marriage in Islam (and the Problem with Romantic Relationships Outside of Marriage) / 10213 viewsAn essay on the question of whether romantic relationships outside of marriage are acceptable in Islam, and if not, why. Why is marriage such a big deal in religiously conservative societies? Why can’t people just enjoy themselves without involving everyone and their mother in their private affairs? Islamic law does not have anything strict to […]
/ Mar 19, 2018 03:13 PM / No Comments on How to be kinder and more polite to family members / 1867 viewsI keep being rude to my mother. How do I stop this habit? She always says things that make me angry even though I know she’s right. I’ve apologised to her so many times and I ask God for help but nothing is changing. It is natural to be rude and impatient with people close […]
/ Oct 25, 2017 04:44 PM / 2 Comments on Islam, the Good Parts: A Basic Income System that Encourages Employment, Productive Investment and Automation / 6488 viewsWithin the next 50 years, most of the jobs that today employ people will not exist, because robots and computers will be able to do them better and cheaper. Over the past 50 years there has been much talk of artificial intelligence, and much of it was empty and little came out of it. The true […]
/ Jul 08, 2019 05:25 PM / 1 Comment on An algorithmic cheat sheet for Arabic diptotes (mamnūʿ min al-ṣarf) / 2488 viewsIn order to make sense of the immense complexity of Arabic diptotes I decided to turn all of the rules into an algorithm written in the PHP language. Diptotes (mamnūʿ min al-ṣarf) are Arabic words that do not acquire tanwīn like normal words do and have fatḥa instead of kasra in the jarr position, as […]
/ Jul 14, 2018 10:05 PM / 1 Comment on Professor Abu Zahra: The Egyptian Islamic Scholar who Rejected the Punishment of Stoning / 10355 viewsMuhammad Abu Zahra was one of the foremost authorities on Islamic law in the 20th century, whose works on the various schools of Islamic law continue to be used in academia. He was a member of Al-Azhar University’s Academy of Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic law at Cairo University. He was loved by […]
/ Apr 28, 2018 04:08 PM / 5 Comments on Suicide and self-harm in Islam / 31368 viewsThis is a sensitive but also important topic. I remember at my lowest and my worst, needing to connect myself to Allah. It was during college . I was dealing with clinical depression, I also had PTSD. I was extremely suicidal, and I had been self-harming since years. I knew little about Islam, so I […]
/ Apr 21, 2019 02:34 PM / No Comments on Islamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh / 1728 viewsIslamic Law and Jurisprudence: Studies in Honor of Farhat J. Ziadeh (published 1990) is a collection of papers written in honor of the Palestinian-American professor Farhat Jacob Ziadeh (1917-2016), founder and first chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington. I bought this book after seeing it cited […]
/ Sep 21, 2019 04:10 PM / 3 Comments on Ayesha, At Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (Book Review) / 9793 viewsAyesha, At Last is a 2018 novel by Uzma Jalaluddin, a Canadian Muslim. It is her first novel. The publisher stresses that this is a Muslim version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. This comparison is very unfair to Austen’s great masterpiece and sets readers up for disappointment. The story is a melodramatic and unrealistic […]
/ Jun 09, 2019 04:24 PM / 6 Comments on Why People Dislike Middleman Minorities: A Fix for Thomas Sowell’s Blind Spot / 6683 viewsOn most days of Ramadan, fasting makes it impossible for me to do my usual programming and writing work. For this reason I spent most of the daytime hours of this Ramadan reading books, finishing over 20 books (mainly audiobooks). For years I have been aware of Thomas Sowell as perhaps the greatest living African […]
/ Dec 19, 2016 08:54 PM / 2 Comments on Islam, the Good Parts: Guaranteed Basic Income for Women / 6572 viewsOne thing that is rarely mentioned when speaking about Islam, even among Muslims, is that Muslim women don’t have to work. They can work if they want to, but they don’t have to if they don’t want to. Islam makes it the duty of a woman’s male relatives to take care of her financially. Men have to […]
/ Mar 04, 2017 03:44 PM / 11 Comments on Why God Allows Evil to Exist, and Why Bad Things Happen to Good People / 28269 viewsIntroduction There is a surprising amount of confusion among the religious, even among clerics and scholars, when it comes to understanding why evil exists and why God stands aside when so much suffering happens throughout the world. Most of us express wonder when we see some horrible catastrophe happen, or when we see evil individuals, […]
/ Mar 03, 2018 06:06 PM Below is a table that is like a “best sellers” list, except that it only includes books that were published at least 50 years ago. Many of today’s best-selling novels will be forgotten in a few decades. The test of a really good novel is that people continue to read it decades after it was […]
/ Sep 01, 2019 07:30 PM / 28 Comments on No strong hadith prohibits paintings and drawings of living things / 26368 viewsThe issue of whether making pictures or paintings of living things (taṣwīr) is permitted in Islam has led to a great amount of controversy. Mainstream scholars (such as those of al-Azhar University) have chosen to permit it due to considering the evidence for the prohibition not strong enough, while those who consider themselves true followers […]
/ Jun 25, 2018 05:13 PM / No Comments on Indonesia’s unlocked scientific potential? / 1849 viewsThe Scimago Journal & Country Rank is one of the things I look forward to most to seeing every year. The rankings show each country’s scientific output, a very important measure of a country’s present level of development and its speed of development. The biggest surprise in the 2017 rankings was from Indonesia, whose cited paper […]
/ Oct 28, 2019 02:25 PM / 1 Comment on Why I don’t believe in the Mahdi / 3148 viewsSalamu alaikum. Is the story about The End of Times true, like the Imam Mahdi, the descend of Prophet Isa (alaihi as-salam), the Ya’juj & Ma’juj, Daabbatul Ardh, etc? Are these all in an authentic hadith? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, I don’t believe in the Mahdi due to the lack of strong evidence in support of […]
/ Jul 01, 2018 03:37 AM / 2 Comments on Why did Imam Malik forbid living in non-Muslim countries? / 2235 viewsQuestion in response to The Problem with the IslamQA.info Website: I’m wondering why did Imam Malik Say we can’t live in non Muslim country? SubbhanAllah I thought that imam Malik had balanced views. isn’t it the fact that westerns are converting due to the fact that we Muslims live in the West and that there are […]
/ Dec 07, 2019 03:56 PM / No Comments on What kind of person deserves Hell in Islam? / 1766 viewsSalam! If someone died a disbeliever (after hearing the message of Islam), is there any chance for them to be in heaven? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, You cannot randomly stroll into Hell. It has to be a very conscious and knowing rejection of God that is repeated over and over again, day after day and year […]
/ Jul 11, 2018 04:47 PM / 2 Comments on Why the hijab is still obligatory (and why it is not only a vestige of 7th century Arabia) / 5487 viewsBelow is a response I wrote to someone who sent me a YouTube video in which the speaker argues that the hijab was necessary in ancient Arabia due to sexual harassment but that it is no longer necessary in the modern world I will first speak of the problem with her way of thinking, then […]
/ Jul 09, 2018 05:03 PM / No Comments on Is homosexuality more evil than rape in the Quran? Not exactly / 2135 viewsI just read your answer on homosexuality and Lot’s people and I must say that I am really shocked that consensual homosexual act is worse than rape. I’ve always thought that rape is a great evil thing. I know a couple of lesbian girls and a gay guy and they are kind people and I […]
/ Jul 17, 2018 09:35 PM / No Comments on On dealing with anti-Muslim parents and siblings as a convert / 1435 viewsI’m a convert and my relationship with my Mother and her husband has been horrible lately. When we meet they only talk about how Islam is evil and I’m in the wrong path. They openly look for anything bad to say, especially about my husband. Recently my younger sister even went through my phone when […]