Author Archives: Ikram Hawramani

Ikram Hawramani

About Ikram Hawramani

The creator of IslamicArtDB.

IslamQA: On avoiding anger and dislike when arguing with people about religion

As-salaamu 'alaykum. May Allaah bless you. I benefited greatly from two of your books: "The Sayings of Ibn al-Jawzi," and "The Sayings of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah." ….. ….. One of the sayings by Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy on him, stood out for me. He said that, as we increase in knowledge, we must also increase in humility. One of my character flaws, which I have also seen in many other people, is the tendency to "jump at another person's throat" as soon as they disagree with us. Perhaps that is what the Shaytaan wants us to do. I have noticed that it is very easy to attack someone's thinking; and I have noticed that is easy, and tempting, to become angry when discussing things with other people. ….. ….. Could you talk about these dynamics in more detail? How we are actually supposed to become more humble, rather than seeking to dominate others with our knowledge? May Allaah reward you.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I believe the source of that anger is our ego’s desire for power and control. Our ego likes to overpower and subdue people, because this gives us a sense of power. So the root of the issue is the seeking of power over people. And the solution is to become a non-power-seeker, to believe that God is already in charge of the universe so that all power belongs to Him.

Once your heart is content in that knowledge, then you will never desire changing another person or defeating them in argument, because you will leave it all to God. You will know that even if all the people agreed with you it would not add the slightest amount of power to you because all power already belongs to God.

So the solution is to detach yourself from seeking power, from seeking results. It is to feel God’s power all around you, and to know you can never make the slightest change to another person unless God wills it, and if God wills it, He can do it without your help. God can erase you from this world and create a thousand people just like you in an instant. God has no need for our work or favors. He can do anything He wants without our help.

But keep in mind that recognizing these things intellectually is not enough, because as soon as you forget them and get distracted you will just go back to behaving like before. The solution is to do something that constantly make these insights your felt reality. And that is done through never-ceasing, daily work. Your ego will always reset itself to normal unless you work every single day to defeat it. You need to dedicate half an hour (I recommend a whole hour) to extra worship that makes God’s power real to you and that creates humility and submission in you. I recommend spending an hour every day reading the Quran.

There is no way to permanently defeat the ego. The ego is a natural part of being human, and the ordinary happenings around us always make the ego respond in its own natural, instinctive ways, which is to seek power and control. So you have to resign yourself to having to spend an hour or so of every single remaining day of your life in some form of extra worship, because you have to maintain an unnatural state in your heart that’s foreign to the ego. This is how saints are made. They work daily to defeat their ego, so that they go about in the world never seeking power, always relying on God and always treating people with more love and kindness than they deserve.

Alhamdulillah through my practice of reading the Quran for an hour every day I am able to have arguments with people without getting angry and without in any way wanting to force them to agree with me. I just do what’s right and speak the truth as I see it, and I couldn’t care less whether they agree with me or disagree. I do my duty and leave the rest to God. God can always change them and help them see the truth later without my help.

Best wishes.

IslamQA: My opinion on the site IslamQA.info

Assalamualaikum What is your opinion of the website Islamqa.info?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

IslamQA.info represents a brand of Islam that’s not followed by the majority of Sunni Muslims in the world. It’s often called Wahhabism. It often has good answers when it comes to questions on the very basics of Islam, such as rulings on the prayer and fasting. But when it comes to issues such as dealing with non-Muslims or women’s status in Islam, then it often reflects the xenophobia and misogyny of Saudi culture.

I’m actually a big fan of the piety and kindness of many great “Wahhabi” scholars. I love Ibn Uthaymeen, al-Albani and Ibn Baz. But I also disagree with them on many things. I also love Ibn Taymiyya possibly more than I love any other scholar, when he is supposed to be the greatest inspiration behind Wahhabism. Ibn Taymiyya is far greater than many Wahhabis appreciate, and his thinking on many questions can be integrated into a mainstream and pluralistic Islam (for more on him see my article: Ibn Taymiyya and His Times). For example, while many Salafi-Wahhabis make a nuisance of themselves during the birthday celebrations for the Prophet PBUH, constantly talking about how it is a false innovation, Ibn Taymiyya actually says that those who celebrate the Prophet’s birthday PBUH, if they do it with sincerity and with good intentions, they can actually have a “great reward” from God.

The problem with Wahhabism is that it turns Islam into a tribalist ideology. It believes that Islam should be a replacement for our common humanity and for our cultures. And this leads to their extreme black-and-white thinking where non-Muslims are automatically treated like enemies and where Muslims who disagree with them are considered evil and misguided. Wahhabism is unable to appreciate the possibility that two equally pious and knowledgeable people can reach very different conclusions on the same question. They start by deciding if you agree with them before they decide whether you are a proper Muslim or an evil and misguided person. To them the only proper kind of human is a fellow Wahhabi. You have to be Wahhabized before they treat you with the kindness and empathy that I believe all of humanity deserves. To them it’s as if everyone is a non-human until they are humanized by Wahhabism. Note that this is exactly how radical Marxists, radical feminists, and many other followers of radical ideologies also think. You either agree with them and become a part of them, or you are treated as something less than human. It’s an extremely tribalist way of thinking where only those who belong to your “tribe” are considered real humans, and it is very interesting that the world’s greatest radicals have often been either Arabs coming from extremely tribalist areas, or Jews who are also extremely tribalist in their way of thinking (Marxism and radical feminism have both always been Jewish-led ideologies). In tribalist cultures, as that of the Bedouins (especially before Islam), non-tribe-members are considered non-human; they consider it perfectly right and justified for them to rob and kill strangers, because their whole way of thinking is based on the fact that to them the only real human society is that of the tribe, and all outsiders are subhuman objects that can be put to use just as animals are put to use. So they strongly believe in morality, loyalty and honor … as long as they are dealing with tribe members or allies. But, and this is a very important but, all of these concepts completely lose their relevance when they deal with strangers. It is an “us vs. them” mentality taken to the very extreme, to the point that “them” are not even considered human.

This can also help you understand how Israeli settlers treat Palestinians. Settler Jews are extremely moral, honorable, kind and loving as long as it comes to their tribe. It feels perfectly natural to them to rob and kill Palestinians because in their tribalist mentality, Palestinians are not even human. They are objects, parts of the landscape, they view them as exactly the same as the rest of the animals and plants of Palestine. The same also applies to most “Islamic” terrorist organizations, which almost always follow Wahhabism. The ideology teaches them that non-Wahhabis are not really human, that Islamic morality only applies when dealing with fellow Wahhabis, so nothing is evil as long as it is done to those outside the Wahhabi tribe.

Note that I’m not saying all “Wahhabi” scholars think that way. But the tribalist mentality is deeply integrated into Wahhabism. The founder of modern Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud (1875 – 1953 CE), said he was not ashamed of the 1801 CE Wahhabi slaughter of 5000 innocent Shia men, women and children in Karbala that was committed by his ancestors, because in his tribalist way of thinking non-Wahhabis are not really human. In fact he wrote that he would happily do it all over again if he had the chance.

So Muslims reading IslamQA.info are going to be exposed to that kind of tribalist mentality. For this reason I do not recommend this site to anyone.

My approach is the complete opposite of Wahhabism. I start by finding out whether a person has a good heart, and I’m willing to forgive all their mistakes as long as I know it comes from a place of piety and humility. So I love scholars coming from various different traditions, including Wahhabi scholars who do not dehumanize other Muslims. As long as I know they have good hearts, our differences of opinion are of little importance. Even if they consider the type of Muslim I am to be misguided and evil, I’m still willing to see the good in them rather than treating them the way they treat me. For more on my version of Islam please see: Is Islam really pluralistic? An Islamic defense of pluralism

IslamQA: Why can’t Muslim women lead prayers?

Assalamu walaikum. I have a debt, I read here, that for important reasons a woman can lead prayers at home to her family members, but why can't she in mosques? Why aren't there women leading prayers inside mosques? (I know there are many men guiding prayer, but wanted to know about women on this spiritual side) jazak Allah

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The Islamic social system is designed in such a way that men are the caretakers and protectors of women, so in things like prayer it is more natural for the men to be the leaders. For more on the Islamic social system regarding gender please see: A new approach to the Quran’s “Wife-Beating Verse” (al-Nisa 4:34)

As for the spiritual reason: Men and women have the same souls as far as we know. But they have different brains and genetic instincts, which requires the religion to treat them differently. This is why women have to cover their hair while men don’t have to. The way men experience their interactions with women is different from the way women experience their interactions with men.

As for the exact scientific reason why it’s better for men to lead prayers, I cannot say exactly what it is. To fully find out we’d need studies of communities where men lead the prayer and communities where women lead the prayer so that we can compare the results.

But since this is what the Prophet PBUH recommended, we are happy to go along with it. It is similar to accepting the ban on eating pork even though there are no detailed reasons for the ban in the Quran or hadith. If God commands us to do something, we obey, because we know He has our best interests at heart. We read the Quran and can see that it is really from God because of the intelligence and beauty in it. Once we are convinced that the Quran is really from God, then we don’t need proofs for everything in it (such as the ban on pork), we accept it based on the fact that we have agreed that the Quran is really from God and that God wants us to avoid pork.

IslamQA: Is reciting the 3 quls and making dua obligatory before sleep?

Selam new Muslim, So I like to say 3 ajets before sleep Kul huveallahu ehad, Kull euzu bi rabbi and kul euzu rabbi n nas. So I like to use English version of it because I understand it and can better relate to it. So some one was telling me that it has to be in Arabic and I got to blow/whisper in my hands? But I don't have it memorized so I use copy that I hold in my hand. So was I wrong what I was doing can I do it in English and is this is mandatory to do before sleep? thank you

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Welcome to Islam and may God make things easy for you. None of that is obligatory. You can read the Arabic transliteration followed by the English instead of saying it from memory, as this is allowed.

IslamQA: What are the best duas?

What are some of the best duas?

What are some things to ask god for?

Below are my favorite duas which I try to make after every prayer:

  • To forgive your sins. Allahumma innaka affuwwun tuhibbul afwa faafu anni (O God, you are the Most Forgiving, and You love forgiveness, so forgive me.)
  • To guide you and increase your knowledge and wisdom. Allahumma zidni ilman wahdini li aqraba min haza rushdan (O God, increase me in knowledge and guide me to a better state of maturity than what I currently possibly)
  • To support you: Allahummanasurni wa anta khairun nasireen (O God, support me, and You are the best of supporters.)
  • To bless your time and works: Allahumma baarik fi aamali wa awqati (O God, bless my works and my times/moments.)
  • To make things easy for you: Allahumma yasir li amree (O God, make the matters of my life easy for me.)

IslamQA: A friend is suffering from mysterious night chills and aches

Assalamo alaikum. I have question regarding my friend. Last month she got ill. She had fever with chills. Flu and cough. Then a something at night bit her toe. There was lot of bleeding. It was dark. By the time she switched on light, she saw a mouse running away. She got treatment. She found her clothes in the wardrobe torn and shredded. Then she again got ill. 3 days back she recovered. Last night on her way back from university she passed a graveyard. She woke up at 3 am at night choking with chills, sweat and bodyache. Still she has chills, sweating and bodyache. This might be a superstion. 2 years back she had kala jadu done to her. What is going on? And please tell what to do.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

May Allah make her condition better. I would prefer to give her condition a natural, medical explanation. As long as she prays regularly then inshaAllah she will be protected. Please also see the articles on this page: Islam and Magic

IslamQA: Women may attend distant universities without a mahram

What about a muslim woman who moves out of town far from her mahrams to attend university?

Note that the restriction on women traveling without mahrams only applies to traveling. A woman is allowed to go to another city or country to attend university without a mahram going with her if she is able to safely reside there (for example among fellow Muslim women) and there are no great moral hazards to her religion.

References:

IslamQA: On the vast memories of past Islamic scholars

As-salaamu 'alaykum, wa rahmatu-llaahi wa barakaatuh. Al-hamdu li-llaah, this website is very beneficial. One of my interests has been "human memory." I have read that some Muslim scholars of the past memorized an extraordinary number of Hadith - up to one-hundred thousand, or more, memorized by one individual. Then, there are scholars like Imaam ash-Shaafi'ii, may Allaah have mercy on him, who had a photographic memory. My question is: throughout your reading, have you come across examples of modern individuals who have had similar capacities for memorizing information, such as a photographic memory? Jazak-Allaahu khayran.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh,

No, I haven’t come across that. Also, I would be skeptical about the miraculous level of memory that’s attributed to some scholars. It is often based on rumors without strong chains of transmitters (and sometimes without a chain at all). Writers of biographies liked to attribute such qualities to the scholars they admired, so they wrote such things down even if they were based on unverifiable rumors.

I have not studied the matter in detail, so there might really be scholars with amazing memories. But personally I’m skeptical of the notion that classical scholars enjoyed memories that is nearly impossible for people today to have.

Women may travel without a mahram for three days and nights: A study of the hadiths

There 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 opinion I prefer is that women should be permitted to travel without a mahram if the journey is under three days and nights (72 hours). Also note that some scholars, such as al-Baji, believe that this restriction only applies to young women, not elders.

But we go into the study, below is a listing of the opinions of some of the great scholars of the past on this issue:

  • Ibn Taymiyyah and his students: If the road is safe, a woman is permitted to perform Hajj alone without a mahram. She is also permitted to engage in any other kind of travel as long as her safety is ensured.
  • Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal: A woman is permitted to perform Hajj without a mahram if she is with a group of women.
  • Ibn Sireen: If she is with other Muslims, then there is no issue with her performing Hajj without a Mahram.
  • Imam Malik: She can perform Hajj with a group of women without a mahram.
  • Imam al-Shafii: She can perform Hajj without a mahram as long as she is accompanied by a trustworthy free female woman.

It is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that Umar b. al-Khattab permitted the wives of the Prophet PBUH to perform the Hajj without a mahram while being accompanied by Uthman b. Affan and Abd al-Rahman b. Abu Bakr. (Reference for the above scholarly opinions and hadiths: Fatwa from IslamOnline – Arabic PDF)

Note that if there is a restriction on women’s travel, it only applies to traveling. As discussed in this answer, a woman is allowed to go to another city or country to attend university without a mahram going with her if she is able to safely reside there (for example among fellow Muslim women) if there are no great hazards to her religion.

Below is a diagram of the result of my study, which includes all the hadiths I found with their chains:

Below is a listing of the relevant contents of the hadiths, arranged from the most reliable to the least reliable, along with the Companions they came from and the hadiths’ probability of authenticity. Note that all of these hadiths are considered sahih or authentic by hadith scholars despite their divergent contents:

  • Abu Hurayra 36%: No woman should travel more than the distance of a day’s and night’s journey without a mahram. (Muwatta)
  • Abu Saeed al-Khudri 13.82%: No woman should travel “more than three nights” without a mahram. (Bukhari, Muslim, Bayhaqi, Musnad Ahmad)
  • Ibn Abbas 12.96%: Women can only go on hajj if they have a mahram with them. (Bukhari and Musannaf Abu Bakr b. Abi Shayba)
  • Abu Hurayra 9.35%: No woman should travel more than a day without a mahram. (Musnad Ahmad, Sahih Ibn Khuzayma, al-Mustadrak)
  • Abu Saeed al-Khudri 6.48%: No woman should travel without a mahram. (Musnad Ahmad)
  • Abu Hurayra 3.88%: No woman should travel more than the distance of a three-day journey without a mahram. (Musnad Ahmad)
  • Abdullah b. Amr b. al-Aas 3.20%: No woman should travel more than the distance of a journey of three [days and nights] without a mahram. (Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq, al-Mujam al-Awsat)
  • Abu Saeed al-Khudri 2.80%: No woman should travel for more than three days without a mahram. It mentions Ayesha saying “Not all woman have mahrams.” (Sahih Ibn Hibban)
  • Ibn Umar 0.6%: No woman should travel for more than three [days and nights] without a mahram. (Sahih Ibn Hibban)

We can use probability theory to combine these authenticity scores as follows.

1−((1−0.36)×(1−0.1382)×(1−0.1296)×(1−0.935)×(1−0.0648)×(1−0.0388)×(1−0.032)×(1−0.028)×(1−0.006)) = 0.973765972

(0.36+0.1382+0.1296+0.935+0.0648+0.0388+0.032+0.028+0.006)÷9 = 0.192488889

(0.973765972+0.192488889)÷2 = 0.5831

The meaning is that there is a 58.31% probability of authenticity for the principle that there is some sort of restriction on women traveling without mahrams, but we don’t know yet what the restriction is. This is a very high probability because sahih starts at 30%. Anything above 60% is sahih al-sahih, meaning it is many times more authentic than the average sahih hadith you run into, and this score almost reaches that.

We can now combine the probabilities of only those hadiths whose contents the say the same things:

  • Abu Hurayra 36%: No woman should travel the distance of a day’s journey without a mahram.
  • Abu Seed al-Khudri and Ibn Umar: 16.97%: No woman should travel for more than the duration of three days and nights without a mahram.
  • Abu Hurayra 9.35%: No woman should travel for more than the duration of a day (and night?) without a mahram.
  • Abu Hurayra and Abdullah b. Amr 7.02%: No woman should travel more than the distance of a three days’ and nights’ journey without a mahram.
  • Abu Saeed al-Khudri 6.48%: No woman should travel at all without a mahram.

We can ignore Abu Saeed al-Khudri’s 6.48% hadith that says no woman should travel without a mahram because it is contradicted by his own more authentic hadith (13.82%, over twice as authentic) that says a woman shouldn’t travel longer than three nights without a mahram.

Besides hadiths, we also have athars, or sayings of the Companions and Successors, on this issue. Below is a listing of the ones I found:

  • Al-Hasan al-Basri 36%: No woman should travel for more than three [days and nights] without a mahram. (Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq)
  • Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri 36%: Ayesha was told about Abu Saeed al-Khudri’s hadith that says women should only travel with mahrams, and she said “Not all women can find a mahram.” (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba)
  • Ikrima the freedman of Ibn Abbas 21.6%: A woman should not travel for more than three [days and nights] without a mahram. (Musannaf Ibn Abi Shayba)
  • Ibn Umar 18%: No woman should travel for more than three [days and nights] without a mahram. (Musannaf Abd al-Razzaq)

It seems to me that we have two choices now:

  • To rely on one Companion, Abu Hurayra, for his 36% authenticity hadith, which says that no woman should travel the distance of a day’s journey without a mahram.
  • To rely on the three hadiths of Abu Seed al-Khudri and Ibn Umar, with a combined authenticity score of 16.97%, and the non-hadith sayings of al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Umar and Ikrima, with a combined authenticity of 42.02%, which say that no woman should travel more than the duration of three days and nights without a mahram.

To me personally the second option is far more attractive, due to it relying on two Companions and two highly respected successors (al-Hasan al-Basri and Ikrima, the most respected freedman of Ibn Abbas), and due to it making life easier. Since everything we are dealing with here is authentic, we might as well choose the easier authentic option that comes from many respected individuals.

Conclusion

It appears that if there are any doubts about a woman’s safety during travel, then she shouldn’t travel alone for more than three days without a mahram. But if her safety is ensured, for example by being accompanied by trustworthy individuals, then she is permitted to travel without a mahram without any time restriction.

IslamQA: On getting depressed about the state of Islam and Muslims

I get so depressed whenever I think about the state of the Islamic world. Some of the biggest degenerates in the world somehow have the word " Islam" attached to them. All Muslim countries are suffering from some sort of disease. The rich are disgustingly rich, the poor are pathetically poor. Its so uncomfortable. Im so scared about what will become of us. It feels like the whole world is bleeding, how are we supposed to act in times like these?

Personally I’m extremely optimistic about the present state of Islam and Muslims and about their future. God is in charge of history. Everything happens according to His plan, and there is no one who can get in His way. This is exactly where God wants us to be. History is like a film directed by Him. I never worry about the future of Islam and Muslims because of my belief that history is managed by God. Our task is simply to do the best where we are with what He has given us. God wants this world to be a test, to bring out the best and worst in us, and this requires the world to offer all kinds of opportunities for people to be kind or cruel.

You may also be interested in these two articles where I discuss related issues:

On thinking that Muslims are ignorant and contribute little to science

A Muslim’s view of climate change

IslamQA: Should women perform ghusl after masturbation?

Salam if a girl happens to masterbate is she supposed to perform ghusul after? And if she should is it the same as the one she does after finishing her period? If asking for a friend jazakAllah kheir

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

For a woman masturbation requires ghusl only if she orgasms and her orgasm is accompanied by ejaculation (according to the Shafi`i opinion). A woman’s ejaculation is a discharge that comes out in quick spurts similar to a man’s ejaculation. Also, note that inserting fingers in the vagina does not require ghusl afterwards.

There is just one kind of obligatory ghusl, all you need to do is ensure that all of your hair and body get drenched in water. There are some voluntary sunna acts that you can do, but like I said they are voluntary. The sunna way is to wash your palms, then your private parts, then perform wudu, then wash your head three times, then wash the rest of your body.

References:

  1. Fatwa from the Qatari Fatwa Authority (Arabic PDF)
  2. The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh, Kuwait, second impression (1986), vol. 6, 333.
  3. IslamOnline fatwa (Arabic PDF)
  4. Saudi fatwa (Arabic PDF)

IslamQA: The hadith that commands to kill homosexuals is a weak hadith

A few years back JAKIM ( Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) circulated a Hadith that said Muslims are obliged to kill homosexuals. Thoughts?

That hadith comes through Amr b. Maysara who is considered a weak transmitter by Imam Malik and others. So the hadith is not strong enough to be used in Islamic law.

I believe in the modern world, Islamic countries should have two kinds of law, constitutional law that applies to all citizens, and Islamic law that applies to Muslims. Islamic punishments should only apply to those who freely choose to live under the Islamic legal system, and leaving Islam should be a right. I don’t believe in killing for any sexual crime, you can read more about that here on my site.

IslamQA: Islam’s approach to child brides and pedophilia

I seek to know more about Islam. What is the approach to child brides and Forgive my word; Pedophilia. I’ve heard conflicting sides and I seek a solid answer regarding it as to put to rest any concerns surrounding it. I thank you.

Islam lets each culture determine the age of marriage for themselves. Generally in non-technological cultures marriages happen a few years after girls start menstruating. In warm areas where menstruation happens at 9, marriages happen around 12, and in cold areas where it happens at 17, marriages are around 20. 

Islam permits Muslim countries to pass laws to determine a minimum age of marriage. Islam requires that the woman be old enough to give her informed consent to the marriage (or refuse), but what is considered old enough may change from one country to another. Women should also always have the right to get a divorce if they want.

If you are referring to the Prophet’s marriage PBUH, please see this article on my site: A Hadith Scholar Presents New Evidence that Aisha was Near 18 the Day of Her Marriage to the Prophet Muhammad

IslamQA: How to repent from major sins

Assalamu'alaikum how to repent from a major sin you knowingly committed... Jazak Allah khairun

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

If the sin doesn’t involve the rights of other people then all you need to do is repent and you will be forgiven inshaAllah. But if it involves the rights of others, as in stealing, then it is necessary to repent and return the stolen thing.


IslamQA: What minor sins can turn into major sins?

assalamualaikum what are examples of minor sins that can become habits and be a big sin? Examples will help me be wary of it in my own life. Like is doing something that is not even considered a "sin" excessively then become a sin?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

If you pray regularly and read Quran, then you will inshaAllah be protected from minor sins turning into major sins. When venturing to commit a major sin, God gives you many opportunities to repent and turn back, and if you have a good relationship with Him, He will also place many obstacles before you to prevent you from committing the sin.

A minor sin that could turn into a major sin is watching pornography. A person may go on from there to pay to watch live webcam erotic performers, and it may be an easy step from there to set up an actual in-person meeting. Being very sexually aroused weakens our ability to control our actions and makes sinful things appear good and beautiful, so minor sexual sins have the danger of easily turning into major sins. You may be interested in my essay: The Philosophy of Pornography and Masturbation

IslamQA: Does God send us signs to help us with decisions?

Alslam alikum I’d like to hear your opinion in universe signs do U believe that there is such a thing that Allah sends us sometimes signs that helps us with decisions?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Almost everything that happens to you can be considered a sign since it is God who arranges what happens to you. But sometimes we do get specific signs, for example a person may want to do something sinful but if God wants to protect them, He makes it difficult for them. They may want to buy something sinful but they find out the store has run out of that thing, they go to another store and it is closed, and so on, until they realize that God doesn’t want them to get that thing.


IslamQA: Do all the mushrikeen go to eternal hell?

Salam! I'm just wondering, do all the mushrikeen go to eternal hell even if they were good, charitable, kind people? Would their good deeds not be considered?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Please see my article: There are billions of non-Muslims, so how can Islam be the one true path?

IslamQA: Do Muslim women need a mahram to go on a journey?

Salaam. Do Muslim women need a mahram to go on a journey?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

There is a strong hadith that comes from multiple Companions that says a woman shouldn’t go on a journey that takes a day and night (24 hours) unless there is a mahram with her. It is allowed (by Ibn Jibrin) for a mahram to drop off a woman at an airport and let her travel alone to the destination where another mahram picks her up. The scholar al-Baji says the restriction only applies to young women, elders may travel alone (although other scholars disagree). I haven’t studied the hadiths on this matter in detail, so I don’t have a personal opinion on it.

IslamQA: Islam and academic plagiarism

Ao, I feel very confused and sinful, for my class I used a website to write an essay, but a previous student had done the same thing the year before and the teacher thought I had used the students essay. I admitted to using the website, but I turned the essay on it into a guide, although i barely changed anything (kept all the information like who wrote it and where it was from) I just put it into bullet points so it looked more like a guide, I feel really bad how sinful is it that I edited it?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

I’m not sure I understand exactly what you did, but if you are afraid you committed plagiarism: I would confess to the professor everything that I did and ask him/her if they can give me a chance to do the assignment again. Talk to him face-to-face, doing it in writing may require him to report it to the higher ups and get you into more trouble.

And if you want to be extra safe, before you do that, you can talk about it face-to-face with another professor unrelated to that class and see what he/she advises.


IslamQA: Recovering from fellow Muslims making you dislike Islam

Salam. I want to ask of you, my brother, how to recover from trauma of being around religious Muslims? I was a part of an Islamist group in the past and when I joined them I got to see the bad side of Muslims. I know that they are only humans, but I cannot get over how they behave like they own the truth but hurt people with their tongue. I am not generalizing all of them like that, but the scar is still there. I cannot accept that I am also a part of those kinds of Muslims. I need your advice.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Sorry about what you’ve been through. I think the solution is to learn more about Islam on your own so much that you start to feel like it’s your own personal religion, like you own your own brand of Islam. I was forced to do that myself after seeing many ridiculous ideas associated with Islam, I had to make my own understanding that made it perfectly clear how my religion was not what those extremists and narrow-minded people thought it was. I recommend that you read my essays where I describe Islam as I understand it. You could also try reading some of the books on my Islamic studies reading list.

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