A Study of the Hadiths on Qadar (Predestination): Judging Between Fatalism and Free Will

This is a supplement to my essay Reconciling Free Will and Predestination in Islam with al-Māturīdī and Ibn Taymiyya Qadar (divine predestination) is one of the most controversial issues in Islam. Muslim thinkers are generally divided into two groups on this issue. There are the rationalists and semi-rationalists like the Matūrīdīs, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and most mainstream intellectuals […]

IslamQA: What kind of person deserves Hell in Islam?

Salam! 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 […]

IslamQA: OCD is making their practice of Islam difficult

Selam I have a problem I suffer from OCD scrupulosity aspect of it. To be honest my personal relationship to Islam is so messed up I don’t know where to start. With my prayer and wudu I am in constant doubt. I repeat multiple times because i think I passed gas or ect. I find […]

Speeding up grep of a 12.4 GB text file

I am working on a vocabulary-building book for SAT and GRE students. Below is a picture of the provisional cover of the book: In order to have a wide corpus of classical texts to find word usage examples, I downloaded a massive ebook collection from the Gutenberg project and merged all of the text files […]

IslamQA: On dealing with anti-Muslim parents and siblings as a convert

I’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 […]

IslamQA: Is homosexuality more evil than rape in the Quran? Not exactly

I 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 […]

IslamQA: The difference between a woman’s mani, mazi and wadi

Salaam. Pardon me for asking this, for it’s heading towards women privacy, but I had to ask. How to tell between wadi, mazi, and mani from women? Thank you very much for your time reading and answering this question. Jazakallah khayr. Manī (ejaculate) is a liquid that sometimes comes out with orgasm and smells like […]

The purpose of bismillah

The Arabs before Islam used to begin their works by naming their gods, saying “By the name of al-Laat” or “By the name of al-Uzzaa”. Other nations used to do the same. If one of them wanted to do something to please a king or ruler, they would say it is done “by the name […]

Why We Should Stop Using the Word “Islamophobia”

Recently the British philosopher Roger Scruton was sacked from his government position for stating in an interview that Islamophobia is a propaganda word “invented by the Muslim Brotherhood”, among other statements. The interview was intentionally redacted by the journalist to put Scruton in the worst light possible. Since then the journalist has disappeared from social […]

IslamQA: Is the Deathly Hallows sign related to the “Illuminati”?

Is the Deathly Hallows sign illuminati or a sinful sign?? I know that the peace sign and all is signs of the devil, but is the deathly hollows simbol illuminati or the devils sign?? The Illuminati and other conspiracy theories are promoted on the internet so that people like you are distracted from the real […]

IslamQA: On Islam, Homosexuality and Homosexual Muslims

You don’t have to answer this because its a very complex question but do you think you can be Muslim and gay? And how should we as Muslims feel about gays? How shall we treat them? How do you reconcile Islam (in the sense it is a religion that discourages/disagrees with homosexuality) with homosexuality? Is […]

IslamQA: Did the Prophet marry a 9-year-old girl? (She may have actually been close to 18)

So, I am someone who likes using logic and I have defended Islam and my Muslim-ness many times from criticisms, some well-founded, others not so much. How can I defend Mohammad’s marriage to a young girl? He was old at the time. I can’t imagine being a child and being given away to an older […]

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, […]

Conflicts of Fitness: Islam, America, and Evolutionary Psychology

Conflicts of Fitness: Islam, America, and Evolutionary Psychology by A.S. Amin is a highly original examination of the dynamics of gender and sexuality within Western societies on the one hand, and within Islamic societies on the other. As someone who has been working on reconciling Islam and evolutionary theory and on developing a post-feminist theory […]

IslamQA: Why the hijab is still obligatory (and why it is not only a vestige of 7th century Arabia)

Below 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 […]

IslamQA: The hadith on the re-establishment of the Caliphate is unauthentic

There is a hadith in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad (no. 18596) that is used by Islamist parties and terrorist groups to justify their ideologies: Prophethood will remain amongst you as long as God wills that it remain and then he will remove it when He intends to remove it. Then there will be the Caliphate […]

The Philosophical Reason why Homosexual Relationships are “Wrong”

Some preliminary thoughts on homosexuality that uses the Western philosophy of personhood to argue that homosexual relationships are morally wrong. Although homosexual desires can be natural and blameless, acting on them is harmful. In this essay, I will argue that among the elite and highly-educated, we can have “proper” male homosexual relationships between two men […]

The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology by Sabine Schmidtke

This impressive volume brings together essays by many highly respected Western-educated scholars of Islam. Comparing it to The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (which I shortly reviewed here), this book is far more in-depth and analytical. In fact the Cambridge Companion feels like a preface to this more sophisticated (and much longer) book. This book […]

About

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 […]

IslamQA: Why did Imam Malik forbid living in non-Muslim countries?

Question 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 […]

IslamQA: Public interactions between the sexes in Islam

Salaam. Would you explain why in some Islamic sources that men and women should not be allowed to be together alone or mixed in some places or situations (e.g. markets, streets, or party, meetings, etc.)? I was studying Islam and they try to apply this in real life, only to be resulted as when the […]

IslamQA: Are children and teens permitted to dye their hair?

Assalamualaikum, please can a small child and a teen dye his or her hair. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There is no difference in the ruling on dyeing hair between children and adults, therefore it is permitted according to the conditions that apply to adults. For more on dyeing hair please see: The Islamic ruling on dyeing […]

IslamQA: It is permissible for Muslims to say “Merry Christmas” to non-Muslims

Hi. So I was wondering if it’s okay for us as Moslems to say “Merry christmas” to our Christian friends. There’s a lot of people around me, including my parents, who told me to not say it because it’s haram. If it’s not okay, how do we explain it to our Christian friends without offending […]

IslamQA: On praying (making dua) during salah and whether one can do it in English

What is the correct way to make dua during salah? For example if I wanted to make dua for someone or ask Allah for something how and when would i do that? I’ve been told saying it in English invalidates salah There isn’t sufficient evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah to make a conclusive […]

IslamQA: Balancing materialism and fatalism

Do we as Muslims count on what is written/ decreed by Allah for us, and not worry about anything? Or do we ourselves need to take action due to the free will granted to us by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala, even if that might involve risk? My question is, to what extent do we take […]

IslamQA: Should Islam and politics mix or not?

I am a Muslim but my personal opinion is that politics and Islam shouldn’t mix. The living examples of this are Muslim countries. I am not saying by any means that democracy is better, God knows how many people have died in the name of secular democracy. Although I know that the original intention and […]

IslamQA: Is it permissible for a woman to be the head of state in Islam?

Assalamualaikum I wanted to know if it is permissible for a Muslim woman to be the head of an Islamic state. Many people quote a Hadith from Abu Bakrah, one of the companions of the Prophet (PBUH) ,that indicates it is not permissible.Is that Hadith authentic? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There are different opinions on this […]

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) […]

Indonesia’s unlocked scientific potential?

The 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 […]

IslamQA: Are terrorist attacks sanctioned in Islam as jihad?

Are the types of terrorist attacks you see happening these days on non-Muslims sanctioned in Islam as jihad or are they a deviation? Islam does not recognize the right of people to take up arms against their ruling state. Warfare is only sanctioned when it is launched by a sovereign government. Muslims are required to […]

IslamQA: Is it haram to be an actress or YouTuber?

Asalam Walikum, I am wondering if it is haram to become an actress and a youtuber? I heard it is haram for females to do this but it is my dream goal to become one since I do not have another dream besides acting. Alaikumasalam wa rahmatullah, Please see the following answer which also applies […]

IslamQA: Defining modesty in clothing in Islam

can you please help us define modesty? today, many people have fitted fashion around modesty and it’s difficult to tell what is define as “modest clothing” or not. thank you! A modest costume for a woman is one that doesn’t grab men’s sexual attention. If you pass a group of young men and none of […]

Artat (Name)

Artat (transliteration: Arṭāt, Arabic: أرطاة) is an Arabic name for boys that refers to a type of tree that the scholar al-Sahib bin Abbad says the Persians call sanjaẓ. In modern Persian, the word sanjad (which is almost certainly a modern development from the word sanjaẓ) refers to the genus of plants known as Elaeagnus, with the common name of […]

IslamQA: The types of touching between spouses or strangers that nullify wudu

I recently went to a Mastura group and was told that women’s wudu is invalidated if she so much so touches her husband but when you sleep it isn’t invalidated. So if you go to Makkah again if you touch a non Mahram it’s not invalidated because of the crowds and circumstances. Things like this […]

IslamQA: Does smoking and vaping break one’s fast?

Does smoking and/or vaping break one’s fast? Yes, they both break the fast. Smoking and vaping have the same rule since the issue is with the smoke, which causes chemicals to be transmitted into your bloodstream. Source: Fatwa from the Egyptian Fatwa Authority (Arabic PDF)

IslamQA: She wants to convert to Islam while enjoying her bisexual lifestyle

Hello, possible convert here. I have one issue and it’s this. I’m a bisexual teenage girl, I’ve enjoyed a relationship with another girl and I don’t want to suppress that part of me or rule out the possibility of marrying a girl. I’ve read some of your articles on LGBT+ stuff in Islam and that’s […]

IslamQA: Is it forbidden for a Muslim to fall in love with a Christian?

Is falling in love with a Christian is haram? Falling in love is an involuntary thing and Islam has no rules regarding it. Muslim men are permitted to marry Christian women, while Muslim women are not permitted to marry Christian men. Therefore if a Muslim woman falls in love with a Christian man, the falling […]

Bishr (Name)

Bishr (transliteration: Bishr, Arabic: بشر) is an Arabic name for boys that means “cheerfulness”, “good cheer”, “geniality”, “affability”, the fact of someone having a happy and smiling face and amiable manners toward others. Bishr is also the name of a mountain in Najd (the central part of the Arabian peninsula), and the name of a […]

IslamQA: Is wearing fake eyelashes permitted in Islam?

assalamu aleikum, do you know if the prohibition of wig/hair extensions also applies to fake eyelashes? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There are different opinions on that. According to a fatwa by IslamOnline (overseen by the respected Egyptian scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi) wearing fake eyelashes for decoration is permitted by some scholars like Salman al-Ouda and Shaykh Nasir […]

IslamQA: Dealing with life’s stress and fast pace as a Muslim

Assalamualaykum. How to slow down in this fast pace life? I mean, I rush with almost everything. I lost my consciousness and awareness about myself, what I’m doing, my surroundings, even with my prayer and my relation to Allah. I’ve realized time just passed by without barokah in it. I’m afraid I’ll die with such […]

Ashhab (Name)

Ashhab (transliteration: Ashhab, Arabic: أشهب) (pronounced Ash-hab) is an Arabic name for boys that means “light gray”, used especially to describe the color of a horse. When used to describe a day it means “cold and windy”. Ashhab also means “lion”. There are three Companions of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH named Ashhab: al-Ashhab bin al-Harith الأشهب […]

The Muslim World on the Eve of Europe’s Expansion by John J. Saunders

The Muslim World on the Eve of Europe’s Expansion (published in 1966), at only 136 pages, is a short and enjoyable history of the Muslim world in the early modern period, with interesting articles on the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires, the Mamlukes, the Uzbeks, Islam in Southeast Asia and Africa, the remnants of the Mongols […]

IslamQA: On how to stop masturbating

Assalamu alaikum, can i ask on how to stop masturbating? Ive tried and stopped for a week, but then i accidentally started again. Repetitively failing to control myself had me felt useless, and ive starting to lose hope with myself. Thank you for your consideration. Your ability to control your impulses only matures after the […]

IslamQA: Can angels read and understand the Quran or not?

Is it true that Allah didn’t grant the angels the wisdom to read and understand the Quran? Why? Is it the same with the shaytans? The few opinions I found say that it is a baseless speculation to say whether the angels can or cannot read the Quran since we have no conclusive evidence either […]

IslamQA: Do the consequences of other people’s sins affect us?

Aselam Alaikum, hope your well in shaa Allah. In Islam does the consequences of another persons sin, affect oneself? My aunt, who has been very absent, rude and hating towards my family and I, and disowned us for years, has now fallen ill. And out of all, I have ended up being the one taking […]

IslamQA: Can jinns possess objects or show themselves?

assalamu alaykum, can jinns posess inanimate objects like dolls? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, As I explain in my answer The Islamic Case for Scientific Empiricism and Skepticism toward Supernatural Phenomena, the Quran’s theology strongly supports having a skeptical view toward supposedly supernatural phenomena, because the Quran often suggests that we will never see evidence for the Unseen […]

IslamQA: Can one unknowingly associate partners with God?

Salam, I asked about the false idols. Sorry if you already explained this in the first answer, but I was reading commentary of Surah Baqarah v22 which mentions false idols. It says “Will you still resist and go after your false gods, the creation of your own fancy? The false gods may be idols, superstistions, […]

The History of Salafism: The Making of Salafism by Henri Lauzière

Henri Lauzière’s 2016 book The Making of Salafism is about how Salafism as we know it today was invented in the 20th century. I discovered Lauzière’s work through reading his 2010 article “The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History,” in the International Journal of Middle East Studies. That article overturned many of my […]

The two salvations: How erotic beauty is a false category of beauty

In his 2009 book Beauty, the wonderful British philosopher Roger Scruton says many insightful things about beauty. His book inspired me to create my own Islamic theory of aesthetics in which I assert that a beautiful thing is nothing other than that which brings us face-to-face with God. The reason that the most beautiful and picturesque […]

IslamQA: He hurt his close female friend by breaking off their friendship

Assalamo alaikum. There was this really good and decent person i fell in love with. We talked about work stuff, spiritualism, books and joked. She never found out that i was falling for her. Then i realized that this was wrong. My religion has strict rules about na mehrams so i stopped talking to her. […]

IslamQA: Her husband forbids her from going to the gym

Hi. I wanted to ask regarding women going to a public gym – gyms have a ladies only section. My husband doesnt allow me to attend even though it has a dedicated ladies area. I havet ried to make him understand but he still doesnt allow it. I wanted to go for my own health […]

The Atonement by William Lane Craig

I became interested in the Christian theologian William Lane Craig after reading Jacobus Erasmus’s The Kalām Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment, a 2018 book that reconsiders Craig’s views on this argument for God’s existence and tries to strengthen it. I was surprised by just how strong this argument is, although it does not reach the level […]

IslamQA: Why does Islam allow a man to marry his adopted daughter?

Question: I’m just deeply disturbed by the fact that in Islam a man can marry his adopted daughters as stated in Surat nisa. While I understand that they aren’t biologically related,, but what if they were adopted when they were babies? Similar question by another reader: I have difficulty accepting that adopted children can marry […]

IslamQA: Are terrorist attacks sanctioned as jihad by Islam?

Are the types of terrorist attacks you see happening these days on non-Muslims sanctioned in Islam as jihad or are they a deviation? Islam does not recognize the right of people to take up arms against their ruling state. Warfare is only sanctioned when it is launched by a sovereign government. Muslims are required to […]

IslamQA: On an agnostic’s marriage to a Muslim

So I’ve been seeing a man for about 4 years now (I’m a agnostic woman) and he’s Muslim, however we started off dating and I thought it was ok in the beginning till later on he told me it wasn’t and our relationship is just a friend based thing. The thing is he wants me […]

IslamQA: Differences in male and female responsibility for adultery in Islam

Why does Allah frown upon woman with consensual sex more than men? It seems like you are asking why God blames men more than women in cases of adultery and fornication. Islamic law punishes men and women equally for such sins and does not hold one of them more accountable than the other. Even if a […]

IslamQA: Explanation of the “kill them where you find them” verse of the Quran

How do I defend the ”kill them where you find them verse” in the Quran? In that verse the Quran is laying out the laws of warfare. That verse tells us that during warfare a Muslim army is allowed to fight in cities and in the countryside, on land, sea, in the air and in […]

Ali (Name)

Ali (transliteration: ʿAlī, Arabic: عليّ) is an Arabic name for boys that means “strong”, “fierce”.. Its literal meaning is “lofty”, “exalted”, “sublime”, “great in rank”. Ali is the name of the fourth Rashidun caliph, who was also a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and married to the Prophet’s daughter Fatima. There […]

IslamQA: Responding to atheist arguments against Islam

What can you recommend when dealing with Atheists? Youtube recently recommended me a video about debunking 5 quranic miracles and I got really upset about the recommendation itself, but also about the video, as such things always upset me. (and anger really messes with my mental health which is why I avoid it at all […]

IslamQA: Being Muslim and antisocial

I’m very antisocial, I get very anxious when I meet new people and I don’t like having to deal with annoying people and I tend to get really upset and overthink about how people see me. I want to know if there is some ruling regarding ignoring people or not being friendly and approachable You […]

IslamQA: An Islamic view of postmodernism

What are your thoughts on post-modernism and how do you handle living in its time? Post-modernism is just a rehashing of an idea that has been recycled over and over again. The idea is this: “Humans are helpless animals controlled by X.” In Marxism X is economic circumstances, in Freud it is sexuality, in the Frankfurt […]

IslamQA: Should a wife obey a husband who doesn’t support her financially?

Salaam alaykum Can i ask ur opinion? Surah An nisa says “Men are protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other &because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women re devoutly obedient & guard in absence what Allah would have them guard” If a […]

IslamQA: Dealing with an addiction to pornography

Assalamu’alaikum. I’m a girl and I’m struggling with my porn addiction. Most of my friends assume that I’m such a religious person just bc i graduated from Islamic boarding school. They just don’t know the fact that I’m addicted to porn:( I feel guilty for everytime i watched it, ask for His forgiveness then stupidly […]

IslamQA: Listening to Music is Permissible in Islam

Is music really haram? I’m not talking about the Rihannas “Wild Thoughts” kind of music, more of peaceful piano, flute, violin, ancient music. The kind of music that doesn’t give off sexual vibe and stuff, but the music that adheres peace, you know? [Below is a quick survey of opinions on this matter gleaned from […]

IslamQA: A Muslim who wants to only follow the Quran due to the contradictions in Hadith

Selam I come from Sunni tradition. As I try to do more in relation to my faith I have tried to learn obout history of islam. I am becoming more interested in being Quaran only muslim. I have big problem with hadiths. So many contradictions to Quran. They almost complicate relationship with God. They almost […]

IslamQA: Can women go to umra without a mahram?

السلام عليكم Ur timely replies mean so much to so many ppl. I thank u on behalf of them all. My qs is:: 2 middle aged women undertake 4 hr plane journey to saudia for umrah Will sincere& جائز dua made during this visit to Kaaba be considered for acceptance? In my previous qs just […]

IslamQA: Some reasons why Muslim women cannot marry non-Muslims

A random thought occurred to me a few days ago: perhaps one of the reasons as to why muslim women aren’t to marry non-muslims has to do with preservation of their Islamic rights and protection? A non muslim man wouldn’t necessarily be obligated to abide by Islamic standards of marital conduct, divorce protocols, nafaqah etc., […]

IslamQA: Can women do dhikr without hijab?

Brother 1. Can women do tasbeeh and tahleel and adhkar without covering the head? 2. Also i have often heard people say that you go to Kaaba by invitation. You will ONLY go for Hajj when invited by Allah. Is that true? Yes, women can do all of those and also read Quran without wearing […]

IslamQA: Can a brother and sister sleep in the same bed?

Assalamu Alaikum! can a brother and his sister sleep on the same bed? Someone has recently told me that it’s haram. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There is one hadith in Abu Dawud and the Musnad in which the Prophet PBUH says brothers and sisters should not sleep in the same bed after the age of ten:  […]

IslamQA: Can a Muslim woman have male friends? The Islamic view of having friends of the opposite sex

Salam. I have a question over boy friends? Is it okay to have friends who are boys and you know that they won’t do anything with you or take your guys friendship over the line? Or should we Muslim girls have no friends who are boys? Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There are no texts in the […]

IslamQA: What is permissible for a Muslim woman to wear in front of her husband, and what are they allowed to do in private?

I have a question over husbands. What can you wear or do with your husband in private? What is allowed in Islam? The rule regarding both clothing and sexual enjoyment is that everything is allowed unless it is specifically forbidden. She can wear anything and nothing. Spouses are permitted to see each other naked. Women […]

IslamQA: Why must women pray behind men at the mosque?

Why must women pray behind men? Why is it that in Pakistan women have the worst place to pray when we need to pray in public and/or in the masjid? And also, why must men and women be separate in public? Isn’t that inconvenient? What is the wisdom behind all of this? The wisdom in […]

IslamQA: Are women permitted to live on their own in Islam?

Asalam Walikum, I was wondering if it is haram for women to live by their own. Some people say, women can only live in a house with her brother, father, or husband. Same as with travelling. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, According to a fatwa on IslamWeb (run by Qatar’s Islamic Affairs Ministry), it is permitted for […]

List of European Converts to Islam

This page lists Muslims of European ancestry who work or worked in intellectually demanding fields, in the hope of countering false impressions about the nature of Islam and its place in the West. Alexander Russell Webb (1846 – 1916) American writer, publisher, and the United States Consul to the Philippines. Ivan Aguéli (1869 – 1917 […]

IslamQA: Can a Muslim woman show her hair and body before a non-Muslim woman?

Salam. Brother, what do you think of some scholars having an opinion which says that muslim women’s awrah cannot be seen by those of non-muslim women, and that when they visit us home and if we’re having a night over with them, we should cover ourselves like when we go outside? Jazakallah. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, […]

How to get a demo of the OneDrive File Picker JavaScript SDK to work on a local development server

After getting the Google Drive file picker working on the page of a project I’m working on within just a few hours, I was faced with the task of getting the OneDrive JavaScript Picker to work, which I almost abandoned because of Microsoft’s brain-dead documentation. After hours of watching Microsoft videos and piecing together documentation, […]

Chronic fatigue update: Naps and the failure of vitamin D3 and zinc

This is an update that applies to my chronic fatigue treatment program. A week ago I started having 2000 IU vitamin D3 and 25 mg zinc sulfate with my 3 PM meals. This helped my mind feel active and willing to learn in the evenings. I was finally able to finish Plato’s Republic and read […]

IslamQA: What is the wisdom in mahr (dower) and how much should a woman ask?

What is mahar and what is the requirement for me to decide how much mahar should I ask from the groom? Mahr is a payment that the groom promises to give to the bride at the time of signing the marriage contract. The payment can be immediately or it can be in installments. Scholars say […]

IslamQA: Is there any support in the Quran or Sunna for prohibiting women from delivering Friday sermons?

Peace be upon you, I was wondering if there is any Quranic/Sunnah support for the view that women aren’t permitted to deliver the Jummah Khutbah to a mixed audience, irrespective of whether they lead the prayer. Thank you! Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah, As far as I’m aware there is no explicit evidence to prohibit women […]

IslamQA: Getting tattoos as a Muslim

Dear Mr.Ikram Hawramani Salam brother, i hope you find the question in good health. I have benefited from some of your blog post and i find that you have a poetic way of explaning things so here i am asking for your advice. To put in perspective i am 19 years old and i have […]

How to automate and throttle Relevanssi indexing on large websites

First of all, update Relevanssi to the latest version. This significantly increased indexing performance on my 80,000+ page website. Next, I created the following hacky solution for a problem that shouldn’t exist; the fact that Relevanssi cannot silently index everything without hogging all server resources. First find out the number of pages Relevanssi can index […]

How to ignore accents and other diacritics in WordPress/MySQL search (Arabic, French, etc.)

On my new Asmaa.org website, which is an Arabic-language baby name resource, I use a simple loop to show the posts in alphabetical order. Each post title is a baby name: $args = array( ‘paged’ => $paged, ‘orderby’=> ‘title’, ‘order’ => ‘ASC’, ‘cat’ => $cat_id); query_posts($args); ?> while ( have_posts() ) : the_post() Since the […]

IslamQA: How to return stolen money

I read your blog and thank you so much for the answer,there’s only one sin that I couldn’t fix it,when I was in high school,my friends were making fun of me,they were calling me “Fag,faggot” and they talk bad about behind me they made me so sad and angry,I wanted revenge so I stoled their […]

IslamQA: Dating and Relationships in Islam: What is Allowed and What is Not

Is dating and having relationships totally forbidden in Islam? I will start with a description of an example scenario of the way dating and relationships work in Islam, then will clarify the Islamic stance. If a woman works somewhere, and there is a man there that she likes and who likes her, and both of them […]

IslamQA: Answers about Islam and misogyny

Hey assalamu alaikum I’ll forward some messages here from previous conversations with someone who gave me worse explanations Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, I broken up your question to address them individually. there’s something called child support he pays money to support his family not to pay his supposed to be wife I feel worse about myself […]

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. […]

Abd (Name)

Abd (transliteration: ʿAbd) is an Arabic name for boys that means “slave” or “servant”. In the Quran and religious literature, it is used to refer to all humans, since all humans are slaves or servants of God in Islam. Due to the name’s association with slavery, the word is no longer commonly used by Arabs […]

Abbas (Name)

Abbas (transliteration: ʿAbbās) is an Arabic name for boys that means “lion” and “a lion that other lions run away from”. Its literal meaning is “grim-faced”. There are 15 Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) with the name Abbas (see list below), the most of whom is Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib, uncle of […]

IslamQA: Is it shirk (idolatry) to watch videos about ghosts, ouija and seances?

Assalamu’alaikum I discovered that it is shirk to go to a mediator. I never did it, but I watched YouTube vids of people telling stories of when they were “haunted”/using ouija boards/visiting haunted places/doing a seance. Although I know that these aren’t ghosts & watched it for intrigue does this count as shirk? In one […]

An Islamic Examination of Homosexuality as an Identity

Our society trains us to think in a certain way (“If you disagree with me, then you’re hateful!”) and imposes limiters on our minds as we quote back popular talking points (“Love is love!”) without always examining them first or showing a willingness to consider different arguments. So I’m writing today, not as some moral […]

IslamQA: How do Azhar-educated Muslims end up as terrorists?

I’m just wondering how come some people who graduated from Al-Azhar ended up terrorists? Many of them have founded organisations such as Islamic brotherhood. I thought terrorism breeds as result of ignorance and incorrect knowledge, but since they receive proper ilm, on a scholarly level , then why this result? I can’t find neutral books […]

IslamQA: Self-love in Islam: Is loving yourself an Islamic teaching?

Is there any verses in the Al-Qur’an, or in Hadith that’s saying to love yourself? Is loving yourself important? In Islam we believe that psychologically humans are made of two parts. There is the ego (nafs), which is controlled by our brains and genetic instincts. Then there is the soul (ruh) which is where our […]

IslamQA: Are we patient if we complain silently to God?

If we complaint silently in hopes that God listen to our hearts, does that count as patience? Sure. Complaining to God is what the Prophets did, peace be upon them, when they were being patient. 85. They said, “By God, you will not stop remembering Joseph, until you have ruined your health, or you have […]

IslamQA: Are selfies sinful or haram for women?

Salam, people say posting selfies is a sin (they tend to focus this exclusively on females tho) is this accurate? And is it a sin for the person who liked the picture? Thank you jzk Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, There is nothing inherently sinful about that. Women are allowed to show their faces and hands in […]

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