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: 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 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 […]

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 […]

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: 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 […]

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: 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: 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: 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: Are Muslims allowed to never marry?

Aslamu Alaikum! Brother I’m suffering from social anxiety (or with some other phychological disease). As I can’t afford therapy because I’m not financially well. So i don’t wAnt to get married because I don’t want to intentionally ruin someone’s life. So, is this a valid reason for not getting married ? What Islam guides us […]

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. […]

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 […]

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 […]

My new book: Learning Modern Standard Arabic for Complete Beginners

In August last year I thought I could start working again, but I was wrong. In March this year things changed and I was able to start working on my book Learning Standard Arabic (MSA) for Complete Beginners, a book I have wanted to write since 2019. It is based on the same learning method […]

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: 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: 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 […]

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: Who is right: Early Islamic scholars who praise fighting and martyrdom, or modern ones who denounce war?

As-salâmu ‘alaykum. ….. ….. Most, if not all, modern scholars of Islâm seem to denounce war of every kind. And this is a good thing. Yet, many earlier scholars regularly mention the value of jihâd and martyrdom. It is easy for us Muslims, who have never experienced anything close to war, to denounce the militant […]

IslamQA: Are Muslims permitted to work in Sharia-compliant banks?

Are Muslims allowed to work in a bank, even if it’s labeled as sharia bank? As discussed in this previous answer, working at usurious banks (banks that profit through interest) is forbidden. As for Sharia-compliant banks, working for them is permitted if they are truly Sharia-compliant. Some banks are only Sharia-compliant in name, or they […]

IslamQA: The Islamic way to spend wealth: are luxuries permissible?

Aslamalaikum brother, I was wondering about the islamic principles on how to spend money. For example if someone had a good job and made good money and therefore lived lavishly but still followed the 5 pillars of islam and gave charity, would their religious deeds be deemed hypocritical due to their lifestyle. I feel very […]

IslamQA: Islam, vaccination and anti-vaccination

May I know the views of Islamic jurists regarding anti-vaccination? Vaccination is permitted in general in Islam since a good purpose is achieved by them and there is no evidence to prohibit them. As for anti-vaccination, if a person refuses vaccination for no good reason and this causes them to suffer an illness, then this […]

Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell

This book is a withering criticism of the class of society that Thomas Sowell calls the “intellectuals” (journalists and columnists, public intellectuals, writers, sociologists). Sowell’s thesis is that intellectuals try to persuade the public to support policies that may do greater harm than good while enjoying complete immunity from the bad consequences of their recommendations. […]

IslamQA: The simplest way to do a nikah according to Islamic law

According to a fatwa on IslamWeb (run by Qatar’s Islamic Affairs Ministry), the nikāḥ ceremony is simply this: the man, woman, her guardian and two witnesses should gather together (this can be done over a video call if some of these people are not living close to each other). The witnesses must be respected members of the […]

A Manual of Civilized Sexuality

My new book A Manual of Civilized Sexuality: What Science, Feminism and Our Pornographic Culture Cannot Teach Us about the Most Important Things in Love, Romance and Intimacy is now available on Amazon.com. While this book is written for a general Western audience, the contents are extremely relevant to Muslims interested in understanding Islam’s views […]

IslamQA: Should Muslims boycott the Hajj because of Saudi repression and war crimes?

I’ve read that when we do hajj we are financially supporting the Saudi government to oppress people in it’s country and also to kill people in Yemen. Is it true that they use hajj revenue for bad stuff? I doubt there is a major country in the world that does not kill innocent people whenever […]

IslamQA: Is it permitted to recite Quran or dhikr in the bathroom?

Salam! Is it permissible to do dhikr and recite durood internally (like in your mind) while showering? Worried that since you are in a bathroom, it is not allowed. Thank you! Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, Even reciting the Quran aloud in a bath/shower (not toilet) is permitted by many important scholars (Imam Malik, al-Nawawi). Reciting the […]

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