/ Sep 03, 2019 06:48 PM / No Comments on Bosnian Genocide in 1995: Still in our memories / 3931 viewsIt was on Thursday night that I was checking my Twitter account and I found a beautiful and at the same time heart breaking post: some supplications for those who died in the Bosnian genocide, back in the nineties. I was a little child when this happened, I was not even a Muslim by then. […]
/ Sep 11, 2019 06:04 PM / No Comments on Caught between Catholicism and agnosticism / 1883 viewsDo you have any advice on getting through a religious dilemma? I grew up in a somewhat Catholic household, for years I have prayed and went to church quite regularly, but in my early 20s, I have became an agnostic person due to my scientific studies, but now I don’t think science and religion is […]
/ Sep 24, 2019 06:25 PM / No Comments on Islam and GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) / 1902 viewsHello, I’m the anon who asked about the homunculus. Thank you for answering my question. I have another question to ask of you. Is GMO, or genetically modified organism, generally a good thing or a bad thing? Hello, The Quran speaks against “changing God’s creation”, but as I discuss in my answer on cosmetic surgery, this refers […]
/ Oct 21, 2019 04:00 PM / No Comments on Advice on missing someone after a breakup / 5998 viewsSalam. The first and only time I had done something haram with a guy was two years ago, this is someone who I had mutually feelings for. I think he lost feelings for me, or got bored. I’m not sure, I never got closure. But I can’t help but always miss him and be sad […]
/ Oct 29, 2019 10:53 PM / 1 Comment on Islam’s approach to child brides and pedophilia / 2258 viewsI 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 […]
/ Nov 09, 2019 07:51 PM / 3 Comments on Is reciting the 3 quls and making dua obligatory before sleep? / 2051 viewsSelam 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 […]
/ Nov 11, 2019 10:05 PM / No Comments on When does religious belief become toxic? / 1464 viewsIn what condition does a religious belief becomes dogmatic and toxic to its follower? When a person thinks that Islam is meant to replace their humanity. Below is an excerpt from my book An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Understanding Islam and Muslims on this question. George Orwell and George Eliot George Orwell, in his Road to Wigan Pier, […]
/ Nov 19, 2019 02:29 PM / No Comments on Getting over the loss of a loved one / 2551 viewsAs Muslims how should we grieve for a loved one that’s passed away. My grandmother returned to Allah on the 9th and I cannot stop crying. I can barely get out of bed in the morning and can’t seem to get on with daily life. No matter how much praying, dua and telling myself she’s […]
/ Nov 19, 2019 02:51 PM / No Comments on On today’s capitalist and materialistic making life as a Muslim more difficult / 1843 viewsAssalamualaikum, what do you think about the fact that the world is becoming increasingly harder for Muslims to navigate. For example how capitalist society has designed peoples lives to be all work and any spare time they have is now to consume media and this kind of society is causing increase in mental illness which […]
/ Dec 05, 2019 07:44 PM / No Comments on Where to start when studying Islam for the first time / 1341 viewsI don’t come from a religious family but after certain circumstances, I have found myself wanting and needing to know more about my religion. Do you know where to start? I feel a little overwhelmed. I’m assuming establishing prayer is first. Thank you! I recommend you start by reading The Study Quran. Give it a […]
/ Dec 07, 2019 03:52 PM / No Comments on Dealing with heartbreak / 2467 viewsAssalamu alaykum. I am dealing with significant heartbreak. I had been dating a Muslim Lebanese American woman for two years. I am Anglo American and converted to Islam. We had discussed spending our lives together and getting married, but her family disapproved as I am not Lebanese. Her mother made her decide between continuing with […]
/ Dec 08, 2019 03:34 PM / 2 Comments on The Islamic view of the Netflix series The Messiah (Dajjal) / 2147 viewsSalam! Have you seen the new series netflix trailer called ‘the messiah”? They’re apparently making a show about Dajjal! Second question: What is your take on the Netflix trailer of a show called messiah which people are saying it’s about the Dajjal? a lot of negative reactions and people saying they are scared, but Allah […]
/ Dec 24, 2018 02:58 PM / No Comments on It is permissible to attend Christmas celebrations as a Muslim (with conditions) / 3058 viewsassalamu aleikum, so my grandmother’s side of the family are christians and she lives in our home country and we live in europe, she rarely gets the chance to come visit us and so do we, but she came for the holidays season and she’ll spend christmas and new year’s eve here, she wants to […]
/ Jan 20, 2019 08:49 PM / No Comments on Have I ever doubted parts of Islam? / 2699 viewsSalaam I hope you don’t mind me asking this but have you ever had doubts about Islam or disagreed with certain aspects of it? How strong would you say your faith is. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The strength of one’s faith goes up and down daily. Personally I do not remember ever having strong doubts about […]
/ Sep 09, 2017 11:04 PM / No Comments on Will one’s prayers be valid if they unknowingly make an error in them for a long period of time? / 2439 viewsIn the first rakah of fajr I have been saying the tashahhud and for the 2nd rakah. I didn’t realise this mistake and now know it’s only meant to be said in the 2nd. Will my prayers still be valid as I’m fairly new to praying According to Ibn Qudamah (12th century CE Hanbali jurist) […]
/ Dec 24, 2018 01:30 AM / No Comments on Dealing with a toxic work environment as a Muslim / 3080 views(Part 1): Salaam, I am currently in a toxic work environment at my new job. My coworkers, teachers who are Muslim women, have been gossiping about me and spreading rumors. What is your advice to rise above it, Islamically? Are there any duaas I can make to relieve the worry I feel when they talk […]
/ Feb 25, 2018 06:34 PM / No Comments on On avoiding looking at inappropriate images on the internet / 1732 viewsI am a 20 year old lady, and I have this problem of constantly clicking on ‘inappropriate images’ and when I’m done, I feel bad and ask for Forgiveness, but it’s become so repetitive! How do I remove sexual desire from within (just until marriage)? I don’t even talk to the opposite sex, but what […]
/ Nov 15, 2014 04:12 AM / No Comments on Using jQuery and JSON to recover from a failed TablePress save / 1743 viewsI was happily working away on my 700+ row table in TablePress, saving occasionally. Server issues came up and I was prevented from saving for a few hours. Eventually the server was back up again and I wanted to save, but I ran into the dreaded Ajax save failure message. Even using shift+save did not […]
/ Jan 09, 2016 04:28 PM / No Comments on Solve the invisible spaces problem in Word 2013 / 1341 viewsAn annoying issue in Word 2013 is that sometimes the space key seems to stop working, until you press a non-space character, at which point Word deigns to show you both the space and non-space characters. To solve the problem, press enter to create a new line, then go back to your line. The problem […]
/ Jan 13, 2017 06:17 PM / No Comments on When will smartphones have 1 terabyte of storage? Probably around 2021 / 1890 viewsWhile I’m no fan of Apple, the iPhone has so far been the leader in performance and storage. The internal storage of Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone provides a good benchmark for the current level of storage of the entire smartphone industry. When an iPhone with a new level of storage comes out, every manufacturer […]
/ Feb 22, 2017 03:52 PM / No Comments on The calm before the 2017/18 crash / 1555 viewsJohn Hussman’s latest Weekly Market Comment starts with these foreboding quotes: “No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the State of the Union, has met with a more pleasant prospect than that which appears at the present time.” – Calvin Coolidge, December 4, 1928 “There can be little argument that the American […]
/ Feb 27, 2017 08:29 PM / 1 Comment on Why the Banks are So Powerful and Why the Bible and the Quran Forbid Usury: Charting How Interest Creates Obscene Wealth Inequality / 3699 viewsImagine if in 1913 the real economy of the US had $100 billion in capital, while the banks and money-lenders had only $1 billion. Given everyday economic circumstances, by 2017, the wealth of the real economy would have grown to $2163 billion (with a 3% economic growth rate). Meanwhile, the wealth of the banks and […]
/ Jul 04, 2017 07:06 PM / No Comments on The point of the Islamic acts of worship / 1645 viewsA question received on tumblr: What are the importances of acts of worship Prayer, zakat and fasting etc At the most basic level these acts reaffirm God’s important in our lives. We Muslims cannot ignore God, saying “we have faith” and then go for days without thinking about God. The prayers interrupt our lives five […]
/ Jul 04, 2017 07:10 PM / 1 Comment on Dealing with a porn addiction / 3047 viewsTumblr question: How can I deal with porn addiction? Updated answer You cannot stop sinning just by wishing for it or by trying to use your willpower. That never works. You must instead try to become the type of person who needs no effort to avoid sins. And this can only be achieved by setting […]
/ Sep 14, 2017 12:20 AM / 1 Comment on What to do if all the negative coverage of Islam and online Islam-bashing affects you / 1656 viewsI’m from India and I see a lot of negativity towards Islam and it saddens me very much. Filthy comments made about Islam and people who practice Islam. I usually do not indulge in such arguments/comments because there is no point but it effects me. Please help Jazakallah khair That is a promise of the […]
/ Sep 22, 2017 12:44 AM / 2 Comments on It is permissible for Muslim women to pluck their eyebrows (with conditions) / 7542 viewsIs it permissible for a woman to pluck her eyebrows? Being a woman with unsymmetrical and thick eyebrows I always feel the need to clean them up so they look normal and symmetrical. But as far as I know the prophet sallalahu alaihi wasalim said, woman who pluck their own or other womens eyebrows are […]
/ Sep 22, 2017 01:22 AM / No Comments on Did the Prophet marry a 9-year-old girl? (She may have actually been close to 18) / 3677 viewsSo, 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 […]
/ Sep 26, 2017 04:09 PM / 2 Comments on How is it fair that unattractive women have difficulty getting married? Why does God allow this? / 3737 viewsI was reading your blog post and I keep wondering isn’t the system unfair? That the most attractive woman will get men and the unattractive not . As an unattractive female I can’t get married although I wish First I will explain why the world is the way it is, then I will explain the […]
/ Dec 26, 2017 10:33 PM / No Comments on Should Islam and politics mix or not? / 1521 viewsI 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 […]
/ Feb 25, 2018 06:35 PM / No Comments on On stopping having infatuation for a person / 1601 viewsHow do I stop having infatuation for someone? People have been asking that for thousands of years and as far as I know no cure has yet been discovered. The best thing to do is to wait patiently, to read the Quran, to read other books, and to try to live life as best as […]
/ Dec 18, 2018 04:23 PM / No Comments on How to memorize long verses like Ayat al-Kursi / 2322 viewsSalam, do you have any tips on how to memorise surahs? I’m currently trying to learn Ayatul kursi, but I’m finding it difficult as Arabic is not my first language. Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, The method I have used for myself is to split the material into logical units. For example this part from the beginning […]
/ Apr 19, 2018 04:10 PM / 5 Comments on A Traditionalist Critique of the Islamic Prohibition on Taṣwīr (Making Drawings and Statues of Humans and Animals) / 17945 viewsTo many Muslims today, it will sound patently absurd if someone were to tell them that it is a mortal sin for them to draw a cat. But some religious scholars would tell you that drawing a cat is an act of taṣwīr (the depiction of living things in paintings, sculptures and elsewhere), a sin for which […]
/ Jun 28, 2018 09:31 PM / 1 Comment on Parents will not let him marry his chosen / 1667 viewsPlease can you advice me. There is a guy who wants to wants to marry me and my parents are OK with it but his parents are forcing him to marry his cousin instead. He already tried to talk to his parents many times, to convince to at least meet my family (his parents don’t […]
/ Jun 28, 2018 09:41 PM / No Comments on Porn is destroying my life, I’m not able to control the urges / 2325 viewsPorn is destroying my life, I’m not able to control the urges. It has lead me to do things that I can’t even say. My life is being destroyed and I’m just not able to control myself in those moments. Slowly I feel like I’m falling into an abyss of depression likes the one I’ve […]
/ Jun 29, 2018 06:25 PM / No Comments on Giving up an addiction to “sexting” apps / 2501 viewsI’ve been addicted to apps like kik and snapchat for sexting . Even when I delete them I install it back and find girls calling me .how do i quit this crap ? May Allah help me. The solution I believe is the same as that for avoiding pornography, which is to have a regular, […]
/ Jul 04, 2018 08:55 PM / No Comments on On having empathy toward non-Muslims / 2413 viewsMy question might be weird to you but I hope you can at least understand my perspective. I’m an empath, the inclusion of the entire humanity is important for me. However I don’t feel that I’ve found this in Islam and I feel isolated because of this problem. I feel as the Islamic community only […]
/ Jul 05, 2018 05:05 PM / No Comments on On adoption, Aisha’s age and the Prophet’s dreams about her / 1671 viewsI’ve got few questions, . 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? . I’m also wondering is regarding your Tariq Ramadan’s book […]
/ Jul 14, 2018 05:43 PM / 1 Comment on Muslims may write fantasy and romance novels (except for erotic ones) / 10698 viewsSalam, I am an English literature major and I really want to write fictional novels one day. With any novels you would hope to speak about an important message, with fiction these ideas are offered like a reflection of reality and in a way that it will connect to a reader. Is it wrong to […]
/ Jul 17, 2018 05:23 PM / No Comments on SSDs became 3.4 times faster in eight years, 15.5 GB/s read speeds by 2030 / 1706 viewsIn November 2010, AnandTech reported about an SSD that was achieving 800 MB/second sequential read speeds: In July 2018, AnandTech reports that 2700 MB/second SSD drives are available: In this period of about 10 years, PCIe SSD speeds increased by a factor of 3.4, at least when it comes to sequential read speeds, which is an […]
/ Jul 21, 2018 08:30 PM / No Comments on The sunna prayer of dhuhr (ẓuhr) can be prayed in units of two or four / 1577 viewsI’m fairly new to praying and was wondering how should the four sunnah rakats before zuhr be prayed? I’ve heard it can either be four or two by two with two tasleems. Which method is correct? Both of them are considered acceptable by the majority of scholars, but praying them in units of two has […]
/ Aug 12, 2018 05:03 PM / No Comments on What to do if you have lost hope in everything / 1971 viewsAssalam alaykom, what would you say to someone who lost hope in everything and starts to think that Allah doesn’t want them to be happy in life ? Is it possible to restore one’s faith in Allah? Thank you Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah, Please see my new essay Islam and Depression: A Survival Guide. In this essay […]
/ Dec 08, 2018 02:53 PM / 1 Comment on Cosmetic surgery is permissible in Islam (with conditions) / 17985 viewsWhat is the Islamic verdict on cosmetic surgery? There are many differing opinions on cosmetic surgery. Many jurists permit reconstructive surgery (for example cosmetic surgery that removes a blemish caused by injury) but forbid surgery done for enhancement. The reason for the generally negative view of Islamic jurists on cosmetic surgery is a saying of […]
/ Dec 18, 2018 04:07 PM / No Comments on Is it sinful to cherry-pick which scholars you listen to? / 1369 viewsIs it sinful for me to cherry-pick what kind of da’wah I want to hear and accept? I don’t enjoy and accept some of the ‘ulama here in my country for their way of speaking or delivering the speech, even if it’s true. I kinda disappointed by the traditionalist point of view and I want […]
/ Jun 23, 2024 05:30 PM / 1 Comment on Why is Hell eternal? Who deserves eternal burning punishment? / 337 viewsWhy is Hell eternal? Does anyone really deserve eternal fiery punishment in Hell, or is the view of Ibn al-Qayyim correct that by “eternity” the Quran means a very long time, not time without end? About the eternity of Hell, unfortunately I do not have anything new to offer. But I feel that most ordinary […]