Hi,
What do you think is the difference between a religion and an ideology? Would you describe yourself as a religious person or are you following a certain ideology? Why do you think people believe in God?
If you like, I’ll share my thoughts on these questions too.
Thanks a lot,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Promoting a theme park[YSaerTTEW443543]
Dear Torsten/All,
Thanks for initiating a really good topics. I am not going in details but I just want to start by giving a view.
Religion is a set of rituals which fulfil spiritual needs of human being, for example Hinduism, Budhism. These religions do not show any definite way of life, more specifically these religion have almost no instruction to deal with this world & earthly life.
On the otherhand ideology is the complete code of life. It not only describes the way to live & rule this world but also show a clear relation with creator, this universe, other human being & even other creations. Islam is a complete code of life. It is not a religion, it is an ideology.
Expecting more views & opinions to shape my idea. Thanks again.
I’m not good in philosophy but I think religion is from God and ideology is made by human. Religion can be an ideology but an ideology cannot be a religion (unless you made them yours).But it won’t cover all aspects of life. And it might be suitable for a certain place or time only, I think.
Yes, very. I have many friends with different religion and some tried to convert me many times. They persevere, oh they really do but here’s a thing about me, I don’t like people changing religions even the ones who convert to my religion. I don’t know why my muslim friends don’t get it when we try to reason with each other, I guess that’s an ideology huh?
I used to think that it was innate knowledge but now I think it’s because human are smart.
Please indulge me. Uhh,I can’t wait 
Hi Nina,
So you think people believe in God because they are clever? Maybe there are certain things they can’t explain and since they do want to get an answer to certain questions such as Where do we come? from and Where do we go? some of the smartest people figured out a way of providing answers that the majority would be satisfied and happy with. Religions and ideologies are instruments to control the thought process of people and keep societies in a relative equilibrium. Questions like Why am I poor and why do I have to suffer? can be answered by religion. Some very smart people wrote the Bible and the Koran and other equivalents to give an explanation to the most basic questions the majority of people have had for centuries.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, talks: Advertising car tyres on the radio[YSaerTTEW443543]
Yes, of course, because we human think all the time, is that not an act of being clever? I don’t want to assume anything but you gave me the impression of not believing in God. And I will not say you stupid because that shows that you are thinking.The same cannot be said of people who just follow without thinking.
Let’s just compare our lives to animals, and let’s just assume that animals lead a very simple life, they attend to their basic needs like eating, mating et cetera et cetera. Other than making strategies to hunt or survive I cannot imagine them think for their spiritual needs.
My point is, human are clever not because they can provide explanations to questions like where do we come from but humans are clever because they think and they prepare themselves for the things that they are sure/unsure of.
And many people that say they do not believe in God act like they believe in God. For example the Japanese who said they do not believe in God but at the same time say words like “God help me” when they are in trouble.To me people deny God because they are confused(not stupid) but who can blame them?
And yes, religions/ideologies are instruments to control people but then isn’t that is what they are suppose to do?(among other things of course)
And how can you be sure that “some very smart people” wrote the bible and koran? And how could these very smart people know for sure that the things they wrote won’t be obsolete in 2888?
If humans wrote them, I won’t be surprise some alterations would have to be made along the way to adjust to the new era.But you said it yourself, they have had the same explanations for centuries.
There is a great difference between an ideology and a religion. I agree with NinaZara. Ideologies are made up by people. For example, nazism is the ideology of Hitler. By defition it is the collection of ideas of a man, whereas the religions are from God, or at least believed they are from God.
In your message you wrote that both the Holy Bible and the Holy Koran were just written by some smart people. I must say that while I don’t agree with your ideas, I respect your right to enunciate them. But, in the mean time, I just can’t stop saying that you are utterly wrong. As a religious person, I don’t consider what you said a blasphemy, nor do I wish to proselytise you, but I just want to make you ponder on it, like a brainstorming. I want to discuss this topic. It is a good topic.
While religion has something to do with faith more than it has something with proof, it is still normal that you may ask for evidence that such books are actually divine. If you don’t question or ask evidence, it would be a blind faith, which only bigot and extreme people tend to embrace. It is nice that you question it. And since you question it, I want to answer it. Now, could you please do a favour for me, and look for a copy of the Koran. It does not have to be a paper copy, it can be an electronic one. I am sure if you just type the word on google, you will find thousands of sites offering online version of it in English. By the way, unlike the Bible, there is only one version of the Koran and it is in arabic. The original Koran also exists, in case you want to trace back. But since both you and me don’t speak Arabic, we will read it from its English translations. Now, I only want you to look up for a specific verse. I want you to look up the 3rd verse of 67th chapter. It will say something similar to this, depending on which translation of it you looked: Who created the seven heavens one above another; you see no incongruity in the creation of the Beneficent Allah; then look again, can you see any disorder? The word “heavens,” which appears in many verses in the Koran, is used to refer to the sky above the Earth, as well as the entire universe. Given this meaning of the word, it is seen that the Earth’s sky, or the atmosphere, is made up of seven layers. Now, as you know the science also says that the world’s atmosphere consists of seven layers that lie on top of each other.
Now considering the fact that the Koran was written 14 centuries ago, where people had no such depth knowledge of the cosmos, how did the person who wrote the Koran, namely Mohammed, know this scientific fact, if it is other than the word of God? Is it just a coincide? The Koran has many miracles, and I am here to tell them if you wish.
By the way, NinaZara, I am also a Muslim, but I don’t try to convert Christians. Islam already encompasses the Christianity. Every muslim believes in the Holy Bible, and also Jesus (upon whom be peace and blessings). No muslim is a muslim if he refuses to believe in Jesus or the Bible. It is like same, you believe in the Torah (The Old Testament), and Moses (upon whom be peace and blessings), but the Jews reject to believe in the New Testament or Jesus. It is the same with you. We muslims believe in Jesus and Bible, but you don’t believe in Mohammed or Quran. Therefore, if a muslim leaves his own religion, he cannot convert to Christianity, or it would be very hard to do so, if he was a pious muslim, because in the religion of Islam, people love Jesus very much, and respect Bible a lot. So if you get out of Islam, you will probably lose all your identity, and cannot believe in Jesus or Bible again. It would be a total destruction, whereas if a christian converts to Islam, he does not have to reject his previous mainstream understanding of religion. He would still believe in Jesus and the Book. He would only have to get rid of the doctrine of Trinity and some other minor differences…But, I really try to not get into conflict with my Christian brothers and sisters, but instead try to collaborate with them. And this is what we should do. We should unite. In today’s society, many people are Godless or aitheist, which we must combat together. For this reason, we must engage in interfaith dialogues, and the cornerstone of an interfaith dialogue is mutual respect…
Cheers,
Enes
Enes,
This is slightly off-topic but what do you think of interfaith marriage?
Are you against it or are you a great supporter?
Nina
Dear Nina,
I am neither against nor a great supporter of interfaith marriages. While I myself would try to avoid engaging in it, I on the other hand would not say people should refrain from doing it. It is all right if the relation goes well. But it is important to note whether your religion allows this or not. Some religions may not allow it, even in Christianity, depending on what denomination you are, it may not be allowed to marry someone outside of your religion. They base it on a biblical verse. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says “Stay away from people who are not followers of the Lord.” Therefore, some sects of Christianity don’t not allow you to marry a non-Christian. In Islam, women are not allowed to marry non-muslims, and men are allowed to marry Christians and Jews providing that the lady is chaste and that she does not have any objections for their future children to be muslim. As you see, it is very challenging for both spouses. I am a muslim man and I think, first of all it will be very difficult to find a christian lady who is chaste and willing to mary me with the condition that she does not object for our children to be muslim. So I am not after marrying a Christian girl. But maybe, if I fall in love with one, and if we can get a long, then I don’t see why we should not marry. But it can be extremely difficult to comprimise, so I prefer to stay away from it. This is my personal opinion. I hope it answers your question. What do you think about it?
If you ask me, I would say people who are not followers of the Lord can mean anything, it can simply means people who doesn’t believe in God, not necessarily Christian.
This is always thrown to my face everytime I discuss interfaith marriage. Pray tell me, where, in the Quran such a thing is mentioned?To my intelligence, the approach written in the verse 221 of Al-Baqarah said that both men and women are not allowed to marry “non-followers” or “polytheist” or some “atheist”. There are several other translations in my language, believe me, I have been studying this for almost two years now and have been debating it my my Mom( my father sees my point but I can tell he is still undecided) and this brings us to one point, how do you define muslims?non-followers?or is it really up to us to say who is and who’s not? Have you ever wondered, you might be praying 5 times a day but to God’s eyes, there’s a slight chance that you are still not a muslim?
So you are implying that women cannot be strong/good muslim?We are soo weak that it is impossible for us to influence our own children that we carried with us for 9 months? The bond that men do not have with them.
There I thought that we are equal in God’s eyes.
There are so many “women are not allowed this, women are not allowed that” that I see in the muslims culture. Why I say muslims is because I do not believe or I simply cannot see these claims are the claims of the religion ISLAM itself.
For centuries, the world has been ruled by Men, this is a fact that even Islam self cannot change when it came to us. Not because Islam did not try to but let me give several examples to clear my point.
[size=150]#1[/size] Before Islam, men can have hundreds or thousands of wives. But after Islam, men can only have four. Is this a bad thing? My answer is YES.And I believe Islam also think it is a bad thing but has to tolerate it. Why?
Should Islam prohibited polygamy, the cold turkey way, do you think the Arabs will accept Islam at that time? If anything, I call it strategy.
And does this mean you are allowed to have four wives? My answer is NO.
If we look at the verses in Quran there is only one verse that “allows” you to marry more than one but there are other 3 verses that disencourage men to do so.
Muhammad himself practised monogomy for 25 years (if I were not mistaken) with the love of his life Khadijah, then he remarried and practised polygamy but out of obligations.
And in one hadith, when his son-in-law Ali, husband of Fatimah, who wanted to take a second wife asked for his blessings, he did not give him that and guess what Muhammad said [color=green]" Fatimah is a part of me, what hurts her, hurts me and what annoys her, annoys me"
Fine, Quran said it’s ok meaning, not a sin to take more than one wife, but does it mean it’s really ok? If we look deeper and again, I would say Islam does not permit polygamy.And all Quran did was not closing all the doors.
[size=150]#2[/size] Women and the portion that they inherit. If we do this according to the Quran, women will get less than the men. Oh my!How is this possible?My worth is less than my brother?How could this be? I thought we are equal in God’s eyes.
Again, should Islam gave women the same portion at that time, do you honestly think the Arabs would accept Islam?Where women were beneath men as low as their feet, where baby girls were buried alive because the father were ashamed of them. Giving them the full right at that time would have been unthinkable.
When I asked my ustaz, he said, “be thankful to what God has given you.”
When I asked my father, he said, “many men do not understand that the bigger portion they get, the bigger burden is put on their shoulders. What is given to him is not his alone. With that portion, he has to make sure the wellbeing of the women in his family and take care of them. It is sort of the zakat concept, what you’ve earned is not yours alone, you have to give it to the poor and the needy”. And I remembered saying, “Huh, and many men think they get more because they are special”
But guess what, Islam is the first to introduce this. Before that women have no right whatsoever. So really, what Islam was doing at that time was to gradually liberate women.
[size=150]#3 [/size]Islam’s take on slavery. When I first heard of Islam’s toleration of slavery, I said what? :shock: It took me years to fully comprehend why.Again,
Do you honestly think the Arabs will accept Islam if slavery was prohibited the cold turkey way? Again in a society where the number of slaves and wives you have is the measurement of your status and the influence you have on people among the kabilah. I do not think that the Arabs will take it well if they were asked to give up so many things for this new religion.
But what we must focus here is the clever way Islam handled this. Muslims were asked to free their slaves everytime they make a certain mistake or commit sins. Is this not a clever way to reduce slavery?Again, though in Quran may says slavery is “OK” but Islam’s attitude towards slavery is a big NO NO to slavery.
[size=150]#4[/size] Women leading prayers. Oh…don’t let me start on this one. Just do yourself a favor and check if there is anything in the Quran that says women cannot be Imam.
Are you still with me? I know this has long gone from the original issue but I want to make a point:
If we think deeper, this religion of me and you is more than words. We cannot take what is written in the Quran the literal way only, but we have to observe the attitude as well and the hidden message in it.
So don’t be quick to judge who’s muslim and who’s not.Islam teaches us the way of life, not the way of dividing people.
Back to the influence that women have on their children:
From the researches that I read, only 50% of interfaith marriages’ children betweeen a muslim man and a non-muslim woman chose Islam as their faith but when the mother is a muslim 70% of the children chose Islam and the number is increasing each year. And of course this is logical, who do you think carried them for 9 months? who spend time more with them?
If anything, it is us, women, who is more influential in the tendency of the children’s faith.
If you ask me where I stand, I am a great supporter of interfaith marriage mainly because I plan to engage in it.
p.s: the little girl in my avatar is half Japanese. The father embraced Islam out of obligation and I don’t want that. I cannot respect my husband if he embraces one religion that he doesn’t believe in.
Hi
This debate has gone off topic granted but was very interesting to read (especially from Nina?s quite personal point of view).
But lets look at this concept of the difference between idealogy and religion.
From one side you can argue that idealogy and religion are both constructs of man.
Even if you believe that various religious texts are written through divine influence, then the vessel is still man. How can we trust the writer of the text?
On the other side the writer of the text is creating something, so is not creation a form of a divine act?
Now what is idealogy and what is religion?
From a purely linguistic point of view religion is:
a system: an institutionalized or personal system of beliefs and practices relating to the divine
Is idealogy not simply relating to something other than the divine? Equality, the superioriy of a certain race, the power of money or some other idol.
So following this through at some point man decided this is divine and this is not?
But was the divine at some point not just an idol or idealogy?
A person or a group of people decided or decides something is divine.
But is it a construct of humanity just as idealogy is?
What distinguishes it, apart from worship, from idealogy?
It can not be belief, all systems believe in something.
Is it faith, well who is to say that people can not have faith in equality, human integrity or the power of money?
Are these things more tangible as they are human constructs?
Is religion not a human construct?
What about love is that not something intangible, abstract? Love could be said to be a chemical reaction, so is this not a physical-biological human construct?
Ok so divine faith is more abstact than love, is this pure faith?
This I think is more interesting.
Religion and idealogy are human or social constructs, but faith is something that is personal, still human and can be more or less intangible but not a construct.
I see in this thread very little real questioning from both sides of a persons opinion.
But that could be said to be faith could it not?
A questioning mind should be a mind that sees the whole picture, the negative as well as the print, but also the fine detail.
But then again religion, idealogy can always be interpretated just like a picture.
Faith on the other hand is intangible and only open to interpretation when we try to pin it down to previous human constructs.
Is faith like an undeveloped picture, and therefore not a human construct until it becomes a picture (religion or idealogy)?
Dear Nina,
I greet you in the very precious name of our Lord. May His blessings be upon you. I hope you are fine. I read your arguments with pleasure. It was very coherent I have to say. However, at some place even though your knowledge of Islam was good, it was not enough to interpret the Koran in your own way. I mean, you approached the situation from a very different perspective. You made some unjustified claims, which are totally incorrect, in my humble opinion. I will try to explain them further.
I agree with you here, but some denominations of Christianity do not allow interfaith marriages due to the above-mentioned verse and some others.
By defition, a muslim is someone who accepts the religion of Islam. In order for a person to be muslim, he must believe in the five articles of islamic faith, which I listed below.
Belief in the Oneness of Allah.
Belief in all His Angels.
Belief in all His Books.
Belief in all His Prophets.
Belief in the Day of Resurrection.
Anyone who believes in these 5 articles without any doubt, is a Muslim. If someone denies any of these articles, he will not be a muslim. For example, if you deny one prophet, or any of the books then you are not a muslim. If you believe in the Koran, and all of the prophets, but reject believing in Torah, then you are not a muslim. Any one who says he believes in all these 5 articles without any doubt is considered to be a muslim, and no one can say that he is a non-muslim.
You asked in which verse the Koran forbids the marriage between a muslim woman and a non-muslim / christian man. The verse which you quoted actually forbids this kind of marriage.
And give not (your daughters) in marriage to Al-Mushrikun* till they believe in Allah alone [2:221]
*Al-Mushrikun = Pagans, idolators, polytheist and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah and in His messenger Prophet Mohammad (upon whom be peace and blessins).
As you see, the marriage of a muslim woman to a non-muslim is strickly forbidden. There are also some quotes from Prophet Mohammed in the hadith book of Buhari which say that women are not allowed to marry none other than Muslim men.
I am not saying nor implying that women cannot be strong/good muslims, nor am I implying that you are so weak to influence your children that you carried with you for 9 months. Where did you get this from, for Jesus’ sake? If Allah forbids muslim women to marry non-muslims, there is of course some wisdom behind it. The non-muslim husband may prevent his muslim wife from carrying out her religious obligations by either pressuring her or physically abusing her. But it is not the sole reason for imposing the restriction. The situation is considered very damaging for the woman to practise Islam afterwards. But this is not the same if the husband is a muslim, and wife is a christian. Still, this kind of marriage is also not encouraged, but only the permission is given.
In Islam, men and women are totally equal, and makes no difference in God’s eyes. However, the duties of men and women are different.
First of all, the Koran encourages man to have only one wife, but it also tolerates polygamy up to 4 wives for a number of reasons. And none of these reasons actually includes the fear that “Arabs would not enter Islam”, contrary to what you claim. In fact, Koran is the only holy scripture that encourages to have only one wife. The other scriptures, including the Bible does not give any upper limit for the number of wives a man can have. In fact, the Bible says that Solomon had hundreds of wives. It was a very common thing to have multiple wives in Christian history. It was only a couple of centuries ago that the Catholic church forbade polygamy. It is not very much different for Protestants. Marthin Luther, the primary founder of Protestantism said “I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict the Scripture. If a man wishes to marry more than one wife he should be asked whether he is satisfied in his conscience that he may do so in accordance with the word of God. In such a case the civil authority has nothing to do in the matter.” (De Wette II, 459, ibid., pp. 329-330.)
Now let us look the reasons, why Islam even though suggested to have only 1 wife, tolerated up to 4 wives.
Average life span of females is more than that of males:
During wars, there are more men killed as compared to women. More men die due to accidents and diseases than women. The average life span of females is more than that of males, and at any given time one finds more widows in the world than widowers.
World female population is more than male population
In the USA, women outnumber men by 7.8 million. New York alone has one million more females as compared to the number of males, and of the male population of New York one-third are gays i.e sodomites. The U.S.A as a whole has more than twenty-five million gays. This means that these people do not wish to marry women. Great Britain has four million more females as compared to males. Germany has five million more females as compared to males. Russia has nine million more females than males. God alone knows how many million more females there are in the whole world as compared to males.
Restricting each and every man to have only one wife is not practical
Even if every man got married to one woman, there would still be more than thirty million females in U.S.A who would not be able to get husbands (considering that America has twenty five million gays). There would be more than four million females in Great Britain, 5 million females in Germany and nine million females in Russia alone who would not be able to find a husband.
As you see, Islam does not encourage people to engage in polygamy, but it only tolerates it, for the reasons given above. And, there is a condition that you must apply, otherwise you cannot have more than a wife. And that is, you must be equal, which is very hard. For example, if you buy a car to one of your wives, then you have to buy the same car, to the other wives as well. This is very hard to achieve. And unless you can achieve this, you are not allowed to engage in polygamy!
So in a nutshell, Islam permits polygamy for a number of reasons, under some conditions, yet still it is not something encouraged.
By the way, some secular countries now, like Kazakhstan, is trying to legalise polygamy, due to the fact that the ratio of women to men in the country is very high and that women is complaining to be not able to find any spouse.
The reason why men inherit more portion is that, they have to look up their sisters and some other people. It is obligatory for them, to supply shelter and food. For this reason, they get some extra portion, not because they are special. Now, you are claiming that Islam did not want to equalise women to men, otherwise Arabs would not enter Islam. This was absolutely not the case, because Islam had already done that. Look what 3:195 says: ‘Their Lord responded to them: “I never fail to reward any worker among you for any work you do, be you MALE OR FEMALE, YOU ARE EQUAL TO ONE ANOTHER”.’
Again, another logical fallacy…The reason why Islam did not abolish slavery is simply that, it would damage the whole economy of the country. Not only the country, but also the whole world, since slavery was very common in that era and was inevitable. Yet still, Islam in many ways tried to avoid slavery. Some penalties for mistakes included emancipating a number of slaves. Thus it reduced slavery, and after while seeked to finish it.
You are % 100 correct here. It says nowhere in the Quran that women cannot be imam. In fact, a women can lead prayers and be imam for a group of women. And examples to this could be given the women companions of Prophet Mohammed (upon whom be peace and blessings), who led prayers for groups of women. But, it is not permissible for a woman to be imam for a man or for a group that has men in it. This is not forbidden by the Quran, but by the hadith. The quran does not tell much about such details. Also for example, the Quran orders muslims to pray 5 times a day, but it does not say how it should be performed. Where we learn how to perform them are the hadiths…
This is debatable. Yet still it sounds right, however as I explained above, the reason why a woman cannot marry to a non-muslim is not only because of the fear that the child will be affected by his father.
Are you serious? And what is the reason? Is it just because your fianc?e is a non-christian, or have you not found that lucky person yet? 
I am likeminded here and feel the same. Religion is something personal and should only be chosen by the person himself, in his consent and desire, not just to be able to marry someone.
I hope I answered your questions…
Most humbly yours,
Your brother in Christ,
Enes
Enes,
I am aware of all the things you wrote. And I agree with all the logical explanations that you offered(except the ones regarding my gender, I still think they are biased) and you saw what I wanted you to see, viewing the Quran in a very different perspective.
When you said the logical reasons that I gave (which in plain words would say, Quran is compromised for the Arabs) I cannot see why I cannot view it that way when we all learnt that Islam was granted in the Arabs society and many surah(if not all) were given from God in accordance to specific incidents that happened at that time.
Maybe you misunderstood me, but I was being sarcastic about men being the special one, if only you can meet and know me in real life, I am a person you would probably want to call a female chauvinist.(just exaggerating 
)
I may have suggested “unpositive” things in the Quran, but that does not mean I am not in love with it. The more I see things that were invisible before, the more I am in love with my religion.
To my opinion, people do not want to admit to the “unpositive” things because we know Quran is from God, and we think, how is it possible for it to be imperfect?
Again, I may have suggested the imperfect things in Quran but the way I see it, that is the perfect “perfect way” of God.
Had God has given it the “perfect” way, we wouldn’t have to think for anything now would we?
And I agree to the standard way you label a muslim, and that is the standard that I put for myself, and for Jesus’ sake, I have been taught them all my adolescent life! But I just cannot use the same standard to view others. I just can’t.It’s the same feeling/thing as why I cannot miss one prayer. You cannot explain it, but it’s there.
And you did not quote the full sentence of al baqarah 221, it did say the same thing on men. Yes, there are hadiths that prohibit women from marrying other than muslim men. But as far as I can remember, we were told to follow Quran first, if Quran didn’t mention it, then hadith, and still no comment, then we consider ijtihad ulamak. I do not deny hadith, but I do not prefer them. To me, hadith has too many human’s opinion in it. I prefer the ultimate, the Quran.
I may have viewed Quran the different way, but I am still in the process of learning. Before, I learnt Islam with a guide but now I’m doing it alone and at the moment I prefer to analyse my own thoughts. Now you may say this is impossible, believe me Enes, I heard the same thing 8 thousand times from my Mom(funny my father never comment on this except for my thoughts) and for the time being, I am comfortable with it.
Sisterly yours
Nina
p.s. I am perfectly serious on engaging in interfaith marriage. I hope I have found the one,(yes, he’s very lucky hahaha :lol: just kidding) but all is in God’s hand.
Hello there,
Nina, I would really like to have met you in the real life. 
By the way, had islam not been a universal religion, there would not be millions of non-arabic muslims today. In fact majority of the Muslims are of non-Arab race and nationalities. I am not Arab in anyway. I don’t speak nor understand Arabic. I am Turkish, yet I am a muslim. In fact, Islam denounces nationalism. What is important is your belief, not your nationality. It is true that the Quran was revealed to prophet Mohammed in Arabic, but its target is all humanity. Even though many surahs talk about specific incidents that happened at that time, still they are valid today. They are only examples. Imagine them like a parable. Otherwise, I can say the same things for the Holy Bible. The four gospel also talks about specific incidents that happened at that time. Don’t they?
Every Prophet used to be sent to his nation exclusively but I have been sent to all mankind. (Bukhari Vol. 1, No. 429)
All other prophets were sent only for their own nations. Jesus was sent to Israelites only, as he himself also acknowledged this; “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24).
So don’t think that the Quran is compromised for Arabs.
And frankly, if I believe that the Holy Quran is a divine revelation and word of God, I would of course also believe that it is perfect. If something therein sounds imperfect, it is because of my lack of knowledge or beyond the scope of my comprehension. This should be the same for you. As a Christian, you should believe that the Holy Bible is inerrant.
Regarding your preference about the sources of Islam, you are correct to prefer the Quran over the Hadith, but you cannot dismiss the Hadith at all. Hadith is the second of four sources of Islamic jurisprudence. The very first guide for a muslim is the Quran, then the hadith, then the Qiyas (Analogy), and then the Ijma (consensus). There are some non-sectarian people who don’t chose any madhab (religious school), and only accept the Quran as their source. But this is utterly wrong. For example, the Quran orders muslims to pray 5 times a day, but it does not tell anything about how to perform them. The hadith and sunnah are where we learn how to perform the prayers…Without the hadith, the Quran is not sufficient.
Yes, the rest of the verse I quoted says the same thing for men as well, but later on in another verse, it says People of the Book (Christians & Jews) are exception to this rule.
By the way, can you tell me more about your background. Is one of your parents muslim? Why are you anyway interested in Islam and also in an interfaith marriage? From which religion is your future spouse going to be?
Lastly, you don’t really need a guide to learn more about Islam. There are many sources, even online. It should not be too difficult. But of course, it would be a lot easier with a tutor or a guide. Though, if you have any questions, you are more than welcome to ask me.
With blessings and love,
Enes
Hi
Although not a follow of either faith. It seems the dispute here between Nina and Hedonist is more to do with interpretation and religion (or dogma).
Firstly the phrase the “Quran is compromised for Arabs” maybe could be misleading. Maybe Nina, and I hope I am not misjudging this, you mean certain Arabs compromise the Quran with their own humanistic interpretation to suit some other needs.
As for the other “jurispudence” Islamic books, are these not similiar to the protestant reform or any other denomination of Christianity that lays down rules and laws. Are we to believe these instructions to be divine?
As for the four gospels of course they refer to certain incidents. If you look at the philosopy of theology there is a notion that certain gospels were selected from a number, so we do not get to see the full story of Jesus from these but a snap shot.
Also the idea that prophet wer sent for nations. The concept of nation did not exist back then, do you not mean a certain grouping of people. What we only now call a nationality, as this concept is contemporary.
I must say I have never understood the notion of a guide for faith. Religion fine, but is faith not a personal thing?
Maybe, but then again this is allowed in Islam. In a way it gives more choices. For example a person who is strict and put certain standard to herself will not engage in an interfaith marriage but a person who is more liberal might engage in it and no one can really say that she has gone against the rule.
No, I didn’t mean it that way at all. I meant to say that I think that my religion is compromised for the Arabs and that it had been inevitable or had to be done that way given the fact that it was based on things that happened in the Arabs society once upon a time. Nevertheless, I do not think this is bad, in fact it was necessary, they neeed it. As far as my memory allows me, I don’t remember learning about men in my culture killing their own baby girls.See?Of course I’m talking about men from thousands of years ago.
Maybe, the word “compromise” here is not the word that I was looking for. I apologize for misleading you(and other people of course).
No, I do not think so.
I think Enes was referring to “a certain group of people” because when I learnt this fact, the word nation was not used. Enes, correct me if it isn’t.
This is exactly my thing
Nina
First and foremost,
I am a believer of Islam, Enes. I pray 5 times a day, fast, though my father still pay zakat fitrah for me and am hoping to do the pilgrimage one day, hopefully next year(Amen!)
Again, I am aware of this. And as I said to Stew, maybe this is not the word at all.
I believe Christian is a true religion but my faith is Islam.
I’m sorry Enes, I wanted to say Ijma’. I got confused with the word Ijtihad.Thank you for correcting me 
Considering the Sunnis and Shiahs are killing each other right now, I don’t blame them.This is also one of the things that is still “blowing my mind”. Didn’t we start as one before?(During Mohammad’s time, I mean)
Don’t you ever think, had the early scholars had been more women than man, will there not be a slight chance that a woman imam leading Friday prayer a common thing?
I’m a Malaysian, currently living in Japan.Both my parents are muslims. Actually your thoughts resemble my father’s a lot. A lot.And my mom, she’s a lot stricter.But more on the ibadah, the prayer, Quran reciting, fast etc.
And you can see my pictures on the “pictures of ESL forumers” thread.
What’s not to be interested in? and he’s a firm believer of “religions divide people”.
Thank you!
Sisters in Islam,(really, no pun intended, if I were a man, I would say “brothers”.Btw, do you SIS?)
Nina
Nina
Thks for your balanced and sincere views I will digest them. And once I have time after work commitments will comment.
I
think all though we are coming from different angles we are on a similiar page.
Hi,
Has anyone of you read what Nietzsche wrote about God?
Englishuser
Do you mean this :
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
is it not said by “madman” in the a piece of literature ?
Jan
Nina
As such, Christianity was meant to be preached to all. Jesus’ formal ministry was a relatively short one (only two or three years, maybe).
Paul took it to Asia Minor and Rome, for instance, and others went elsewhere.