Misconceptions about Islam:

[HaLi8993]

There are many misconceptions that exist within the field of Islam one being the topic of women. Unfortunately due to ignorance and lack of knowledge of some people and the ever growing propaganda and Islamaphobia that exist today, including the ever growing media agenda’s that govern the way people think and act, women are deemed as being unequal to men in Islam.

We are all aware that women and men are not alike so I don’t understand when someone makes the statement that Islam should practice equality, what do you mean by equality??? This word – equality – which many thinkers in both the east and the west advocate in various fields of life is a word which is based on deviation and a lack of understanding, especially when it is attributed to the religion to Islam. One of the things that people misunderstand is when they say that “Islam is the religion of equality�. What they should say is that Islam is the religion of justice.

Here we should note that there are some people who speak of equality instead of justice, and this is a mistake. We should not say equality, because equality implies no differentiation between the two. Because of this unjust call for equality, people start to ask, what is the difference between male and female?’ So they made males and females the same. We are all aware that the Male is not like the female.

God says in the Quran:

“And the male is not like the female�[Quran Aal ‘Imraan 3:36] The male is different from the female in many ways, in his strength, in his body, in his toughness and roughness, whereas women are soft and gentle. Women are like men in some aspects and they differ from them in others. Most of the rulings of Islam apply to men and women equally.

In cases where a distinction is made between the sexes, the Muslim regards that as a mercy from God and a sign of His knowledge of His creation, but the arrogant people see it as oppression and injustice, so he stubbornly insists on claiming that men and women are the same. So let him tell us how a man can carry a foetus and breastfeed it? He stubbornly ignores the weakness of women and how they bleed during their monthly period, and he stubbornly refuses to accept reality.

But the Muslim is still at peace with his faith, surrendering to the command of God. “Should not He who has created know? And He is the Most Kind and Courteous (to His slaves), All Aware (of everything)� [Quran al-Mulk 67:14 ]

[A Troubled Man]

  ANSWER: When we look at the meaning of the verse it says "and the sun and the moon" -meaning the sun with its own light and its own path and orbit and allotted time, and the moon which shines with a different light and travels on a different path and has its own allotted time.

LOL! Again, that verse does not say anything about orbits, it doesn't say anything about the sun and moon being different lights nor travels on a different path. Those are all YOUR words.

"each in an orbit floating" - meaning, revolving.

No, floating means floating and not revolving.

ANSWER: If this is what you think then why are you claiming it means the earth is flat??

LOL! How very dishonest of you. No, I never said that. However, it does NOT say the earth is round because it does not refer to the earth.

[Autodidact]

@ A Troubled Man

QUOTE: "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more strength than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore, the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what Allah would have them to guard. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance); for Allah is most High and Great (above you all). If you fear a breach between them twain, appoint (two) arbiters, one from his family and the other from hers. If they wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation; for Allah has full knowledge and is acquainted with all things." (Quran: An-Nisaa 34-35)"

ANSWER: Yes, we have already explained the meaning of this verse. 

Where it says "beat them" I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it means to beat them. If not, then you might as well throw your qu'ran in the trash, if it doesn't mean what is says.

[A Troubled Man]

@ A Troubled Man

QUOTE: "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has given the one more strength than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore, the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in the husband's absence what Allah would have them to guard. As to those women on whose part you fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance); for Allah is most High and Great (above you all). If you fear a breach between them twain, appoint (two) arbiters, one from his family and the other from hers. If they wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation; for Allah has full knowledge and is acquainted with all things." (Quran: An-Nisaa 34-35)"

ANSWER: Yes, we have already explained the meaning of this verse. 

No, that doesn't explain the fact the Quran teaches men to beat their wives. Not in the least.

[Autodidact]

@ Autodidact

QUOTE: "Well, obviously, it was a horrible choice to use to communicate important information to humanity then. If we can't know for sure whether something is round or flat, we certainly can't know whether women are supposed to cover their faces, whether it's good or bad to own other people, or other important messages."

ANSWER: We do know for sure the earth is round the evidence is very clear, there is no confusion.

Well there is certainly a lot of disagreement among the translators. And among Muslims. You have the Muslims who say they should beat their wives, and those who say you shouldn't. The Muslims who say women must be covered from head to toe, and those who say they can wear any reasonable outfit they like. Those who say it's fine to kill any non-Muslim who refuses to convert, or any apostate, and those who say this is strictly prohibited. I could go on and on. To the non-Muslim, there appears to be a great deal of confusion about the meaning of this book.

QUOTE: "And so, as an all-powerful being, it would be downright stupid and irresponsible to use this method of communicating with us. Since it would be trivially easy for God to convey the same information to all of us in our native languages, and that would clearly be a much better way to proceed, this is yet one more reason to be sure that the qu'ran is not from God, but again, just one guy's ideas."

ANSWER: God Almighty chose for the Quran to be difficult to comprehend, and to be quite a challenge to interpret and translate in order to demonstrate Its divinity to the arabs back then, who were very experienced, mature and fluent and also addicted to poetry, along with the Arabic-speaking people today, and to challenge them and to show them that certainly the Quran is not just an average everyday book.  It is indeed a divine miracle, proving that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is indeed a truthful and real Prophet.

Ha ha. Ha ha ha. That is certainly a creative argument. Ha ha. So, your God is basically a troll? Ha ha ha.

This is why we are encouraged to learn the Arabic language due to it's richness and to better understand it's meaning, as the transliteration does not serve and give it it's due justice. One can read the translation however, as we have seen people could misunderstand it, hence one needs to clarify the things he does not understand through understand and learning the meaning of the verses.

Right. A just and merciful God, who wants all of humanity to know Him, provides a single book in a single obscure language unknown to 90% of humanity. THAT makes sense. Not.

QUOTE: "If we look at the verse 79:30 The Quran mentions the actual shape of the earth: 

“And we have made the earth egg shaped�. [Al-Qur’an 79:30]
Here are the translations I get for that verse: 

And after that He spread the earth. 
And after that, the earth: wide has He spread its expanse, 
And the earth, moreover, hath He extended (to a wide expanse); 
And, after that, He spread out the earth. 
And the earth!- thereafter He stretched it out. 
And after that He spread the earth, 
and the earth did He prepare for life at a later date. 
And the land after that He spread out. 
And the earth, after that He flattened it (for life). 
etc.... 

And finally, a lone dissenter, And after that He has spread out the earth in the egg-shape (for habitability). Ali Ünal 

Somehow, right after science figures something out, suddenly we notice it was in the qu'ran all along. But before science figured it out, no one noticed that was what the qu'ran said all along. Funny, that."

ANSWER: I don't understand what you mean, when did science prove the earth was round?? 

Science doesn't prove things. The Greeks figured it out around 300 B.C. The knowledge was lost, and regained somewhere in the medieval era. I don't know whether the Chinese knew it or not.

I don't think I have made myself clear maybe this will help.

In his book, The Qur'ân and the Orientalists, Dr. Muhammad Mohar Ali pg 75, former Professor of the History of Islam at the Islamic University of Madinah and Al-Imâm University in Riyadh, provides an extensive and detailed discussion on the Qur'anic view of the earth. Here is a relevant excerpt:

Now, the very first expression in the series, dahâhâ (which is the word used in this verse), is noticeably distinctive and different in genre from the rest, following many other previous translators, renders it as "spread out". But the exact and correct meaning of the term, keeping in view its root, rather provides a very positive Qur'anic evidence in support of the spherical shape of the earth. For dahâ means to "shape like an egg", its noun being dahiyah, which the Arabs still use to mean an egg. 

And in the same post, you want to claim that there's no confusion? Together with a lengthy exposition on the confusion? Really?

[HaLi8993]

@ A Troubled Man

QUOTE: "LOL! Again, that verse does not say anything about orbits, it doesn't say anything about the sun and moon being different lights nor travels on a different path. Those are all YOUR words"

ANSWER: That is the meaning of the verse. 

QURAN: 36:40

"It is not permitted to the sun to catch up the moon, nor can the night outstrip the day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to law)"

 (translation: Yusaf Ali)

The sun and moon rotate on their own axis. The Arabic verb "sabaha" (yasbahuna) in verse 21:33 

QURAN 21:33 - "It is He Who created the Night and the Day, and the sun and the moon: ALL (the celestial bodies) rotate (yasbahuna), each in their celestial spheres (falak)." (Yusuf Ali)

Meaning rotation on its own axis. The Arabic word "falak" used for planets and planets' movements in Verse 21:33 can mean movement in its own "celestial sphere." Therefore, verse 21:33 establishes the existence of the Sun’s and Moon’s rotation on their own axis or in their "celestial sphere." The moon completes its rotating motion on its own axis at the same time as it orbits around the earth.

QUOTE: "No, floating means floating and not revolving"

ANSWER: What's the meaning of a orbit??

QUOTE: "LOL! How very dishonest of you. No, I never said that. However, it does NOT say the earth is round because it does not refer to the earth."

ANSWER: So if this verse is not talking about the earth then according to you its not flat either, so the sun and the moon are not part of the earth??

[HaLi8993]

@ A Troubled Man

QUOTE: "Where it says "beat them" I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it means to beat them. If not, then you might as well throw your qu'ran in the trash, if it doesn't mean what is says."

ANSWER: Why would anyone in there right mind believe that it would be permissible to beat your wife, common sense tells us this is wrong, as Muslims we know exactly what this means.

[HaLi8993]

@ A Troubled Man

QUOTE: "No, that doesn't explain the fact the Quran teaches men to beat their wives. Not in the least"

ANSWER: Why doesn't it?

[HaLi8993]

@ Autodidact

QUOTE: "Well there is certainly a lot of disagreement among the translators. And among Muslims. You have the Muslims who say they should beat their wives, and those who say you shouldn't. The Muslims who say women must be covered from head to toe, and those who say they can wear any reasonable outfit they like. Those who say it's fine to kill any non-Muslim who refuses to convert, or any apostate, and those who say this is strictly prohibited. I could go on and on. To the non-Muslim, there appears to be a great deal of confusion about the meaning of this book"

ANSWER: There are many translators that make mistakes, to a non-Muslim who is confused, they must look at the evidence provided and not believe everything he hears or is told by people or the media which have their own agenda's, rather he/she should look at the authenticity of the evidence provided and speak to knowledgeable people that can help him with his guidance to the truth.

QUOTE: "Ha ha. Ha ha ha. That is certainly a creative argument. Ha ha. So, your God is basically a troll? Ha ha ha"

ANSWER: I would be concerned with this type of response considering the fact that you are in breach of the forum rules, such attitudes are not accepted, to clearly ridicule and mock someone's belief  in my opinion is a clear reflection of the person's inability to debate on an intellectual level.  

QUOTE: "Right. A just and merciful God, who wants all of humanity to know Him, provides a single book in a single obscure language unknown to 90% of humanity. THAT makes sense. Not"

ANSWER: It's up to the individual to learn his/her religion it doesn't come on a silver platter, rather one must strive and try his upmost best to learn the language in which the Quran was revealed in order to get a better understanding of the meanings.

QUOTE: "Science doesn't prove things. The Greeks figured it out around 300 B.C. The knowledge was lost, and regained somewhere in the medieval era. I don't know whether the Chinese knew it or not. 

I don't think I have made myself clear maybe this will help"

ANSWER: What exactly did they figure out can you be a bit more specific please, I am not denying they knew things however there is no way of knowing such integrate details as described in the Quran.   

QUOTE: "And in the same post, you want to claim that there's no confusion? Together with a lengthy exposition on the confusion? Really?"

ANSWER: Where is the confusion?? 

[HaLi8993]

@ Herictic

QUOTE: "You are convinced that the verses we were discussing shows a round earth. In fact, a few clearly show a flat earth. I asked for a single verse that shows the earth moving. You havent given one that I can recall. You seem to think that the Quran mentioning an "orbit" for the sun and moon is an amazing find, yet I have shown in context that the simpliest explanation which backs up the Quran is a flat, non moveable earth (the table example) with the moon chasing the sun (creating night and day per the Quran), sun and moon going around. This is scientifically inaccurate and described by the Quran"

ANSWER: If I were to show you the verse and explanation of the earth moving you will most likely say the same thing, that it is says no such thing and this is not what it is implying.

So if the Quran meant that the earth is indeed flat then where is the verse that uses the word flat?

[HaLi8993]

@ Herictic

QUOTE: "First, by doing a quick internet search on miracles of the Quran, few actually use your example, land. Most that I have found talk about the waters meeting each other, with different salinity density and temperature that do not mix. It is then stated that no one could possibly have known about this. Now, this is the most popular example, one claimed to be a miracle from Muslim sites. First, the "invisible barrier" was known hundreds of years earlier by the Greeks and that the waters do mix. But do they Muslim sites report this? No. 

Second, you start of by implying (I could be wrong, I'm actually unsure what route you are taking) that it is impossible to know. Yet your explanation (which I believe is the correct explanation), that of land, is common sense. Drinking waters are seperated from salt waters, by land most of the time. No miracle. No wisdom from Allah. Human common sense easily seen and experienced"

ANSWER: Can you please show me evidence that this was known earlier by the Greeks and that the waters mix. As for the verse:

What we have seen according to most of the authors of books of tafseer (Qur’aanic commentary) is that what is meant by the two seas here is the two well-known types of water that are found on earth:

1) Rivers of fresh water

2) Seas of salty water 

The evidence for this interpretation is the verse in which Allah says, describing the two seas (interpretation of the meaning): “one palatable and sweet, and the other salt and bitter� [al-Furqaan 25:53]. 

With regard to the barrier between the two seas that is mentioned in this verse, there are two scholarly views concerning it: 

1) That what is meant by the barrier between the two seas (i.e., between rivers and seas) is the vast lands that separate the rivers from the seas, so that there is no mixing of their waters,rather each of them has its own course and destination that is separate from that of the other. 

This is the literalist interpretation that we find with many of the commentators. 

Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “and He has set a barrier and a complete partition between them� [al-Furqaan 25:53] means: between the sweet water and the salty water

“a barrier�, i.e., the dry land

“a complete partition� i.e., an obstacle that prevents one of them reaching the other.

End quote from Tafseer al-Qur’aan al-Azeem, 6/117 

2) That between the two “seas�, the fresh and the salty, there is a barrier that is not visible to human eyes. God created it by His decree and it prevents mixing of the fresh water with the salty water even though the two waters meet at the mouths of rivers. This was narrated by al-Qurtubi from Ibn ‘Abbaas, and as-Suyooti attributed it to a report from ‘Abd ibn Humayyid from Qataadah. See ad-Durr al-Manthoor, 6/371 

Imam al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “and has set a barrier between the two seas (of salt and sweet water)� [an-Naml 27:61] i.e., a barrier by His will, lest the salty mix with the fresh water. Ibn ‘Abbaas said: A barrier by His decree, so one does not change the other. End quote from Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 13/222 

Al-‘Allaamah at-Taahir ibn ‘Aashoor (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

He created the barrier between the two seas in His great wisdom. It is a virtual barrier resulting from each type of water pushing against the other so that they do not get mixed, because of the relative difference in density due to the different components of salt water and fresh water. 

So the barrier is made of both types, and it is not something different that separates them.

End quote from at-Tahreer wa’t-Tanweer, 20/13 

There is no reason not to adopt both opinions in interpreting this verse, because each is correct and there is no contradiction between them. The barrier may indeed be dry land that separates rivers and seas, and it may be a virtual barrier (resulting from differences in density) which oceanographers speak of today. This is a different understanding, but there is no contradiction. 

Dr Husayn al-Harbi says: 

… The first type of different interpretation of the verse, which applies if all the different interpretations are possible for a particular verse and are supported by texts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah. This type of differences is possible and all the views are true and of equal worth because they are correct, and all these views are what the verse is referring to, and the Qur’aan testifies to each of these views. 

End quote from Qawaa‘id at-Tarjeeh ‘inda al-Mufassireen, 1/42-45 

Therefore the point is there is a barrier that prevent  them from mixing.

QUOTE: "You brought up embryology. Again, the Quran makes no amazing find in this respect. Another example of how this is not a miracle is two fold: The Quran makes a few mistakes regarding it. Embryology as per the Quran actually mirrors that of the Greeks, which predated Mohammed"

ANSWER: The word 'alaq' besides meaning a congealed clot of blood also means something that clings, a leech-like substance. There is no way that the Greeks could have known the initial stages of development appearing  like a leech, without the equipments used today.

One would need a powerful microscope in his laboratory which requires electricity not to mention glass for lenses and other sophisticated technology.

QUOTE: "So far, we have yet to see one miracle of the Quran. It makes no mention of a round earth, an oribiting earth. The Quran clearly spells out the earth is flat. It mentions the sun and moon going around the earth-chasing each other, creating the night and day. 

The seperation of the waters, although claimed to be miracle on many Muslim sites, is not"

ANSWER: There are many miracles in the Quran but they need much needed explanation, why do you believe they are not miracles?? 

QUOTE: "I will say this though, I am more impressed that you actually address everyones multiple posts than I am with the Quran"

ANSWER:  :harass: