341–350 of 371 posts
Eid Mubarak! > no food or water But really no water? That doesn’t sound healthy. Of course you can easily make it through a day without fluids but…
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Do you have a source beyond your own "clear" interpretation of this verse? I think if you dig deeper you will find that it's what the tradition says, what the recognized commentary on these verses say, and certainly if you ask Muslims what they think it's about, this is what they'll point to. That matters too.
I'm not interpreting the verse, I'm telling you what's there, just read the verse, go through all the various translations. No interpretation necessary. Like I said, Arabic is adequately expressive to just say "fasting is about reminding you poor people are suffering" if that's what the purpose was. No need to equivocate. Even the commentary is secondary to what the verse actually clearly says. If a verse says "God i…
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It's from sunrise to sunset, no? Can't you get it on at night instead of during the day?
Don't know how this works for Muslims, but if it's anything like for Christians, the goal is to not have the desires to begin with, not just refrain from acting on them (though that's a good start).
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> In Islam you're not hated or judged for what you call your true feelings. You are however instructed to gain mastery over those feelings and make them subordinate to you rather than the other way around To me, that sounds like a very fancy way of saying : repress your feelings and who you are to conform to an arbitrary set of rules written by one dude hundreds years ago. Enlighten me on how are you supposed to act/…
Repress your feelings of desire for your neighbor’s wife. Do not act on those feelings. Stay away from anything that could even slightly make you sinful or think of sinful desires. This is a form of discipline and mastery of desires. Enlighten me how this is not what a faith built on God’s word should be commanding on any individual?
Why should you repress those feelings ? Unless they don't hurt you or hurt others; I see absolutely no reason to hide them or not act on them. What makes them "sinful" is you deciding they are sinful according to some made up rules you read in a book.
> Enlighten me how this is not what a faith built on God’s word should be commanding on any individual?
- Rule nb 1: Avoid harming yourself as much as you can.
- Rule nb 2: Avoid harming others as much as you can.
- Rule nb 3: Let others be.Just more generally, I was wondering if people might share their experience of Islam? I'm quite ignorant honestly. How did you come to find the religion? What impacts (positive and negative) does it have on your life? One thing which has made me uncertain, is the praising of martyrdom throughout the Quran. How is this aspect reconciled within peaceful societies? I mean no disrespect through this question, and recogni…
Eid Mubarak! > no food or water But really no water? That doesn’t sound healthy. Of course you can easily make it through a day without fluids but…
It’s fine bro! Like 2 billion people including me does it every single year. Nothing happens. You just drink at night more. We’re perfectly healthy.
Know people who have had strokes or break the fast due to extreme hardship. Domestic helps who are Muslims, or people doing physical labor, simply can't observe it. Its one of the hardest fasts there is, and restraint from drinking water is the main reason.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Repress your feelings of desire for your neighbor’s wife. Do not act on those feelings. Stay away from anything that could even slightly make you sinful or think of sinful desires. This is a form of discipline and mastery of desires. Enlighten me how this is not what a faith built on God’s word should be commanding on any individual?
> Repress your feelings of desire for your neighbor’s wife. Do not act on those feelings. Stay away from anything that could even slightly make you sinful or think of sinful desires. Why should you repress those feelings ? Unless they don't hurt you or hurt others; I see absolutely no reason to hide them or not act on them. What makes them "sinful" is you deciding they are sinful according to some made up rules you r…
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It is consistent with the scope of intellectual curiosity. With the occasion of a kind greeting to all.
Think again, if it is really proper to not encourage exchange and encourage instead perplexing """performance art""". Too similar to the directly anti-axiological "how does that make you feel".
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You've buried the lede that the core framework does see homosexual behavior as "wrongful sexual desire", "regressive behaviour". You can accept that or not, but it's disingenuous to equate asking gays never to have sexual or romantic relationships, to asking non-gay people just to curb excess. That's not an equal imposition, it feels like self-equivocating ad-hominem to read "you're not being targeted here, so can yo…
Someone who has a thirst for illicit relationship with women must also refrain from doing so. Forbidding a person from lusting anyone other than spouse whether they like it or not is no different than forbidding a person from having gay desires. And no amount of self identification can label that inhumane.
Orientation is not a choice, and is orthogonal to identification.
I believe that same-sex relationships can be as profoundly fulfilling, enriching, and pro-social as heterosexual relationships.
That marrying a straight woman with a gay man is profoundly unfulfilling for both.
And that denying a class of people something so profound, freely enjoyed by everyone else, and which does not harm anyone else, can indeed be seen as inhumane.
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Hate to be that guy, but that's not at all what Islam says about why fasting was prescribed, and it's actually super clear about the purpose. I mean this is pretty basic, so I don't know why I keep hearing that same old line. "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may develop God-consciousness." https://quran.com/2/183
I am not a religious scholar, but wouldn't God-consciousness include having empathy for all beings? I would partially define being enlightened as being able to experience everything in creation.
Islam has no concept of empathy for all beings, or enlightenment really. The assumption is that without the fear of God and Hell, people would sin by default, and religious practices are meant to please God.
Often progressive Muslims mention Sufis but they have been persecuted enough, for holding God-consciousness type beliefs amongst others, to consider them a different thing altogether.