Ask questions about Islam!

@hopefuldew5845 hi ❤ I would love to hear about your traditions, and beliefs, and lifestyle, I don't know much about many religions, but I'm eager to learn how people live, and their beliefs 🙂❤ always trying to learn new things

Sure! You can ask open ended and a little targeted questions then it will be easy for me to tell you everything.

Islam is not just a religion but rather a whole different lifestyle!

We have our Festivals called Eids. Two of them actually. First is Eid ul Fitr that is after Ramadan the fasting month. Second is Eid ul Adha which is a reminder of Prophet Ahrahim's sacrifice.

We Muslims usually don't greet each other by Hello or Hi. Rather we have a common phrase for Muslims all over the world "Assalam o Alaikum Warahmatullah Wabaraqatu" that means " Peace be upon you and blessings of Allah and prosperity too". It's a prayer which we use to greet non Muslims too sometimes.

Let me know if there is something I missed to tell you that you want to know. ð¥°

And also one point that I forgot. We pray five times a day. These prayers decide most of our timetable for a day.

First early in morning before sunrise Fajr prayer. It is a reminder to wake up early and start our day with the fresh breeze and atmosphere.

Second is Duhr prayer offered at about 2pm to 3pm. For that we have our lunch on near 12 pm or 1pm then a quick power nap. We wake up just at time for Duhr.

Third is Asar prayer timed on about 5pm till sunset.

Fourth is Maghrib which is offered between sunset and sky turning completely dark.

Fifth is Isha prayer for which time starts almost one hour after Mughrib and ends a little before Fajr calling next morning. It inspires early sleeping habit!

This way Prayers decide our whole day timetable and hence making us punctual. 🤗

@hopefuldew5845 I have heard about the Eid festival and I know about Ramadan too ❤❤ what a beautiful way to greet each other. I found many different religions and countries greet each other in such lovely ways.❤ I would be ok with the timing of the prayers, I'm always up before sunrise. Sunrise is my favourite time of the day. However the last prayer being so late I would struggle with. But I think it's great ❤ when you said lifestyle, does that include like laws or morals you follow?? Perhaps different ways you are brought up compared to other religions??

I don't mean this in any offensive way, but I was brought up by a bad Christian cult. Now I don't class myself as any religion, but I believe in God, angels and heaven🙂❤ but I'm a curious person, and I love learning about how people live ❤

You can always offer Isha prayer with the calling too. You don't have to wait any long. I usually offer Isha prayer between 8pm to 9pm.

And yes we have our laws and morals. Islam provides guidance in each phase and aspect of life.

Like eat and drink using right hand. Meat of chicken, goats, sheep, cows, camels, deer and fish is Halal. Pork is not allowed. Alcoholic beverages that cause mental instability are not allowed.

We are taught to respect our body by not showing it off in public. Physical relationship before marriage is not allowed as they are big threat to family structure. That is why muslim countries usually have a strong family structure.

And if we come to laws and punishments then there are some strict laws to lower crime rate. To apply those laws is usually dependent on each country's government.

And one big moral value in Islam is that if a person kills another person without revenge of some murder or any actual reason(like state order) he will bear the sin of killing all humanity. And if a person saves another person's life, he will be rewarded as he saved all humanity.

And then this beautiful right to women that their husband will bear her expenses but she is not obligated to spent her money on him.

There are a lot of guidelines regarding each aspect of life so you never feel lost. I would love to answer all your questions if you have more.

Oh and one funfact, whenever you have a question that you can't seem to find answer to just open Quran from any random page and you will find your answer in the verses' translation or explanation!

In mainstream Islam*, is there an accepted authority or institution to which curious people can turn? I know that Islam is not like Catholicism--it doesn't have a central church or hierarchy of command. But presumably there are imams/theological seminaries/etc. that are commonly trusted by the majority of Muslims, at least within a given nation.

*presumably Sunni, if we're going by percentages

Sunni is just a subdivision of Islam like other ones. You always have an option to listen to real Islam because these subdivisions are not something appreciable but unfortunately common. I myself go with just Muslim status instead of any of these subdivisions.

There are some Scholars that usually answer to non muslims questions and guide them. One is Dr. Zakir Naik who answers all these questions and another is Rizwan Khalid Chaudhary. These two belong to Indian Subcontinent. Dr. Naik is internationally known scholar who probably has a few websites too and also arranges seminars. You can find videos of those seminars where he answered a lot of questions asked by curious people.

Second is not a certified scholar but he is very committed person who has given a lot of thought to these topics. He currently lives in Canada i guess and you can find him on f b.

And also the center of Islam is Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet instead of any institutions because these two things are never changing so the essence of this religion is preserved.

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask! 🤗🌹

About subdivisions,in early years of Islam there were none. At that time the Caliph was the authority.

After a few hundred years of that, there were scholars called Imams. Each of them explained Islam in their own way according to their own comprehension. Subdivisions were formed when people started taking each one of those Imams as their center like Sunni follow Imam Abu Hanifa only.

Being just muslim has this advantage that you can follow the teachings of all Imams that appeal to you. This is better way because you have more knowledge at your hands from them all and you can test those according to Quran and Sunnah and then follow the teachings that you feel like you should follow!

I hope I have cleared this confusion to you. If not then feel free to ask again🤗