Ask Me About Islam

I just want to say that I appreciate this thread.
Personally I'm not religous,but I think it's a good
to clear the air a bit about a religion
a lot of people seem to percieve wrongly.
I don't really have any questions though haha.

I agree, this is a good thread and I may start one of my own about my beliefs. Too, I never stop enjoying learning about others religions. Here are my questions.

In most religions you can ask 10 different people the same question and you often get 10 different answers. This comes from the religions lack of being united as a whole and is quite common in religions. What about the Muslim religion? If I was to ask 10 different people the same question how varied would the response be?

Originally Posted by HannibalLecter

Why does he want total submission?

Because God wants to be recognize and worshiped by His own creations.

Are Muslims supposed to convert the world?

LOL. Of course not.

Originally Posted by ENTrePenuer

Allah want's total submission to his will.
Then this is open to individual interpretation, when put in action this means that whatever I *choose* to do is in fact allahs will and thus my personality is a cog in a larger group of interactions that move things in a predestined direction.

Destiny is a complex thing. I'll make it simple for you.

Imagine a tree with lots of branches. Each branch have lots of branches. And so on and so on. In the end of the last branch, you will see a leaf.



Those branches represent your choices in life. Each choice brings you to another choices and then to another choices, and so on and so on, until you arrive at your last breath. At that moment, you become a leaf. You had choose your own end.

That is destiny. God made your destiny, yes. But your destiny is not consist of a single road. He made roads for you, lots lots lots unlimited amount of roads, and He gave you the freedom to choose which road you want to walk through.

At the end of your time, you had walk on your own destiny, by your own will, and you had chose your own destiny.

Originally Posted by WickedQueen

Because God wants to be recognize and worshiped by His own creations.

But what does it matter? If Allah is so superior, why does he even care about us pesky humans? He's omnipotent [right?], so why does he bother with us?

but if all those choices consist of submission to allahs will then your route is predestined, to follow allahs will is to follow a path that was written for you.
Hence predestined.

Originally Posted by LemonSqueeze

Sharia law, is this a cultural feature or part of Islam? (is there a scriptural base for Sharia Law?)

Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both Quran, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars. But Sharia differs in one very important and significant way to the legal traditions of the Western world: it governs, or at least informs, every aspect of the life of a Muslim.

Western law confines itself largely to matters relating to crime, contract, civil relationships and individual rights. Sharia is, however, concerned with more. Sharia rulings have been developed to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to Allah's wishes.

Can women enter 'heaven', or the Islamic version thereof?

Originally Posted by Blue Butterfly

If I was to ask 10 different people the same question how varied would the response be?

Umm... I think it depends on the question. But my guess is it would be less varied than Christians, for example. I could be wrong, though.

Originally Posted by HannibalLecter

But what does it matter? If Allah is so superior, why does he even care about us pesky humans? He's omnipotent [right?], so why does he bother with us?

Why do you think He create human in the first place? God is the Most Arrogant. He want to be adored, devoted, obeyed, loved, recognized, and worshiped. He create us as witness for His superiority.

Originally Posted by ENTrePenuer

but if all those choices consist of submission to allahs will then your route is predestined, to follow allahs will is to follow a path that was written for you.
Hence predestined.

No. You have freedom to choose your own destiny. You can choose to submissive or not, it's up to you. But your choices and how you end up with will determine your place in the hereafter. Every choices have its own consequences.

Originally Posted by HannibalLecter

Can women enter 'heaven', or the Islamic version thereof?

LOL. Of course.

Although I am a firm believer in the Christian faith, I do not believe in all the teachings by professed Christians. There are way to many different views on everything and not everyone can be right. I leave judging whether a religion is right or wrong up to God. But out of these teachings and after doing extensive studies into religions and their teachings I have carefully chosen what I believe to be the truth. So I ask others what is it about your beliefs that makes you believe your religion is the correct one?
　
I have also studied people that were believers and people that are non believers. Each group seems to have or believe to have critical knowledge that only their group or religion seems to know. What knowledge do you see Muslims having that the rest of us don't have?

And this is a question I used to ask myself all the time. What is it about your beliefs that makes you stay a Muslim? Why are you faithful?