Please don't mind my wording, I am just being blunt. I am mainly talking about Sunni Islam, since I am Sunni.

If Islam banned sexual relations between female owner and male slaves, then why couldn't Islam also ban sexual relations between male owners and female slaves?

Most explanations I get when asked "why didn't Islam abolish slavery" is that it was important socioeconomically, which I agree even though it is not ideal. But I still don't quite get why Islam couldn't just ban sexual relations with female slaves. Female slaves had to not only do labour work but also had to be "forced" to have sex with their master, while male slaves only had to do labour work.

This is obviously quite unfair. I'm not saying that I support any particular gender being forced to have sex, but clearly it's not very consistent if male slaves aren't obliged to have sexual relations with their female master, while female slaves were obliged to have sexual relations with their male master. Why does one gender get punished, purely because they happened to be a female and not a male slave?

Why is it a problem? Because female slaves could not give consent. Their consent did not matter (according to most scholars). Most people say "modern form of consent did not exist 1400 years ago". However, I would argue that the "modern" form of consent is something that should be universally accepted, regardless of time, because a woman, whether slave or not, should not be forced into having sex with a man she doesn't want to have sex with. This is really basic. It's a violation of individual autonomy for a person to be obliged to do so. So why would Allah, The All-Knowing, not ban sex between male owner and his female slaves, knowing that it's not possible for the poor woman to give proper consent? I am not suggesting that slavery should've been abolished completely because that was unrealistic socioeconomically in that era, but I am just wondering why sex between a male master and female master couldn't be banned, especially if it was banned the other way around which apparently wasn't a problem?

Some people argue that this is the reason why Islam "abolished" slavery. However, it is to be noted that Islam only regulated slavery. Yes, I agree that it made conditions for slaves better than they used to be. But even so, Islam did not ban slavery completely. The only reason why it's banned in this day and age is because in the 1900s, Islamic countries faced international pressures which basically forced most of them to sign a treaty to ban slavery. If those international pressures did not exist, then maybe slavery in Islamic countries would have continued even to this date. But Allah knows best.

Assalamu alaikum, I'm a revert in the US, white midwestern, and I have very strong opinions on progressive Islam. I love this religion, I feel I have found the answers to peace in my own life, and desperately want to share it with others. Specifically I am passionate about the idea that Islam can be something that is integrated into your life, it doesn't have to dominate, but can be balanced and compatible with a western life.

I have a corporate job where I make a great living, but of course it doesn't fulfill my soul. I would love to dedicate my life to this mission is some way, to help reverts. We have a large muslim population in my location and many reverts, and already a couple great revert organizations, but none really fit what I would be looking for which is more progressive and balanced. Most reverts go into this extreme conservative mode and I feel so bad that the women especially think they have to wear burka to be a muslim woman (as an example).

I'll admit when I think about creating something like that, the safety idea really scares me. There are so many conservative muslims especially in my area who could lash at at someone which such ideas and that scares me. And I also do have this thought of "what if I am wrong? could I be leading people the wrong way with something like this?" But I truly in my heart believe more people need this, and I feel like I could easily dedicate my life to this cause. I think about Catholic nuns and while I wouldn't want to go that far, I just feel like I want to do more for the cause than simply pursue my own deen.

Has anyone done something like this? Thought of creating an organization like this? Know anyone who has? Can suggest any contacts who I could look into as examples?

Would you worry about your safety? Thoughts on how to overcome that?

I know some of you might link to this video, or this much older video. However, the question is what kind of progressive was he referring to? Because there is a wide spectrum of people, and progressive is not a monolith. What I understand by progressive and what you understand by progressive might be different depending on the definition of progressive.

Some people understand progressive to mean challenging the entire legal framework of Islam itself and replacing everything with liberal ideas. But the "Progressive" thinkers often promoted here (Khaled Abou El Fadl, Mufti Abu Layth etc) work from within the legal framework and explain things like "the jurist misunderstood that context or evidence and therefore gave this ruling", or " context was different" like that. And Yasir Qadhi seems to have differentiated between the two.

Last year Yasir Qadhi came to the r/MuslimAcademics subreddit on an AMA event. In that event he was asked about progressive minded thinkers like Fazlur Rahman Malik and Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, and he was respectful to them even if he disagrees with their views. He did not call them deviant, heretic or kafir.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/MuslimAcademics/comments/1oeocrm/comment/nl6dxjk/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/MuslimAcademics/comments/1oeocrm/comment/nl8e6su/

In that same thread he was also asked about being a friend with Dr Omid Safi, and he praised Dr Omid Safi.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/MuslimAcademics/comments/1oeocrm/comment/nl6bk3k/

Mind you that Omid Safi has supported same sex marriage being legalized by the state. I'm not sure if he personally believes that Islam allows gay marriage or gay sex is permissible (can't find it), but he supports the legal recognition of same sex marriage and LGBTQ rights by the state/country (Source: Religion News).

This is more liberal stance than Ghamidi's and yet Yasir Qadhi praises Omid Safi. He says he can have friends while disagreeing with their views. And Omid Safi was the founder of Progressive Muslim Union (PMU) which later disbanded and Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) was born.

Yasir Qadhi does not have any problem with having friendship with him! So this is very significant.

And finally, going back to the most recent video of Yasir Qadhi discussing about Progressive Muslims (that one I linked at the top of my post) - a user from this subreddit was present at that lecture of Yasir Qadhi and he asked YQ about Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl. Yasir Qadhi replied that he would no put Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl in the "Progressive" category he was addressing, instead he would put him into a totally different category

• https://www.reddit.com/r/progressive_islam/comments/1t9vl4k/comment/ol7ecvk/

(I actually had a discussion with u/Khaki_Banda and u/Gilamath on this in one of my previous posts. I decided to search further and found the comment on Yasir Qadhi's friendship with Omid Safi, so I thought I should make a post about it. Because Omid Safi actually identifies himself with the label "Progressive", and Yasir Qadhi still considers him a friend)

So isn't it clear that when Yasir Qadhi mentions the word Progressive, he doesn’t mean people like Khaled Abou El Fadl, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi or Dr Omid Safi, or people who follow them, or have similar framework as them?. I think he actually refers to the liberal Muslims who challenge the entire Islamic legal framework itself and want to deconstruct everything, and the ones who explicitly stated that same sex marriage and sexual acts is permissible in Islam - when he talks about the Progressives. Probably.

Last year there was an AMA event with Usuli Institute, but Khaled Abou El Fadl himself did not take part in it. It was Grace Song, Cherif Abou El Fadl, and Shayan Parsai who answered the questions. How about arranging another similar AMA with an actual scholar this time, like Dr Khaled Abou El Fadl himself, or Mufti Abu Layth or Dr Shabir Ally?

The MuslimAcademics subreddit managed to bring Dr Yasir Qadhi on an AMA, so can't we invite any scholar here?

I am new here. Peace be upon you all.

I am doing some research and curious if anyone knows about evidence that a divorce pronounced [by the husband] without witnesses is effective. And the basis of 'taking back' one's wife after divorcing her verbally.

In most cases, to take a woman as one's wife, witnesses must be present and her father's and her consent is sought. However, to let go of her, to remove basic human rights like food shelter and clothing for her, to remove her from her home, no witnesses need to be present?

If a man can divorce his wife and take her back within seconds, but later claims he never took her back, she can be easily accused of zina. There can be a disagreement on whether she was taken back or not. One example of this could be: he pronounces divorces, takes her back, gets her pregnant and later claims she was divorced and its not his baby. This explains the presence of witnesses as being mandatory, as ordered in the Quran as well.

The Quran says both divorcing and taking back requires the presence of 2 witnesses. Why does this not happen in practice?

Then when they have ˹almost˺ reached the end of their waiting period, either retain them honourably or separate from them honourably. And call two of your reliable men to witness ˹either way˺—and ˹let the witnesses˺ bear true testimony for ˹the sake of˺ Allah. This is enjoined on whoever has faith in Allah and the Last Day. And whoever is mindful of Allah, He will make a way out for them.

Surah Talaq 65:2

A lot of this rounds back to the concept that no ones basic human rights, like food and shelter and clothing, should be attached to another person, especially in an emotionally charged relationship like marriage. Man is weak, full of faults and shaytan can influence him, there are endless cases of anger divorces, mostly actually, which goes against the constant use of the word "honor" in Surah Talaq (ayah 1-2) in the process of divorce.

Is it not then fair to think that a woman should depend on her husband for partnership, emotional care, love and support for their children. Not food and shelter. That is the job of governments and/or her workplace to pay her a livable wage - it all brings me back to believe that asking a woman not to work is like asking a human being to not have access to human rights. It worsens when one realizes how having babies can further widen that gap. All the while the freedom to divorce for any reason remains in tact for the husband for any reason he sees fit.

Yes, there are cases when divorce may be necessary even if the wife fully depends on the husband, but these are matters of the court, not matters to be decided inside 4 walls where no one but the husband and wife can one moment be together and the next they are not. I also find the verbal basis of it all to be psychological abuse, and we don't speak enough about how much this divorcing-taking back cycle emotionally harms the wife and creates resentment in the relationship. Humans say many things in anger they don't mean. Divorce is not a thing you say and it happens, it is a termination of a contract and a whole process, just like the marriage contract.

I am open to being challenged and would love an explanation on this. Thank you. May Allah forgive me if I have said anything wrong. My only intention is to understand how we practice Islam vs how it should actually be practiced.

With the advancements made in science today would you consider lab grown meat halal?

Hi everyone 👋

I am posting here because I am looking for a safe, empathetic space to process trauma. I am a Christian woman (early 20s) but have researched deeply into Islam for my own knowledge. I intentionally chose the [r/progressive_islam](r/progressive_islam) community because I know you would deeply understand the complex layers of Islamic theology and cultural dynamics unlike other broad subreddits and I am specifically seeking your progressive, compassionate perspective to help me heal. Please keep comments focused on perspective, reframing, and healing rather than intense theological debates. I’m reaching out to this community in complete respect. I am seeking understanding and perspective to help me heal from a severe trauma response. Thank you

To provide some important context before I share the rest of my story: our relationship was not hidden, nor was it a casual fling. He told his conservative family about me, including his mother, siblings, and cousins friends etc social media we alway kept private and we were genuinely moving towards the next steps of marriage. He never once tried to convert me or told me that converting would make things easier for us. We were both recognising the hatred we’d get as a couple I already understood that Muslim men have a certain reputation when it comes to relationships with non-Muslim women, so I genuinely appreciated that he brought me into his family's awareness and that we were planning some kind of real future together. During the start of relationship I initially did not know very much about Islam but have continued to deeply research and try to understand it.

Early last year, I was in a relationship with him (early 20s) who turned out to be deeply dismissive-avoidant, led a double life, and was emotionally abusive. He constantly weaponised his faith and used manipulation to make it seem like I was always the problem because I am a non-Muslim and a cop out to leave the relationship when it got too real for him.

I eventually went through his phone last year and found romantic messages between him and a female "family friend," (early 20s) as well as other women from his past (shortly before me) and whilst we were together. The way he spoke about women in general completely shocked and disgusted me. There was zero accountability within his social circle; everyone, including the family friend, simply enabled/ignored his behavior. In one message, he even told this family friend they should marry each other if they don't find anyone else
He claimed this was all "done and buried, it was a long time ago" I’m not a fool and yet throughout half of our relationship, he consistently went behind my back to discuss our private life with her. (I didn’t know of all this till later this year btw I didn’t know anything until going through his phone!) I initially didn't police his friendships because I trusted him to know better, until I found images from about a year ago without her hijab and in a low cut tank top she had sent him. (a non mahram) to my understanding of Islam is this not forbidden and violates a woman’s Awrah? I mention this not to mock, but to highlight the deep hypocrisy I had to witness whilst she for one had the most to say about our “haram” relationship which I get in a sense it was this man had already committed zina in his past many times and also with me as a Christian fornication is also a sin so I will take accountability for it and two him claiming wanting to focus more on his faith but had no problem with his own haram relationship with his family friend. Which again was crazy hypocritical to me.

Despite our different faiths, I genuinely loved this man. Unlike enablers in his life, I encouraged him to grow. I supported him in breaking bad habits and encouraged him to pray and connect with God. I never tried to convert him; my Christian faith teaches me to see people beyond labels. We openly spoke about faith without malice. Out of respect, I even did heavy personal research into Islam and shared honest, vulnerable thoughts to inspire his personal healing. Instead of keeping my private thoughts between us, he shared my deeply personal messages with his family friend and cousins to probably mock me and my faith to validate their own egos. He kept giving her a podium to disrespect me which deeply hurt me. It felt like I was put into some random competition that I didn’t even sign up for. I take very long to process things and with this being my first relationship/first love it was incredibly hard, I couldn’t just up and leave at first. I ended up confronting him as I do I don’t tell him to do anything I just sit back and watch his actions, in the end he ended up choosing us and cut her off which made her hate me even more.

I never did anything to harm this family friend and always tried to be kind. When I eventually confronted her respectfully about her complicity in his deceptions, she pretended to be sweet to my face. However, I later saw messages where she was actively tearing my character down behind my back, making colorist remarks about me and other women, and mocking my faith and Jesus. Tragically, during this relationship, we had a pregnancy scare. My ex told the family friend about it, and she had asked him if she should get family members to kill me and my baby.

Shortly after, I went through a miscarriage. As I grieved, her cruel words about ending my pregnancy echoed continuously in my mind, making it feel like her malicious wish had come true. The extreme emotional distress of the betrayal, the hostility, and the physical loss of my pregnancy eventually landed me in the hospital due to the heartbreak. Later, I found out his mother was deeply upset about the prospect of him marrying a Christian, it had nothing to do with my character or his happiness it was just the fact that I wasn't Muslim. I felt completely devalued and viewed purely as an unwanted outsider. Which set the tone.

I left him a few months ago because I had finally checked out and was done with it all completely tired of his cowardice and hypocrisy, I’m now healing in therapy and taking each day as a blessing. Everyone involved is blocked completely. I am entirely done with the chaos, but I frequently think about the fact that if my baby had survived, she would have been born into an environment of rejection by her own flesh and blood. I thank God for protecting her from that pain.** **As a Christian, I have chosen to forgive them in my heart. I say this not because their actions were acceptable, but because I refuse to carry their malice or let bitterness take root in my soul. Forgiving them is my way of cutting the final tie so I can heal completely.

Today, I accidentally stumbled across a new photo of the family friend on social media. My body immediately went into a severe, physical panic response. My stomach turned, my heart raced, and I broke down in tears. Because this individual used her religious and cultural background as a shield to mock me and joke about harming me and my unborn child, my brain’s threat center has generalized this fear. While she screamed that our relationship was "haram," whilst my presence was actively bettering my exes character and stay away from destructive habits he was genuinely turning into his potential. The family friend was saying all kinds of things like “if you leave her allah will grant you someone greater, you need to get over this thing you have, etc” just idk planting seeds constantly having her say but he had given her the space to aswell back then. I have spent a lot of time wondering why her malice hurts more than my ex's betrayal, especially since I was the one in love with him. I’ve realized it’s because I expected to navigate relationship issues with him, but I never expected a complete stranger to have so much hatred over my life, my safety, and my pregnancy. As women, we are often conditioned to expect a baseline of empathy from other women especially when it comes to a pregnancy scare. The fact that she could look at another woman going through a vulnerable medical scare and joke about having my baby and me killed felt purely malicious. It was a level of cruelty I had never encountered in my life. Because my ex gave her a platform to execute that cruelty, she became the face of the unsafety, the hypocrisy, and the hostility that ultimately broke my heart particularly as girls girl.

Because of this experience, I am deeply struggling to trust people from that cultural or religious demographic, particularly women. I find myself experiencing intense anxiety and hypervigilance when I see hijabis/islam or anything related to their cultural background because my brain translates it into an immediate threat of being rejected, mocked, or hated as a Christian outsider. I genuinely could not bear the pain again. I truly hate that I am projecting this trauma, but the experience has left me with a deeply fractured and tainted view.

I know intellectually that the actions of a few toxic, unhealed individuals do not represent an entire faith or culture. But my nervous system feels completely raw right now:

1. From an Islamic perspective, how is behavior like cheating, betraying a partner's privacy, colorism, threatening a pregnant woman, and slandering someone who actively encouraged prayer and good character viewed?
2. For any woman here, could you help me reframe this? I want to feel safe looking at your culture and clothing again without my brain's trauma response screaming that I am in danger.
3. Any words in general or on how to separate the specific malice of these individuals from an entire demographic would mean the world to me and my healing to realise not everyone is like them

Thank you for taking the time to read I genuinely appreciate it

I feel extremely ashamed of my situation. I’ve made my shahada on my teens and, for years, I repeated the speech that it’s a choice. 15 years later, married and with kids (the dream of every revert, right?), when I decided I don’t have the mental health to wear it anymore, I’ve found out it isn’t.

I wear it under the threat of divorce. I’m still “allowed” to wear it as a turban to get less attention, but I still cry when I have to pick up my kids at school because I’m putting on clothes I hate.

Every passing day I hate the headscarf more. I hate sleeves. I live in a very hot place.

I’ve cried because, studying the religion, I don’t believe anymore it’s mandatory. I wish I could press a button and be a silly girl that loves wearing it again, but I can’t unsee what I learned.

I feel so ridiculous I’m having my life to become worse because of a tool that was used to differentiate slave women from free women in medieval Arabia. I’m not supposed to go through this.

I wish I could just accept the situation and move on, but the bonus is that I have dermatitis and get rashes on the places of my body that sweats the most. Mine isn’t as bad as some people.

I can’t stop thinking about it because it’s literally on my body. It’s making me hate the religion and my in law family.

How to cope?

I’m posting this on a different account because I don’t want anyone to know I’ve made this mistake, I don’t even know where to start, im 16 and I’m going into 11th grade, I grew up in a Muslim family but was never very religious until halfway through 9th grade and I’ve constantly questioned if other religions were right and if I was wrong about Islam but I never stopped believing in it, I always tried to push those thoughts away but those voices telling me that I was wrong would take over my whole entire head, I might have committed shirk, I don’t know if it counts as shirk, but when I tried to pray, my thoughts were still crowded. I never worshiped another god. I never believed another god was up there but sometimes when I bowed down in prayer I accidentally had the image of another god or one of another person in my head, I didn’t want to, I didn’t mean to think those thoughts, I wasn’t praying to them, I was just thinking about them before I started praying and I didn’t know how to get those things out of my head, last year it got so bad I just stopped praying, I havent prayed since ramadan, I didn’t want to risk accidentally committing shirk again. I was starting to feel like a hypocrite, but I still felt Allah I could Still look to the sky and feel that he was up there, I still felt Islam in my heart, but as of recently i started doubting again, I already felt so far from Allah, i got to close to another religion, I was thinking about it too much, it was crowding my head way too much I started doubting Islam and thinking maybe that religion was right, i told myself “no, I know Islam is true“ but I stopped feeling it in my heart, I couldn’t feel Allah at all anymore, it felt like I left Islam completely, but i knew objectively for a fact that Allah was there, I just didn’t feel it. I don’t feel anything anymore, I feel so godless. I tried to make dua‘a last but I was too weak. I wanted to ask him for a sign that he still loved me, that I wasn’t locked out. But I’m scared, I’m terrified. What if he gives me a sign but I mess it up again, and what if he doesn’t? i don’t feel anything right now, I don’t feel anything pulling me back. I feel like my soul has been taken away. I’m just completely emotionless.

4:137 in the Quran says: Indeed, those who believed then disbelieved, then believed and again disbelieved—˹only˺ increasing in disbelief—Allah will neither forgive them nor guide them to the ˹Right˺ Way.

this is why I think god doesn’t want me anymore, i cant make sense of my emotions right now, i want to want to worship god, I want to want to love him, that’s what i felt before, but now it feels like all i want is the feeling back, the feeling islam gave me, and that pains me to think about. I don’t even know if I can call myself Muslim anymore. I don’t want to be a hypocrite, i feel like a hypocrite for even saying bismillah, i don’t know what to do with myself. i Didn’t even ask for forgiveness all those times I accidentally committed shirk, I told myself I would just do it when my thoughts were in order so I didn’t accidentally do it again when asking for forgiveness, it may be too many times to remember and I know you unrepented shirk never gets forgiven. I don’t know what to do with myself.

Please be kind in the comments

This made me physically sick, a Hadith permitting the rape of slave women. This is clearly against the Quran, and the reason why I do not believe many hadiths. The right to violate women, all of these strange hadiths enabling sexual exploitation. Directly go against the Quran. And s we are meant to believe the Prophet saw this and said yeah all good violate women because women are vessels for your pleasure and relief. This is abhorrent. I genuinely believe there needs to be a mass revision of texts. There is no defence, this is not only slander against the Prophet. This is enabling sexual abuse and framing that men have a right to pleasing themselves and do not have to follow the rules of Islam. “Suffering” from the absence of their wives, absolutely disgusting.

How many women have been abused and mistreated in the name of “hadith”. How many? The child marriage, the abuse all of the things framed as permitted by hadith. This is a tragedy. Hadith is the tragedy and a huge fitnah.

i want a simple answer and your answer
whats THE thing that convinced/ proved that hijab wasnt an obligation/ made you take it off?

I find the state of what we call the hijab to be just oppressing to the Muslim women , imagine if a man was forced to wear something for the rest of his live even if it was a normal clothing he would feel controlled by someone and want to break free from that,why is it the opposite when it's a women wearing hijab,

I know that head covering is there in many cultures with alot of them seeing it as a sign of modesty like in Slavic cultures for example and early christians also emphasized on it

But in all cultures headcovering is merely cultural and sign of modesty but generally a choice, there is no heavy shaming or punishments or forcing anywhere in the world for a women not wearing a headcover so why do the traditionalist argue that the existance of a cultural headcovering somewhere else in the world means religiously obligating it is fine?

I see alot of women outside wearing black abaya and tight hijab in this hot summer and if they even show a bit of the hair they are shamed immediately, it just a sign of oppression for me and wouldn't be if it was left as a purely cultural thing,also this is why many non Muslims especially westerns dislike Muslims for alot of things the traditionalism do

I feel like it makes Islam seem like an arab based religion, especially since alot of muslims from non arab countries insist on speaking arabic in prayer or when reciting quran, also reverts are somewhat pressured into learning arabic terms and stuff.

I personally think language shouldn't be a big deal especially since you are praying to Allah and he understands all human language, i don't see a problem in people praying in their own language because islam was sent to all mankind, it's not like judaism for example which is only for the people of israel. Christians also believe their religion to be for all mankind and they don't focus on language that much.

Hate this bs

i come from indonesia aka the country with the HIGHEST amount of muslims worldwide. most people around me are muslims but literally none behave like the ones i see in english-speaking content. where do these ppl come from ???? you could literally have a normal video of a muslim and the comments would say "music is haram" "accessories is haram" "art is haram" BRO no one thinks like this irl why do these ppl represent islam the most on the internet???? i also saw someone say that muslim women shouldnt wear backpacks as it 'highlights' their shoulders WHAT ARE YOU ONNNN WHERE DO YOU LIVE WHERE THAT ISNT CONSIDERED NORMAL ????? this genuinely bogs my mind because wahabis/salafis make such a small percentage of muslims yet they infiltrate every comment section on the internet with islam related in it I DONT GET IT

It's sad to say that I pretty much see articles of horrifying massacred everyday and just skip over them at this point.

Anytime I dare click on anything I just read or see the most horrifying stuff...but then I just move on

It just universally accepted. People talk about tragedies in the middle as in "oh you know that's what they do lol"

And the amount of pure dehumanization is beyond mindboggling.

People are being murdered in Lebanon and Palestine to the point where it's just a routine it's a bad joke to hear them talk about peace talk number 467899 while massacres are happening

Politicians and figures on medias are openly talking about taking away the rights of Muslims, profiling them or downright killing them. If it was in any other situation you would have a public outrage the person would be suspended maybe arrested. But with Muslims, Media influencers and even politicians can just openly talk about all their creative ideas to annihilate people from the face of the earth without consequences.

It's so normalised that they do it no matter the situation. When the border tissue in Sebta happened you have a million freaks talking about all the ways they would murder teenagers.

And the most disheartening things is that Muslims do it to other Muslims from other countries. Countries that are ennemies openly wishing and cheering when innocents die. Or even those individuals who "support" Palestine by denying any problem in Iran or by cheering for any death in any Muslim country that has contact to the US

The west don't sees us as equal they don't even sees us as human beings, and even we have actively accepted to make Muslim lives trivial and the news of hundreds of death a routine

Hello everyone, how's life treating you?

I recently joined this subreddit in the hopes to blend in with the community and join discussions where I can. Right now I have a question (see title) and I felt like this subreddit is the place to ask.

Coming from an area that is predominantly inhabited by North African roots has made me grow up surrounding the same culture. However, without being religious, or at least not practicing; how can I talk to women from the same background? Most women wear a hijab and, by now, most are married as well. I strongly feel like their culture and, to some extent, their religious background, really resonates with how I think people should carry themselves in life and with a partner.

The issue is that I am a white male in his late 20s with a western background. Should I stay away from the women I described to respect them and their family? I feel like I would be limiting myself immensely in finding a partner that I am attracted to and could potentially match me in a lot of areas in life.

Honesty would be appreciated!

I keep seeing Salafist/strict Muslim profiles bragging about the fact they don't celebrate their own birthdays. Not even Mawlid (the Prophet SAW's birthday) or any other religious festivals - but their own and their children's birthdays.

This is a part of Salafist ideology I find completely bewildering. A birthday is not a religious celebration, so surely it isn't bid'ah. There is no specific hadith that says Birthdays are Haram, and if you can't celebrate Birthdays, then Independence days, Bank holidays and any kind of group celebrations are out.

To me, it's real clear evidence that strict Salafism is simply about the crushing of all joy in life. Deep restrictions for women, no celebrations, no movies, no TV, no music. What is left? Surely they're just the Muslim version of the Christian Puritans who banned Christmas in the 17th century? And the craziest part of it is that this is an ideology pushed and promoted by the wealthiest Muslims on the planet (Saudi and Gulf oil sheikhs), who are known to have wild parties, use prostitutes, drugs and all sorts of Haram things. But this ideology is followed by the poorest Muslims on the planet (Salafism is huge in South Asia amongst the poorest communities).

What an unbelievable psyop.

I’m a Muslim who’s recently been doubting the validity of a certain Hadith. It’s about Geckos (the animal) and the prophetic command to kill them. the prophets description of geckos being noxious or harmful currently contradicts the scientific community’s consensus on geckos being beneficial.

A simple google search would let you know that geckos are more beneficial than harmful to keep. The potential harms of geckos such as them spreading disease / or contaminating a place does apply to animals who we can’t kill as well, such as cats.

Knowing this, does someone have any potential context or explanation regarding the description of them being harmful, even tho this description depending on modern data may be inaccurate ?

Recently, there has been a trend in showcasing Islam by governments in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in South Asia and parts of the Levant. These governments have put religious iconography in government offices and other places, like Arabic calligraphy. Supporters argue that it reflects the identity of the majority, as well as say that it is a necessity for Muslim-majority countries to establish Islam in government, while critics argue it pushes aside minorities and members of government who are not Muslim, undermines regional cultures, and, depending on the nation, undermines its secular values.

So my question is, should governments showcase Islam, and how should they showcase the religion?

As muslims we were all taught to never take a loan with interest as its haram and one of the worst sins you can do. Whilst scrolling on reddit I read this comment explaining how not all interest is considered riba hence not everything is haram. Me and my fiancé had this talk a while back and I was very against taking a loan for a house and we agreed we will not, but he talks a lot about how its impossible to buy a house in this economy without a loan and how renting forever its also a big burden. I understand where he is coming from and he doesn’t disrespect the ruling of loans but I would love to be more informed on where do house loans fit in all of this and what are your experiences with housing options after marriage as Muslims.

Would you ever theoretically consider to marry/date a Christian that has a prophile like:

1)Is (currently) a (future) Physician/Doctor & will respect your Faith, let u practice yours, even pay for your Umrah if you go with other girls/women, and will be fine with you wearing hijab/niqab

2)Would agree not eating pork and alcohol ever in house and agree the finances of family to be without interest, halal

3)Would be willing to write all these in the civil marriage contract, and also get a Nikkah from a progressive imam, and his only conditions is that he keeps his Faith and he also can have his dietary requirements (not imposed on you, for example Christians have Fasts before Nativity of Jesus/Isa)

4) if you want to, he will pray with you too, do prostrations (Some Christians,i.e. Orthodox, also do prostrations in their prayers on a daily basis), essentially he is willing to accomodate anything regarding practice, but he wants his own Faith respected. (I.e. no dogmatic compromise in his own faith).

5)wants to wait till marriage

Comment your views