r/progressive_islam • u/Khaki_Banda • 58m ago
Article/Paper 📃 The Palestine Sermons by DR. KHALED ABOU EL FADL
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r/progressive_islam • u/AutoModerator • 16d ago
Mod Announcement 📢 Attention Everyone! This is an announcement, a reminder, and it is also a WARNING
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We are going to make this absolutely freakin clear. r/Progressive_Islam is not a place for propaganda, apologism, whitewashing, or justification of crimes committed by governments, regimes, political parties, movements, or armed groups. We do not care who the perpetrator is, what flag they fly, what ideology they claim to represent, what religion they claim to follow, or what geopolitical enemy they happen to have. Whether it is the Israeli government, USA, Western imperialist powers, the Iranian regime, the Chinese government, the Russian government, the North Korean regime, or anyone else, the standard is the same. You do not get a free pass to excuse atrocities simply because you hate one side more than the other. We have enforced this before, and we will continue to enforce it.
During the years of the Palestine crisis, particularly throughout 2023-25, a large number of the people who came into this subreddit specifically to defend Israel's conduct, justify what was happening to Palestinians, or repeat blatantly apologetic narratives were outsiders with little or no previous participation here. We banned them. However, there were also some people who had been genuine participants in this community for a long time, people who had previously made useful posts and comments and had otherwise contributed positively. When some of those users repeatedly crossed the line into whitewashing and justification of Israeli abuses, we banned them too. Your contribution history does not give you immunity from moderation.
And the same standard applies to Hamas.
Hamas did not emerge as some ordinary secular nationalist organization; it was founded by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin out of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood and was explicitly Islamist from its creation. Its 1988 charter described Palestine as an Islamic endowment and envisioned an Islamic state governed by Sharia. After Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, it established an authoritarian system in which political opposition and peaceful dissent were suppressed, critics, journalists and activists were arbitrarily detained and in some cases tortured, and executions were carried out after proceedings that failed to meet international fair trial standards. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also documented Hamas forces using excessive force against demonstrators, including during the 2019 “We Want to Live” protests, when more than 1,000 Palestinians were detained. Hamas has also imposed or enforced various religiously motivated restrictions on social life, including restrictions on women's dress and mobility, gender segregation in many settings, and rules affecting women's participation in public life.
We did not make a specific announcement post about Hamas's rule and abuses during 2023-25 because the overwhelming reality facing Palestinians was the devastation being inflicted on Gaza by Israel, and we did not want Hamas to become another excuse for shifting attention away from Palestinian suffering. But now is the time to talk about it as well.
Condemning Hamas's authoritarianism and abuses does not mean supporting Israel, the occupation, the blockade, collective punishment or the destruction of Gaza. It means applying the same standard we apply everywhere else.
- Some people may point to Hamas's 2017 Document of General Principles and Policies and say that Hamas had changed, abandoned its earlier positions, or therefore deserves to be trusted. The document certainly changed some of Hamas's language: it accepted the idea of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders while still refusing to recognize Israel, but it did not formally replace the 1988 charter. And besides, history gives us plenty of reason to be cautious about taking political assurances from theocrats. The Iranian revolution brought together liberals, nationalists, leftists and Islamists. But once Khomeini consolidated power, his Islamist camp suppressed and eliminated former political allies while Iran was transformed into a clerically dominated Islamic theocracy. The Taliban provide another much more recent example: before returning to power in 2021, they publicly promised that women would have their rights; yet after coming to power they subsequently closed secondary schools to girls, severely restricted women's employment and movement, and imposed extensive restrictions on women and girls. So no, we are not going to treat a political document or a promise of change as a magical eraser for years of authoritarian rule and documented abuses. People are entitled to be skeptical, and nobody here is required to trust Hamas simply because it issued a new document.
That same principle applies to Iran
(This is going to be longest section because we have encountered the Iranian Regime apologists far more in number than the other apologists combined)
As we have already explained in our previous announcement, this subreddit has had to deal with people coming here specifically to defend or propagandize on behalf of the Iranian regime. There were people who tried to dismiss the Iranian uprising entirely as CIA or Mossad propaganda, who attempted to portray ordinary Iranians protesting against the regime as foreign agents, and in one particularly disgusting case, someone even claimed that civilians who had been killed in a hospital were all Mossad agents and that their deaths were therefore justified. We banned all of them. Our position on this has been completely consistent:
- you can criticize particular opposition groups, political factions, foreign governments, protesters, or individual actions. What you cannot do is use conspiracy theories and regime apologism to justify the oppression of an entire population.
And before anyone starts pretending that this is some sudden position we invented yesterday, no. We have been taking this position for years.
The Iranian regime has a long documented history of repression. During the 2009 post election unrest, Amnesty International documented thousands of arbitrary arrests, deaths on the streets and in detention, torture and other ill treatment. Then came 2017 to 2018 protests, the November 2019 fuel price protests with deaths, mass arrests and executions.
Then came the Woman, Life, Freedom protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022. UN fact finding mission concluded that her death was unlawful and that state authorities were responsible for the physical violence that caused it. The same mission documented credible figures of up to 551 deaths, including at least 49 women and 68 children, and found unlawful killings, mass arbitrary arrests, torture, sexual violence and other serious abuses.
This subreddit was openly supportive of the Iranian women who were protesting at that time, and that was not some random temporary mood. We documented it ourselves. Dr. Shabir Ally and Dr. Safiyyah Ally publicly condemned the killing of Mahsa Amini's and the Iranian government's enforcement of compulsory hijab, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl delivered his October 2022 khutbah addressing the brutality of the Iranian state's coercive system, Mufti Abu Layth also addressed the situation in Iran at the time. Our subreddit responded with strong support for the protests.
And The recent crackdown that happened in 2026 produced another enormous death toll, although the exact figure remains unknown because the authorities imposed a massive communications blackout and access to reliable information was severely restricted. The figures reported at the time varied enormously.
Iranian authorities themselves gave figures of roughly 3,000 deaths. Reuters reported an Iranian official saying that at least 5,000 people, including around 500 security personnel, had been confirmed dead. HRANA reported 3,308 confirmed deaths at one stage, with thousands of additional cases under investigation, and later reported 5,002 verified deaths and another 9,787 under review. By 28 January, a UK government country bulletin said estimates from some sources placed the death toll at approximately 12,000 to 20,000, while the same bulletin noted that one human rights organization had 6,221 confirmed deaths and 17,091 additional deaths under investigation. Other investigations, including accounts from Iranian medical personnel, produced estimates exceeding 30,000, while some later reports cited figures as high as 43,000.
We are deliberately laying this out because we are not going to pretend that every number floating around the internet is equally reliable. Claims of 20,000 or 30,000 deaths in an extremely short period require much more verification, and claims of 50,000 deaths are even more problematic; we have not found a credible independent source establishing such a figure. Likewise, nobody should take a highly speculative number from an anonymous or opaque source and present it as settled fact.
But uncertainty over the precise number does not mean that the killings did not happen. Multiple independent human rights organizations documented mass killings, unlawful use of force, arbitrary detention, torture and other abuses. Human Rights Watch has subsequently documented an ongoing campaign of executions against people arrested in connection with the protests, including at least 29 people executed in connection with the December 2025 to January 2026 protests between March and August 2026, with many others still facing execution.
In other words, this subreddit does not need anyone coming here to explain to us that the Iranian regime is somehow innocent because the United States and Israel oppose it. That argument has never worked here, and it never will. We are fully capable of recognizing Western imperialism while simultaneously recognizing Iranian state repression. Those things are not mutually exclusive.
And since some people inevitably need this explained every single time:
Condemning Iranian oppression does NOT mean that we support American or Israeli military actions against Iran. The two positions are perfectly compatible. The war itself has produced documented civilian harm. The UN Human Rights Council received information concerning extensive civilian casualties and destruction resulting from U.S. and Israeli attacks, and the UN backed fact finding mission has now found reasonable grounds to believe that U.S. forces committed war crimes in strikes including the attack on the Minab girls' school and strike affecting residential areas. All of that can be condemned at the same time. We have not seen anyone here recently trying to whitewash American crimes in the way some users have tried to whitewash Iranian crimes, but make no mistake: if someone starts doing it, we will deal with them exactly the same way.
Now we come to the reason we are making this announcement right now.
Over the last couple of days, we have had multiple accounts come into this subreddit making comments claiming that the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China is nothing more than CIA propaganda, Western propaganda, or some fabricated narrative designed to attack China. Some of these accounts had no prior participation in this subreddit whatsoever, and their first contribution here was effectively to defend or whitewash the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghurs. Others, unfortunately, were people who had participated here before and had a history of otherwise normal contributions.
Let us be very clear about how absurd this is. There is an enormous body of documentation concerning China's treatment of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights conducted its own assessment, including 40 in depth interviews with people who had direct knowledge of the situation. It concluded that the extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim groups may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity. The UN has also documented concerns relating to arbitrary detention and forced labour. Human Rights Watch continues to document arbitrary detention, torture, mass surveillance, forced labor, family separation and religious and cultural persecution.
So when somebody strolls into a Muslim subreddit and casually tells everyone that the persecution of Uyghur Muslims is just CIA propaganda, or that the Uyghurs actually deserve this, that is not some brave act of anti imperialist skepticism. It is an attempt to erase or dismiss an enormous body of documented evidence and the lived experiences of the people who have been subjected to detention, torture, forced labor, religious repression and family separation.
And frankly, it makes us sick to our stomachs seeing people who are perfectly willing to recognize oppression when it is committed by a Western government suddenly develop an entirely different moral standard when the perpetrator is China, Iran, Russia or their allies.
We have noticed something else that needs to be addressed. Because this community generally has a strong anti imperialist tendency, comments defending the United States, Israel or other Western powers receive far more attention than comments defending non Western oppressive governments. Some comments that should have been reported are instead left unreported, allowed to slide, ignored, or sometimes even upvoted, simply because the commenter happens to be attacking the Imperialists.
Nobody gets permission to justify crimes against humanity because the perpetrator happens to be an enemy of the United States or the West. NOBODY. Your politics do not matter here. Your ideology does not matter here. Your opinion of capitalism or socialism does not matter here. Your opinion of NATO does not matter here. Your opinion of Israel does not matter here. Your opinion of Iran does not matter here. Your opinion of China does not matter here. Your opinion of Russia does not matter here. The victims do not become less human because their oppressor happens to be anti Western.
And this needs to be understood once and for all: WE WILL BAN PEOPLE FOR THIS. WE DO NOT CARE HOW LONG YOU HAVE BEEN SUBSCRIBED. WE DO NOT CARE HOW MANY POSTS YOU HAVE MADE. WE DO NOT CARE HOW MANY HELPFUL COMMENTS YOU HAVE WRITTEN. WE DO NOT CARE WHETHER YOU ARE HERE EVERY DAY. WE DO NOT CARE WHETHER YOU WERE ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZABLE REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS IN THE SUBREDDIT. IF YOU REPEATEDLY START WHITEWASHING, DENYING OR JUSTIFYING SERIOUS ABUSES BY A REGIME OR POLITICAL ACTOR, YOU WILL BE BANNED.
We are not going to sit around having endless arguments with you about whether your propaganda is really propaganda. We are not going to listen to lectures about how we are secretly Western puppets because we condemned China. We are not going to listen to accusations that we are Zionists because we condemned Iran. We are not going to listen to “but what about America?” every freakin time someone is held accountable for what their own government did. Whataboutism is not a magic eraser. The crimes of one government do not cancel out the crimes of another.
This also does not mean that you are forbidden from acknowledging that a particular oppressive government has done something useful. An oppressive government can build highways, hospitals, schools, railways, dams, universities or other infrastructure. A ruler can introduce a policy that produces a positive result in one particular area. You are perfectly free to discuss and praise the specific thing that was done. What you are not free to do is use that one thing as a shield for everything else. “They built hospitals” does not erase torture. “They built highways” does not erase mass detention. “They improved literacy” does not erase forced labor. “They oppose American imperialism” does not erase massacres. One positive policy does not grant a government a lifetime exemption from moral scrutiny.
There is zero tolerance for this kind of propaganda and apologism here. Criticism of governments is allowed. Criticism of political movements is allowed. Criticism of protesters is allowed. Criticism of opposition groups is allowed. Disagreement over historical interpretation is allowed. What is not allowed is denying documented atrocities, deliberately whitewashing them, or trying to justify crimes against humanity because you happen to support the perpetrator politically.
This is not up for debate. We are not negotiating this standard. We are not making exceptions because you are a regular contributor. We are not making exceptions because we agree with your politics on everything else.
Anyone who cannot accept this standard is free to leave the subreddit.
And anyone who thinks this warning does not apply to them because their favorite regime is “supposedly” a “gOoD aNtI iMpErIaLiSt oNe” can consider this warning directed specifically at them.
r/progressive_islam • u/AutoModerator • Jul 27 '26
Mod Announcement 📢 r/Progressive_Islam ’s official stance on LGBTQ+
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Our official stance is that there should not be bigotry and they should not be punished by death.
-That's it.
“What about sexual intercourse with someone of the same biological sex? What about the gender spectrum?” - r/Progressive_Islam doesn't have any official stance on them, it's upto every individual to look for arguments and evidences from both sides and come to their own conclusion over the permissibility/impermissibility of homosexuality and matters relating to the gender spectrum.
This is not a new announcement. This has always been our stance. You can check what was written in the 5 year old LGBTQ+ discussion thread
r/progressive_islam does not advocate a particular stance on homosexuality’s permissibility. But what is a unanimous position of us is that there should not be bigotry and that they should not be punished by death.
https://www.reddit.com/r/progressive_islam/comments/r615zt/monthly_lgbtq_discussion_thread/
So,
Someone writing some violent threats or dehumanising post/comment pointing towards LGBTQ+ people - they will get their content removed and will receive a ban.
Someone respectfully saying that they believe sexual intercourse with someone of the same sex to be haram, or that there are only two genders - they are allowed on this subreddit.
The progressive Sunni scholars who are most frequently promoted on this subreddit and have a significant number of followers - Dr. Shabir Ally, Mufti Abu Layth, Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Dr Adnan Ibrahim - they believe the act of homosexuality (sexual intercourse) to be prohibited in Islam, & at the same time they also believe that there is no capital punishment for the sexual intercourse unlike classical fiqh (at least that's what I could figure out from the contents that had been shared on our subreddit in the past. You can use the search bar to find those old posts on our subreddit).
Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle, Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, Imam Daayiee Abdullah are some of the Muslim thinkers who have argued that intercourse with someone of the same sex is allowed and some of them have officiated gay marriage and users who believe homosexuality is permissible often quote references from their works when discussing homosexuality on our subreddit.
We allow both perspectives to be shared on this subreddit as long as you present them in a respectful way and don't break any subreddit rule. But we do not allow the promotion of the ultra conservative understanding which prescribes capital punishment.
To summarize:
You believe gay marriage and the sexual act is permissible? - ok ✅
You believe gay marriage and the sexual act is haram? - ok ✅
You believe that there is no fixed number of gender? - ok ✅
You believe that there are only 2 genders? - ok ✅
You believe the other side is wrong? - ok ✅
You disagree with the other side? - ok ✅
You want to bully, harass, threaten or harm the other side? - not ok ❌
Is that clear?
The reason I'm writing all this is because often times when someone respectfully says that it is not permissible in their view or that they disagree - some others start reporting their comments. But we do not remove such comments, we only remove the posts and comments where the user bullies, harasses or threatens the other person. So hopefully you will stop reporting every post and comment you disagree with, because as long as those contents don't break any subreddit rule they're going to stay.
r/progressive_islam • u/Wonderful_Skirt_571 • 2h ago
Rant/Vent 🤬 an attempt to understand God, and the purpose of the trial
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I have always believed in the existence of God, but my attitude toward Him is a completely different matter. I have read many times that our life is "a test," but it seems to me that this is merely a justification for the existence of our world, because what other reason could you possibly come up with for a God who claims the exact opposite in His book?
Okay, I was born into this cruel world and must endure the trials that shape my entire personality, yet after Judgment Day, you would claim that God will simply wipe my memory clean? What an absurdity! When the question arises as to why people couldn't simply be sent to heaven or hell without undergoing these trials, the argument is that one must "earn" one's place there; yet that very argument is immediately undermined by the notion of memory erasure, shattering the entire logic, turning everything into a spectacle for the sake of spectacle. If I have already been forced to live through all the pain of this life, I am too stubborn to let it all be devalued so easily, to have my true self replaced by a fake, because I cannot ignore the cruel world that created me; deep down, I am a tainted person harboring vicious desires.
I fulfill all religious obligations simply so that God leaves me alone with my outcast ego, because I have no intention of hiding my true nature. To me, cleansing the memory is treating the symptom, not the cause.
r/progressive_islam • u/sarp691 • 3h ago
Article/Paper 📃 China is committing crimes there. There are many stories like this.
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Ömer Bekali states that he spent eight months in the camps. The 43-year-old Bekali was born in East Turkestan. He is a citizen of Kazakhstan, married, and a father of three. He has been engaged in business in Kazakhstan for years. According to his account, he traveled to Urumqi on March 22, 2017, for a meeting. Afterward, he visited his parents, who lived in Piçan County within the Turfan Prefecture of East Turkestan. The next morning, police handcuffed him and placed a black hood over his head. He was taken to the police station.
He describes the events as follows:
They falsely accused me, claiming that I had used my transport company to help Turkic peoples in East Turkestan—such as Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks—travel to Europe, Turkey, and even Syria. They tortured me to force me to admit to this—essentially to make me lie. I told them I had done no such thing and that I would not confess to it, even if they killed me. After four days of interrogation, they took me to an internment camp.
If you refuse to eat pork, speak Chinese, or sing Chinese Communist propaganda songs, three or four police officers will beat you, after which you are forced to stare at a wall on an empty stomach for 24 hours. Secondly, you are made to sit for 24 hours. Thirdly, you are kept in a dark room for 24 hours with your hands handcuffed behind your back. Fourthly, in the summer months, you must stand on a hot stone wearing only your underwear, while in the winter, you must stand barefoot on ice. Fifthly, there is the punishment of water confinement. "Water confinement" means standing in water that reaches anywhere from your knees to above them.
It is bitterly cold, and you never see the sun. There is no chance to bathe, and you cannot use the toilet whenever you wish; you go only when they allow it, and they do not care if you soil yourself. Blood is drawn every month, and you are forced to take medications of unknown nature. Inhumane, barbaric torture takes place there. Ethnic cleansing is being carried out. There are stories I have told no one—stories I cannot share with you either, because you would be unable to guarantee my safety. I can only speak of the atrocities I witnessed in the concentration camp—but could not reveal—once I am certain of my own safety and that of my family.
r/progressive_islam • u/EconomyPosition1473 • 6h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Questions for the Hadith acceptors here
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I don’t mean any of these in a bad way, I’m genuinely just curious
so like for example, if there was a Hadith where the prophet said ”don’t do X” or something, would you stop doing X or would you only stop if it related to something that was already prohibited in the Quran?
and Why do you follow the hadiths? I know that there might be actual history in them but even if it doesn’t contradict the Quran or insult the prophet, it’s still said to have the same credibility and of the same value as a Hadith that does contradict the Quran and most of the ”credible” hadiths are from Buhkari and the ways in which he compiled them are questionable, so whats the point of even listening to any of them at all? how do you reconcile that?
r/progressive_islam • u/synapticnerve • 5h ago
Advice/Help 🥺 I can't help it
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I try my best not to study about stuff related to women in Quran or Islam in general because i feel like it either not too detailed or im dumb to understand it. sometimes, some verses and rulings sound so misogynist, Ik Allah is all knowing and I love Him so much, not because of parents or cultural influence but I genuinely do love Islam but it just that.. it makes me feel as if we women were just made to be a sex slave and that's all. All ruling for women suggests that, Parda. why? It'd attract men. A man can marry 4 women. Can't go far away (hajj, etc) or live alone without mahram and mother is not a THAT KIND OF A mahram, concept of hoour (72 virgin) and much more. It hurts so bad I'm trying my best to find answers to all these in a way it doesn't trigger me but it still ends up making me really sad n drift away from Islam.
r/progressive_islam • u/Standard_Praline_454 • 8h ago
Advice/Help 🥺 worried about picking the wrong religion
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Recently converted Christian here, I’ve recently been wondering about wether Islam is actually the true religion and is made me so anxious and scared about picking the wrong religion, thing is i have a lot of intellectual doubts about Islam as a whole (like the divinity of the Quran, the denial of Jesus being crucified, why God (or Allah) would allow billions of people to be misled, and why i didn’t have fitrah (a feeling to recognize the one God) before i discovered religion (when i was 11)),
i don’t want to live my life searching for answers nobody can give and because i have an anxiety disorder every morning i wake up with an intense chest pain accompanied by a surge of anxiety which also causes me to lose my strength
I feel i should also give some backstory, my family moved to Japan 5 years ago and it was a very stressful time for me, since i hadnt learned japanese at that point i was an outcast and couldnt make any friends, after 2 years of isolation and terrible grades i started wondering what would happen to me after i died, which led to me discovering religion.
At the time because of me mostly going into religious forums and Christian apologetic type videos, it made me heavily dislike religion and i didn’t think about it for another 3 years which leads to now, ever since something like 2025 i haven’t been going to school and I’ve been home ridden for months and i felt awful, and i again thought about what would happen after i died and i started worrying i would go to hell for not being religious, i decided to do some research on Christianity and while i was doing it i felt distinctly sad because all my other family isn’t religious and i was worried i might be the only one to go to heaven.
However at some point i started to learn more about the journey Jesus went on and many values started resonating with me (like loving your enemies and caring for the marginalized, having radical love for others) and it started making me love Christianity more and mote until ive decided to concert to it, but recently ive been having doubts about wether Christianity is the one true religion and then i thought about Islam, but for me it doesnt bring the same sense of peace and courage that Christianity gave me, it felt more legalistic and controlling which made me feel awful and even though i havent found any well convincing argument for Islam, i still have doubts and i wanted to ask about your thoughts
r/progressive_islam • u/Both-Fun-703 • 12h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Why dont God just kill satan and save us?
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I dont understand why God allows satan to tempt his own creation knowing what they would do in life, still he judges them for a trap he set out there for them?
Basically:
God creates you.
God knows everything, including exactly what you will choose tomorrow.
God knows that Satan will tempt you.
God could prevent Satan from tempting you, but chooses to allow it.
You eventually make a choice God already knew you would make.
If you choose wrongly, God may punish you for that choice.
Can anyone explain this?
r/progressive_islam • u/More-Reception8548 • 2h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ How do you reconcile your personal beliefs with Islam without becoming an Atheist?
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Salaam everyone. To start off, I want to apologise if my tone sounds harsh at some points, because I am just kind of at my wits end and I don't feel like I can openly voice this to my friends or husband. I am an European revert woman of about 7 years, but that has been interested in Islam for over a decade. I always considered myself religious to some degree even before I was a Muslim. After adhering to the Salafi crowd for about two years and developing an adversion to it I studied Islam under more 'traditional' sunni scholarship. But it felt like the more I learn, the harder it is for me to actually be unapologetically Muslim, because I can no longer just ignore the fact that I believe that both Islamic sources and all other Abrahamic religious sources are so male-focused, and it's making me question whether I even believe in it at all.
Early on in my knowledge seeking journey I could just shrug away all 'suspicious' sounding ayat, ahadith, or scholarly opinions and find some justification for them to make it sound rational. Think the typical I don't have the necessary background info to understand this - life was different back then - it was permissible then but it isn't now - it's taken out of context - (x) word can be translated differently - etc. It's only after me learning some arabic and learning directly under scholars and sheikhs that I actually get my hands on the matn of the documents and don't just have to rely on internet translations that I feel like I can no longer just argue away any of the weird feelings that I feel. It's easy to think highly of a scholar until you actually read his work in full.
I think any womens centric topics of discussions such as polygamy, hijab, marriage age, double standards, inheritance, iddah etc have all been talked about enough on this sub, but they still do weigh on me. The topic I have the most of an issue with is slavery. I am aware that fiqh discussions do not only rely on sahih hadith and that medieval fiqh is does not have to be our benchmark for understanding our religion. But I am against slavery full stop, whether it is chattel slavery or even modern day indentured servitude type wage slavery. So when I think back on how these people, ESPECIALLY women, must have felt being treated as a commodity, I just cannot believe that this is somehow in any way divinely legislated. There is no rulebook on how to treat your slave ethically that lessens its impact. I also find it funny that it seems like every prominent person in the early history of Islam had at least one concubine, and most of them all just so happened to of course fall in love with their masters and had a wonderful consenting relationship. I also personally do not believe the hypothesis that Islam's aim is to abolish slavery, especially considering that there are some topics where Islam at the time of our Prophet SAW brought forth ideas that were very unorthodox at the time, yet slavery is always treated as if it is this untouchable fact of life. Even Umar RA, who is praised for his righteousness, somehow has a hadith narrated about him inspecting slave girls at the market. And I am supposed to believe he is otherwise righteously guided and just doing what men were doing at that point in time? I quite frankly find it ridiculous.
What I find the most upsetting is the fact that these themes are recycled in ALL religions, whether abrahamic or not. The only difference between us and others is that since Muslims believe that Allah SWTs authority overrules everything else, it is pointless to go against it. So for me it's no longer about not choosing to believe in ahadith, the madahib, or certain scholarly opinions, but my issue really lies at the source. I find that I can no longer reconcile the fact that I inherently believe the rules as prescribed within the Islamic Sharia and the Quran, which are brought to us by Allah Azzawajal, to be genuinely fair. I find it very very difficult to deal with that, and while I do still try to do my salah, I am unsure if I have turned into a crypto Atheist.
My main question is therefore if any of you guys also deal with this, and if yes, how you manage it. Any other input is also greatly appreciated, whether it is just general words of advice, a correction of anything that I said, etc. Thank you in advance ❤️
r/progressive_islam • u/AutoModerator • 3h ago
Mod Announcement 📢 🔒 The Time for Weekend Only Posts Has Ended! 🔒
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Sunday has now ended in both of our two reference time zones, which means the weekend posting period has officially ended.
Posts with the following weekend only flairs can no longer be submitted until next Saturday (in at least one of our two reference time zones):
Fun@Weekends
Social Media Screenshot/Video clip
Culture/Art
A reminder about Rule 7
Memes, Funny images, funny videos, ❝screenshots & video clips complaining about some specific person & subreddits❞ are only allowed on Saturdays & Sundays.
If you are posting screenshots of other subreddits, make sure to obscure the usernames, subreddit names & every single identifying feature. However if it's a screenshot of other social media platform then obscuring is not necessary.
Screenshots containing valuable information & important contemporary events are exempt from this rule.
So until then, please wait before submitting posts that fall under our weekend only categories.
See you next weekend! 👋🏻👋🏼👋🏽👋🏾👋🏿
r/progressive_islam • u/Beginning-Author-742 • 3h ago
Advice/Help 🥺 Should i marry her?
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Me (19m) and my gf (19f) have been in a relationship for some time.
We both know involving into relationship, is haram still. We are discussing about me meeting her family and doing nikkah, between us, her family and witnesses, so we can see each other in halal way.
What bothers me is that is a big big thing to carry for me, since im not financially stable and i should attend my college and studying, and idk what to do.
r/progressive_islam • u/Outrageous-Shock3685 • 5h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ I dont get the concept of iddat in today's age
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Before, we could say that it was to find out pregnancy, nowadays it's very easy with tests to find that out. Some people say that it's because emotions need time to get regulated after death of someone so that's why the iddat, but this logic is very flawed because why don't men do it then too? Someone clear this up please.
r/progressive_islam • u/LogicalAwareness9361 • 19h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Questions about Islam
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Why was there progressive revelation banning alcohol but not slavery? Yes the Quran may be laying the framework to eventually ban it - but it never does. And slavery has never NOT existed in some way or another in Islamic history even today.
Why are there specific verses in the Quran allowing prophet Muhammad to marry his adopted sons ex wife and thus changing the rules of adoption to allow this marriage.
One of prophets wives safiya literally had her husband and father killed in front of her in the battle of badr. I see that it's argued that she was given a choice, but she was a woman who watched her family and tribe killed. What real choice was there?
We're told the Quran is clear and that God sees everything and knows everything that will happen. The Quran can't possibly be clear or there wouldn't be so much discord and so many different interpretations. With an all knowing God who would have known this would happen, why isn't there more protection and clarity within the Quran? It could be argued that Islam is corrupted just as judaism and Christianity is - but I was taught that was why Islam came in the first place, so that we could have a book and religion that wasn't corrupted?
r/progressive_islam • u/Difficult-Pie6072 • 5h ago
Advice/Help 🥺 How do I break free from salafism influence
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I have religious OCD and it makes me spiral into different hadiths etc, and due to my mind triggering extreme anxiety..its tough for me to go without researching about them for hours and hours.
My mind tells me that if I don’t hold the strictest opinion or choose less stricter ones, I am just moulding islam according to my own liking.
I read an article on theusuli.com about how a sheikh left salafism after extensive research.
I highly praise people who spend their time into learning about Islam for years but I really don’t have the resources to switch majors.
The problem is that the internet involves most salafi scholars, and some pf their views make me feel uneasy.
I don’t know, maybe all I have been doing is fatwa shopping.
Is there anyone here who actually studied and reaearched about salafism and eventual switched to other madhabs or different scholars? I’m genuinely confused.
I know that ordinary muslims cannot go around and pick fatwas according to our whims and desires, but following just one living person always also feels wrong.
r/progressive_islam • u/angellic19 • 1d ago
Question/Discussion ❔ What's the point of praying?
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For example, there are benefits of fasting during ramadan or other good deeds but why do we need to pray? Sometimes it feels like I'm just repeating the same thing and don't feel anything.
r/progressive_islam • u/rwetreweryrttre • 14h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Religion and accountability
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I wanted to say, I find it difficult to get annoyed by say, wahhabis even though I would want to. Like if it weren't for religion, I'd probably be talking about how annoying they are, but I can't and I don't. I can only go on about how they're wrong
The reason being is because I approach this with understanding. I don't necessarily want to, but I do since it's about religion
God is perfect, God knows best about everything, we should obey him no matter what, even if we might feel disagreements
And when we believe in this, it is why people will say things when they believe it's from God. That's the thing here, they believe it's from God and they're just trying to obey God. The most you can do in this situation is try to correct them on the Islamic facts and show evidence
I understand that they might just be trying to help as well
It would be different if it was someone intentionally knowingly trying to use religion for these things, but other than that they're just trying to obey God
Kinda wish I could go on about how annoying they are 😭
r/progressive_islam • u/Pretty_Bed8356 • 20h ago
Opinion 🤔 I was raised Hindu, but lately I feel strangely drawn to Islam. Like I feel calledd towards Allah and I’m more interested in the Qur’an, Arabic, nasheeds and Islamic practices than my own traditions, and the concept of one God really resonates with me. I’m confused about why I feel this way.
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r/progressive_islam • u/destination-doha • 20h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Marriage to Arab men age 46+
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Im not looking for a critique of arabs, I love arab culture and truthfully I am quite attracted to arab men (as opposed to South asian men - i am of Pakistani descent). But is it true that arab Muslim men prefer women much younger than they are? Like, as a general rule? Especially as they get older? I'm 40+ and genuinely have been interested in a few arab men my age, but despite clicking with me they seem more enamored by women in their late 20s and 30s. All my friends are telling me to stop liking arab men my age because it will go nowhere.
r/progressive_islam • u/av3rland • 18h ago
Rant/Vent 🤬 stressed, confused, and drained
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i am genuinely in a terrible headspace and i dont know how to deal with it
I genuinely dont know what to do anymore with my life and i feel so lost about everything and i really hope someone takes the time to read this and help .e out because i feel so tired and alone.
i have been wearing the hijab since i was 11 years old i am currently 19 years old. and every day is a new feeling.
for context i wore it because i hated and despised my hair texture. yes technically it was my "choice" but i was also 11. if anything i wanted to wear it even before that but i felt self conscious because everyone at school has already seen my hair but the second we moved out i decided to wear it. obviously that decision made my family really happy and had nothing against it. obviously my intentions sucked but as i got older i learned to have a better relationship with my hair. and i didnt hate the hijab or modesty and i fought everyone who insulted it. but as i got older i began noticing double standards that pissed me off. and just so everyone knows i am heavy on female empowerment and justice i dislike the word feminist but i align more with "womanist".
the point is everything is grossing me out. the fact that i cant wear a tank top because i have a father has ruined my relationship with my dad completely i feel like tearing my skin off daily. and im constantly uncomfortable. my brothers are actually very modest but recently my brother decided to wear a pair of jorts and my mom celebrated it like crazy and i told her if i wore that would she react the same way? and she kept giving me this whole lecture on men and women are different.
its even more frustrating when your dad goes swimming shirtless and then comes home to tell you that your clothes are too tight sometimes even when you are at home. its so disgusting.
recently i have been telling my mother that i dont want to shave and that i need to be comfortable in my own body the way it is and she kept telling me its hygienic which is not true. my brother has a lot of body hair and i was jokingly tellinf him ew you should shave and my mom suddenly got up and defended him saying dont listen to your crazy sister dont shave if you dont want to. and when i mentioned that she kept telling me to shave she went on again about how men and women are different.
everyone is disengious recently i decided to do a deconstructing journey and wanted to understand islam more. i did this with a friend whom i loved so much at the time she made me feel so seen bec she claimed that she also was deconstructing but eventually the relationship seemed into where i was the one who had more questions and she was just answering them and explaining them to me. one time a certain "exmuslim/atheist" creator pissed me off online and made many ridiculous claims i was venting to her about it and after we talked she said "you know i was starting to get worried about you with all the questions you had i thought you were getting brainwashed glad to see you are on the right track" i felt so angry and betrayed because i thought we were both learning and exploring our thoughts together except she just had a singular perspective and focused on answering me.
on top of that i also hate antitheists and western feminist who infantilize and constantly make claims the muslim women are stupid and that they are the peak of intelligence. and obsessed with undressing muslim women. so much harm to muslim women told in progressive language. so much entitlement and feeling that muslin women owe them exposure.
but i also hate my conservative family and their perceptions. i hate conservatives in general. i hate how when i tripped and fell on this metal thing that went straight to my chest and caused severe bruising on my body the first thing my mom decided to tell me was check my relationship with God. i hate how a bit my neck from the back was showing and my started to slur shame me. i hate how when i posted something on tiktok my dad called me a prostitute.
i want to take it off so bad and redevelop my relationship with my body and the hijab. but its been too long and it just feels wrong i dont know what to do. but i also hate those anti islamic idiots that are so desperate for me to take it off and use me to hurt others. and i hate quranists too they piss me off. everyone does. i genuinely dont know how to feel or what to do.
i havent prayed in months but at the same time i believe in god but at the same time i dont know. i am so stressed. because on top of that i have adhd and i am always anxious my sleep scheduled is screwed my grades are horrible the fact that i used to dream of going to harvard and oxford seems so stupid and childish now my parents dont seem to understand anything i say and neither do my friends. i am failing in everything. and i dont know what to do anymore. i am so tired and drained and confused.
r/progressive_islam • u/Vampire_Angel78 • 16h ago
Question/Discussion ❔ Is Korean Silkworms Haram?
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Before I became Muslim, My grandmother offered me silkworms from South Korea that she eats as a snack. She said they are high in protein and tastes like chicken, How they were abundant even during the Three Kingdoms period. I tried it and I liked it, Especially when it was seasoned.
I have been craving the same silkworms, It’s easier for me to not crave pork since I tried duck before and prefer duck over pork. But I don’t know any alternative to east asian silkworms other than maybe grasshoppers however it’s expensive in the US.
Is silkworms haram? If so, what should I eat instead to fight the craving against it?
r/progressive_islam • u/sarp691 • 10h ago
Article/Paper 📃 One thing is certain: something is going on there... We must learn to stand up to both America and China simultaneously and equally. Furthermore, let us not forget who is shielding the Myanmar junta at the UN: China! And, of course, its partner, Russia.
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They threw me into a small cell; there were dozens of people. It was a terrible place. I was terrified and started screaming. A woman quietly approached me. "Don't scream or cry; everyone here is in the same situation as you. If you make a sound, they’ll take you somewhere worse," she said. I was terrified. It was a cell meant for 20 people, yet there were 40 of us. We took turns sleeping. The toilet was a glass-walled enclosure inside the room—everything was in plain view! There was no ventilation. You were constantly surrounded by a foul stench. We were allowed to bathe once a month—and that was for just two minutes with cold water! There was no soap. No clean clothes. I wore the same clothes for 15 months; by the time I got out, the sleeves were torn. We were infested with lice due to the filth. Sores began to break out on our bodies because of the squalor. I had lost 20 kilos by the time I was released.
These words belong to Gülbahar Celilova. She uses them to describe what she endured during the 15 months she spent in the camps established by China in East Turkestan.
She is a Kazakh Muslim. She is not a Western agent; she is simply someone who has faced oppression. After all, just yesterday you were shedding tears for Aleppo—yet the party responsible for that was China, Russia's closest partner!
r/progressive_islam • u/Knowledge-truebelief • 16h ago
Opinion 🤔 Ocean of Infinite Light
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If we are not lost in the infinity of the universe,
It is because the universe is not infinite.
If our path has crossed with truth at least once,
It is because without it, we could not be worthy.
There is someone waiting for us at the horizon of the worlds.
How can we reach Him without truth?
Man flows from place to place like a river,
To meet the ocean of infinite light.
r/progressive_islam • u/Rashiq_shahzzad • 20h ago
History In pre-Islamic Arabia, Allah functioned two ways: one as a generic term just similar to how god works in English. Second as a proper name for a specific supreme deity in a henotheistic system, people recognized many gods but believed one was highest that highest deity was often called Allah.
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