I Am Enjoying Being A Muslim

That's comforting 🤗

@Goralski: she hearted my reply. maybe doesn't get sarcasm 😒

@room101: Or maybe you didn't get the concept to begin with.

@Madeleine: oh i got the concept. i got the concept every time i worked in and visited a Muslim country

@room101: Hearted mine too

@ajoite: she's clearly spreading the love

@room101: True.

@room101: Explain the concept please.

@Madeleine: no need. you've got it down pat. i'm outta here

@room101: You don't know the answer, do you? That's okay.

@Madeleine: Judaism had the concept of fearing God (in a physical sense) in its foundations. As did Christianity. However, both of those religions have evolved. Yours hasn't.

That's all I need to understand. The simple fact that you still live in an era of barbaric punishment and retribution.

@room101: Thank you for your answer.

Fearing Allah is a concept of accountability, and it's proven that accountability has positive psychological effect on human beings.

You confused the law with God's consciousness, and each belongs to a different dimension in Islam.

Islam has a horizontal dimension that's called Islam, which is the outward actions of a person; those actions include the five pillars of Islam, and avoid prohibited things, someone who follows this dimension called Muslim.

Another dimension is a vertical one that's called iman (which often translated as faith/belief), this dimension deals with the inward belief of a person, and nobody can really determine someone's iman except God. Someone who has iman is called mmumin (believer).

Not every Muslim is a mmumin, but every mmumin is a Muslim.

The law and punishment belong to the horizontal dimension, which people can determine whether this person committed something prohibited or not. While fearing of Allah belongs to the vertical dimension which only Allah alone can determine someone's honesty/sincerity.

For instance, lying is prohibited in Islam, but there's no punishment for it in this world/lifetime, according to the Islamic law (except for the case of witnesses), and nobody really can determine whether someone is lying or not, at least not at first. In this case, when someone fears Allah (accountability), they will stop themselves from lying, because they realize that Allah knows exactly what's in their hearts, and if they can get away with their lie from people, they can never get away from Allah. And Allah is Just in His judgement.

@Madeleine: I don't confuse anything with anything. Accountability is common to all social constructs. Lying is prohibited in every social construct. It is specifically prohibited in Islam because Islam plagiarises the Ten Commandments from Judaism. Ditto with stealing. However, in Islam, the penalty for stealing is amputation.

Like I said, barbaric retribution and punishment.

@room101: Human ethics are well known and common between all religions, traditions, and cultures. These are given knowledge by God. Even a little kid knows that stealing and lying are wrong without being taught. In my comment, I did not say that lying is exclusively prohibited in Islam, neither this point is even relevant to my point.

My point was to distinguish between the law and God's consciousness; not all wrong actions are punishable (in this life) by the Islamic law. Yet, someone has to fear God before committing such actions. For example, disrespecting parents has no punishment in the Islamic law, but it's strongly prohibited in the Quran. Therefore, God's consciousness should elevate our character.

In this age when individuality takes president over social benefit, the door is open for individuals to do what makes them feel good, regardless of how much their actions would effect society at large.

The Islamic law, on the other hand, is focused on protecting human life, religion, the mind, progeny, and property. Every rule in Islam goes back to one or more of those five aspects.

Theft is a violation of property, and sometimes human life if there's murder involved. Islam protects society from such a crime. It's believed that people have the right to feel safe and secure regarding their life and property.

However, the Islamic law is not as "simple" as many people would perceive it to be. The rule is applied according to circumstances. So someone's hand won't be cut-off for stealing an orange.

The Islamic law is only applied in a healthy society, where people's basic needs are fulfilled. For instance, there's no cutting of hands during famine, or in a country with high percentage of unemployment.

The thing stolen should have been taken by stealth; if it was not taken by stealth, then the hand should not be cut off, such as when property has been seized by force in front of other people, because in this case the owner of the property could have asked for help to stop the thief.

The stolen property should be something of worth, because that which is of no worth has no sanctity, such as wine and pigs (those are prohibited in Islam). The value of the stolen property should be above a certain limit, which is three Islamic Dirhams or a quarter of an Islamic Dinar, or their equivalent in other currencies.

The stolen property should have been taken from a place where it had been put away, i.e., a place where people usually put their property, such as a cupboard, for example. The theft itself has to be proven, either by the testimony of two qualified witnesses or by the confession of the thief twice.

The person from whom the property was stolen has to ask for it back; if he does not, then (the thief’s) hand does not have to be cut off.

Now, with these restrictions, how many people will have their hands cut off?

The aim of the law is not to punish, but to keep society healthy, safe, and secure. I find it fascinating how people would protest against punishments that are meant for criminals. "Barbaric punishments" they say.

Do you know what is really barbaric?
Theft!

@Madeleine: I'm amazed that you can sit there and justify all of this nonsense. And then conclude that theft is barbaric!

Actually, I'm not amazed. After my experiences in Muslim countries, I'm just saddened. Saddened that, yet again, a Muslim has shown us that there will be no end to the problems caused by Islam.

@Madeleine: How nice a hand won't be chopped off during times of famine, but that's not true is it ? C'mon !!
I know of many muslim countries where this practice is carried out around terrible poverty

@room101: Muslims world doesn't define Islam. If anything, Muslims problems are there because of the absence of Islam. Muslims are rules by secular governments.

Footnote, all the world' suffering is because of taking God out of the picture.

@Madeleine: Are you being serious? Iran is a secular government. Saudi Arabia is a secular government. UAE is secular government.

Sharia Law is NOT secular. What are you talking about.

@ajoite: It's historically documented, at the time of Umar ibn Alkhatab, famine afflicted Arabia, and there were some theft cases occurred, Umar did not apply punishments.

@room101: Using interests is one of the major sins in Islam, yet banks are everywhere in Muslim countries.

Countries governed by Muslims doesn't necessarily mean they are ruled by Islam. Many western countries governed by Christians, does it mean that those countries rule by the Bible?

@Madeleine: yes, that was almost 1300 years ago when Islam was in its infancy. And he was assassinated.

@Madeleine: because ALL Christian countries are truly secular. Unlike the majority of Muslim countries.

@room101: Muslims at that time ruled by the true teachings of Islam, which make perfect sense.

@room101: Have you been to Dubai? Does it look like a Muslim place to you?

The west is filled with social problems, thanks to secularism.

@Madeleine: do I need to give you a list of all of the Muslim countries that I've been to throughout my working life? Do I need to give you a list of all of the hypocrisy that I've witnessed among the Muslim community both in those countries and here in the UK?

It makes perfect sense that Umar Ibn al Khattab was assassinated does it.

Way to go Islam.