Page 1 of Ramadan - Muslim laws

Since i`ve seen the post on Ramadan, I`ve always had a few burning questions but always get very biased answers depending on the people I speak to.

The questions I have are as follows. Please dont take this in any wrong way. I just would like to 1. Educate myself, 2. Not seem like an idiot 3. Try and understand politics and culture. Please only answer if you are sure.

1. Whats the difference between Shiates (Excuse my spelling) and Sunnies.

2. Do women and from what age need to cover their faces and by how much.

3. Are you allowed to drink or smoke or do drugs. Is it different for men/women.

4. Are you allowed to go to night clubs. Is it different for men/women.

5. Can men have 4 wives or more.

6. Do you beleive in reincarnation.

7. In your holy book, does it state anywhere that it is ok to hurt or kill other people or is this a misinterpretation. (again I want to stress, I hear very different views from many people)

8. Are you allowed blood transfusion.

9. By not following any laws, are you still a Muslim or would you need to ask for forgiveness. i.e. your temporarily not a Muslim.

If anyone knows of more things that never get straight answers please post.

Also if you feel that any of my questions have insulted you in any way I appologise in advance and please do not answer them. This is not my intention. I believe that I and probably other people do not understand Islam. Through understanding each other maybe we can build a better place live, work, socialise etc.

Quote:

1. Whats the difference between Shiates (Excuse my spelling) and Sunnies.

Its to do with who took over after the prophet Muhammed (pbuh) died.... one lot say one thing one lot say the other...and thus we have a typical religious split....

My understanding is that one side were with his in laws... (Sunnis) and the other wanted a blood relation (Shia).... Now this may be wrong so I stand corrected if I am.....

The Sunni`s are the more popular of the 2.....

Also I believe the Shia`s except that there are extra versers to the Quran.... and the Sunni`s don`t..... I was also told by a Sunni`s how believed he was right about everything that a goat eat these missing verses.... I`m sure some one will expand on this .....

Now don`t get etither of these sects on to the Suffis.....

This site may help.... http://pof.reonline.org.uk/islam_appendix.php

Quote:
3. Are you allowed to drink or smoke or do drugs. Is it different for men/women.

4. Are you allowed to go to night clubs. Is it different for men/women.

Again from my understanding Islam states that any artificial stimulation of the mind or emotion is wrong... hence smoking and music... although they will get rivers of Wine when they die... but this wine will not cloud the mind... Shloer all round me thinks....

I`m sure there are people out there who can put these better.. I base all my answers on working in Bradford for 5 years... there are plenty of people there who think they are right........

This item was edited on Sunday, 24th September 2006, 17:07

Thanks for answering some .. Anyone else have the rest of these answers.

Quote:
7. In your holy book, does it state anywhere that it is ok to hurt or kill other people or is this a misinterpretation. (again I want to stress, I hear very different views from many people)

Just re reading your questions...

I suspect the problem you`ll have here is that Muslims believe that the Quran cannot be translated into English..... to be understood truly it needs to be read in its original format..... Thus you are again into translations...I believe the Penguin book version is the best one.... BUT won`t be correct no doubt... as with any ancient language you are relying on interpretatin and passages written in years gone by will more than likely have a different meaning now... an good exampple would be the word gay... 1940`s gay and 1990`s gay.. same word.. different interpretation.....

As with all religion and texts its up for abuse and I suspect thats what has happened with ALL religious texts... used to for someones personal gain......

Just my 2 penneth worth......

Quote:
9. By not following any laws, are you still a Muslim or would you need to ask for forgiveness. i.e. your temporarily not a Muslim.

Giving up your religion is punishable by death........ it is called something, but I can`t remember it.....

Although goning back to my know it all Sunni that I worked with ... he stated that you had 3 days in which to return to the fold.... strikes me as a money back gaurantee!!!!

Also judging by some of the other Muslims I have worked with.... yes it is possible to be a Muslim when it suits... for example to gain extra days of for Ramadan..... Man U Muslims I used to call them .. Muslim when it suited them....... esp when they coul dget Friday after noon off for prays......

Quote:
Giving up your religion is punishable by death........ it is called something, but I can`t remember it.....
Apostasy.

Quote:
Apostasy.

That`s the boy.... :D ... thanks....

This item was edited on Sunday, 24th September 2006, 17:33

well i`m not really an expert but...
1. Whats the difference between Shiates (Excuse my spelling) and Sunnies.
A: Well after the prophet Muhammad died shia`s believe his son in law Ali was the rightful successor while sunni`s believe it to be Abu Bakr, a few cultural differences have occurred over the centuries but both are muslims and both read the same quran. This is a pretty good explanation

2. Do women and from what age need to cover their faces and by how much.
A: Can`t really answer this because women in our community don`t cover their faces, they only cover their hair when they go to mosque and that applies to all women at any age

3. Are you allowed to drink or smoke or do drugs. Is it different for men/women
A: Same for men/women, alcohol and drugs are not allowed because of its intoxicating properties. Smoking is a bit iffy, nicotine isn`t really considered an intoxicant but it is a sin to knowingly harm your own body so i guess in the days where people didn`t know the risks then it was ok but not these days when everyone is aware of the risks.

4. Are you allowed to go to night clubs. Is it different for men/women.
A: Well this isn`t really covered in the quran but most people i know go clubbing, there`s no harm from my POV if your not drinking doing drugs etc. Depends how `fanatical` you are, some people consider listening to music a sin, so its down to your own interpretation. If you come from a family/community who allow their kids to go clubbing then its safe to assume they don`t treat women differently (like in my fam), so in my case there is no diff between men and women.

6. Do you beleive in reincarnation
A: Nope, bog standard heaven/hell situ

8. Are you allowed blood transfusion.
A: Yes, any you are allowed to donate blood, the only thing you cannot do is donate organs (unless its to another muslim) the idea here is that when you die all of you is judged, ie. if you died and you`d been a good muslim all your life but you`d donated your liver to george best then you`d be committing a sin because it is still your liver and he loved the sauce

9. By not following any laws, are you still a Muslim or would you need to ask for forgiveness. i.e. your temporarily not a Muslim.
If you choose to be a muslim then you are always a muslim, if you sin then you must ask for forgiveness but it`s the individuals choice and responsibility for their own accountability. Its different matter if you ask for forgiveness then continue to sin again and again

I`m in no way an expert or scholar or particularly religious so they may be other people who need to correct me. I`m basically going on how our community practises Islam so it could well be different (practises) for different denominations. I`ll try and answer the other questions a bit later

a pretty good summary there butters... thanks, i am still confused about the alcohol thing though as having served in the british army in kuwait/iraq, although alcohol was `state` banned it was readily available and i came across many who drank it? and some of it would have been better used as paint stripper!



`i am going to live forever or die trying`

Quote:
i am still confused about the alcohol thing though as having served in the british army in kuwait/iraq, although alcohol was `state` banned it was readily available and i came across many who drank it? and some of it would have been better used as paint stripper!Well there are many people who say they are muslim but don`t follow `religiously`, i think its more they call themselves muslim as a cultural identity, like jews or hindus for example i have friends who call themselves the religion they were born into but do not practise. As for Kuwait and other arabs states, some outlaw alcohol like Iran (except for religious ceremonies for jews christian etc), some only allow non-nationals to be served like UAE (and i think its mainly hotels that can serve) and some have alcohol freely available (like Turkey)

I think its a case of how oppressive a regime chooses to be