Its Caturday MENA!

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

I just love kittens...........

Computer trouble, anyone?

That's what I call a work out...

[~*Dorothy*~ 2]

Moot point good to know. Obviously I don't hate Islam if I married him. I just didn't know enough about it. Now I'm thinking either I made a big mistake or I have to change everything about myself.

I'm with you on this Olivia. It's not easy for me to just accept any dogma without questioning it's teachings and believes - maybe that's why I am still not affiliated with any particular religion... One day at a time...

[RAKASA 0]

Olivia, I think it is smart of you to question these things. I did too when I was learning about Islam. Those questions were some of mine too. As for beating wives, I was just watching a show last night on an Islamic channel where they discussed that thing. I was talking to you at that time. I should have told you to tune in if I had known you wanted to know more about it (its an online link). Anyway, they stressed that it is not right to run around hitting your wife and is deeply discouraged. It is a last resort and even then it shouldn't be used. The prophet (peace be upon him) never hit his wives. Please don't believe this is really accepted. Some families just look the other way on this point and some families don't. I know my husband's family is against taking such measures.

As for the multiple wives, that is actually banned in some muslim countries. It was meant for during war when there were many widows and no one to support them. Many men had died and these women with children had no one to turn to. The first wife should always agree before her husband marries another woman. It is unlawful for him to marry another without her permission (in most schools of thought). Also, the man must be able to financially support each wife seperately with her own home. Otherwise he cannot marry more than one. Another thing is he much treat each wife equally, if he cannot do that, then he is not supposed to marry more than one. There are so many stipulations it is impossible for most muslim men to lawfully marry a second wife or more. Under Islam it is always better to only have one wife unless there are extreme circumstances for marrying more. Some countries encourage it, but that doesn't mean it is right under Islam. When you study Islam, please don't study the muslims, study the religion. This is what you should teach any children you have.

I hope I have helped you in some way on these issues. If you have other questions please let me know and I will be happy to help the best I can.

and yes, it is wise to question these things as these are life changing decisions being made.

[aya*abouelnasr 0]

I found a wonderful place online to gain information about Islam. Real questions from real people ranging from the mans role in the marriage to taking out a loan. A mufti answers the questions for the poster. This is the link...

IslamOnline.net

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Wow thx S and S for answering that. Do you have the link to the program online so I could watch it? At my Mom's we don't subscribe to any kind of TV. I really like what you said about when you study the religion don't study the muslims. That rang a bell of truth for me as I believe that as well and sometimes get distracted by responses to my questions on here. I also think that was what Waleed was trying to get across to me during the discussion of raising children. He was saying consider the sources you get your informaiton from and understand it's him that I love and trust and he would teach our children Islam, the gentle parts, the peaceful parts that the rest of the world isn't shown as much. I did get to see some of that in Egypt with his family and friends and it was refreshing.

Now I am more curious about this progressive Islam Noura spoke about. So there is a form of Islam that is progressive and doesn't accept some of these things and not all Muslims have to? What does it mean to you? They studied it with scholars and have a better understanding?

Tammy what is a mufti? Whenever I go to those sites I always get lost and don't even no where to begin as it becomes a bit overwhelming. So I'll go to the section that has sound bytes of them reciting the Quran and listen to that to calm down because it sounds like a beautiful song.

Dorothy I know what you mean. When learning about religion I try to remain objective taking it all in but it a bit of a culture shock for me if one could call it that.

[HLM 1]

hey MENA missed it here!! lots to catch up to but im still in my nice vacation wont b back until a few days from now. its been very relaxing n very laid back just enjoying the sun n the sea. will show pix of the amazing sea insha Allah...i see u Olivia u re back !!!!!! YAAAAAAAAY!!! i missed u when u were gone!! anyways hope everyone of u is doing well n everything is going their way take care u guys.

[~Jackie~ 30]

[Sassy1natl 0]

***biting my damn fingers to keep from typing. Beating wives? lightly only ...and more than one? ...plz. Would take superman to pull that off in these days.

Happy caturday again everybody. Hope the mansaf turns out good. I totally forgot to eat again today.

(My fingers are hurting, too)

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

hey MENA missed it here!! lots to catch up to but im still in my nice vacation wont b back until a few days from now. its been very relaxing n very laid back just enjoying the sun n the sea. will show pix of the amazing sea insha Allah...i see u Olivia u re back !!!!!! YAAAAAAAAY!!! i missed u when u were gone!! anyways hope everyone of u is doing well n everything is going their way take care u guys.

Hi Sweetie! I was wondering where ya went as well.

[Sassy1natl 0]

Ya I

I wonder why you'd marry someone who follows a religion you hate? Oh well.... Que Sera, Sera!!

I wanted to correct that too! There's so many times I want to correct typos/misspellings that I see on here (cuz I'm ####### abt that stuff when it happens repeatedly).

Good question..........

Does that help answer the question. Do you muslimias seriously believe I hate Islam because I question it? And why doesn't anyone answer those questions for me about the several wives & beating wives acceptance? Everytime I bring it up it becomes a moot point on here. What I don't understand is how someone who isn't raised that way comes to accept those beliefs?

Olivia, I think it is smart of you to question these things. I did too when I was learning about Islam. Those questions were some of mine too. As for beating wives, I was just watching a show last night on an Islamic channel where they discussed that thing. I was talking to you at that time. I should have told you to tune in if I had known you wanted to know more about it (its an online link). Anyway, they stressed that it is not right to run around hitting your wife and is deeply discouraged. It is a last resort and even then it shouldn't be used. The prophet (peace be upon him) never hit his wives. Please don't believe this is really accepted. Some families just look the other way on this point and some families don't. I know my husband's family is against taking such measures.

As for the multiple wives, that is actually banned in some muslim countries. It was meant for during war when there were many widows and no one to support them. Many men had died and these women with children had no one to turn to. The first wife should always agree before her husband marries another woman. It is unlawful for him to marry another without her permission (in most schools of thought). Also, the man must be able to financially support each wife seperately with her own home. Otherwise he cannot marry more than one. Another thing is he much treat each wife equally, if he cannot do that, then he is not supposed to marry more than one. There are so many stipulations it is impossible for most muslim men to lawfully marry a second wife or more. Under Islam it is always better to only have one wife unless there are extreme circumstances for marrying more. Some countries encourage it, but that doesn't mean it is right under Islam. When you study Islam, please don't study the muslims, study the religion. This is what you should teach any children you have.

I hope I have helped you in some way on these issues. If you have other questions please let me know and I will be happy to help the best I can.

[Nasturtium 500]

I think we all hit a certain age where the need to have babies comes and we have a hard time pushing the feeling away. Right now my neighbor is pregnant, my former neighbor just had a baby, my sister just had her baby a few weeks ago, two of my cousins are due within the next 6 weeks, a couple of girls at work are pregnant, and one of my close friends had her baby a couple weeks ago. I swear it is everywhere I look and makes me feel sad that I haven't had that experience yet. A syrian woman at work made the mistake of telling me I know nothing about children because I am not a mother and I blew up on her. I felt bad for doing that, but she said it in a rude way like I was lacking or something. She knows I'm waiting for my husband to come and there is nothing I can do.

Oh, I hate that. I also hate it when they look at you with pity and say, "it's OK, you still have some time." I had a friend call me who is pregnant for the 4th time and lecture me on the number of children we want versus my age and how unless I do them back to back I am going to get past that magic 35 age. Like i don't already know that??

I know you're all off the baby subject, but I wanted to comment. That's crazy! And Julianna, aren't you only like 29 or something? No one my age seems to even be married, let alone thinking about babies. People were actually kind of shocked when I got married so young (at 25). I think if I were to be pregnant, it might be scandalous. Maybe we're just late bloomers up here, lol.

Anyway, what time do you all think is too early for your neighbor to break out the buzz saw on a Saturday morning?

Any time before 9am is too early! Yeah, I just turned 30. He just turned 32. It's really frustrating and I don't know that epople really stop and think that they are adding more stress to an already stressful situation.

I'm thinking someone had to force kitteh's paws like that.

Nah, what they do is they have something very small, like a thread and then they dangle it down and drag it upwards. That's how you get a cat to do that-- because it's trying to grab the small thread and bite it!

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

happy saturday all...the beach was well needed, zaid loved it!!

I am extremely burnt, i can hardly move...ohh the joys of irish skin\

eta..nawal, i wanna come to whereever it is you live and steal nour and zain, I always show sofyan their pics on myspace ..their gettin soo big

Edited July 27, 2008 by ks71905

[S and S 12]

Wow thx S and S for answering that. Do you have the link to the program online so I could watch it? At my Mom's we don't subscribe to any kind of TV. I really like what you said about when you study the religion don't study the muslims. That rang a bell of truth for me as I believe that as well and sometimes get distracted by responses to my questions on here. I also think that was what Waleed was trying to get across to me during the discussion of raising children. He was saying consider the sources you get your informaiton from and understand it's him that I love and trust and he would teach our children Islam, the gentle parts, the peaceful parts that the rest of the world isn't shown as much. I did get to see some of that in Egypt with his family and friends and it was refreshing.

Now I am more curious about this progressive Islam Noura spoke about. So there is a form of Islam that is progressive and doesn't accept some of these things and not all Muslims have to? What does it mean to you? They studied it with scholars and have a better understanding?

Tammy what is a mufti? Whenever I go to those sites I always get lost and don't even no where to begin as it becomes a bit overwhelming. So I'll go to the section that has sound bytes of them reciting the Quran and listen to that to calm down because it sounds like a beautiful song.

Dorothy I know what you mean. When learning about religion I try to remain objective taking it all in but it a bit of a culture shock for me if one could call it that.

The link that I was looking at is in the thread for muslims that alhamdulillah posted. It is live feed tv on the site and has various programs. It will be hit or miss if it is something you want to know, but it is a nice channel and is mostly in english.

http://www.huda.tv/defaultN.aspx?rt=15

This is a site with a women's forum where you can ask questions from other women and read what other women have asked. I like to refer to this and you can learn a lot from it:

http://www.islamicity.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=47

My other favorite videos to watch and learn about Islam with some humor is in the following link. This guy explains everything in a great way and is more progressive like you are looking for:

http://ummahfilms.blogspot.com/2006/07/vid...y-religion.html (I put the link on a good video for you but you can see the list of other videos on the right side.)

I'm glad if I could be some help to you. I hope you enjoy the links I am sending you. Definitely check out the bottom link because I am sure you will like it a lot.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

why does photobucket suck? i edit my pics to TINY and they are still effin huge

[Sofiyya 1,687]

The Quran, ahadith and practice are difficult to understand without context. I've devoted my life to the study of Islam and have a Ph.D in Islamic culture and law. My best friends are scholars and jurists. I'd be happy to answer any questions about Islam anyone and/or provide reliable resources.