Islam

Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion teaching that there is only one God (Allah) and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. It is the world's second-largest religion with over 1.8 billion followers or 24.1% of the global population, known as Muslims. Muslims make up a majority of the population in 50 countries.

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 3 years ago

This is a complicated question that is blurred by two things. First, historically, Muslims have tended to have different views on this. Some Muslims have opposed astrology, and others, especially those of a more mystical inclination, have accepted it. 

This is also complicated by the scientific viewpoint of modernity. Today, it is considered bad science to believe in astrology, and so many Muslims will reject it to avoid seeming backwards. Even in ancient times, scholars disagreed whether astrology is factually valid (that is, whether it is an accurate science of inquiry or not); however, there were aspects of an astrological worldview that were common in many fields such as medicine in the Muslim world and Europe. Therefore we find things about timing that, today, would be considered "astrological" in works such as Tibb al-Rida (A), although such things were considered scientific not "astrological" back then.

(This is apart from the fact that, in older times, people tended to rely more on the stars for basic timings of life such as when to plant, predicting weather, and so forth.)

Furthermore, in the pre-modern era, Muslims, like others, tended to hold a worldview in which the cosmos was seen as united and meaningful. Therefore, there was no philosophical problem in holding that the positions of the planets or stars might have some relationship to what happened to human beings. In today's materialistic model of the universe, however, where everything is seen to be independent and lacking inherent meaning or connection, this idea does not make sense and hence tends to be dismissed as superstition. 

In any case, regardless of the fact that there were varying viewpoints on astrology in earlier eras of Islam, it clearly was influential in the classical Muslim era. For instance, both Baghdad and Cairo were founded at times that were determined astrologically in hopes it would contribute to the success of the cities. Astrology was also heavily influential in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires, and it is really only in the past century that it has disappeared from public view.

Jurisprudentially, there is a Sunni hadith which narrates that the Prophet (S) said: ""Whoever seeks knowledge from the stars is seeking one of the branches of witchcraft…” So, from a Sunni angle, if one accepts that hadith, it would seem to be against astrology. That said, I personally am skeptical that the Prophet (S) actually said that, but to each their own.

Shi'i hadith texts are more complicated on the subject as the Imams were said to have knowledge of all things and that included the science of the stars.

The difference between Sunni and Shi'i texts may also be because astrology was more prominent and developed in the regions which Islam expanded to after the time of the Prophet (S), and astrological texts were part of the texts that were translated during the translation movement of the Abbasid era. So, since the Imams were alive during that time, there were more discussions about it. 

Apart from that, the main theological concerns over astrology seem to be:

(a) Shirk - that is, believing that the planets/stars have more control than Allah and/or worshipping the planets/stars [as is attributed to the Sabaeans].

This has been a shared concern by Muslims and Christians and historically has been refuted by those who accept astrology by saying that the stars/planets are a lens for divine power, or under the control of Allah, and not independently acting entities.

(b) Astrologers make mistakes and have varying levels of skill in their craft and differences of opinion on how to practice it; some are outright liars or try to manipulate kings.

Also, I would add, some things that are said in the name of astrology are really quite silly; for instance, there is a lot of silliness on some blogs and social media sites today. Whether or not one accepts astrology as a valid science, it still has internal rules that were taught and agreed upon, and so one can still evaluate whether or not it is being done "correctly" according to the historical rules of the art, or if someone is just making fiction up entirely.

(c) To discourage unhealthy dependency on fortune-tellers or soothsayers and to discourage a culture whereby someone always consults a fortune-teller before making a decision or is obsessed about these things.

(d) To avoid losing hope in God and feeling that everything is predetermined and there is no role for prayer; and/or avoiding self-fulfilling prophecies (being told something negative and subconsciously living it out).

From a Shi'i fiqh perspective, there are different views. (This is also complicated by the fact that there have historically been various uses of astrology, and some might be considered permissible and others impermissible.) To my knowledge, Ayatollah Khamene'i allows the practice of astrology as long as the astrologer conditions what they say with the clause that everything is in the hands of Allah (rather than claiming that his or her statements are absolute or interfere with Allah's right to decree and establish fate, or that the planets/stars themselves control things).  

An interesting historical text which discusses astrology from a religious perspective is Faraj al-Mahmum fi 'Ilm al-Nujum by Ibn Tawus, and if one looks quite hard, one can find an English translation of it (or at least a partial translation).

Those are a few insights - hope they help!

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

1. Night worship has special importance because it is usually done away from the eyes of people, hence it strengthens the dedication and sincerity (Ikhlas) and trains the worshiper to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) and not people.

2. Night worship gives the person better chance to think and ponder about the main facts of life here and hereafter away from the noise of the day life and public. 
3. Night worship makes the person remember and evaluate his deeds then thank Allah (SWT) for His bounties and seek forgiveness from sins.

4. Night worship makes the person feel the taste of talking to Allah (SWT) in private which is one of greatest tastes of happiness and comfort  in our life.

5. Night prayers makes the heart of the person more oriented towards Allah (SWT) and it increases the love of Allah.

Wassalam.

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Mateen Charbonneau, Sheikh Mateen Joshua Charbonneau achieved a certificate from Harvard University in Islamic Studies. He undertook Howza classes under esteemed scholars since 2013 and has been teaching at Imam Mahdi... Answered 3 years ago

It is allowed to kill insects posing harm to us. 

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Mateen Charbonneau, Sheikh Mateen Joshua Charbonneau achieved a certificate from Harvard University in Islamic Studies. He undertook Howza classes under esteemed scholars since 2013 and has been teaching at Imam Mahdi... Answered 3 years ago

It is not forbidden

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

The claim of your non Muslim friend is untrue. He might be influenced by wrong anti Islam propaganda.
Quran is very clear that (No compulsion in religion)(2:256). The Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) never forced any one to become a Muslim inspire of being the head of the state in Madina. Non Muslims lived free in their faith during his government.

We never fight to force people to become Muslims and we believe that I forced faith is invalid. We fight just to defend ourselves, our community and our faith when there an attack on us. Allah says in Quran (And fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but never transgress the limits, surely Allah does not like the transgressors)(2:190).

Muslims ruled over many countries e.g Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Egypt and African countries but never forced people to b4come Muslims. That is why you find after centuries of Muslim rule, millions of non Muslims are still existing and free in their non Muslim faith. Muslims ruled India for ten centuries and find till today the majority of people there are non Muslims. Those who became Muslims opted themselves by themselves to embrace Islam because of the great teachings of Islam with out any force. Egypt after 1400 years of Muslims rule have till today millions of Copts. Theses are living examples of the freedom of faith in Islam.

Wassalam 

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answer updated 3 years ago

Financial trading is permissible as far as it is away from any forbidden dealing.

'Wassalam.

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answered 3 years ago

Short answer: The Qur'an and hadith teach us to respect other people, regardless of what they believe. However, they do not give an equal place to all beliefs or practices.

Long answer: While the Qur'an and hadith recognize several different religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, they do not recognize the custom of worshipping idols in Mecca or Medina as a distinct religion.

As for whether the Arabs who worshipped idols in Mecca and Medina saw their customs as a distinct religion, it is difficult to say for sure, but there is no indication in the texts that they saw themselves as united as a single faith community or a single religion; appealing to idols was simply customary practice. They focused on tribal and ancestral identity, not religious identity. I am fairly sure that the term "wathaniyyah" was adopted after their time. In contrast, the Qur'an encourages replacing ancestral/tribal identity with a faith-based identity.

The concept of "religion" as we have it today (and as it is used in the English language) is rather modern. In fact, it is heavily rooted ins secularism. Everyone is expected to follow the same way of life (national culture, national laws), and religion is seen as a private matter. Therefore, we should respect everyone's personal decision about their religion (that is, private beliefs); however, everyone must follow the same way of life (national culture and law). So, in essence, national culture and law has taken the place of religion in modernity in most nation-states. 

In fact, many languages historically have not even had an equivalent word for "religion" as it is used in English today. 

So, talking about religions during the time of the Prophet Muhammad (S) or the Prophet Ibrahim (A) should be done with the understanding that we may be accidentally projecting modern ideas onto the past, or onto other cultures, and then trying to avoid that.

The Qur'an, hadith, and classical Islamic literature tend to use words such as din, millah, and shari'ah to mean "religion". These could be translated as "way of life", "community", and "religious law". From this angle, the communities that were identified as having a specific way of life, scripture, communal identity, and law were Jews, Christians, Sabaians, or other established communities. 

For instance, in the classical model of the Islamic state, certain religious communities (in particular, the Ahl al-Kitab, including Jews, Christians, and some others) are allowed to follow their own religious law, abstain from military service in exchange for paying the jizyah, and enjoy protection of their houses of worship. [Of course this model is somewhat theoretical as what happens in practice tends to be more complicated, but this is how things were seen theoretically]

However, neither the polytheists of Arabia nor the polytheists of the time of Ibrahim are seen as having their own communal identity based on religion or what we would call a "religion"; they are simply seen as (a) deviating from the truth, and (b) following common custom. 

Conversely, neither the Prophet Muhammad (S) nor the Prophet Ibrahim (A) is presented as a prophet bringing a new or alternative religion to his people (in the same way that, for example, Christianity was seen as a distinct faith community coming from outside the Arabian Peninsula). Both prophets are seen as supporting the ancient message, not bringing a new idea.

This is why the bulk of the arguments in the Quran are not about accepting Islam as a specific religion. Rather, it focuses on why the idol-worshippers (who believed in God as well as demigods) should stop appealing to their demigods and worship only God instead. That is, the idol-worshippers tended to worship their demigods to placate them, with the belief that if they did not, a disaster might strike them. Or they would worship their demigods to appeal to them for wealth or sustenance. Or, they would worship their demigods with the belief that their demigods would appeal to God on their behalf. The Qur'an, basically, says that all of this is unnecessary and/or false since all power belongs to God and their demigods do not control matters of good and evil or sustenance, and that their demigods are not really intermediaries. 

They should also give up backwards customs and taboos which are socially harmful and which were passed on along with their customs regarding idols.

For instance, Ibrahim (A) is not telling his people to follow a new religion; rather, he is telling his people to stop supporting falsehood. 

Basically, there is a sense that these people should have known better than to be building and appealing to idols and had simply deviated from the truth. One way this is apparent is that the Qur'an does not explain everything anew; rather, there is an assumption in the text that the people hearing about the stories of the prophets are famliar with them and it is all part of a common cultural and religious context, even if some people were appealing to idols.

The Ka'bah, in particular, is seen as originally being a site of worshipping God, built (or re-built) by Ibrahim (A), but the practice in it became corrupted (for instance, through people performing the hajj in the nude, or placing false idols in it). So the job of these prophets is to remind the people of how they have gone wrong, and then to provide some new religious legislation and teachings (such as the shari'ah and Qur'an) to steer the boat in the correct direction in the future. 

This is rather different from, say, someone who grows up as a secular agnostic, has no real contact with organized religion, and then converts to Islam as a new faith.

So this is how the matter is understood in Islamic sources. 

In any case, that was then and these were prophets; today, there is no need to go around breaking people's idols. Also, most modern idols are invisible things, such as money, celebrity status, number of likes on Facebook, and so forth which cannot be broken even if one tried. 

In any case, it is a good question and good to think about.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

Islam encourages social co-operation to spread useful knowledge and uplift the quality of life of people. Social media helping the good cause is encouraged but when it spreads bad practices and harmful acts, then it should be avoided.

'Wassalam.

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

It is recommended to look like happy and smiling even if you are unhappy. The Hadeeth describes the believer as ( His sadness is inside his heart, and his face is always pleasant and smiling حزنه في قلبه وبِشره في وجهه

Wassalam.

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Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 3 years ago

Teachers are highly respected in the Islamic tradition. 

The Qur'an does not talk about teachers too much, perhaps because part of the reform that Islam was bringing was an educational reform, and so, during the time of the Prophet (S), the society was transitioning to one with more focus on learning. However, one can see all the prophets discussed in the Qur'an as teachers.

Furthermore, the Prophet (S) emphasised teaching and learning, for instance, when he freed some literate prisoners of war, rather than requesting money in exchange for returning them, he requested that they teach others to read first. Islam has been referred to as 'the world's largest literacy program' and I think that is an apt description.

Additionally, there are many mentions in hadith of the importance of teaching, necessity and value of learning, and honour of the teacher, such as:
 

* It is narrated that the Prophet (S) said, ‘The best form of charity is for a man to gain knowledge and then teach it to his fellow brethren.'

* It is narrated that Imam Ali (A) said, ‘Everything decreases with giving away except knowledge.’

* It is narrated that Imam al-Baqir (A) said, ‘For the teacher of good, all the animals on the land and the fish in the sea seek forgiveness on his behalf, as do all creatures great and small in Allah’s earth and sky.’

* It is narrated that Imam al-Sadiq (A) said, 'Everything has a zakat, and the zakat of knowledge is to teach it to those who are worthy of it.’

If you have an interest in this subject, I would recommend the following book:

Desire of the Aspirant: On the Etiquette of the Teacher and the Student
by al-Shahid al-Thani [a classical Muslim scholar of the Shi'i persuasion]
translated by Alexander Khaleeli 

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Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 3 years ago

Not at all. Blind faith with out evidence is not accepted in Islam.

Wassalam.