من أدهم..عن أي شيء

Dear Immanuel,
FIrst of all, i am impressed.

I have travelled to a few countries, Muslim and
non-Muslim, and only very few people were interested in
such topics.
Actually one reason i am here in couchsurfing is to
establish this “bridge”

It is true i wrote i am a practicing Muslim. I posted
this here so that you can expect what kind of person
will meet you.

I will try to answer your questions. But first of all,
let me tell you few important things i believe i should
say as long as you are interested in hearing:

I believe in Allah of course.. but why? there is no one
materialistic reason. No scientific evidence.. Only Signs.. And i
can’t feel Allah with my senses.. This is pretty
obvious. Because He is God.

So when i believe in God, i am simply doing something
that is higher than my senses! And the mind can’t find
a sure reason to prove God. You just see and believe
the “evidences” that God exists.. You see His
creations.. you see his deeds etc..

So, we believe in God which is a very big task.. I
thank him for giving me this blessing after thinking
about it and not just inherit being a believer from my
parents..

Now, when you believe that there is a God up there. and
He is powerful, merciful and .. and .. and..
this is a bigger and more difficult thing to do than
following His orders.

Let me explain more.. Some of your questions might not
have an answer for me. But the thing is : i don’t need
answers all the time..
sometimes i need the answers to make me more
comfortable that Islam is the right way.. and that i am
not mis-guided. But following Allah’s orders doesn’t
depend on my understanding of the wisdom behind them or
the reasons of them.

for example.. Allah ordered us not to Eat blood..
in this case, the first thing to do is “NOT TO EAT
BLOOD”
after following his order, i will start asking “WHY I
SHOULDN’T EAT BLOOD?”
and my ability to find an answer doesn’t determine if i
will obey Him or not. Because these questions are easier tofigure out more than the biggest question “Is He up there?”
This is the rule i am following. And because i am a
medical student and a programmer in the same time, i
try to find answers for these questions using logic and
analytical thinking.

So, the answers i am going to give you are not Allah’s
answers they are my answers when i try to understand
why Allah told us so.

Also i will try to explain why we believe Allah didn’t
explain the wisdom in many of His orders.

This is a bit long email but i believe the time i am
spending in writing will make both cultures get
closer.

So. i will try to answer your three questions here
:

First Question:
Why Muslims don’t eat or drink Blood?
Before that, i need to make sure that you know the
following:
- we must cook meat very well so that it doesn’t have
blood in the arteries and vessels.
- we must slay animals.. chocking them or killing them
with smashing their heads is not allowed. we must cut
the neck so that all the blood in the animal goes out.
so we are not allowed to have blood in our meal ..

God didn’t say why.. This is a verse :

“” He has only forbidden you dead meat, and blood, and
the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name
of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is
forced by necessity, without wilful disobedience, nor
transgressing due limits,- then Allah is Oft-Forgiving,
Most Merciful. “” [16:115]

But because i am a medical student, i can tell you why
people shouldn’t eat blood:
Blood is the place where most of the bacteria, viruses
and germs stay in the body. simply everything. So, if
the animal is sick or anything, it will be a disaster
to eat this blood. Also blood has many elements that
are harmful to the body. by getting rid of the blood
and cooking meat thoroughly, you can eliminate most of
the infections.

Again, this is my own thought.. Not necessarily Allah’s wisdom !

and there is a note, Qur’an was unchanged for 1400
years when Mohammed “Peace Be Upon Him” lived. which is
centuries before Microscope. before humans could
understand what is infection and what is a virus.
Qur’an is a book by God.. have to make sense all the
time. And 1000 years ago, it wouldn’t have made sense
to say ” blood can have some viruses”

Second Question:
Why we want to stay buried and only buried?
In Islam, we believe that this life is a test (
obviously! ) so the other life is an extension of this
life. We believe that when you die, your journey
doesn’t stop..
so, we respect the dead bodies so much. They still have
the same rights as they are alive. you can’t burn them,
you can’t do anything except out of necessity (as in
organ transplantation or autopsy) but as long as there
is no need, the body should be respected and buried to
the ground.
And of course if it is burned or exploded even, this
won’t prevent the owner from coming back. lol. I think
it is just about “respect” to the bodies.
Actually not only the bodies. Gossiping and cursing are
also not allowed to the deaths.
We must treat them as if they were living.

Third Question:
Do I believe that non-muslims are going to Hell?
Before i answer this, we know that Allah is just. He
will be fair to everyone. And Heaven/Hell is his
business and not mine.
But, i believe if i follow something else other than
Islam, i will go to Hell.
WHY? because i deeply know that Islam is the right path
to Allah. Leaving it will be simply leaving the right
to the wrong.. which is the “problem”

for christians as an example or any non-muslim
religion:
if the person knows that “islam” is the right path..
and simply chooses not to follow it.. this is bad..
because this is “leaving the truth”
but let’s say, someone was born in some european
country.. never heard of islam.. or even when he heard
about it, he heard that the muslims are terrorists and
that they want to blow the world then he certainly
won’t think that Islam is the right path..
In this case, Allah will deal with him with justice.
And mostly he will go to heaven if he followed whatever
he thought is the truth.

So, the point in Islam is ” Are you following what you
believe in?”
“Are you Obeying God after you believed in Him?”

Of course Islam is the right path in my opinion which one can’t chose between it and any other religion once he knows it is the truth. But knowing that it is the truth depends on life.. on Muslims to deliver this message and one’s search for truth. So we can’t judge people because the truth didn’t reach them. Allah will judge them if they got the truth and simply chose to ignore it.

as you might have seen, not all the muslims are
religious.. although they know the truth.. this is
bad.. because this is not following what they believe
in.

Actually i had this question and went to a religious
“sheikh” like scholar to ask him..
and that was his answer.

I know i have been writing for long and this is maybe
the longest mail i have ever wrote.
But this is my duty as a muslim.. and Allah will ask me
if i didn’t reply
because we are responsible on changing this image that
the west has established for islam.. people need to see
Muslims.. they need to know that we are a peaceful
religion and that our teachings are nice and make
sense.

In the end, i apologize for the so-long mail.. but the
answers are always longer than the questions

Immanuel, please feel free to ask me any question you
might have. i will be more than happy to spend an
amount of time everyday to try to tell you what i
know.

again, such a pleasure to receive your message and i
will be waiting for your reply..

Adham