American Muslims: what's real and what isn't

No, Muhammad is the last and final one.

124,000 - psshhh. Its been quite a long time from Adam to Muhammad. And technology wasn't that great back then, maybe there were a hundred different prophets at the same time in different parts of the world.

 

Okay, let me understand this. The earth probably exists for what, 4.5 billion years. Humans can be traced back about 5 million years or so. There were supposedly 124,000 prophets. Then at some point in the year 632 or so, it all stopped? But the earth has changed a lot since 632...?

Why couldn't there be a bunch more prophets?

 

First I would like to say God created us.

He sent prophets to man to teach him the way, and tell everyone who created them. His word can be found to this day in the Quaran.

So I will answer your question with another question. Why do we need more prophets?

 

I've never heard of that. If you go for Hajj, you are actually supposed to shave your head to the skin. You might be thinking about shaving the beard to skin, which is debatable among many Muslims.

 

The Sunnah is not mandatory, but highly recommended. If one is in a circumstance that he cannot perform a Sunnah, it is okay.

 

Actually, specifically for the beard, the reason they do it is because there is a Hadeeth where the Prophet PBUH says "grow your beards to distinguish yourselves from the Mushrikeen."

Some say the distinction is meant for everyday life, others say it was during a time of war when they needed an easy way to distinguish themselves.

IMO if the logic was to just copy the Prophet PBUH then we would have to even imitate the mistakes he made. Seeing as God says in the Quran over and over and over and over and over again that Muhammad PBUH is human, I imagine he would have to have human characteristics in ways other than appearance - otherwise he would essentially be very similar to the Christian view of Jesus PBUH.

 

This is unusual.

Don't you believe that the Quran's orders are mandatory? Do you know that the Quran says to "take what the messenger gives you and leave what he tells you to leave" (paraphrased)?

I remember that in school they told us it's highly recommended. But a while later, I realized it's no such thing. Copying the Prophet is a divine command according to almost all Islamic sects, and I can't understand what makes it "highly recommended" unless the Prophet PBUH specifically classified it as such.

 

I've always been curious about this, maybe you can help.

Muhammad PBUH is the seal of the prophets. But there is no mention, as far as I know, that there won't be another messenger.

Prophets and messengers are different in Islam. Can someone assume that Islam will have another messenger but not another prophet?

Or does it say somewhere that all messengers are prophets?

 

I'm not an American Muslim but in the spirit of the thread, here are some things (kinda quirky) many Muslims may do:

- Say "In the Name of God" before eating, and before doing almost anything actually.
- Do everything with you're right hand. Left hand is kinda cursed I think?
- Some people refuse to shave off their sideburns.
- Some believe that only one of the 4 legs of a horse is halal/kosher.
- Wash up before eveyr prayer. In the absence of water, this wash up ritual can be done with sand.
- Only allow some instruments in music. I think wind instruments and drums are only allowed.
- Different types of banking and insurance. Many don't participate at all in conventional banks and insurance schemes.
- Go to friday prayer where everyone stands really close to each other in rows.
- Last 10 days of ramadan, it's recommended to pray A LOT (hours and hours) because Muslims aren't sure on which of these 10 nights the Quran was descended, and whichever night it actually WAS descended, the gates of heaven are open so prayers count exponentially.
- This one is really odd for me. There's this prayer called "Istikhara" which is basically when you're not sure of which path to take or if you're taking a big step in your life, you pray this specific way and then you should receive some sign/msg or non-sign which guides you to the right decision or just calms you down. Very common to do this before getting married or taking a job for example.
- Wear those mini-hats to the mosque. I don't know where this came from but it's common.
- Beard long, hair semi-long, moustache/bodyhair short.
- Some believe the clothes have to be short enough such that they never touch the floor. This is just to make sure your clothes stay clean because you have to be clean when you pray. No mention of why people find it ok to be drenched in sweat when praying though.

Hmmm, duno if that added anything, just throwing things out there.

 

Every messenger is a prophet.

 

I don't think what I said earlier was very clear at all. I believe the Quran and the Sunnah is what makes Islam.

What I should have said is that Sunnah in the way other than worship is not mandatory, such as eating, walking, talking, sleeping in the way of the Prophet PBUH.

Avoiding a sunnah habitually is frowned upon IMO.

 

I can't imagine. To be around people who know and believe in God would be great for once.

If you never tried to better yourself over the course of your life, never learned from your mistakes, and continued making the same bad decisions after learning what is right.

If you believe in God, try to better yourself as much as you can, and try to be a good person you will go to Heaven. Even if no one taught you about Islam, God is merciful.

 

I believe covering your head was a practice of the Prophet PBUH. Not obligatory, but again recommended. Like where I was going with in the previous post.

 

Actually there are several sheikhs who denounce the action as a bid3a/innovation. The Prophet PBUH didn't always do it and he didn't say that we should do it as far as I'm aware.

It's like peeing while sitting. Many think that it's Sunnah, but the Prophet BUH actually pee'd standing up once just to prove that it's not Sunnah. But there's still this huge misconception that sitting while peeing is Sunnah.

Anyways, just curious..

 

How come?

 

A trailer for a documentary about Muslim high school football players in Michigan as they gear toward the playoffs during Ramadan. I've heard good reviews about this film thus far.

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A messenger brings a new/updated message.

A Prophet kind of just warns people to follow the previous or upcoming message.

What they have in common is that they are both allegedly requested by God to do so.

I've heard that every messenger is a prophet, but I don't understand why.

The Prophet Muhammad PBUH is called the "seal of the Prophets" i.e. he is the last one. However, there is no mention of there being no more messengers. Which is why I have always wondered if the concept of "every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger" has just been constructed to conveniently leave out the possibility that there may be another messenger.

Anyways, this will derail the thread.

Another interesting factoid: Muslims shouldn't mark graves or use a coffin. The graves should be unmarked and corpses should be buried after wrapped in a white sheet.

Music is also considered forbidden by the most extreme interpretations of non-Quranic Islamic texts. I often wonder if American Muslims are aware of these ideas or if they are followed at all.

 

Oh and dogs. How do American Muslims feel about dogs?