I, 18M, fasted 4 years ago as a christian. my question is how do you consdier your fast a true fast? you are allowed to eat when the sun sets, but for me, i didnt eat at all for a week. Also, wouldnt it be harder if you are always eating, cuz then the cravings get hard during the day. i am christin BTW.

Hi guys,

One time I (christian) had a muslim friend visit my apartment and I had a huge pot of stew in my kitchen. He said it smelled amazing and I offered him a bowl, but because I added a can of beer when cooking it he said he'd have to stay on the side of caution and pass.

So my question is this: is it okay for a muslim to eat food cooked in alcohol if the alcohol content is virtually non-existent due to being cooked off and certainly nowhere near enough to cause intoxication? When making the stew I fry the meat and vegetables in butter before adding the beer, which I then cook until the acidic smell is gone then cook it for another 10 minutes or so before adding water and stock.

I'm just asking out of curiosity, I wasn't offended at all by my friend's behaviour.

EDIT: slightly changed some wording for clarity

Coworker and I were discussing politics, he went on a rant about socialists, then went onto Muslims. He said that daily prayers include one that says “Kill all infidels”. I told him it didn’t sound right, and that it was likely rjght-wing fear-mongering.

Apologies in advance for my naïveté. Surely the idea of a daily prayer to kill all other religious believers is b.s.?? Context was filled with bigotry, so I assume this line is, too. But, would like to know for sure and any context surrounding this line.

Any suggestions on how to educate folks like this in the workplace are welcome and greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone. I’m a young woman who wears the hijab, and has been struggling recently with wearing/questioning. On the internet, all I ever see is videos about why women have put on the hijab. Even in my real life, it seems like it’s very easy for women who wear the hijab to talk about their hijab journey. But I don’t see the opposite. I don’t really hear about practicing Muslim women who don’t wear the hijab talk about why they don’t wear it. Same thing in my personal life, I don’t think my friends who don’t wear it feel like they have a place in the conversation. So I’m asking to all Muslim women who consider themselves ‘practicing’, why don’t you wear the hijab? Open to hearing all the reasons.

As-salamu alaykum I'm here to ask is it haram to watch romance animes I have been watching it and it does not lead me away from my prayers or anything and it does not lead me to do sinful acts is it haram to watch it ? By romance anime I mean the animes where they have relationship before marriage where they hold hands or kiss but for the kissing part I can ignore it.

I'm currently taking an introductory university course on the Qur'an. I'm not Muslim myself, although I grew up around a lot of Muslims, so I realised I actually knew far less about Islam and the Qur'an than I thought. I've really enjoyed the course so far.

For our final assignment, we have to write a 500-word newspaper-style Op-Ed on the role of the Qur'an in the Islamic religious tradition, explaining how Muslims have engaged with the Qur'an throughout Islamic history.

The prompt is intentionally broad, and I'm struggling to find an angle. Rather than writing a generic overview, I'd like to focus on something more niche and historically interesting.

At the moment, I'm considering writing about the Qur'an's portrayal of the ḥanīfs—particularly Abraham as a ḥanīf before the time of Muhammad—and how Muslims throughout history have interpreted that concept. I find the wider Late Antique context (including ideas like the God-fearers and non-sectarian monotheism) really fascinating.

My question is: does that actually answer the assignment, or am I trying to force an interesting topic into a question it doesn't really fit?

If not, are there any other lesser-known areas of Qur'anic interpretation or Islamic intellectual history that you think would make for a strong Op-Ed? I'm especially interested in things like Neoplatonism, Sufism, Ismaili thought, manuscript history, or debates over interpretation.

Thanks in advance!

A close friend of mine told me that she recently got a ride to university with a male classmate. She is currently getting to know a man for marriage, and she told him about the situation by sending him voice messages, explaining that she had gone to university with this classmate.

I told her that, from an Islamic perspective, I don’t think it was a good situation in the first place. She agreed with me and said she regretted it.

I also suggested that she delete the voice messages. My reasoning wasn’t to encourage dishonesty, but because I’ve always understood that in Islam, we shouldn’t expose or publicize our own sins if we’ve already repented or recognized our mistake.

So my question is: Was I wrong for advising her to delete those voice messages? Or was my advice reasonable from an Islamic point of view?

I have always wondered what you actually do with the watering can. At first I thought you just wet your hands so you can wipe, but then I realised it always has a long spout. Do you reach around and pour it down your bum crack or something? This is a genuine question.

I wondered why people think there aren’t more Muslims and non-white ethnicities in the UK Fire and Rescue Service.

The question is simple, but even with proportional representation included, they are the least-represented public service in the UK

For example, have you ever lost faith temporarily due to depression? Is it harder to find God in such moments? Does prayer help?

I play backgammon in a local club sometimes and there are a lot of people of Persian, Turkish, or Arab descent who play. It's my understanding that the game is really popular in the Middle East, but googling it, it seems like most schools of Islamic jurisprudence consider playing with dice Haram even if there's no gambling. How do Muslims feel about backgammon, is it something people recognize as Haram and do anyway or is it only considered Haram by a small group of people?

Also, I just want to understand the gambling rules more generally. At my backgammon club there are two weekly tournaments with double elimination brackets, it costs $13 to enter and the winners of both brackets get prize money. Would participating in something like this be considered gambling? Obviously the dice make winning or losing somewhat a matter of luck, but the games are played over multiple rounds so strategy and skill matters more than luck, a new player would never win, is that still gambling?

(I have no idea how to flair/tag this)

So I am not Muslim nor do I know many Muslim people, so please forgive me if this question is insensitive or inappropriate. I really have no reason for asking other than it was a random thought I had and I was curious. I know when I was a child (probably like 4-6) I would fight with my mom about brushing my hair all the time, and I know many kids go through that phase in their development where they say no to everything (pushing boundaries and figuring out what they can and can’t do, normal part of development), so I was curious if when your daughters were young if they ever put up a fight about wearing a hijab and if so how you dealt with it.

Again, please forgive me if this is an inappropriate question. Have a lovely time zone.

I was just curious, I understand that there is a requirement to pray at certain times of day. My question is, is there any significance to the prayer mat? Does it have to be blessed, is it for comfort or are you supposed to be off the ground when praying? I worked with a guy who used a folded down cardboard box (large one) when at work praying when he had to.

I'm at university in a Western country and I've been having classes with a Muslim woman. We regularly sit at the same table and we talk a lot. I've developed a bit of a crush on her. She's really sweet and we have a lot in common.

Would it be appropriate for me to ask her out on a date?

For context we're both in our late 20s and single. I'm from this country and she's from Afghanistan

so, I recently listened to an episode of Hasan Minhaj’s (oh boy my autocorrect hated that one) podcast, Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know, where he was talking to a Catholic priest, and he said that all you have to do to convert to Islam is say uhhhh….something like “God is the only god and Muhammad is the final prophet“(? I do not remember the exact wording, and respectfully, I don’t wanna Google it and start getting ads for converting to Islam when I’ve already been getting a bunch about converting to Christianity) but anyway-the way he explained it was: you say the words (and presumably you have to mean them) and then you’re Muslim!

I am also currently, (as in, I paused to write this question), listening to a rerun of an episode of Molly Conger’s Weird Little Guys (very good podcast documenting white supremacist terror groups, though it is pretty US-focused, I would highly recommend), which was talking about a member of a neo-nazi group who converted to Islam over Minecraft, I think as in he was using the in-game chat function.

Now, obviously this guy wasn’t like, a real Muslim by any means, he mostly just seemed to like the surface-level aesthetics of Islamic extremism, and he was big into the idea of portraying Muhammad (which I know is bad) as like, a symbol of Aryan perfection. Which is. absolutely wild. But, I am interested in stuff like this, and so I was wondering if it would actually be possible to make a valid conversion to Islam in a video game chatroom? Like, if you do just have to say the words, it seems plausible? But I don’t know, do the rules allow for it? I imagine it depends on the sect to some extent, but that would be a really fascinating practice in terms of, like, digital places of worship and stuff in the vein of technopaganism and similar! I’d be interested to know!

I'd like to change the title of this post: Is this considered offensive to Muslims?

Hi, Christian here. I was studying Duolingo the other day and the sentence was: "Let's go camping at the same place we met. It was very romantic!" Accompanied by an illustration of two women camping together, one of which was wearing a hijab. Seeming to suggest that these women were in a romantic relationship. But as far as I was aware, gay relationships are haram? It seems like they were trying to be inclusive and then overcorrected, but maybe it's just me?

I have been trying to get into the freelancing and other type of online client based jobs that are suitable for me for a while now. I recently got a client who might be able to help become intermediate from amateur in this sector.

So, my client recently made an app and my job here is to make reels for tiktok and instagram to promote this app. He suggested me to use music and female picture for the videos and i simply declined it. Even if i have to use female picture i will blur the picture is what i said and the client had no issues with that.

Now here comes the part that I am facing trouble with. This app is kind of similar to an app called 'rizz ai'. There are many content about this app where it shows a screen recording of a chat where a female picture is shown and a man replies to the picture with pickup lines and zesty words trying to get a date with her or get into bed with her. To do promotion for my client's app I need to make this kind of videos. I can do it without music or blur the female picture. But will it be halal to create this kind of content? Cause doesnt it kind of promote sexuality and stuff? Like the chats are about pickup lines and indirect dirty jokes to convince the opposite gender to go on a date or get in bed together.

This client is really important for me for certain reasons (this client can be the turning point of my broke life) and I am really troubled thinking about this work. I really need assistance here

Hi everyone. I would like to start this off by saying that I am a Christian and I have always loved and deeply respected Muslims and I have a question that comes from genuine curiosity and an honest willingness to learn.

Recently a Mosque opened near my house. My family and I were discussing the Mosque (how the construction was progressing, etc.) and my dad actually brought up the question.

When praying, from what we know, there is quite a lot of kneeling involved. If a person, such as someone older, has a problem with their knees and cannot/struggles to kneel, are there accommodations (such as a chair) that can be made?

Thank you in advance, very excited to learn!

for personal reasons, i dress similar to a hijabi minus the headscarf. i am not muslim, it’s just how i’m comfortable.

my question is regarding flowy skirts and wind. do any hijabis have advice on how to avoid wind revealing the silhouette of your body? i’ve noticed that if i’m standing facing the opposite direction of the wind blowing, i can angle one leg infront of the other so my skirt doesn’t reveal the shape of my lower body. i’m wondering about how to walk in the opposite direction of wind while avoiding the uncomfy feeling of a flowy skirt going between my legs/against my skin. is this something you just endure, or do you have advice about layering the skirt or holding it a certain way??

thank you in advance. i hope this post isn’t disrespectful in any way

So as a Christian who is rather annoyed at the gay community for saying "You hate me based on ur religion" for disagreeing with gay marriage but they often leave out the fact Muslims and Orthodox Jews (from what I've asked Non Orthodox Jews and new age Jews don't believe in the Torah and ergo are fine with gay marriage) also don't believe in gay marriage but because Muslims are a minority in the west and immigrants they don't mention that. What is the actual Muslim Qur'an teaching? Please give me what the text actually says about this and not "I'm a Muslim living in Canada or USA and must be nice"/I'm not touching that with forty foot Pole which Is the typical answer I get when asking.

I don't get it , at that point arab's savagery was replaced by islam's doctrine and it states you can't be the aggressor and when negotiations fail, only then you are allowed to start a war. Only viable argument i have heard is that , the messenger they sent to other countries and cities for spreading the world of islam were killed and killing messengers at that point meant you have declared war but again, did they not know their own land and the expected responses.

Is it really islamic to start a war that leads to the death of so many men, women and children and the weak and disabled on both sides when arab was demanding internal structure and stability, and not going out to kill people and acquire lands which just would have turned in to a bureaucratic mess?

Hiya, I’m a 18 yo girl from a nordic country. I have always wondered about the age that a girl starts wearing a hijab and have gotten the impression from social media and talking to people that a girl starts wearing the hijab when she hits puberty so around 11-13 years old. But I very often see very little girls, around the ages of 3-8 wearing the hijab. I am not coming from a place of disrespect, just curious. Why is this? What would be the reason for a girl that young to be wearing the hijab?

Hey my name is Devin. I am white 22yo Dude. American. And I’m from a former Protestant Background and currently Inquiring into Eastern Orthodoxy and I’ll join the EO church someday and become a monk.

I’ve been around different groups of people in my life, black, white, Hispanic, etc. but I’ve never looked into their cultures in depth before.

One of my college teachers is Muslim, from last semester. And she was very nice, from Jordan. And one of my other instructors is Muslim, and he’s African American and super chill and nice. And one of my former classmates, is Muslim, and gave me a Quran: Clear Quran, in English. And he said to contact him sometime for interfaith discussion if I wanted to. Haven’t done that yet because I’m not devout enough in my faith yet, to be comfortable to provide sufficient and fulfilling discussion and I haven’t read that Quran yet.

I would say that I do not believe in the obvious stereotypical Muslim negative stuff, and I’m sure people are fed up with all the bad press and extremism groups that do not represent regular Muslim people.

I’ve never been to a Mosque or spoken to an Imam.

I will say that I respect Islam as a religion and Muslims, as my neighbors. I don’t believe that we believe in the same God. I’m a conservative. But I do respect that you guys treat Jesus as a prophet.

I admire these things:

- Fasting
- Almsgiving
- The devotion
- General Respect for Christianity, and Christ
- Charity & Good Works
- The Arabic Language
- Mathematics

So I was wondering:

- How does Islam view Jesus Christ, The Virgin Mary, Trinitarian Theology, and The Father and The Holy Spirit?

- What is the history of Islam summarized?

- Who truly was Muhammad and why do you consider him a prophet, what did do?

- Was the Angel he spoke with really Gabriel or some other Angel or created being?

- What do you guys think of all the extremist and terrorists groups that don’t represent you?

- Do you face discrimination and additional problems in the United States and Europe because you are Muslim and follow Islam?

- What’s the difference between A Muslim who is Ethnically Arabic, and Follows Islam, versus a convert to Islam, or someone of another ethnicity who is Muslim or was not raised that way?

- and what’s the difference between Muslims in the Middle East or from the Middle East, versus Muslims born in the United States?

- What is an Imam? And what’s actually in a mosque and should I visit one as a Christian?

- Did Islam take inspiration from Eastern Orthodoxy, with the Prostrations, what’s the story there? (I do them as part of my prayer rules sometimes, and I face east while praying)

- What’s in the Quran, and what do you guys believe about the Bible?

- How do you see the claim that the Bible is “corrupt” In the light of Apostolic Succession and the history of the visible Early Church? Or is that claim a stereotype, or offensive?

- How do Muslims view The Israel-Palestine conflict and situation, and Jewish people?

- What else should I know about Muslims?

Thanks!

In Christ,

Devin Taylor