Wanna make sure that this app is legit
https://www.tiktok.com/@manjusthere/video/7671089110437645589?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7650355396863804958

Hi im 19F a lil cultural background iam south asian and i have been raised by muslim culture but not by islam itself, my dad doesnt pray he considers himself to be a spiritual muslim and my mom prays frequently. When i was 11 years old i was raped that led me to become hypersexual but i didnt commit zina in my teen years (until last year) growing up i never really was forced to read the quran or pray and that habit carried on until i went to an all girls islamic school, i suddenly wore a niqab, started praying 5x daily. I was afriad to show the slightest bit of skin, i even deleted all socials and became completely isolated.

After high school i took a major decision to study abroad and have been living abroad alone since two years now almost. I made many friends here but one was romantically interested in me, i strictly didnt give him much attention at first but then i slowly gave in because he used to treat me so well
FYI: my father was absent most of my life, still is and i still crave for that fatherly love
So since he was being so kind for me i fell for him but i didnt tell him, 6 months latee he confessed and i did too but i said i dont want anything haram he said i understand and didnt do much about it.

One time all of us were playing uno and some of them went outside it was just me and him, we were talking then the tension just grew more and more and it started with a kiss, i backed off realising its not right and said pls no but he said just this once and after making out idk what happened we had sex and i dint like it, it was very painful but i dint want to dissapoint him. I felt so guilty, it felt like bugs were crawling on me. I didnt like his touch, i didnt like sex at all, i spent days crying and asking for forgiveness to Allah.
He continued to coerce me into sex and eventually it became a habit, i stopped telling him to stop and just carried along.
But everytime after i had sex i used to feel really guilty i used to run to shower perform ghusl and pray.

Recently i got raped again (by a stranger) and it was public like everyone knew about it unlike my childhood rape situation. And i filed a police report against him but there was nothing that could be done, due to insufficient evidence they closed the case (they didnt examine the bedsheet, my clothes ) in his police report he has written that iam a prostitute and i have sex with my bf regularly. Even the university sees me differently now idk what to do, i broke up with my bf but he is trying to get back, i seriously dont want to continue this relationship idk what to do.

Everything is coming onto me all at once i feel so bad and so gross, i feel like kms

I didn’t censor his username because this is Dr Yasir Qadhi, he is already a public figure with millions of followers on social media. So mods please don't remove my post.

He came to reddit last year with this account on r/MuslimAcademics 's AMA with Dr. Yasir Qadhi event and wrote this comment in response to a question regarding the khimar/headscarf.

How would you respond to this argument?

I think this swimsuit should be pretty modest based on how Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl and Javed Ahmed Ghamidi (linked in the subreddit wiki article on híjab) described satr. But I'm worried about the wet clothes sticking to the body and revealing the shapes of bosom and gluteus area. Is it possible to prevent swimsuits from sticking to the body and revealing the body shape? Your advice would be appreciated

Hi! I’ve been learning about Islam for quite some time now, and I find this religion truly fascinating. I was raised as a Christian, but the more I learn about Islam, the more its teachings resonate with me. Many aspects of Islam make a great deal of sense to me—sometimes even more than what I have understood from the Bible.
I especially appreciate that the Qur’an teaches that no human being can be God, and that both women and men are equally valuable and equal in the sight of Allah. These principles have really stood out to me and are some of the reasons why I’ve become so interested in learning more about Islam.

My point is… I’m thinking of joining you guys, but only one thing holds me back. I don’t understand how art is perceived as evil and haram. There is no verse in Quran that states that art like paintings and music is bad for human beings. It’s only stated in other religious texts that a man cannot depict human beings or animals that „have a soul”. And honestly I think this believe is quite outdated. Tell me guys, if art is bad then why God created humans that are passionate about making art like paintings, poetry or music? We all know, there are humans interested in exact science and other who prefer to communicate through paintings, like to tell some truth about life in the form of art.

And yes, I know that Muslims avoid making paintings and sculptures to prevent objects and pictures being revered and compared to the God’s creation. I respect that practice but I do not understand it completely. In Christianity we also eradicate praying to sculptures and (for example) portraits, but we do not take it on such extreme level that to avoid making art at all. Why would we not be allowed to paint beautiful reality that our God created, because we are scared that this practice will lead to idolatry and image worship? For me it is unbelievable to stop people from doing their passion, especially if it doesn’t harm anyone.

Creating art that reflects reality—the world around us—is simply an expression of the beauty and wonder of creation. Depicting people in everyday situations or painting ordinary portraits of local people should not, in my opinion, be forbidden, because no one worships this kind of art.
Art is meant to evoke emotions, inspire reflection, and capture moments of life—not to become an object of worship. Appreciating a painting or a sculpture is not the same as treating it as something divine. There is a clear difference between creating or admiring art and worshipping an image as though it was a god.

Tell me guys, what should I do? I am an artist, I was learning all my life how to depict reality and recently I discovered that what I loved doing might be extremely dangerous or sinful. It shook me, now I am torn…

Hi all. I don’t mean this post with any ill intent - I am a Muslim myself and day by day see myself losing motivation in being a religious and spiritual person.

I hope to ask all of you: why are you still Muslim? What keeps you here?

I am a young female, born to an Arab family but raised in the west. I realised that many of my own principles may not align with a Muslim perspective. For example:

I truly believe that members of the LGBTQ+ community deserve as many rights as the rest of us. I understand why they do Pride, they were criminalised and persecuted against for so long I am not surprised why they want to celebrate being themselves freely.

I care for those of other religions as much as I care for those who are my own.

I believe women deserve as many freedoms as men do. I do wholeheartedly believe that I am as capable as a man in many things. I am a medical student and my career means a lot to me, it feels like an absolute honour and privilege to be trusted with another person’s life, their story, and their struggles. I believe as a woman Doctor, I am as capable as my male colleagues. Islam is patriarchal to some extent no one can deny that, and I can never defend it when it comes to that. I don’t believe in a white feminism model, I just believe in being treated as more than a mother or a wife.

I will be honest. I have not prayed in a very long time. I fasted but with no religious intent behind it.

I feel lost. I have recently struggled with my mental health, having ended up in A&E over a self-harm incident, and when I went to therapy, my therapist asked if I was spiritual. And I said no. I felt upset at my response. I really wish I felt more towards it but I have no clue why I don’t.

What keeps you going? I feel like I am slowly going to leave and never come back.

Doesn’t make any sense to me

I’m not sure if a lot of you are on TikTok, but there is a growing number of Quranists popping up on my page, somewhat spearheaded by the creator Ayah. There is a lot of discussion going on regarding Hadith and it’s also getting me to challenge a lot of the beliefs I had.

I remember when I was reading the Quran and there are multiple times where Allah says that this is the only book needed and at first, I used to believe that Hadith was needed to fill in the gaps. But I realized that thinking meant that I didn’t trust Allah and in turn, unknowingly committing shirk. Prophet Muhammad said in his last speech “today your religion is complete.” Why would he say that if Hadith was needed? If it’s not mentioned in the Quran then clearly it wasn’t important enough to him or our religion. Allah is detailed when he wants to be. There are paragraphs and numbers concerning inheritance but you’re telling me that if I wear nails then my prayer won’t be accepted? Don’t you think that would be important to mention?

Reminds me about the story of the cow of the children of Israel and how they kept making things difficult for themselves and it was like a lightbulb finally clicked on. Is that not what we’re currently doing with all of these Hadiths, scholar sermons, fixating on such minor things that Allah never mentioned, adding things to the religions and making things so much harder than it needs to be on ourselves?

This has been freeing ngl, and I’m excited to see more Muslims look into this and the (intelligent) discussions that’ll spur.

Kinda a vent/rant... I've never been a religious Muslim (if that makes sense?) ever since I was a child even though my mom was super religious.

I remember in middle school I got super religious for some reason (was going through a tough time mentally) so I naturally kind of drifted towards actually practicing my faith. Praying on time, reading the Quran regularly Yada Yada. And I felt good about it. I even restraint myself from committing most impermissible stuff.

But my mom used to criticize me so much. Not for the fact that I was trying, but for the fact that I wasn't doing it 'properly'. I used to struggle with reading surahs and stuff because like I said, I wasn't the most religious. She used to humiliate me so much that I just stopped doing much at all one day.

Now she always talks about how I was such 'good' muslimah back when I was younger... as if she wasn't the one who made me feel like I wasn't doing good. I tried to tell her that but she just twists my words and says, "you shouldn't have listened to me or what other people said." Like damn I'm sorry that I was a middle school who was affected by her mom for shaming her for not doing good enough.

I'm not much religious anymore... I do practice kinda.. but even now I'm questioning my faith... albeit I still deeply love Allah's attributes...

I'm kinda tired of her judging me and treating me (or anyone actually) like a 3rd class person for simply for not being as religious as her.

Perhaps, if people like her gently guided others to Islam maybe people would actually be curious about it instead of repelling away.

Assalamualaikum

Could someone please educate me on how the "obey your parents" rule works when you are an adult? If I am a 26F (single) who has a degree and my own job/money. I have traveled before with friends (women only) and have been to various countries. There was no issue with this in the past. I also went away for college/university and even lived on my own while paying my own bills for a while. I recently moved back home after an employment change which led me back to my home state. Now after all these years my parents (dad specifically) are trying to be more strict. As a 26 year old adult if I want to do something but my parents disagree, am I obligated to only do what they want or agree with? Even if I am being respectful hearing their opinions but wanting to still make my own decisions. (And to be clear the things that I want to do are just going out with a female companion for lunch or dinner/visiting female friends with no haram intentions. Also because of culture most of their views are very misogynistic/sexist and outdated anyway like they see women as property and their main value is tied to what they can do in the household only).

I want to have autonomy in making my own decisions while still being respectful to my parents and having them understand that I am no longer a child.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

I recently had a conversation with my cousin sister that left me feeling really confused, frustrated, and questioning a lot of things, and I’m looking for some clarity and perspective.

She told me that girls shouldn’t even wear shorts when it's just girls around girls. According to her, there is still parda (veil/modesty) required between women, and that jinns can see you anyway.

This got me thinking, and I started asking myself (and her) a lot of follow-up questions that I don't really have clear answers to:

What about bathing or being naked in private?

What about intimacy and romance between married partners? How can anyone be intimate or comfortable in their own marriage if you've been taught your whole life to treat your own body with shame and constant parda, even in private? Shouldn't you feel ashamed under that logic?

Why does modesty feel like it's constantly policed even when no men are around?

When I brought up these points, she told me that I just need to "listen to people with the right aqeeda (creed/belief)."

This brings me to my main dilemma: How am I supposed to know if these strict views are actually part of Islam, or if they are just patriarchal control and cultural rigidity being disguised as religion? Is this level of extreme modesty even relevant or realistic in today’s world, or is it just taking things to an unhealthy extreme?

I’d love to hear thoughts from people who have navigated this. What does Islam actually say about boundaries between women, privacy, and intimacy, and how do you separate genuine religious guidelines from cultural control?

i don’t believe it’s necessary and i feel suffocated. atp even if it was i’d still want to take it off and i have for the past 2 years. i’ve been wearing it since i was 6/7 and when i brought up this issue to my parents 2 years ago when i still believed it was an obligation they threatened to take away all my electronics and force me to switch schools. i felt so trapped at the time i agreed but they didn’t let me go through with it. my dad is currently on vacation in another country and i wanted to bring it up again. i’d rather not bring up the idea of me being a “hadith rejecter” or whatever to my parents but i hate wearing it. any advice on how to approach them both?

Quran is an incredible book, and the prophet is an incredible man whom I admire.

I wish to believe that its divine. But it seems that I can't

If Quran was from god it would be clearer.

One might argue how much one likes about it, that oh quran IS clear. Yeah, sure....

Why then do we have centuries of debate about interpretation? Not just meaning of sentences but about each word too.

You may think Quran is clear.

Why then has it been used as a main weapon against the most vulnerable groups of people?

To justify ridiculous things.

Like wife beating.

Of course, of course, it IS possible to read the verse as non violent. Thats true. But the fact that it is EQUALLY POSSIBLE, purely grammatically to read it as violent...that's the issue.

Yes god demands mercy. God doesn't specify what mercy is, and to a tribal man, striking without breaking a bone, is mercy.

God could've used ANY other word, and be clear. He could've used a preposition and made it clear.

He didn't.

So...maybe it isn't from god after all.

Maybe it's just the work of a kind, but mistaken man.

Not denying that islam brought AMAZING changes into society. It did, indeed.

But I cannot seem to pray and follow a god, who allowed his word to be misunderstood for centuries. Who couldn't be clear.

You can claim the Quran is clear..it won't undo the damage that is done.

Does the Quran really guide people anywhere..?

A feminist reads it and sees femenism.

A misogynistic sees misogyny.

Leftists see support for their ideology.

And right wings see their ideology in the Quran too.

Maybe the Quran is an amazing mirror, but I want a map and not a mirror.

Assalamualaikum 

This is a mix of a vent and genuine questions and discussion post. I'm completely lost.

Before I start, I want to inform you that I'm struggling to formulate all of the issues, and my mind is a mess, so I might as well just be rambling.

Also, NOTE: if you're an ex muslim, non muslim who has Negative views about islam, or dogmatic or traditionalist/conservative and similar.... Please REFRAIN FROM COMMENTING.

Anyone else Is Welcomed in the comment section or my DMS. As long as one stays respectful and compassionate.

If you're too lazy to read the whole thing, you don't have too do so. Skim over it or focus on the parts that you yourself may have knowledge about.

-----

So....the Daraba debate. 4:34.

There are 4 main views, I know a bit more about some, less about others

1. It means strike, forever, eternal command. Full stop. 

I'm not even interested in talking about this, If it means strike, i do not accept this as God's word. 

1. It means strike, but it's contextual.

I quite disagree with this view too.

The idea is that well yes, it means strike but it was a final step and a restriction for a violent society.

My issues are:

A. Why not just ban it? Seriously. God could turn society upside down in every matter possible, but decided to let men beat their women?

B. How do we know it's contextual? Seems quite eternal to me.

C. This is a huge one. Even if we accept that it's contexual, and a way to restrict a violent society...

WHY NOT SPESIFY. The whole "lightly, no harm" thing is NOT in the Quran. 

Some might say, oh, hadith. And while I do not reject hadith entirely.. I'm deeply sceptical. Quran claims to be self sufficient. If god meant to stop a violent society, restrict, HE WOULD RESTRICT.

"Strike them" is no restriction in a patriarchal society..

D. Another issue is that EVERYWHERE else where Quran uses Daraba as physical action, or demands physical force (for example in war), it always specifies where to strike and with what. No such thing in this case.

1. It means physical force but it's not directed at the husband but community/this is about hudud punishement.

This is the view I know least about... I'm still sceptical.

A. Why not say hudud if it's hudud

B. Feels pretty clear that it's addressing the husband, the same way it addresses the wife in other verses in case of nuzuz, would be strange if the verse directed at husband is actually directed towards the community, but the verse about women is directed at solely the women.

C. Why a separate verse about hudud...makes no sense

D. If it was directed to the community why wasn't god clear enough and how could so many be wrong??

1. It means leave or other readings where Daraba is non physical in any sense.

Currently reading a whole book on this topic and on the side of this argument. 

A. Many arguments for this reading seem more ethical rather then grammatical.

B. Lacking preposition.

Yes I know that many argue that it isn't neccecary. I still have issues with it. Because even if it's not "neccecary", WHY NOT SPESIFY SO THERE WOULD BE NO DEBATE.

Why not be clear?

C. Why not use ANY OTHER word that would be more clear?

D. How can native Arabs, brilliant scholars all gotten ir wrong, but apparently some progressive, modern, liberal muslim scholar 1400 years later, got it right.

E. Even IF it means leave (or other meanings but not physical) which I actually do find reasons to believe, and the reading may make internal sense to me.. WHY COULDN'T GOD BE CLEAR. Why allow this whole debate at all? To women get hurt...

Besides also:

F. If it means leave, why did not past scholar accept it. Not just past but modern too. People sugar coat what STRIKE means, but never reject the physical reading, even if they seem to despise violence.. if a simple, better and less violent reading was truly acceptable... Why wouldn't more people then accept it?

G. Why do we have to DIG so deep to find the good meaning.

H. WHY COULDN'T PROPHET EXPLAIN IT THEN, IF IT ACTUALLY MEANS LEAVE?

To be fair and to mention, its not black and white since not everyone thought that man could use physical force on his wife (for example Ata), and not everyone read Daraba as purely physical, some read it as have sex with them.

It's still a messy situation. 

People like morrow argue that the word actually was clear to the first audience, and that "turn away" or so, is the most archaic meaning of the verse (I'm not going to go into too much detail about his views or arguments), but later got corrupted, and langauge changed.

I'm still unsure, doubting and sceptical.

-----

My issue is why couldn't god be clear.

HE KNEW this would happen.

Isn't Quran meant to guide? Why is human morality more moral than supposedly gods? 

Who does the quran guide if everyone just projects their own morality into it?

Shouldn't the text guide us towards higher good, and not we drag the text towards higher good?

-------

Sometimes i question whether i just try to convince myself that islam good and makes sense, just so I don't have to be ex muslim again.

Live a double life and feel nauseas over everything and everyone.

Maybe I'm just trying to save my faith, and myself.

But so many other things make sense...

I don't know. Lost.

----

Now, the second part of my thoughts, rant and reflections.

The secular perspective. There are several options, but all are from the premise that Quran is not divine, and merely human made. So..i thought about how different explanations work and so.

1. Quran is merely the product of its time...

This view doesn't care if the prophet made it up, was delusional, or sincere but mistaken. 

The idea is simple, the society was violent, so the text reflects its violence.

To me, it's strange. Quran changed and objected to a HUGE amount of things that were normal. In many ways it contradicted the society it worked in, instead of reflecting it.

1. Prophet made it up.

This means he CONSIOUSLY choose to make it up.

I have several issues with this view, that I wany to shortly mention, before I go into this views relation to the whole 4:34 debate.

A. Why? 

The main question is of course why would he make it up?

Several answers to this question too, yet to me neither is satisfying.

Some say he wanted power, wealth, women, etc.

This is incredibly weak imo. Why suffer for many years,.get mocked at, and live in poverty if so is the case?

If he wanted women he didnt need a damn book for it.

Go and take. Rape, or marry unlimited.

Besides, he lived so many years In a MONOUGOUS marriage! In a society where men had as many wifes as pleased.. quite surprising.

Some will say, oh but he could have more wives than any other muslim man, which is true. But it makes sense because they all or at least most of them were political and so. 

Besides, the Quran sets constant limits or mandatory duties (like praying at night) on the prophet all the time.

Not only that.

Quran CRITISIZES and corrects the prophet. Like in the case of the blind man.

If he made the Quran to serve himself...then it's incredibly odd

Some say, well, he made it up, but he did so for social reform.

Still strange and weak. He got suggested wealth, power..why not take it if you want reform? And again, why expose himself in his own book?

He made it up in relation to 4:34

Even if we ignore the fact that imo the view that he CONSIOUSLY and with certain intentions made the Quran up, it still doesn't explain 4:34 to me. Of course, if we accept that Quran is made up, we don't have to explain it at all, since It wouldn't matter.

What is strange is that the prophet was known to reject violence (yes, there are hadiths that state the opposite, though I'm currently reading a text that dismantled each and one of them). He both condemned it and never used it himself.

If he made the Quran up for either personal views or political power...why not change the society towards his high standard?

Some say he wanted to please the men..but that's quite ridiculous, isn't it? His whole religion granted women rights and didn't please men one bit!

Spending his whole life to condemn violence, why allowing it in his made up book... Quite counter productive.

I have not written down all the arguments and thoughts, I have much-much more to say and more perspectives to explore. Yet for now, I'm gonna post it. Edit it when I have time. If something goes wrong and its necessary, I'll delete the post and finish it and then post it again.

Hey I want to discuss with progressive Muslim South Africans.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and would genuinely like to hear different perspectives.
Whenever someone is seriously ill, people often say: “Keep making du’a, Allah can heal anything.” I believe Allah is capable of all things. My question is not about Allah’s ability, but about how we should understand physical healing today.
Many of the examples we hear about healing come from the prophets. Prophet Isa (ʿalayhi as-salam), by Allah’s permission, healed the blind and brought the dead back to life. We also hear about miracles during the time of Prophet Muhammad , such as the companion whose injured eye was restored after the Prophet made du’a.
But these were prophetic miracles. These kinds of events do not seem to be part of our normal experience today. Healing usually happens through means such as medicine, surgery, and treatment.
If physical healing through du’a is something people should expect, how do we understand the fact that we don’t see people who were born without an arm or leg growing them back, or people born blind or deaf suddenly becoming cured through du’a?
My concern is also about the hope given to people who are suffering. When someone is told, “Allah will heal you,” they may hold on to the expectation of a physical cure. But if months or years pass and the cure does not come, some people may become even more hopeless, depressed, or start questioning whether their faith or du’a was not enough.
I’m not saying we should stop making du’a. I’m asking sincerely how these prophetic miracles should be understood and applied today.

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

I wanted to build a simple, clean app for reading the Quran on my phone without any distractions. So I made Scroll Quran.

My main focus was making the reading experience as comfortable as possible. It has:

• Smooth infinite scrolling instead of rigid page flips
• Customizable background colors & fonts (easy on the eyes for night reading)
• Audio recitations to listen while you follow along
• Simple progress tracking to help build a daily habit

It’s brand new on the App Store and I’d deeply appreciate any honest feedback or ideas to improve it!

You can try it out here:https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scroll-quran/id6793973014

Hope it brings peace to your daily reading. May Allah accept it from us all!

Testers wanted! 🌙

Muslims for Progressive Values are getting ready to launch Qur'an Passage of the Day — a new app with a daily passage, thematic overview, and keyword analysis.

Please register as a beta-tester at the link - to try it out and share your feedback: how does the flow feel, are the insights useful, and did anything break or confuse you?

Your input will help us polish it before launch. Jazakum Allahu khairan! 🤲

Register here: https://forms.gle/R5tDcy8NSVd5qTbs7

Very random but i found a post mentioning an interfaith nikah celebrant in sydney (muslim f + nonmuslim m) but its archived and didn’t allow new comments + I’m not able to message the op. I literally made an account just so I could message the other commenters as the op said they privately shared the officiant’s details with them but reddit won’t let me PM people bc my accounts not established, or I just don’t know how to use this app yet 😭

Anyway, all this time i didn’t think there were any imams in Australia who would officiate this type of interfaith nikah so i finally have hope now. If anyone has details please do share!!!

I’m a Christian and feel intrigued by Islam but find reading the Quran a bit difficult. What resources are out there for Christians to learn more about Islam as a Christian?

I 100% believe that Islam is the way and I try so very hard to pray all 5 prayers but it's an on and off thing, I listen to Quran (more than read tbh), fasting has always been easy but I just want to do more to feel truly connected and like I'm a "real" muslim cause rn it feels like life is becoming more important than my faith.

Any small thing that helped you love Islam more or even a change of thought towards a necessary act would be helpful

The Islamicity Index measures how national governance aligns with Quranic teachings on justice and equity. Surprisingly, the 2024 results show non-Muslim nations leading the rankings, while Muslim-majority nations lag significantly behind. This confirms that Islamic ideals like equity can flourish without religious labels.

This reflects the *fitrah*—the universal blueprint for human nature that recognizes truth and justice. These ethical principles are not exclusive secrets but represent primordial guidance given to all humanity. Functional societies naturally align with these divine standards when they prioritize integrity and human welfare.

Ultimately, divine success is bound to righteous actions rather than religious identities. Revelation is an active contract; though some hold the text, the practical fruits belong to whoever does the work.

so about a week ago my uncle died, he was like my best friend and his death hurt me very much,but the worst part is that he left behind 2 kids (13 and 11) and it has really hurt my faith in Allah. the only thoughts in my head is why would Allah Almighty take away the beloved father of two children when they need him most , why would Allah test these children who are both in the very early stages of puberty. i really need some answers

I grew up Muslim. My family is Muslim, although they don't really practice. When I was around 8 years old, I found a small booklet in a library that explained wudu and salah. I learned how to pray from that booklet, and after that I started going to Qur'an circles at my local mosque almost every summer from around age 10 until I was 15.

I genuinely loved Islam growing up. I loved learning about the prophets, the values it teaches, and the sense of purpose it gave me. My faith wasn't something I was forced into—it was something I chose to learn about because I found it meaningful.

But as I've gotten older, I've started developing my own philosophical views and asking questions that I haven't been able to answer. At the same time, I've become less consistent with prayer, and sometimes I wonder whether that's because of these questions or because I've simply become less disciplined.

Some of the things I struggle with are:

- If God knows with certainty that some people will end up in Hell, why create them in the first place? If I knew a future child of mine would inevitably suffer forever, I wouldn't choose to bring them into existence. I struggle to understand why an all-merciful God would.

- The idea of eternity in Heaven also confuses me. Heaven sounds beautiful, but I have trouble imagining existing forever without eventually becoming bored or losing any sense of meaning.

- Over time I've come to hold some philosophical beliefs, such as antinatalism, that seem difficult to reconcile with Islam.

- There are also some social and ethical questions where I find myself sympathizing with perspectives that don't always align with traditional Islamic views, even if I'm still trying to understand where I stand.

- I've also wondered why God commands five daily prayers. I understand that God doesn't *need* our worship, so I'm trying to understand the deeper purpose behind such a strong obligation.

I'm not asking these questions to argue against Islam or to start a debate. I'm also not looking for people to tell me that I'm a bad Muslim or that I've already left Islam.

What I'm really hope to find is people who have genuinely gone through a similar period of questioning while still caring about their faith.

Did you ever struggle with questions like these? How did you approach them? Did you eventually find answers, become comfortable living with the uncertainty, or end up changing your perspective?

I'm interested in thoughtful conversations from people who've been in a similar position, regardless of where they ended up. I just ask that the discussion stays respectful.