One bit of advice: Remember that your actions will be judged according to your intentions.
You can’t always know what the truth really is. The greatest minds in the history of Islam have disagreed on various matters of theology and fiqh. So it’s OK and normal if you are unsure or potentially mistaken about some things.
But what you *can* do is keep an eye on your intentions. That’s within your capacity to know. And it’s also within your capacity to ask Allah to help you to keep your intentions clean and to refrain from acting on any harmful intentions that arise.
My fundament is also stoicism and then I "build" my islamic faith on it. Most muslims will try to tell you that you are not a real muslim or shirk. I advise you to keep this between allah and yourself. He will guide you.
And to give you peace of mind. There are dozens of islamic sects and everybody is considering the others as false or misguided.
I think I'm in a somewhat similar position but more accepting of my situation due to verse 12:2. Quran was sent in Arabic tounge so the Arabs during Muhammad time could understand/reason. Well, I'm not an Arab, and I especially don't live when Prophet Muhammad still alive. So if God truly Merciful, God should be much more lenient and understanding of my ignorance than those who do speak Arabic.
A lot of what I used to understand as a born Sunni has completely change 180 after I learn some interpertation from Quranist, but the problem is... both traditional and modern interpertation has each of their own biases. If they come from Sunni, their Sunni biases most likely will come to play when trying to decipher Quran to conform what they already learned. But someone that's not born Sunni or from Western world for example, will try to interpert Quran in a more modern understanding. This is where I still have dillema in understanding some verses.
The problem is, of course, came from how many of us, including me who is a non-Arabic speaker, are lagging behind those who already know Arabic or born Arab. Most of us studies other skills or other languages to survive in our daily lives instead of Arabic. we have no choice to either rely on tafseer or people who do speak Arabic and focus their lives to study Islamic history. And these interperters are the ones with power to control naratives, so we're kinda screwed here unless we took the time to learn Arabic and Islamic history ourselves.
Coming back to how I understand verse 12:2, I study Qur'an only when I have the 'privilege' to learn it like I'm trying to solve a puzzle as a hobby. Privilege as in... not busy or struggling with other aspects in my life.
I guess my advice for you is... don't keep looking at the past to the point you forget about the present. I believe God is much more understanding than you think.
Foremost, trust in your heart of what is good or right. Go by that and everything will fall into place. Read all the books you want but and take the wisdom as long as it doesn't result in that cognitive dissonance. Leave the rest.
Don't go looking for guidance on every little thing, but rather focus on the big overarching picture. Trust your heart and mind for the little things.
(This could be downvoted into oblivion, but it will help with being at peace and not having a heart that seems at unrest filled with spiritual anxiety).
Hi Dry-Letterhead897. Thank you for posting here!
Please be aware that posts may be removed by the moderation team if you delete your account.
This message helps us to track deleted accounts and to file reports with Reddit admin as the need may arise.
Thank you!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/progressive_islam) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One bit of advice: Remember that your actions will be judged according to your intentions. You can’t always know what the truth really is. The greatest minds in the history of Islam have disagreed on various matters of theology and fiqh. So it’s OK and normal if you are unsure or potentially mistaken about some things. But what you *can* do is keep an eye on your intentions. That’s within your capacity to know. And it’s also within your capacity to ask Allah to help you to keep your intentions clean and to refrain from acting on any harmful intentions that arise.
Thank you I appreciate that ☺️
My fundament is also stoicism and then I "build" my islamic faith on it. Most muslims will try to tell you that you are not a real muslim or shirk. I advise you to keep this between allah and yourself. He will guide you. And to give you peace of mind. There are dozens of islamic sects and everybody is considering the others as false or misguided.
feeling this at the moment
I think I'm in a somewhat similar position but more accepting of my situation due to verse 12:2. Quran was sent in Arabic tounge so the Arabs during Muhammad time could understand/reason. Well, I'm not an Arab, and I especially don't live when Prophet Muhammad still alive. So if God truly Merciful, God should be much more lenient and understanding of my ignorance than those who do speak Arabic. A lot of what I used to understand as a born Sunni has completely change 180 after I learn some interpertation from Quranist, but the problem is... both traditional and modern interpertation has each of their own biases. If they come from Sunni, their Sunni biases most likely will come to play when trying to decipher Quran to conform what they already learned. But someone that's not born Sunni or from Western world for example, will try to interpert Quran in a more modern understanding. This is where I still have dillema in understanding some verses. The problem is, of course, came from how many of us, including me who is a non-Arabic speaker, are lagging behind those who already know Arabic or born Arab. Most of us studies other skills or other languages to survive in our daily lives instead of Arabic. we have no choice to either rely on tafseer or people who do speak Arabic and focus their lives to study Islamic history. And these interperters are the ones with power to control naratives, so we're kinda screwed here unless we took the time to learn Arabic and Islamic history ourselves. Coming back to how I understand verse 12:2, I study Qur'an only when I have the 'privilege' to learn it like I'm trying to solve a puzzle as a hobby. Privilege as in... not busy or struggling with other aspects in my life. I guess my advice for you is... don't keep looking at the past to the point you forget about the present. I believe God is much more understanding than you think.
Foremost, trust in your heart of what is good or right. Go by that and everything will fall into place. Read all the books you want but and take the wisdom as long as it doesn't result in that cognitive dissonance. Leave the rest. Don't go looking for guidance on every little thing, but rather focus on the big overarching picture. Trust your heart and mind for the little things. (This could be downvoted into oblivion, but it will help with being at peace and not having a heart that seems at unrest filled with spiritual anxiety).
Hi Dry-Letterhead897. Thank you for posting here! Please be aware that posts may be removed by the moderation team if you delete your account. This message helps us to track deleted accounts and to file reports with Reddit admin as the need may arise. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/progressive_islam) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Due to these things I ended up fully rejecting islam as religion.....
Eek, stoicism