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*Originally posted by Matsui: *
I have been a mosque many times. Hell even prayed to god there in my own way. One doesn;t need to be a pundit. And if I come back as a muslim, so be it. If I can still revere other traditions and religions than what a good thing.
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am not suspecting ur sincerness.. but u also wrote in a post that some butcher did the same thing and now this maulvies.. but is this act one way or punduts also go to mosques as these maulvies are? never seen such a pic..
Here in States, many times our mosque invites Rabbis, Priests, Monks, Pandits and other religious leaders to the mosque for an inter-faith dialogue. After the discussion, they usually pray together for peace and harmony around the world. No one expects the jews, christians, hindus etc to pray a namaz behind the muslim maulvi.. its just a show of religious solidatory against violence.
On a reciprocal basis, when invited, muslim contingent visits churches, tempels, synagogues, mandirs and public rallies to join hands with other religions in fighting hatred, and to work for communal peace.
Its nothing new. But to actually give up your core religious beliefs to show unity smacks of hypocricy. The idea is to keep your beliefs and agree on common grounds with others.
Just because there is not a pic doesn;t mean that it is not true. frankly, I do not need this piccture to tell me that scenes like these are common place in India. In my grandmother's house. We had the usual indian small mandir with the murtis, we also had a pic of La Pieta and a wooden carving of Jesus. A gold leaf paged copy of the Quran wrapped in exquisite green fabric, a prayer rug, an idol of Buddha as well. This is where I grew up. I got sevaiyyan kheer on eid from my friend Zakhir. I played with Rubia's hair in first grade. Have colleague with names like Jimmy Patel (parsi), vijay Alphonse (Chirsitian), Sameer Kumar (muslim) and Susheel Kurien (buddhist). This is INdia. The more you guys see the world through the myopic eyes, the more panoramic it gets for me.
Did you look into their hearts, did you put your ear to their lips as they were uttering their prayers? How do you know whether they were worshipping the idols, or whether they were directing their prayers to Allah?
Being in any place of worship doesn't mean that you are worshipping the deity in that place of worship. i don't know how many times Muslim imams in my local community have been invited to churches to give presentations about Islam. Does their presence in a church mean that they are worshipping someone other than Allah (Nauzubillah)?
In the picture, maybe the imams are praying to Allah. Unless you hear from the imams' lips that "I was not praying to Allah", i suggest assumptions about other peoples' duas shouldn't be made. You are accusing them of shirk - which is surely a huge sin.
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Actions are a reflection of what is in our hearts.
Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”
Praying in front of a pagan idol is imitating the pagans and imitating them in matters of religion is worst. If an ignorant Muslim were to see those Imams praying in front of Ganesh they are going to think if an Imam Sahib with a beard is doing it must be ok…
As for visiting churches if they go there to pray towards a crucifix or a statue of Mary (peace be upon her) even if in their hearts it’s directed to Allah then that’s wrong but if they are going to give presentations on Islam or as Faisal said to fight hatred etc. then that’s different.
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*Originally posted by Saif-ul-Islam: *
Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”
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did he really say that? Hope you made it up.
Now why do you think the Muslims in the picture are imitating the others? Both are praying is all one can see. Are you saying praying is an act of copying the others?
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*Originally posted by Saif-ul-Islam: *
As for visiting churches if they go there to pray towards a crucifix or a statue of Mary (peace be upon her) even if in their hearts it’s directed to Allah then that’s wrong but if they are going to give presentations on Islam or as Faisal said to fight hatred etc. then that’s different
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What's the difference if one is praying toward Mecca 10,000 miles away and there are 500 churches with crucifixes in between them and Mecca? What if you were stuck in a room full of statues and crucifixes no matter which way you turned? Could you not pray to your God? What matters is what is in one's heart. Why do people feel like they have to interpret religion for other people? Worry about where you pray and what's in your heart.
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Now why do you think the Muslims in the picture are imitating the others? Both are praying is all one can see. Are you saying praying is an act of copying the others?
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What's the difference if one is praying toward Mecca 10,000 miles away and there are 500 churches with crucifixes in between them and Mecca? What if you were stuck in a room full of statues and crucifixes no matter which way you turned? Could you not pray to your God? What matters is what is in one's heart. Why do people feel like they have to interpret religion for other people? Worry about where you pray and what's in your heart.
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Listen I don’t want to argue.
When we pray towards Mecca, our worship is not directed towards Mecca or the Kaaba in Mecca, that’s just a direction we face. When we are praying we place a barrier in front of us so that nothing passes in front of us and if there is graves or statues etc. it doesn’t give the impression that our worship is directed towards them.
Praying when in a room full of statues it becomes necessary and that’s different but them guys were doing it intentionally.
No…The intention is to pray to Allah :swt:, no matter what’s up front…But there shouldn’t be anything in front which catches your eye and distracts your concentration…Or any thing which represents a false deity…
I'm all for tolerance and being nice to fellow human beings regardless of skin colour, caste and creed but there is no need to start worshipping their false deities.
There is other ways of promoting peace; they could provide food, medication education, shelter and health care etc. for Hindus who live in poverty or care for old aged Hindus who have no one to care for them.
Hindus are misguided and need to be shown the light of Islam through wisdom and preaching, worshipping their false deities does not help.
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why dont you think all prayers go to generic god supreme
what you get out of god that others dont get ? can you prove?
god sustains you and me same way.
^^The Kaaba is nothing more than a brick house contructed by Ibrahim :as: and Ismail :as:…It’s just a direction we face towards when praying…When there is no direction, people pray facing anywhere they want…
But if it is not a false deity, then what? Then it’s ok, right? It just so happens that Sri.Ganesh is a real deity and not a false deity. SO you shouldn’t have any problems praying in front of him.
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*Originally posted by Lajawab: *
Muslims are not allowed to pray in front of images, graven or otherwise...
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Prove it (I keep hearing this all the time that they're not allowed to. And every time the proof turns out to be "don't worship idols of false Gods or false deities as you mentioned - I have never heard anyone prove that Allah said not worship idols of real Gods)
PS: I added the stuff in paranthesis after your reply
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*Originally posted by Lajawab: *
And we don't consider any other entity 'god'...
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Then why have a rule against praying in front of an object? If you consider there's nothing special about the idol then how is it different from praying in front of a wall or the front row derrire?
