What kind of a god punishes good people just because they arent Muslims? Sounds like a rather shallow god to me...
One could argue that you can't be a "good" (a loaded term) person if you don't follow God's will. Can a good person ignore (which is contempt) the Quran?
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Someone said that if their is no distinction between Muslims and non Muslims as regards who goes to hell and who doesnt, then a Muslim might aswell not be a Muslim since it gains him no real benefit...
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Muslims should serve God for the sake of it...one could argue that one can't practice or even believe properly if this is not the case, so any benifit is just a pipe dream anyway. And one most probably isn't a Muslim anyway if they practice not as a matter of faith, but after applying Pascal's wager and deciding it's the least risky option.
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First question, are Muslims Muslim just to get in to heaven or for the sake of god?
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Can't expect the former without the latter
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Second, by the same token, if a Non Muslim is damned to hell no matter what he or she does, does this give them a ticket to murder, rape, cheat, steal? Why care about doing good, when god has already judged you...
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Such a person wouldn't care less about being damned to hell...or would refuse to give that thought any credit. So why would a non-belief guide behavior?
I suspect now i remember i heard it in a program in which Prophet in context of the program the speaker was mentioned respect towards humans of other religion.
Showing respect to the funeral and doing pray for their forgivness are two different things.
Thanks for all of your responses although some of them went off topic. Anyhow, there is gotta be hadith on how Prophet Muhammad (PBuH) prayed for his loved once in his family who never converted to Islam.
Al-Qur'an Surah Tawbah 113. It is not (proper) for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allah's forgiveness for the Mushrikin, even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire (because they died in a state of disbelief).) (114. And Ibrahim's invoking (of Allah) for his father's forgiveness was only because of a promise he ﴿Ibrahim﴾ had made to him (his father). But when it became clear to him ﴿Ibrahim﴾ that he (his father) is an enemy of Allah, he dissociated himself from him. Verily, Ibrahim was Awwah and forbearing.)
Prophet(SAW) once asked forgiveness for his mother when these ayat revealed.
I know less about Islam than most posting here, so that's really saying something. I'm sorry I was being sarcastic regarding a current thread where people are putting forth the devine theory that animals pray.
I don't know about in Islam, but I very much believe it is permissable, enouraged and smiled upon to pray for pets.
I appreciate your honesty in that matter.
I still dont think that its true. We (muslims) slaughter our pets (you can have a cow, sheep, goat as a pet). The whole ritual, no where, asks/suggests/encourages to pray for that animal.
You pray for the dead where they can be rewarded or punished and either you pray for bigger and better reward for them or you ask to save them from punishment.
Animals are not going to be rewarded or punsihed. So what is there to pray for
Another thing regarding the other post (of "do animal pray). it is always very refreshing when someone challenges your ideas and I appreciate that you do that. But some time its Ok to stay away from threads where people discuss non-value added stuff. I myself went into that thread only once. NOt much to add there. And anyway, they are already deviated from the main topic, over there