Howdy, brothers and sisters. First of all, I must admit that I've never been a religious person, even tho I've been raised in a christian (orthodox) family. Even so, I've always had that uncertainty and fear in me, y'know the one that some of us have at some point in our lives, the one that makes you think that you're alone in this world and that makes you wonder about it's meaning and all that. I love life and want to get the most out of it, and even tho I have little to no knowledge about Islam, it already feels a bit personal to me. Btw, I bought a Quran a few months back (not in arabic). Feel free to join me on this journey of exploring Islam and leave any questions and suggestions that come to your mind. I'll do my best to respond to all of them. Thank you!

حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ كَثِيرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا هَمَّامٌ، عَنْ أَنَسٍ، أَخِي مُحَمَّدٍ عَنِ ابْنِ مِلْحَانَ الْقَيْسِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، قَالَ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَأْمُرُنَا أَنْ نَصُومَ الْبِيضَ ثَلاَثَ عَشْرَةَ وَأَرْبَعَ عَشْرَةَ وَخَمْسَ عَشْرَةَ ‏ .‏ قَالَ وَقَالَ ‏"‏ هُنَّ كَهَيْئَةِ الدَّهْرِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Narrated Qatadah Ibn Malhan al-Qaysi: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to command us to fast the days of the white (nights): thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth of the month. He said: This is like keeping perpetual fast.

Sunan Abi Dawud 2449 Grade: Sahih (Al-Albani) https://sunnah.com/abudawud:2449

Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “I have been sent to perfect good character.”

Source: al-Muwaṭṭa’ 1614

Few days ago, in a late night discussion with my friend he said he was opposed to the Prophet SAW's conquest of Makkah. I'd never heard any such argument before. Basically, he explained, that religion shouldn't be enforced. People will join it by themselves if it holds any truth in it. Obviously he didn't understand the whole history of the wars, and islam wasn't being enforced on them, but I think his gripe wasn't with the conquest itself but rather it was about Islam not being pacifistic. His real question, maybe, was why does Islam allow for war? Shouldn't the religion of justice and truth have the power to convince people without using force?

My sleep deprived self wasn't able to articulate a good enough response at that time, but how would you guys respond to him?

Asalaamu Aleykum brothers and sisters,

Will you be able to fast that day? I know it's midsummer and it might be difficult for most people... But lemmy users aren't most people I guess

I got into free and open source software, you can take an idea about it from fsf by watching the video https://www.fsf.org/about/what-is-free-software

So, I have been in this rabbit hole for years now. And I convinced myself that using non-free software is haram and I shouldn't do it, however when I looked it up I found no discussion about it In Muslim communities anywhere, no fatwas about it. But how can that be, don't anyone else see big tech companies evil? Shouldn't Muslims use these free as in freedom software instead of Google and Facebook products? Shouldn't products by Facebook, openai and Microsoft and the rest of them be haram with existence of free alternatives that respect user privacy and freedom? Why there's no discussion about it at all?

Apparently it's not allowed for muslims to give me salam but nothing saying I can't initiate it.

Given this, do people expect me to initiate a salam? Or do I just say hi and go about my day.

Context: muslim friends at school

The following pages present in English garb Book III of the first quarter, namely, the Kitab Asrar al-Taharah (On the Mysteries of Purity) of Al Ghazali's The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn).

Stories to strengthen iman, and taqwa to imitate and to learn from.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/21704981

I used to think less about animals in the past, was generally 'human supremacist' about it and viewed most non-household pets as nothing more than food

Only recently I started becoming more aware, and I chose vegan options whenever possible, but Eid-Al-Adha came around and we bought two cows, one to keep the other for donations.

I slit the throats of both cows, and at first I got dizzy and was unable to keep praying along, and by the second I tried to focus on the scenery instead and not think about it too much

I don't know, it was a heavy experience, I went to wash my face but coming back to a bloody carcass and a detached head made me have a panic attack and I had to sit down to catch my breath

I don't think I will repeat it next year, but what am I even meant to do?