EVERLASTING DOUBT – UNCERTAINTY – MISGIVING – SUSPICION

 

EVERLASTING DOUBT – UNCERTAINTY – MISGIVING – SUSPICION

 

Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala Rasulillah. As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu. Amma Ba’d.

Praise be to Allaah; we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allah leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Sal Allahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) is His slave and Messenger.

Preamble

Uncertainty in Islamic Representations of one’s faith

MORAL AND SOCIAL CONCERNS

1) Teachings about the role of women

2) The hypocrisy of religious people; that is, the nonreligious behavior of supposedly religious individuals

3) The bad things that people do in the name of religion

4) The intolerance that some religious people show toward other faiths

5) The way that religious people sometimes insist that there is only one "right" way to practice faith

6) The intolerance that some religious people show toward certain other people (e.g., homosexuals) etc

PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC CONCERNS

1) The debate over Evolution (through natural selection) vs. Creation (through God)

2) Uncertainty over the existence of God

3) The problem of evil and unfair suffering in the world

4) Feeling that certain religious beliefs or practices do not make sense

PERSONAL TRAUMA

1) Finding that being religious does not make one happy

2) Not feeling welcomed in your faith community

3) The death of a loved ones

 

Quranic texts on people having doubt – uncertainty and suspicion in their faith

 

The truth is from your Lord, so on no account be among the doubters. (Quran 2:147)

It is the truth from your Lord so do not be among the doubters. (Quran 3:60)

It is He Who created you from clay and then decreed a fixed term, and another fixed term is specified with Him. Yet you still have doubts! (Quran 6:2)

'Am I to desire someone other than Allah as a judge when it is He Who has sent down the Book to you clarifying everything?' Those We have given the Book know it has been sent down from your Lord with truth, so on no account be among the doubters. (Quran 6:114)

Only those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day ask you to excuse them. Their hearts are full of doubt and in their doubt they waver to and fro. (Quran 9:45)

If you are in any doubt about what We have sent down to you, then ask those who were reciting the Book before you. The truth has come to you from your Lord, so on no account be one of the doubters. (Quran 10:94)

Say: 'Mankind! If you are in any doubt about my religion, I do not worship those you worship besides Allah. Rather I worship Allah Who will take you back to Him and I am commanded to be one of the believers.' (Quran 10:104)

They (the Messengers) said, 'We have come to you with what they had doubts about.' (Quran 15:63)

Is there a sickness in their hearts or do they have misgivings or do they fear that Allah and His Messenger will be unjust to them? No, it is simply that they are wrongdoers. (Quran 24:50)

You never recited any Book before it nor did you write one down with your right hand. If you had, the purveyors of falsehood would have voiced their doubts. (Quran 29:48)

If you could only see when they are terrified, and there is no way out, and they are seized from a nearby place. They will say, 'We believe in it,' but how can they reach out for it from a distant place when beforehand they had rejected it, shooting forth about the Unseen from a distant place? A barrier will be set up between them and the thing that they desire, just as was done with their kind before. They too were in a state of crippling doubt. (Quran 34:51-54)

(The man who believed said to his people,) 'Yusuf brought you the Clear Signs before, but you never stopped doubting what he brought to you to the extent that when he died, you said, "Allah will never send another Messenger after him." That is how Allah misguides those who are unbridled and full of doubt.' (Quran 40:34)

He ('Isa) is a Sign of the Hour. Have no doubt about it. But follow me. This is a straight path. (Quran 43:61)

(The wicked will be told,) 'This is the very thing you used to doubt.' (Quran 44:50)

The believers are only those who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then have had no doubt and have strived with their wealth and themselves in the Way of Allah. They are the ones who are true to their word. (Quran 49:15)

They (hypocrites) will call out to them, 'Were we not with you?' They will reply, 'Indeed you were. But you made trouble for yourselves and hung back and doubted and false hopes deluded you until Allah's command arrived. The Deluder deluded you about Allah.' (Quran 57:14)

We have only appointed angels as masters of the Fire and We have only specified their number as a trial for those who disbelieve; so that those who were given the Book might gain in certainty, and those who believe might increase in their faith, and both those who were given the Book and the believers might have no doubt; and so that those with sickness in their hearts and the disbelievers might say, 'What did Allah intend by this example?' In this way Allah misguides those He wills and guides those He wills. No one knows the legions of your Lord but Him. This is nothing but a reminder to all human beings. (Quran 74:31)