From: ahmed@dsg.cs.tcd.ie
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Adam's children, Daajal, Tabligh
Date: 8 Jan 1993 20:41:17 GMT
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab
Reply-To: ahmed@dsg.cs.tcd.ie
NNTP-Posting-Host: geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu
To: ka@hardy.inf.rl.ac.uk
Orig-To: ka@hardy.inf.rl.ac.uk
Originator: gwydion@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu

In soc.religion.islam you write:

>Hi,

>I am trying to piece together parts of the early history of Islam.
>Please excuse any naive questions which may show my ignorance.

>Q1. Eve was made from Adams rib bone; they had children. Whom did the
>children marry?? Did one of the brothers kill the other?? What is the
>islamic version of this?

The Quran does not explain that Eve was created from Adam(pbuh)'s rib
bone. However there is Hadeeth that says that "Woman is created from a
curved rib. If you try to straighten it you may break it, and if you
leave it, it will remain curved, so be kind to women." It is not clear if
woman is physically created from a curved rib or just a metaphoric way
of describing women attitude. 

>Q2. I recently read "Daajal" by Ahmad Thompson; in one paragraph he states
>that a persons going to hell or heaven has already been decided *before*
                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>they are born (!!). If this is the case then what is the point of *trying* to
>do good or bad if it is *already* decided where one will go? Please shed some
>light on this.

A teacher can tell to a certain degree of accuracy which students will
fail in the exam, but he will not desist helping any of them at any time
before the exam, and he will do perfect marking for their papers.

Perhaps your underlined statement is not accurate . It should be "known"
instead of "decided". The mercy of Allah is given to every one, and
every one is given the free will to do whatever he likes to do, and that
any deed of even an atom weight will be measured and added to his
balance.  

So the knowledge of Allah does not interfere with the free will of man
nor with the mercy and justice of Allah.

>Q3. On the night of power (worth 1000 months) the angels come down and write
>down the names of all who will be born in the coming year and all who will die.
>This is what I have heard. BUT, if a persons time of death is already determined
>at time of birth (or conception) then why do the angels have to come down again
>to find out?? What sources say that they come down?

Where did you hear that ?


>Q4. I have come across the Tabligh movement (HQ Raiwand, Lahore, Pakistan).
>I know that they do the work of Dawah all across the globe. What do other
>brothers and sisters think of their method of work and about them in general??

They are doing a good work, but I feel that the word Tabligh is not the
exact kind of work they do, I would call it reminding rather than
tabligh. Based on my experience the do relentless work of visiting
muslims and inviting them to the mosque to practice the spiritual
aspects of Islam. There work is almost among Muslims to remid them of
hereafter, and it was effective. However I feel that there should be
more work with different approaches to complement this work.
>Any information from more learned brothers and sisters (than I) would be most
>appreciated.

>Jazakallah.
>Allah Hafiz.

Wa jazakum.
Ahmed

Ahmed I. El-Habbash,
Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.