Assalaamu Calaikum wa Raxmah: Islamtoday, you're right about the importance of tolerance, mercy. But did you know that there are things that do and don't deserve mercy and tolerance in a relationship? As for the things that deserve mercy and tolerance, it is a duty upon one of the spouses to try and rectify any deficiencies in the other spouse. These flaws range from being tolerable (which we must overlook as verse 19 of Surah Nisaa advises us) to not acceptable. In shaa Allaah, I think that having a "good deen" is enough. Think about it: if we define "having a good deen" to mean total love (and thus compliance) with the Quran and Sunnah, then how can anything else goes wrong? With a "good deen," a wealth of beautiful qualities come in a spouse. A person with a "good deen" is constantly rectifying him/herself and loves/welcomes that person that helps in the process, even if it means pointing out their flaws (in secret of course); and this is something many people with supposedly "good character" cannot stand (and I see this nothing short of a degree of pride and arrogance). Secondly: where is the article about the "ideal Muslim wife?" Of course, I'm new to this forum, so it may have been posted a while back and thus I've missed it. But in case it's not there, I'd love an article to be compiled regarding that because we have as many problems with our sisters as with our brothers. Wa billaahi Tawfiiq. Wassalaamu calaikum.

Bismallaah, Brothers and sisters, what happened to me clearly contradicts the useful information you've posted. I know that this may be part of cilm al-ghayb, but how can you explain the following experience of mine about 6 years ago when I felt the exact same 'symptoms' in my sleep (can't move, can't speak, suffocating, etc...) and it was actually several semi-invisible men/beings holding me still. I couldn't speak and wanted to ask them to let me go, and they wouldn't let me go until I promised them I'd be praying Fajr on a regular basis (ironically speaking, at that time when I was 14, I regularly missed Fajr). Once I started praying Fajr on a regular basis, I never encountered those semi-invisible or transparent men. How can these beings be shayaateen? Weren't they actually helping me out and setting me on the right track (although it was a rough way of doing it, lol)?

As-salaamu caleykum bro, This is absolutely wrong IF there is no transparency regarding the destination of the sadqah. In fact, this is one thing Muslims lack: when they give charity of a mosque/other organizations, there are no transparent accounting practises. The Islamic centre/mosque I attend is good in that sense, and I trust my sadaqah with them. People should be very careful about who they give their sadaqah to, and if the organization in question isn't honest enough as to where the money goes, then the people should give sadaqah themselves (transfer money to family, or give sadaqah to the poor Muslims in your own city in North America). Personally speaking, this 'wadaad' is extremely suspicious, but Allaah knows best.

As-salaamu caleykum bro, This is absolutely wrong IF there is no transparency regarding the destination of the sadqah. In fact, this is one thing Muslims lack: when they give charity of a mosque/other organizations, there are no transparent accounting practises. The Islamic centre/mosque I attend is good in that sense, and I trust my sadaqah with them. People should be very careful about who they give their sadaqah to, and if the organization in question isn't honest enough as to where the money goes, then the people should give sadaqah themselves (transfer money to family, or give sadaqah to the poor Muslims in your own city in North America). Personally speaking, this 'wadaad' is extremely suspicious, but Allaah knows best.

As-salaamu caleykum, It is true that the prophet (SAW) said, "The covenant which [differentiates] between us and them [the disbelievers/hypocrites] is salah, so whoever abandons it has committed kufr," and this hadith is authentic and has many other authentic narrations (i.e. carrying the same message). The agreement amongst the scholars of ahlussunnah is that the one who DOES NOT SEE Salaah as waajib/fardh (compulsory duty upon a Muslim) and OPENLY rejects is indeed a kaafir. The problem I see, however, is that you're all ignoring what brother Aristote is trying to say. Sister Lexy, no offense, but you're totally overlooking the brother's message, and you seem to have a narrow, one-way view of Islam, taking the opinions of YOUR scholars to be the ONLY valid opinions in Islamic fiqh. I will attempt to show you all (hoping that you'll have an open mind) how the scholars differentiated on this matter. The question is: is the one who leaves salaah--intentionally or unintentionally--a kaafir? There are a great many scholars who have commented on this matter, but we'll only look at the four imaams of ahlussunnah. View of Imaam Ahmad: the one who doesn't pray (whether or not he recognizes it as a duty to perform salaah) is considered a murtad. In other words, he has committed full-fledged kufr. He should be killed just like others who have committed kufr (i.e. left Islam) and his body won't be washed, no janaazah is to be offered on his body, and he shall not be buried amongst the Muslims. View of Imaam Shaafic (who is followed by the majority of the Somalis): the one who doesn't pray out of laziness persistently is NOT a murtad (he is no kaafir), but the punishment is death. View of Imaam Maalik: same as his student, Imaam Shaafic. View of Imaam Abuu Xaniifah (or, if you wish, the view of his two main students, namely Muhammad and Abuu Yuusuf): the one who peristently neglects Salaah out of laziness is to be incarcerated and beaten until he begins to perform Salaah again. This is common knowledge brothers and sisters, so instead of reply with your own opinions and just accusing brother Aristote or any other brother/sister for bring neutrality (within Islam, of course) into a heated debate, please consult a scholar.

Peace nomads, Johnny B, we should NOT extract love out of the religious context. As Muslims, we must consider everything possible in light of Islam (above all). So I agree with Aristote in the sense that we should first consider Islam's definition of love before any other definition; we also find that Islam has the most wonderful definition. Let's not forget the comprehensive aspect to our most exquisite "way of life".