May Allah bless them and protect them. Allahumma Ameen.

Whenever my friend (muslim) and I play videogames he always talks about muslim memory. I don't know what muslim memory is or how it helps him but I'm scared it would be insensitive to ask him. If anyone here knew/could explain I'd appreciate it a lot!

Firstly I am from a very white family. And they are atheist. They don't discriminate against muslims per say but they haven't engaged as much as I do. Like they are fine with hijab for example but are very judgy about say niqabs. I just know if I were to become openly muslim they would not take it well. They wouldn't disown me but I feel like I would make myself alone in my own family. And white-ass town.

I am female so I would need to wear a hijab of some kind. I have heard this helpful if you are of European descent so people can't tell. But that would bring more attention to myself.

There are some parts of the theology I struggle with. Like I don't think there is anything wrong with being lbgt but I know many muslims do and there is a verse in the Quran about it. And I don't like how some religious scholars and muslims act. You know the ones, who are very unsympathetic and judgy. They don't represent Islam but they make me uncomfortable.

I also struggle with the belief in God. Islam is submission to God. And I am not sure if I believe in God. I find this very hard still. I come from an irreligious family. And no matter how much I follow, I think you have to believe in God, and have faith to be a muslim and I don't know if I have that. I come from a skeptical family as well. This isn't always a bad thing but maybe it means I feel certain issues. Some muslims and I am not sure if this a majority, seem to idolise the Quran and the prophet, peace be upon him, but it is only surface level and sometimes revere the figures and the physical book than the actual teachings and God himself. But I may be being overly judgemental.

I find many of the teachings quite beautiful and compelling. I have not converted but I have started donating to charity for the first time, when I talk about the prophet or the companions I follow with 'peace be upon them', being more considerate to strangers. And I think even if I don't end up converting I think my morality has been shaped for the better and been made more empathetic towards muslim friends and the like.

But I feel very lost.

General AIs gather data from across the internet and answer. So even when you ask with deep search on, the AI never consults the source book, it just searches the internet and presents you an answer with a citation which could be planted and fake. So, there is no authenticity.
A research paper written in 2025 named ‘ IslamicEval 2025’ gives a detailed overview of how LLMs hallucinate when asked a question about Islam and gives it a value of between 37% - 99%.

I’ve thought about sponsoring an orphan (ideally in a 3rd world country) for a few years but never taken the steps to actually do it.

My main concern is that the child may not be fully benefiting from it. I want to ensure the child gets 100% of the donation or as close to it as possible.

Not sure if there are any websites to avoid. There are a lot of charity organisations so it’s really difficult to know who to trust and who to avoid.

Has anyone here sponsored an orphan before? What was the process like? Any other advice you can give?

hello,

I am a recent revert. (white catholic). I wanted to wait until I knew more about islam, but she really wanted me to ask today. I work with her, and we really want to get married.

I had a teacher/wali with me that helped. He speaks arabic so he talked to him great and really helped. I then talked to him and let him know how I met his daughter, who I am, etc. It seemed like he liked me.

he told my wali that she is very scared of marriage, and was engaged and called it off last year (I knew this). she promised me she doesn’t feel that way with me. he told us that he’s tried setting her up with 4-5 men but she has said no.

my wali was persistent, and asked him if he could talk to her about it, and how long before we can come back. he told us come back next week. he asked if I could give her family something, and I went back to my car and gave him flowers and said they were for him and his family.

she never told anyone in her family about me before this. my family knows her. I asked her why she won’t do it, and she says she was and doesn’t. we have been talking and she had told me if this doesn’t happen, she will be to blame because she didn’t bring me up.

Im a bit confused as to the extent of witchcraft we believe in as Muslims? Do we believe it can be used to harm another person? If so, how can Allah allow one person to cause harm to another person unknowingly, using forces of the unseen? You may compare this to Allah allowing people to get robbed, assaulted etc. but in these cases, the victim usually knows what has happened to them and can take the appropriate steps. However, if someone has witchcraft done on them, they might never know and just think their life has taken a turn for the worst?

السلام عليكم
Hello everyone,

Since year I have a question, what’s the meaning of Alif Lam Mim, and why it appears in 6 times in the Quran ?

Thank you for your response !

Something has been bothering me lately about the way some Muslims behave.

There are people who present themselves as very religious, quote the Quran and Hadith frequently, and spend a lot of time acquiring Islamic knowledge. Yet, when it comes to their interactions with others, they seem to lack basic respect, humility, and good character.

They give unsolicited advice, talk down to others, act as if they are religiously superior, and are quick to judge other Muslims. Sometimes, it feels as though they see themselves as scholars while everyone else is ignorant and needs to be taught by them.

I've particularly noticed this behavior among some converts who acquire a lot of Islamic knowledge in a relatively short period of time. Of course, this does not apply to all converts, and I am not trying to generalize about anyone's background or journey to Islam.

What I find troubling is when people seem to use their newly acquired knowledge to feed their ego rather than improve their own character.

To me, Islamic knowledge and akhlaq (good character and manners) should go hand in hand. What is the point of knowing countless hadiths if you look down on other people? What is the point of constantly correcting others if you cannot even treat them with basic respect?

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was a role model of excellent character and humility. That is why I find it difficult to take people seriously when they present themselves as highly religious but fail to demonstrate these qualities in their everyday interactions.

I admit that this behavior makes me angry and sometimes even fills me with contempt for such people. At the same time, I wonder whether I need to be careful that my own reaction does not turn into a form of arrogance.

I'd genuinely like to hear your thoughts:

- Have you had similar experiences with Muslims who possess a lot of religious knowledge but seem to lack good character?

- Why do you think some people develop a sense of superiority through religious knowledge?

- How do you deal with such people without becoming disrespectful or arrogant yourself?

- And how important do you think akhlaq is compared to simply accumulating religious knowledge?

I am not trying to attack converts or any particular group. I am genuinely interested in understanding why religious knowledge seems to make some people more judgmental rather than more humble.

I have a health problem where I am weak standing up for a short time and having trouble getting up and moving somewhat often. I know I can do prayers sitting down....but how? And when I go to a mosque, can I do the sitting down prayers there too?

Thank you

Nowadays I feel like Allah won't have mercy on me because I don't lead a religious lifestyle. I didn't pray much before but recently I started being more consistent with my prayers and for a while it felt good but then the thoughts kept growing, the feeling that l'm doomed for anyways. 1 avoid all major sins, don't drink, observe all fasts and now trying to pray as much as I can too but when I see some people who refuse to shake hands with the opposite gender let alone be friends with them or listen to music, that's when I realize how far below I am and it makes it feel like everything's just meaningless, especially after what 1 heard about smaller sins accumulating into major ones, and since then I started feeling like the major sins I drew a hard line against despite them being around me all the time, I'm probably just committing sins of that level anyways. 1 want to be a decent person, follow all five pillars of Islam as soon as l'm capable of earning and do as much charity and help people out as I can, in a way it also felt like making up for where - lack but it has started to feel like nothing would suffice, that Allah would still punish me for whereI was wrong. I just know I can't be like the people I mentioned, sometimes it's just not possible to tear a piece out of your personality you've kept for two decades and throw it away. I randomly get these thoughts at random times and that has taken a toll on my ability to do my daily tasks such as studies etc. At first looked up hadiths about how Allah is all merciful and indeed he is and I want believe that but then I hear all the advices about how one should fear him all the time and think of their sins, even if minor as huge sins and some part of that just stuck with me, now anything I do, I feel like l'm walking on eggshells. How does this even work? How can believing in his mercy and fearing him that much even work? how can two of such opposite things go hand in hand? Okay maybe for the people who commit a sin, feel awful about them and ask for forgiveness but what about those who do ask for forgiveness but the sins are a part of their daily life? When I hear religious people or people on the internet be harsh about something I do, It stings a lot and I start to overthink and start viewing everything from their lens, sometimes my whole day is ruined.

I was making a specific dua for a month, made istighfar, made dhikr, tried my best to stand up for tahajjud, truly believed that my dua will get accepted, and today it got rejected.

For context, it is something in the lines of not being able to go on a schooltrip with my bestfriends because of my major. (Yes, I know it sounds incredibly stupid, but please try to understand me and have mercy on me.)

I know that my relationship with Allah (SWT) is not transactional and i won’t get my duas accepted just because i did all the things that i did, but the disappointment weights on me a lot, because i was so attached to this dua and was convinced that it would work out. I also know that it could be for the better, that maybe this rejection avoided a calamity, that i’ll get something better later or i’ll get rewarded for my duas later, but i wanted to go with so bad and i can’t help but ask if it was supposed to avoid a calamity, couldn’t i just have asked to make this trip good for me? I know Allah says that perhaps I like a thing that is bad for me, but why wouldn't Allah make what i wanted good for me when i asked? I know that it's for our benefit, but Allah is the All-mighty and can rewrite our destiny if we ask, is there a reason he wouldn't make it good for me when i asked? I hope you understand.
But i know that Allah knows better and that he would never let my efforts be in vain, and i know that I've lost nothing in relation to my dua because it gets answered in its own way.

I know i may sound stupid arguing and counter-arguing with myself and that the reason i'm so upset is stupid, but I hope someone can give me some some advice because I've been so upset that it's embarrassing. Jazakallah Khair.

Recently, I've been struggling with thoughts about death, particularly my own death. It's not that I want to die, quite the opposite. I'm actually frightened of dying.

It's a strange feeling that's difficult to explain. Sometimes I'll be going about my normal day and suddenly get this heavy feeling in my chest, almost like something bad is going to happen or like I'm going to die soon.

It can happen at any time, whether I'm alone, during the day or at night. There's no particular trigger. Once the thought enters my head, I find myself thinking about death, what happens afterwards and how one day I simply won't be here anymore.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar? Is this a form of death anxiety or thanatophobia?

More importantly, has anyone managed to overcome it or at least stop these thoughts from taking over?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been through something similar.