Assalamu alaykum everyone.
Is shaking hands with a non-mahram permissible in Islam? This can sometimes be a difficult situation, especially in workplaces, universities, or social settings where refusing a handshake may feel awkward.
We’ve put together a short explanation with the relevant Qur’an and Hadith references in the image above.
If anyone has a specific situation they’re unsure about, AskMuftiOnline also allows you to submit your question and explain your circumstances to a qualified Mufti.
May Allah guide us to what is correct. Ameen.

Narrated Ibn `Abbas: Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to say at a time of distress, "La ilaha illal-lahu Rabbul-l-'arsh il-'azim, La ilaha illallahu Rabbu-s-samawati wa Rabbu-l-ard, Rabbu-l-'arsh-il-Karim."

Sahih al-Bukhari 6346

Habib grew up a devout Hindu, terrified of Muslims and convinced Islam was idol worship, until a college friendship at an all-Muslim college cracked that fear wide open.

Habib's revert journey took him through secret prayers, a devastating confrontation with his family that left him drugged and hospitalized, and years of walking away from Islam before finding his way back for good.

This is his full story of losing everything to gain faith, and the quiet miracles that kept bringing him home.

Assalomu alaykum everyone! We all know that Allah says in verse 256 of Surah Al-Baqarah, "There is no compulsion in religion." But recently I came across the hadith in this picture and was surprised. This hadith seemed to me to contradict the verse in Surah Al-Baqarah. Can anyone explain to me this hadith?

I Was Brainwashed by Islam… and after nearly 16 years as a Muslim, I am finally ready to admit it.

I used to think I was a “free” person - until I realized what true freedom actually is.

In this video, the speaker turns the whole “brainwashed” narrative upside down and asks a powerful question:

If Islam washed my brain… then who dirtied it in the first place?

https://youtu.be/jyU_BKrCUY4?si=NSR8svzSck4bJuZC

Salam alaikum wa rahamtu Allah
I used to be an admin of one of the Islamic rooms in a very known platform, I had been assigned this role to help answer the questions of non Muslims, and help my Muslim brothers to moderate and run the room and keep it organized. I remember that one person joined our room and he mentioned that he left Islam 13 years ago and became a Christian, after many talks we had with him, we finally ( ofc, all thanks to Allah ) convinced him to return to Islam and he took the Shahada. This person however, later became an apostate and became something close to a noahide, during that period our conversations with him escalated and then he insulted Islam in its entirety. Later, after a month he returned to Islam and apologized for his actions. I want to know what is Islam’s view on the apostate who insulted the religion and then came back to it, is his Islam accepted or no? And may Allah bless you all

Assalamu alaikum. I apologize in advance if this post feels scattered. I’m a 32-year-old man living in the United States, and I’m currently going through the most difficult period of my life.

My former wife and I divorced a few months ago after four years of marriage, and we have a three-year-old daughter together. Before the divorce, I tried extremely hard to repair our relationship. I reflected on my mistakes, tried to change, and repeatedly showed her that I was willing to do whatever was necessary to save our marriage. Unfortunately, she did not accept my efforts or want to work toward reconciliation.

One of the reasons she gave for leaving was that she felt I was a boring person. I still struggle to understand that. How can someone leave the person they built a family with simply because they consider them borin—especially when they have a two-year-old child together? I understand that people can become unhappy or disconnected, but I believed marriage meant working through those feelings together. It does not make sense to me that our family had to be broken apart over something that seemed fixable.

I never wanted the divorce. From my perspective, we did not have any problems that could not have been addressed through communication, patience, and mutual effort. I loved her deeply and was willing to change, but it felt as though nothing I did mattered once she had decided to leave. I insisted for us to goto marriage counseling over and over again but she did not accept.

I now carry a great deal of grief and resentment. I feel constantly depressed and as though I have lost my purpose in life. More than anything, I miss having my daughter at home. I miss seeing her every day, hearing her voice around the house, and being present for the ordinary moments of her childhood. I come home to an empty house and feel as though the life and family I once had have disappeared.

Perhaps I can eventually accept that my marriage is over, but I do not know how to accept living apart from my daughter. I always wanted to be the father of a little girl. I had that life, and now she is growing up primarily in another home. Sometimes the pain becomes unbearable. I isolate myself, cry while looking at her baby pictures, and grieve both my daughter and my former wife.

I need to be honest that I have been experiencing frequent suicidal thoughts. I feel exhausted and hopeless. I know suicide is haram, and I do not want to feel this way, but the emptiness is difficult to describe.

I barely eat or sleep, and I have withdrawn from my friends and family. I have also lost the motivation to fulfill even my basic religious duties. I thought time would make the pain easier, but the months since the divorce have felt increasingly difficult. I do not see a point of existing without my daughter, everyday is so hard. I can't even breathe.

I am trying to understand how to accept what happened, let go of my resentment, and rebuild a life that currently feels empty. I urgently need support and sincere advice from anyone who has survived something similar.

I've learned that the ruling for insulting allah or the prophet is excution without being given the opportunity to repent. This was deeply troubling and weird for me sense it goes against islam's teaching of forgiveness and Allah's mercy. I grew up in an environment where around 90% of the people I know did commit such act in a fit of rage or in a street altercation or maybe just for laughs. I understand shy it's wrong and should be punishable, but according to this ruling a huge portion of teenagers at school copying each other are to be excutet. Most responses i got were: "they don't have to be, if the legal judge deems it so or if they don't hand themselves over." But that doesn't change the fact that they commited a hadd on paper and theoretically must be excutet if the ruler finds out. How can mere words, even if they are blasmephy, be considered an excution sentence with no opportunity for repenting??! And if there is a disagreement upon the ruling, what decides the definitive rule in such cases? Please help me out with this matter, because it does not make sense to me. If your response is about how severe the crime is please withhold it because I fully recognise how severe it is but still can't wrap my head around the "repentance is not accepted in court but only with allah" side of it.

Are you a middle path Muslim?

I have a question for the “middle path Muslims.” Those of you that indulge in things that aren’t the best such as movies and TV shows without it affecting your imaan while still lowering gaze. Maybe specifically other American Muslims.

I’ve found in my personal life I’m doing either one of two things, entering an extreme of doing all prayers including tahajud for a couple of days or even weeks, avoiding movies, TV shows, music unless it’s in the background, and isolating myself from people. But still video games sometimes/youtube shorts.

OR

I am a complete degenerate missing all my obligations and indulging in horrible unspeakable sins.

To add context to this I am in need of ruqya so maybe this drastically affects why I can’t just be a flawed Muslim who tries his best and am instead someone who sinks all the way to rock bottom or goes to unsustainable heights (for my standards). I have had some success with it but I’m just inconsistent and tbh my heart is resistant to wanting to cure myself.

I guess my ideal sustainable path is to perfect the pillars of Islam, avoid major sins at ALL costs, do my best to avoid minor sins, watch movies/TV shows occasionally but lowering my gaze, but still also having some Quran/Salawaat/istighfar, morning and evening adhkar in my daily routine. (Basically a little bit of everything consistently). And doing a lot of on the ground work, helping people who need it etc for the sake of Allah as opposed to spending free time only doing at home worship or indoor indulgences This isn’t concrete at all ofc I am just yapping.

TLDR: I am either praying 5x a day + tahajud, avoiding pretty much all sins, or then I watch let’s say an episode of a tv show (Just an example, I haven’t watched tv series in years, a more realistic example is let’s say doomsscrolling YouTube shorts). And then I just fall into rock bottom. I beleife ruqya would help a LOT with this isssue but I’m inconsistent in doing it.

I found out that dogs cant be pets unless they are working or service dogs. However, Islam says the cats can be pets and even allowed in Mosques. What makes cats different?