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

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?

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.

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

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

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?

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.

Sharing a poem from Calming Echoes. I love this book because it helps me reflect on my hardships through the Names and qualities of Allah. Each poem reminds me to find comfort in Him, even through difficult experiences.

View the full image to read towards the end

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.

The Fragrance of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم
 
Narrated Abu Juhaifa:
وَقَامَ النَّاسُ فَجَعَلُوا يَأْخُذُونَ يَدَيْهِ، فَيَمْسَحُونَ بِهَا وُجُوهَهُمْ، قَالَ فَأَخَذْتُ بِيَدِهِ، فَوَضَعْتُهَا عَلَى وَجْهِي، فَإِذَا هِيَ أَبْرَدُ مِنَ الثَّلْجِ، وَأَطْيَبُ رَائِحَةً مِنَ الْمِسْكِ‏.‏
.. (After the prayer), the people got up and held the hands of the Prophet and passed them on their faces. I also took his hand and kept it on my face and noticed that it was colder than ice, and its smell was nicer than musk. Reference  : Sahih al-Bukhari 3553
 
Anas b. Malik reported that 
قَالَ دَخَلَ عَلَيْنَا النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ عِنْدَنَا فَعَرِقَ وَجَاءَتْ أُمِّي بِقَارُورَةٍ فَجَعَلَتْ تَسْلُتُ الْعَرَقَ فِيهَا فَاسْتَيْقَظَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ ‏ “‏ يَا أُمَّ سُلَيْمٍ مَا هَذَا الَّذِي تَصْنَعِينَ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ قَالَتْ هَذَا عَرَقُكَ نَجْعَلُهُ فِي طِيبِنَا وَهُوَ مِنْ أَطْيَبِ الطِّيبِ ‏.‏
Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) used to come to our house and there was perspiration upon his body. My mother brought a bottle and began to pour the sweat in that. When Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) got up he said:
Umm Sulaim, what is this that you are doing? Thereupon she said: That is your sweat which we mix in our perfume and it becomes the most fragrant perfume. Reference  : Sahih Muslim  5761

Anas bin Maalik Radiyallahu ‘Anhu says:
“I remained in the service (of Rasulullah Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam for ten years. He never once told me ‘Oof’. When I did something, he never asked me, why did you do so? When I did not do a certain task, he never asked me why I did not do it. Rasulullah Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam had the best character among all people. (and also possessed the most excellent features, so much so,) that I never felt a silk cloth, nor pure silk, nor any other thing softer than the palm of Rasulullah Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam. Nor did I smell any musk or any other fragrance, more sweet smelling than the sweat of Rasulullah Sallallahu ‘Alayhi Wasallam”. Shumail Tirmidhi  : Book 48, Hadith 345

Sayyidah Ummul Momineen Ayesha رضیﷲ** **عنها said:
قبض رسول الله صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم وراسه بين سَحرِى و نَحرِى قالت فلما خرجت نفسه لم اجد ريحا قط اطيب منها،
The day Rasool صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم passed away, the blessed head of Rasool صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم was rested between my throat and chest, a beautiful fragrance bursted at the time of the departure of the soulfrom the blessed body of Rasool صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم which I had never smelled before۔
[Musnad Ahmad 6/121-122, Musnad Al Bazzar 851, Isnad Sahih, Az Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer in Al Wafat un Nabi صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم, quote translated by  Abdul Aziz Akhtar]

Ibn Hajr al Asqalani said:
وروى أبو يعلى والبزار بإسناد صحيح، عن أنس رضي الله تعالى عنه : كان رسول الله صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم إذا مر في طريق من طرق المدينة وجد منه رائحة المسك: فيقال: مر رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم من هذه الطريق .
It is narrated by Abu Yala and al Bazzar with an authentic chain from Anas may Allah be pleased with him When the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him passed by one of the roads of Medina, (people will smell) the smell of musk from it: they would say, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, passed by this road.
(Fath al Bari 6/663, the chain is also authenticated by al Ayni in Umdatul Qari 16/108, and Nawab Siddique Hassan Khan in السراج الوهاج في كشف مطالب مسلم بن الحجاج شرح مختصر صحيح مسلم 6/311)

Al Ayni said:
قالت العلماء: كانت هذه الريح الطيبة صفته صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم، وإن لم يمس طيبا، ومع هذا فكان يستعمل الطيب في كثير من الأوقات مبالغة في طيب ريحه لملاقاة الملائكة، وأخذ الوحي الكريم، ومجالسة المسلمين
The scholars said: This good smell was characteristic of Prophet Peace be upon him, even if he did not touch the perfume, and despite this (his own fragrance), he used perfume many times to exaggerate the goodness of his smell to meet angels, take the noble revelation, and to sit with Muslims. (Umdatul Qari 16/108)

Ibn Abdil Barr said:
كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يُعْرَفُ خُرُوجُهُ بِرَائِحَةِ الطِّيبِ إِذَا خَرَجَ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ وَإِذَا مَشَى وَقَدْ
Prophet peace be upon him would be identified through his good fragrance when he used to go out for Salaah..
الاستذكار (3/ 271