Why are so many things prohibited by Allah?

Question

I'm still new to Islam. I am trying to get my head around it, but I sometimes end up feeling so angry because my head is filled with some many questions, etc...

For example Islam prohibits us from:

• Sex before marriage (and other sexual things that you may want to do as a young hormonal guy)
• If we run our own business or sell something or what ever for profit, Islam does not allow us to have more than 5% profit....
• We have to pray 5 times a day.
• We have to only care about Allah and nothing else.
• Islam does not allow us to give money to family members even if they are poor and need pur help.
• We have to fast once a year (although I like this one, as itds great for health).
• We can only marry people who are also Islamic.
• Woman have to cover themselves.
• Woman can do the things that they want like makeup (or what ever it is that woman like).
• Islam does not allow us to eat pork or drink Alcohol.

etc etc .... the list goes on....

I agree that one should be honest, kind respectful and work hard to achieve the things they want in life and not do bad things like for example corrupt leaders do.

But I just find it annoying that there are all these other petty rules that we have to follow to.

God is the almighty, perfect, wise and powerful one. Why an earth would he care if two people who are not married have sex? Why would he care if I don't pray or if I like to work hard and get the best living I can in life (through HONEST work).

If anyone can help me out here, that would be much appreciated. I just get so frustrated sometimes...... I believe in God, but thats it. I have never done anything else. I want to learn more and maybe even prey and fell better. But I can't because iI get so angry by just thinking about these issues.

Thanks, Dan.

Answer 1

If you think logically, all the prohibitions and responsibilities are for a purpose. To make both a human and a society better. Now, I will try to explain your list, but for more, you should do some research about them. You can search like "what is the logic behind this x rule?".

• Sex before marriage: The family is the key cell of a good society. Marriage keeps your children from insult, make sure your children will get proper education etc (by the wealth from father and care from mother), keeps woman from being abused (being cheated, having unwanted child, being in a miserable situation after a fight (because of the division of mutual wealth), etc). A woman who sex without marriage can be seen easily like a common sex object by some people, marriage hinder that. A young couple can marry according to Islam if they are grown enough sexually. Other than that, it is your earthly problem.

• Profit issue: If you know how a shoe today is manufactured for 1 dollar and sold for 200 dollars, and if you can see the consequences of this kind of free market, you would understand. These kind of rules are for to protect the little manufacturer from the fury of mega manufacturers and to decrease the gap between the poor and the rich.

• Salat: If salat wasn't a 5 times divided prayer, a man could easily forget about Allah in the rest of the day. For example; you pray the morning salat which keeps you to sleep until midday, then you start you daily work, after a couple of hours, your mind starts to trick you by creating daydreams. Sometimes these dreams are so sweet, you don't want to end them, this would keep you away from doing your duties. Sometimes, these daydreams are about sexual things or about prohibited things. Then you hear the azan (call for prayer), which reminds you about Allah, which keeps you away from haram. After that a couple of hours would be good, then the daydreams turns back again, until the new azan. Or you may have bad thoughts like cheating people if you are a trader, and recalling Allah would keep you away from sin.

• Caring issue: You don't have to care about only Allah. You can of course care about your earthly works, or your wife or children etc, with the condition of not forgetting Allah. Only in the situations which you have to choose one thing against Allah, you have to choose Allah, which is logical. I mean he is The God, how can you choose anything else against him logically?

• Money issue: You can give your money anyone you like unless it is a haram case (like giving a man money knowingly he will buy alcohol with it). It is just giving money to poor relatives doesn't fulfill your zakat duty, because you should do that already.

• Fasting: Fasting is good because it helps you to understand you can live a life without sin, it is not so hard. You did it for a month, you can do it longer. Food & water are not so important to be a slave for them, wealth is temporary, you don't need much to live. You don't need to look that beautiful girl's legs, etc. Because we try to avoid committing sin while fasting, we don't be hungry only. Its a self-discipline issue. Being hungry and thirsty keeps remind you Allah until evening. Also as you said, it is good for health.

• Marrying only Muslim people: Although I don't have enough information for that, I think it is about the education of children. You can marry with Ahl-al Kitab. It is mostly interpreted as Christian & Jewish people who accepts tawhid, oneness of Allah. The first and most important education of a child begins in the family and different, contradicting ideas about abstract concepts can confuse that child.

• Woman covering: Men have to cover themselves too, just not that much. I think this is because men are weaker about sexual issues than women. Also women are less powerful physically and they are the side who carries the child (I am talking about rape issues), which give them more vulnerability. Although in Quran, both genders are ordered to avoid actuator actions, a precaution should be taken too in order to avoid dangerous people.

• Make Up: Whole woman covering issue is about restraining the beauty of a woman other than her husband. Make up is just the opposite of this. Woman do make up to look more attractive. So, a woman should wear make up only for her husband, not in front of others. I am also curious about why make up issue made you jealous about women? If it is being nice & proper to other people, men can also gussy up too. Of course except weird things like sexual arousal perfumes etc.

• Pork: Pork isn't different than dog, snake, lion, or wolf. Do you eat any of these? No. Why? Because they are meat eaters and their meat is not healthy for humans. Today's science explains that. The more level animal in the food chain, the more dangerous it's meat. Also human digestive system etc are not so powerful for these kind of diseases. According to Islam, humans can eat grass eaters like cattle or sheep, which are healthy for humans. Pork is in the other category and the only reason for all debates on pork is because of the people who eat it. Nobody argues about eating a cat, because nobody eats a cat. For example, you can eat birds who eat insects, like sparrow. But you can't eat birds who eat meat, like eagle or vulture. Same health reasons.

• Alcohol: Should I really need to talk about the harms of alcohol? Both individually and socially. Just a case: Most of the traffic accidents are because of driving drunk and in most of them several people die. Alcohol dry your money, give your body physical damage, distort your conscious, cause irreversible damage to both you and your surroundings, sometimes cause to break your friend's hearts by making you angry unreasonably, sometimes cause to lose all the respect of others about you by making you ridiculous.

Answer 2

Dan,

I see that you are punishing yourself by thinking about to many things. You know, Islam is about taking one step at the time. Those questions you ask, some of them need much expiation and some dont. Also some of the questions are assumptions that are not true or not true in their context you have stated them.

You must also know that scholars from the past till now have disagreed about much things, especially regarding fiqh(law, legal)issues. These disagreements are natural and this is also considered a Mercy from God. We are all individuals with differences in intellect and understanding.

I would advise you to contact a scholar or an imam at your local masjid and really sincere ask questions. If you want I can also give you references to some reliable sources.

I myself am a revert/convert to Islam, and I myself had many questions which I struggled with and I eventually found answers to these questions.

Remember, trying to understand all at once is burdening yourself. Islam is not a goal but a path. We will face ups and downs, but the main thing is that you Believe in God as One and that Muhammad saws is the Final messenger. If you truly love both with sincerity, you will find the answers you are looking for. I pray that God will make it easy for you. Ameen

Answer 3

Sex before marriage is forbidden by Allah beacause 1.If the girl gets pregnant then what will be the consequences 2.If we have sex before marriage then our purity will be lost and the person we are marrying wint be getting a pure person 3.Sex before marriage would destroy the image of the person in society if people would come to know