Hi,
To the people asking what attracted me to Islam,
It was a mixture of many factors.
- personal experiences
- logical consistency of Islam
- compatibility with science
- psychological depth of the Qur'an
For people who're really interested in the full nine yards; I posted my website in my signature. there I explain my views on a whole variety of topics, as well as my personal experiences which lead me to Islam.
HighOctane,
I don't think there's such a thing as "better or worse" rational thinking. Thinking is either rational or it isn't. It's true that two rationalists might have different views, but that's because they rely on a different premise. In the end of the day I know my faith is a faith. And that I am convinced in it because I believe in it, not because I have proof of it. Nevertheless I think my faith is perfectly rational in the sense that I don't see any inconsistencies in it. How do you judge if that makes my rational thinking better or worse then someone else's? I think the notion is rather meaningless.
Ateapotist,
In reply to your questions:
Do you believe in the scientific method?
I "believe" it's a very usefull method for gaining knowledge. Although at the same time I don't think peopel should limit to this method alone, as it is very limiting in the scope of things one can examine.
Do you accept the Sahih Hadiths
I'm afraid I can't give a yes or no answer to that one. I don't know wheter all the hadeeths are genuinly an accurate recording of the Prophet. I think the sahih status is pretty usefull in the sense you know it has some degree of reliability, but at the other hand I don't think that this means it definitly is accurate.
Whats your view on verse 4:34?
It's a long verse, and the tefsirs have many things to say on it. As for the topics discussed in the verse, whole books have been written about that. So any specific part you wanted to ask me about?
Do you believe in Evolutionary Theory?
I believe in some parts of evolution theory. The word as it is used today seems to refer to a group of subtheories, some of which are scientific some of which are not. In general lines. I believe different species were created, and I believe those species evolved into an even larger variety of species trough natural laws.
Also do you accept you could be wrong?
Yes, I was a hard atheist in the past. And I tried hard convincing people that atheism was the correct view. When I changed my mind I realised that even though something might seem perfectly logical and sound, that doesn't necessarily mean it's right.
Do you accept the only fair, true & honest rational position is as an agnostic?
No, I don't. I think you're implying that in order to be true honest and rational, one cannot take any premise or build any viewpoint based on plausibility. I'd argue that this state of mind is physically impossible. People always have some level of bias build into their world-view. While in theory you might be right, from a pragmatic point of view, I strongly disagree.
Topic: convinced rational muslim