Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

17 Questions

Is it permissible in Islam to listen to emotional music, like songs about mothers or wars, that could elicit feelings of sadness, anger, or happiness?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

It is not allowed to listen to any type of sinful music. Sinful music is the music which is usually listened by the sinners. Emotional music which is usually by sinners is not allowed. If it is a martial music of war which is specifically used by the sinners, then many of our great Maraaji' of Taqleed say that it is not sinful.

Wassalam.

What were the many military conquests of Umar's era? Were his wars defensive or offensive? How many countries were made Muslim by him by force of sword?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

Islam did not come to force people to believe in it. Allah Says in Quran: The is compulsion in religion. (Sura 2, verse 256).

The Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) did not initiate wars on people to force the on Islam.

Wars during the government of Saqeefah rules were mostly politically motivated.

'Wassalam.

Is it true that during the Apostasy wars certain apostates were put to death by fire, because in the past I read a Hadith where the Prophet (S) forbade the Sahabas from using fire as a means of death?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

It is not allowed in Islam to punish with fire. If such act was done by any Muslim, it means that he did not follow the Islamic law.

Wassalam.

Could you recommend any exceptional books that are translated into English about the Battle of Karbala, the biographies of the 12 imams, or the previous Prophets?

Zeinab Donati

As mentioned already, al-Islam.org has an extensive library concerning all kinds of topics related to Islamic matters, so browse the library to find answers to your questions.

In particular, I suggest you to check the sections below.

Battle of Karbala:

https://www.al-islam.org/tags/karbala

https://www.al-islam.org/tags/muharram

Biography of the 12 Imams:

You can find an ample selection of texts about the Ahl al-Bayt ('a) here -

https://www.al-islam.org/tags/ahl-al-bayt

In particular, I recommend the following texts:

https://www.al-islam.org/brief-history-fourteen-infallibles

https://www.al-islam.org/fourteen-luminaries-islam-ahmad-ahmadi-birjandi

Otherwise there's plenty of biographies of each individual Infallible ('s) on Al-Islam.org.

Previous Prophets: