Reply #43: what I do know - if it helps

[Azooz]

I know that no human has ever written a single page like any in the Quran - and I base my faith (i.e. Know) on that fact till it is proven wrong. I do know that in the 3,000 years of known writing before the Quran there was nothing like it and in the 1,400 since there has been nothing like it either. I call this "language based faith" and admit it is nothing to be proud of, most Muslims do not know Arabic and have no need to learn it - but for "doubt" issues or just a need to "know" Muslims just pick up more Arabic.

I know it sounds lame, but please accept that it'll take you 6 months of Arabic to know if I am right or wrong and another 6 months of Arabic grammar to Know - and it the more Arabic you know the more you'll Know, for sure.

I have never had much doubt, and my faith increases and decreases with mood but never to actually reach the level of knowing there is no God, if only for no one else could write like that. There are 99 names of God in the Quran - that is nothing compared to how they are each used, how many times and in what order. There are 400+ names for lion in Arabic, 300 for sword, and about 1,000 for camel - poets have huge word choices but no one can know all the nouns and use them so easily. These are not fully Arabic words, these are word that enter Arabic from Africa, Europe and Asia - and the poets chose those that they liked. Arabic, back then was purely a nomad language and they picked up 100s of languages on their eons long travels.

Sorry for the length of the reply - I have had this discussion many times with Iranian ex-Muslims and do not know how to get this point thru properly. Believe or not, that is always a personal choice but you will Never know for sure till after this life is over. You make all your decisions based on that choice and try as best you can to pick right - our behavior is judged in Islam as our faith, the better we act and talk the more faith we have and avoide that hot place - language has nothing to do with this - it is just worded much more clearly in the Quran than in all known books.

Learning Arabic will not make you convinced in the existent of God, it will just make it a lot harder for you to say that you do not "know" - you'll still be able to say it, but in Arabic it will not be so easy, that I do know for sure.

Peace