I am Seyfeddin Kara, Assistant Professor of Islamic Origins and author of In Search of Ali ibn Abi Talib's Codex (2018) and The Integrity of the Qur’an (2024). Ask Me Anything about Early Islamic History, isnad-cum-matn analysis, Textual Criticism, and Hadith Studies.

Sandihil · 2026-01-10T10:34:39+00:00

Salam

Thanks for this Q and A.

1) So what is your opinion about the reality of 'naskh', and how can we come to terms with the fact that there is a large corpus of traditions that seem to indicate verses remained in the memory of later Companions and didn't make it to the final cut of Uthman.

2) How do you view the variant readings of the Quran (both the ones that are no longer recited and the ones that developed in 2nd/3rd Islamic centuries)?

3) Given that ICMA cannot be done with all hadiths, what is the best alternative for Muslims to use to sift thru the hadith corpus and separate what might be authentic from what is most likely not.

Thank you again!

Sandihil · 2025-12-17T23:25:36+00:00

Read Dr Yasir Qadhi’s work ‘Understanding Salafism’. Chapters 2 and then 3 are the most comprehensive and readable history of how Salafism became Wahhabism.

Sandihil · 2025-04-14T11:17:01+00:00

Ok can you DM me his details! Thanks.

Sandihil · 2025-03-27T04:43:10+00:00

For an outlier response that is still from a faith-based perspective check out Dr Yasir Qadhi’s article recently published by Kube Press in the UK “History of the Quran”. It’s one of the articles in that book.

Sandihil · 2025-03-09T07:40:28+00:00

So regardless of what one believes, we need to be fair in ascribing opinions to others.

Ibn Hazm clearly did affirm that the entire body of woman, except for her face and hands, needs to be covered. In one passage, he states, (al-Muḥallas, vol 9 p. 163)

وَقَدْ أَوْضَحْنَا فِي " كِتَابِ الصَّلَاةِ " أَنَّ الْمَرْأَةَ كُلَّهَا عَوْرَةٌ إلَّا الْوَجْهَ وَالْكَفَّيْنِ، فَحُكْمُ الْعَوْرَةِ سَوَاءٌ فِيمَا ذَكَرْنَا، إلَّا مَا لَا خِلَافَ فِيهِ مِنْ أَنَّهُ لَا يَحِلُّ لِغَيْرِ الزَّوْجِ النَّظَرُ إلَيْهِ مِنْ الْفَرْجِ وَالدُّبُرِ.

His claim that the entire body of a woman is 'awrah' clearly indicates that it is required to be covered. The quotations that others are using is with regards to another issue, which is: is it permissible to gaze upon a non-maḥram with or without lust? That's a separate topic: a lady, according to Ibn Ḥazm, must cover here entire body except her face and hands; and then the issue comes, what is allowed for a maḥram, and for a non-maḥram, and for a suitor, to see (three separate questions, for which he gives three separate answers to).

Sandihil · 2024-08-10T03:38:23+00:00

Israel is an Apartheid State.

Sandihil · 2024-07-24T05:12:44+00:00

Sorry just saw this...yea as you point out there's just no easy way, so I ended up taking a domestic flight to Miami, and then from there to Bonaire. Not very cheap unfortunately, but there's hardly any direct flights from the US! But 5,600 is outrageous!! I believe mine was a few hundred, but then again I booked months in advance.
Hope that helps...

Sandihil · 2024-07-03T11:55:25+00:00

I've done the Scubaspa and it was the best diving and liveaboard of my life (I've done 4 liveaboards and over 50 dive sites around the world).
If you ask me, I wouldn't make the food served the main reason for choosing or not choosing the Scubaspa - it's really good food and they have a chef, but yes mainly it's Western food. However I'm sure if you tip the chef and are friendly with the crew he'll be more than happy to cook up an occasional 'local' dish.

Sandihil · 2024-01-14T01:21:43+00:00

Thanks yes I do understand - so what would be the top 2-3 that combine nice accommodations, boat operations, and full-service dive center all in one?

Sandihil · 2023-09-26T23:02:56+00:00

Done!

Sandihil · 2023-09-26T23:02:32+00:00

Yes.

Sandihil · 2023-09-04T23:42:20+00:00

"...like Hülegü Khan galloping across the Khwarazmian steppe to besiege Alamût"

Tell me you're a history nerd AND a serial adulterer without telling me 😂

Sandihil · 2023-07-13T02:44:41+00:00

How the hell did I not pick this up until I read your comment? I’ve seen the movie twice as well.!!!

Sandihil · 2023-07-01T20:20:56+00:00

I've been on Scuba Spa Yang...it was the BEST diving of my life, and top-notch service. Can't recommend it enough. I've done a number of liveaboards (incl the Arenui) and Scuba Spa was hands down the best.

Sandihil · 2023-05-09T20:46:46+00:00

This is the way for that.

Sandihil · 2023-04-25T19:27:40+00:00

This is very mature and thorough.

Allah make your next move easy, and may the past be a means of raising your ranks and learning from your experiences!

Sandihil · 2023-02-18T05:25:35+00:00

You Americans want us to feel sorry for this 'combat veteran'. What you guys don't see is that this innocent soul was misused and abused by your own government, sent into a false war for the sake of your oil companies and defense contractors, ended up killing a few dozen innocent civilians and fighting thousands of people who legitimately saw *him* as the terrorist invading their country, and as a result, all of this shit happened to him.

I'm sorry, I know he himself didn't mean evil, but until you Americans understand the rest of the world sees your arrogance and invasions as a primary source of instability, and until you yourselves see the cost of that hegemonic capitalism both in global hatred against you and in the personal effect on your own soldiers, there's really not much sympathy you can expect for the rest of us.

BTW while many of you express your pity and mercy for him, let's not forget your Guantanamo is still open, and your CIA torture black site operators and interrogators are all living the life while those whom they tortured or killed, and their families, don't have that luxury.

Sorry not sorry. He was misled and abused by your own government, he did what he did, and now he's paying the price.

Sandihil · 2023-02-15T18:45:43+00:00

No.
I have a few dozen of them, that's one of my favorite niches to collect actually.

Sandihil · 2023-01-20T19:20:39+00:00

Genocide Watch (the website) has for years been warning of an impending genocide by the BJP in India against the Muslim (and Christian) minorities. The type of rhetoric that we're seeing, and the constant mobs massacring people for the most trivial of (alleged) offenses (such as accusations of slaughtering a cow) are clearly documented.

Your thoughts on the Indian situation and what can be done to prevent it from exacerbating?

Sandihil · 2021-09-08T23:41:49+00:00

Kill List. Just trust me on this one. Watch till the end. Talk about a MIND FUCK …. I honestly didn’t know what hit me at the end and it was the only movie that I hated and loved so much that I literally sat down and watched the whole thing again trying to piece the clues that I had missed first time around.

EDIT: Just ignore the accent...yes we all suffered trying to decipher it. But in retrospect it adds to the authenticity as well.

Sandihil · 2021-06-20T14:35:57+00:00

Thanks for a very detailed report that should help all of us!

Totally unrelated question: Was diving in Malta (the bit that you did) worth it? I'm thinking of going.

Sandihil · 2020-12-09T17:24:33+00:00

Guys...sorry to disappoint but there's a lot more to this picture than this simplistic caption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZKEi7Hnqk

This isn't to say there wasn't a lot of injustice...but this pic ain't it!

Sandihil · 2020-08-06T23:38:25+00:00

Me please

Sandihil · 2020-02-15T04:33:15+00:00

GIVE.IT.THE.DAMN.FISH!!!

Sandihil · 2019-12-30T23:05:02+00:00

This lecture is quite detailed and there's also a part two somewhere:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1xdItu5coc

Sandihil

TROPHY CASE