Hello again everyone and I thank you all for the even and warm welcome you have given me especially in regards to my seemingly endless questions. I don't have questions so much as wanting to voice doubts I have about some things so please bear with me. I do not have much in the way of doubts about the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and what he brought to humanity. I do have some doubts about some issues though that are living me hung up about what to do.
I have seen Muslims argue and fight over whether Music is haraam or not. Honestly I don't get why it is and I admittedly have not finished the Qur'an yet but this leaves me confused. As through music many times I have felt a connection with the Divine and spiritually fed. So a complete ban on music seems rather absurd to me especially coming from a musical background. This is probably one of the bigger stumbling blocks.
You are welcome anytime to ask as many questions as you want but don't forget that this is just a regular forum and the Muslims here are not scholars and most of the time they express their own opnions on the matter as most of people on the internet do. It's better to find and ask a good local imam near your area or at least to search for sites where well known scholars would give the answer.
I believe diversity is a blessing. Everything except the belief in God and his Messenger is secondary and people might differ in interpretation. So when it comes to music most of the scholars see that if music didn't include bad words or any haram, then there is no harm in it. Enjoy listening to islamic music below:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/islam-dir/58926-islamic-music-dir-forum.html
Treatment of Homosexuality leaves me confused as well. I have also once again seen mixed responses from unsure of what to do to outright hatred and bigotry. I have many friends that are homosexual and they are great people who have helped expand my horizons and open my eyes to various different viewpoints I have not considered before.
It's not that gays are bad people, but it's about the act itself. While the act itself won't harm me in anyway but when it comes to God, the creator, he didn't intend for male to do intercourse with another fellow male, but rather, with a female.
Finally the biggest hurdle I have run into is Muslims themselves. I have done a lot of studying especially about certain questions online and can I say that the demographic I run into outside of this forum is rather...frightening? I will admit the internet tends to draw out the fringe and give them an easy platform to look big on. Yet I can't tell you how many I have run into applauding barbarism in Afghanistan by the Taliban against Women, praising Osama bin Laden, praising Wahhabism, and taking very extreme views against other sects of Islam and people of the Book. This conflicts with what I have studied so far in both the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet but it really does disgust me. How anyone can praise the maiming of women and children is beyond me let alone the killing of innocent people. It leaves me confused and wondering if Islam is truly from God surely he could not mean for this kind of barbarism.
Well, i could not have said it better. You answered this question yourself when you said that you didn't encounter such a thing in the Quran or hadith. Also you mentioned how the internet is full of such people who would condone terrorism and barbarism but hey, you have more than one billion Muslim around the world , and guess what, most of them don't even post anything on the internet, and i don't need to tell you that Google depend on how many person hit the site, which means that non-muslims might be looking at the frightining group of Muslims and they increase the chances that more people would find these sites.
I hope i helped you in a way or another to understand these issues better.
Welcome again, and peace be upon you.