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Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim
From this question which I have answered: https://islam.stackexchange.com/q/24755/9329

As an American convert to Islam I was shocked for how a Muslim can treat another Muslim.

An un-biased was answer deleted! and after looking into it, I can't do anything because the person who deleted it seems to have more authority than justice does!

My concern is not the question itself, rather its about the way that my answer was deleted by our respected scholar of this community and the way he climbed back to go to see my other answers of other questions! The latter made me laugh!:)
The answer wasn't educationally commented or anything but simply deleted, because it was not in harmony with one's opinion/understanding? For God's sake this is a forum where people share various answers/opinions, have you not seen a question getting 2,3,4 or even 5 different answers!?...All I do know is that I must respect one another's sacred belief, or if not reason it, rather than silencing it with a show of power.

My question is: have I really done something wrong? I just used a contemporary situation from my country to answer a question...

If so please elaborate without flagging the question, because then again I won't understand the reason

Unjustified deletion of answer

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    At a first glance this does not sound like a good answer, and suffers from several logical fallacies. I can well understand why this was deleted. Jun 10, 2015 at 20:56
  • Would you please enlighten me of those several logical fallacies?
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:03
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    yourlogicalfallacyis.com...your phrases 'I'm sure... ' are what troubles me. You give no justification at all. Jun 10, 2015 at 21:24
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    @Vazir: The main fallacy is that the argument is anachronistic. A secondary problem is that if excludes a middle position. Jun 10, 2015 at 21:26
  • Maybe the question itself is anachronistic... if it was then it should have been taken down. The answer is just using a sample to give a hint to where to look for answers.
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:37
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    We don't aim at providing hints here. But rather to provide answers. Jun 10, 2015 at 21:43
  • @BleedingFingers are you joking?...besides the fact that some else already approved my answer as an answers is enough.. for it to be an answer for one person!
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:50
  • An answer should meet the requirements of the site. And by your definition it would mean we should keep every kind of post because there is a high probability that someone considers it as an answer (at least the author). But that's not what is expected here on this site. Related: meta.hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/q/450 Jun 10, 2015 at 21:55
  • @BleedingFingers He was asking: "how will it be possible to know about the right group(sect)?"... I simply said go find the successor! COMPLETE ANSWER!
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:58
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    Answers on this site need to be detailed enough. Please read the question and answer linked in the previous comment. And if not possible then something is wrong with the question and it needs to be edited, downvoted and/or closed, or the answerer is not knowledgeable enough to answer the question, in which case they should not. Jun 10, 2015 at 22:04
  • They asked how...The answer was you have to find the successor that the prophet left behind. Also if anyone had more to ask of my answer or felt something wrong about it then they needed to comment it, not delete it!
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 22:11

2 Answers 2

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Freedom of speech is limited on Stack Exchange sites in several ways:

  1. We have general expectations of our users, including the Be Nice policy.

  2. Questions and answers can be deleted by the community if they don't meet basic requirements.

  3. Individual sites might have additional expectations of posts. For instance, this site is not for debates or apologetics.

These criteria are enforced by the community itself via earned privileges and flags. Those decisions can be contested right here on meta.

As I read your answer, it doesn't answer the question which asks about why there are said to be 71 Muslim sects. (From the other answer it seems the hadith actual says 73.) Instead, it compares the sects to the US Constitution for no obvious reason.

goldPseudo noticed a deeper problem: your answer points to the Shia view of succession without qualification. In other words, it answers the "which one is right" subquestion.

To sum up:

  • it's important to address the main question directly and
  • please try to avoid sectarianism.
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  • Did you read the question? let me paste it for you: He is asking: "so how will it be possible to know about the right group(sect)?" I am just giving him a hint that look for successor and you will find your answer. And the comparison is to show that people in united states now how important it is to always and always have a leader/successor ( next leader) so things won't get chaotic.Assuming the prophet new better then he would do the same I am not giving names, rather I am only using a human being's nature as a parent/leader never leaves his children/people behind without a guardian/leader
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:31
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    @Vazir: Part of the purpose of this site is to help people who don't understand Islam understand. Your answer was a very literal non sequitur to me an outsider until I read goldPseudo's comment. Giving me "a hint" does nothing to help me understand the answer to the question. Even your comment here is meaningless without having first read about the Shia view of succession I linked to. Jun 10, 2015 at 21:37
  • well I believe I was speaking in an Islamic forum and people come to it with basic understandings... prior to goldPseudo taking my answer down... my answer was liked by a person.
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:42
  • I am using pure logic...let me explain: When a father leaves his house for a day and has 3 little babies, does he leave them alone in the house or asks a babysitter to look after them? My answer was that A prophet would do the same for his people... So go and find that person that the prophet left behind... nothing more! really nothing more!
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:46
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    @Vazir Actually the site expects an answer that is based with evidence, proof, and logic. Your answer would not have been deleted if it were started with "this is a shia view..." and included authentic citations on who the successor was. I believe you may be considering this site as your typical forum, which its not. In other words, its a high level repository to everyone! so someone who reaches the site through google will not be enlightened by your answer.
    – user921
    Jun 11, 2015 at 3:32
  • @masfenix How is it that saying... go find the successor a shia view? I am baffled! Also every logical reference that a user makes... he/she should go around and read all sects to double check and see if they are aligned with a sect? Yes or no?
    – Vazir
    Jun 11, 2015 at 13:06
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    @masfenix My argument can be applied to any religion. if Any religion has denominations then people should go and start from the beginning. See who did the prophet leave as his successor and who he didn't.
    – Vazir
    Jun 11, 2015 at 13:18
  • @Vazir yes your argument is fine. But again its not up to the standards of thus site. As a general rule, if your answer is a one liner, its likely not sufficient for this network. Answers expect a certain level of research involved with proper citations. Had you said "this is a [sect] view. One only has to follow who the prophet left as a successor. To do this, consider the following hadith and the following historical context". So again the answer itself is fine for a typical forum post but lacked detail to be posted here.
    – user921
    Jun 11, 2015 at 13:35
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    @Vazir, I think some of the issue is that though this meta post you've leaked extra that would have greatly helped your answer. Clearly you're assuming a lot that isn't true about the users here or what is expected. Jun 11, 2015 at 17:15
  • @Pureferret Can you please submit a new comment, I don't get what you are saying
    – Vazir
    Jun 12, 2015 at 3:07
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What are you having trouble understanding? The reason for the deletion was clearly stated: Your post looked very much like propaganda, and propaganda is not welcome here. At all.

As Jon stated in an earlier meta post:

  • Avoid overt self-promotion.

    When asking questions, your primary goal should be to satisfy your curiosity. When answering, your goal should be to share knowledge you've acquired. In neither case should you simply be promoting your own theological tradition. Questions should not be designed to attack opposing points of view. Answers should answer the question asked and not try to wedge in alternate points of view.

    I know that most people are equipped to answer questions from one school of Islam and not others. That's just how things are. But we ask that everyone maintains an attitude of detachment for the purposes of this site. You are invested in your point of view personally, but when making decisions on this site you should put that allegiance aside temporarily.

Maybe I'm wrong. Who knows. But pretty much any action, be it from a moderator or anyone else, can be reversed if it is found to have been made in error. However, in this entire post you've presented not a single argument that your deleted answer was not, in fact, propaganda. It does, however, immediately jump to accusations of censorship and injustice.

This is exactly the sort of behaviour that Shog9 warned the community about last year when he said,

This behavior is unacceptable. It will destroy this site if unchecked.

Maybe you don't care. Maybe you see this as nothing more than a soapbox upon which you can stand, and anyone who chides you an enemy to be attacked. If so, then this is not the site for you - leave now, and don't come back.

The Stack Exchange model is built around encouraging expert answers to expert questions. There are a number of guidelines which all users on the network are expected to follow; if you've not already read them (and even if you have) I recommend checking out the following help centre pages:

Overt self-promotion is explicitly discouraged, whether you're promoting a product, a website, or as your post appeared to do, an ideology. That is not the purpose of this site, and as far as I'm concerned quickly removing such posts from the main page is important to ensure that others don't inadvertently think that such posts are appropriate here.

Site curation, be it from moderators or even from other users, is essential to ensuring this site runs smoothly; this includes not only voting and editing, but in many cases closing and deleting particularly problematic posts. If you disagree with an action taken, it can always be brought up on meta and discussed rationally; as I said, mistakes can be reversed. But responding with accusations and ranting rather than assuming good faith is unlikely to attract rational discussion at all, which doesn't really help anybody in the end.

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  • My brother, How did I promote a sect? By saying that a prophet left a successor? And look for that person!? Isn't that what all Muslims agree on? I just said seek and find that person... nothing more. Unbiased as possible! I didn't provide any sort of document/reference/link/name for him to look into... My brother, sometimes giving people the benefit of the doubt and being humble will open new avenues that were closed before... May Allah guide us all
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:18
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    @Vazir If you think being intentionally vague somehow makes your post unbiased, you are way off base.
    – goldPseudo Mod
    Jun 10, 2015 at 21:21
  • You said I was promoting... now you are changing that into it being vague!? The person asked how... I said find the successor! How can I explain this differently?!!! If you don't understand the difference of unbiased-logic-example and vague then I don't know what else to say!
    – Vazir
    Jun 10, 2015 at 22:39

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