More devotion of users

Question

(I don't want to be suspended or deleted or anything like that, sorry for my slight rant)

I feel that whenever I see a deep question about Islam on Islam.SE, it/they is/are sometimes answered in a sense where Islam is treated like some dead carcass and a majority of the users I have seen (and this is more important for answering questions for those with low faith or with doubts) seem to be 'on the edge' of belief, i.e they (again, not everyone) answer in a way that makes Islam seem unimportant and disregarded despite what the questioner might think about Islam; Which, for those coming to this site as a last resort to save their imaan, is not very helpful. Sometimes I see that some important questions that may actually need answers to help whoever is asking are disregarded.

What I am trying to say, is, is that shouldn't an Islamic Stack Exchange QA have a community that is more devoted to Islam in order to have more valuable answers? (...because the whole site itself is titled 'Islam.') The reason I say this is, again, because I have seen some that are on the 'edge' of belief, and I do not think this fits for a site regarding Islamic questions and answers.

A site devoted to Islam Q/A should have more devoted users.

This is just my experience/what I have seen so far. I hope this will help shape the Islam Stack Exchange into an even better site/community.

Answer 1

I take issue with the idea that we're somehow lacking in devoted users. I am familiar with many of the regular users here and while we do have some who do not follow Islam at all, they are very much in the minority; the vast majority are practicing Muslims, many of those devoted Muslims, and many of those devoted to a fault.

However, many of those were also not the ones interested in participating in your questions, for whatever reason. By the looks of it, your questions in general aren't being well-received by the predominantly Muslim community here: You probably want to look into writing better questions and learning how our system works before blaming them for not existing.

And honestly, if anyone is coming to this site as a last resort to save their imaan, they have a very fundamental misunderstanding of what Islam—Stack Exchange is.

We are a question and answer site. Our primary focus is to provide expert answers to practical and detailed questions.

Stack Exchange is built under a philosophy of learning and sharing knowledge, which requires coming in with a mind open to the idea that the question they're asking might not have the answer they want. Unchecked bias can be counterproductive to learning, and many of the users here — even the devoted Muslims — understand that; just because a post downplays the importance of Islam in order to present a point clearly and in an unbiassed manner doesn't necessarily mean the poster is not devoted.

Having answers written by devoted Muslims can increase their value to a point, but it can also go too far. Imagine, if you will, a site where the answer to every question is either "Because Allah willed it." or "Only Allah knows the truth.". This shows devotion, true, but is also so useless in the realm of expert answers that we might as well shut down the site entirely.

Many people, especially those with weak iman, tend to ask poor questions in an attempt to improve their iman; they're generally not asking with any desire to learn or to know the actual answer, they just want someone to agree with them and tell them what they want to hear. Stack Exchange is terrible for this.

O ye who believe! Ask not questions about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble… Al-Ma'idah 101

If your iman is so weak that it can be shaken by hearing answers you don't want to hear, you probably shouldn't be asking that question at all. And if your iman is so weak that it can be shaken by the words and opinions of random strangers on the Internet and how devoted they choose to be about your religion, this is probably not the site for you.

Answer 2

It was established years ago that Islam.SE is not a peer support site, which has gone largely uncontested. Think of it like an Islam study group, where we try to better understand aspects of Islam, like the Qur'an and Sunnah.

There are people in this world who do not take Islam seriously (and those who take Islam seriously, but seriously as a problem), and they are not excluded from this site (provided they Be Nice). There is no way StackExchange would allow any kind of "religious policing".

A site about Islam Q/A should have users that always assume Islam is the truth, shouldn't it?

Why? Questions should seek accurate answers which are backed up, not the opinions of other users. User opinions shouldn't ordinarily enter into it. (There may be some exceptions, e.g. if they happen to be expert opinions, or perhaps to avoid being misleading.)

There are still problems even when answers are backed up (such as misleading answers backed up by cherry-picked evidence), but the general philosophy of StackExchange is to focus on questions and answers, not users.

Edit: I have recently, just now, received a comment regarding my question: 'your reasoning is xxx and all religions could be made up. we don't know.' What is this? On an Islamic Stack Exchange? Won't this ruin someone's imaan?

I find it hard to believe this is a novel idea to anyone who has access to the internet.

We have a handful of Islam-critical users here. I advise against arguing with them in comments. See: The many alternatives to arguing in comments. Just don't reply (and flag if offensive, etc.).

Is Islam not about improving and refreshing your imaan?

Islam.SE is not like this---we're here to become more knowledgeable about Islam.

Possibly the most on-topic question style here is asking how to better understand verses of the Qur'an. For many Muslims, getting an answer to such a question would improve and refresh their imaan. But this should be seen as a side effect of becoming more knowledgeable about Islam.

If you want your imaan improved and refreshed, you're better off praying, doing good deeds, reading the Qur'an, going to mosque, etc.