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We (the moderators) plan on adding the consensus of certain meta questions into the FAQ. However, we also wanted some community input, so we are asking this:

What do you want to see incorporated into the FAQ?

Post each suggestion as a separate answer so the community can vote them up or down individually.

We can take suggestions from similar threads on Christianity.SE here and here.

4

We should make it clear that this is a Q&A site about Islam, not an Islamic site.

The site is for learning and sharing information about Islam, not for preaching or asking for religious judgement (fatwa).

We should also make it clear that the information provided on the site are provided with good intention but should not be taken as legal Islamic judgments, the authors do not take responsibly for their correctness and the readers should be aware of this when basing their decisions/actions on the information provided here.

Something similar to this note from Judaism.SE's FAQ:

Like Wikipedia, this site makes no guarantee of validity, and does not offer professional (particularly rabbinic) advice. Treat information you find here as if it came from a crowd of your friends. (Source)

Islam in this regard is more similar to Judaism than Christianity (this is less unlikely cause a problem on Christianity).

The rest of their FAQ is also good for adoption:

Questions that appear to be requests for personal practical advice will be either edited to more general wording or closed (more information).

For more on why it's important to take personal questions of Jewish practice to your Rabbi, see here.

Please respect that in the Jewish tradition certain questions, especially certain questions relating to sexuality, are discussed only in private. Such questions will be closed or deleted at the discretion of the moderators or community. (Source)

If you want to quote material from another website or resource, please provide a reference, preferably a link, to the original material and quote selectively but veer more toward summarizing. (More detail)

  • +1 these are good points – Ansari Jul 12 '12 at 22:09
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We should probably include our own version of christianity.SE FAQ's Who are considered Christians here? section.

Basically, we should make it clear that anyone who affirms "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger" (لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله) is welcome here, as are their questions (and answers).

  • 2
    +1 I agree about being inclusive in who is considered Muslim and using Shahada as the base (we can link to these: madhab, Islamic schools and branches, and Amman message). But non-Muslims who want to learn about Islam are also welcome to the site, I suggest you edit the last paragraph. – Kaveh Jul 12 '12 at 22:13
  • @kaveh agreed. i'm mostly concerned that the site not be seen as a sunni-only thing (despite the inevitable sunni majority), but i've not worked on the actual wording to include yet. – goldPseudo♦ Jul 13 '12 at 2:24
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There was a question I asked on Meta.SO a while back. The information there can really help new users get used to the site.

Also, we are similar to Skeptics.SE in the sense that we encourage sources. Even though we don't require them, posts without them tend to get down-voted by the community. So, I propose creating a Welcome New Users post and adding it to the FAQ, similar to Skeptics.SE.

  • asking for references is usual practice on several sites, I don't think there is much similarity to skeptics.se. – Kaveh Jul 13 '12 at 18:44
  • @Kaveh I would say that there are few sites that actually care if you don't. – Dynamic Jul 13 '12 at 19:34
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The topics covered by the site:

We welcome questions about Islam and its teachings including questions about

  • Quran
  • Sunnah of Mohammad (PBUH)
  • Early Islamic history
  • Islamic law (Sharia)
  • Islamic philosophy
  • Islamic literature
  • ...

The topic not covered by the site:

On the other hand questions about

  • Other religions
  • Arabic language (not related to Islamic sources or literature)
  • Modern social/political issue related to particular Islamic countries (such questions should be phrased to about Islam not a country)

are off-topic on Islam.SE.

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The christianity.SET looks very good to me. I have plugged in Islam in it and changed it a little according to Islam needs. Just to give a start

What kind of questions can I ask here?

Islam - Stack Exchange is for committed Muslims, experts in Islam and those interested in learning more. You may ask questions about any area of Islam. Your own beliefs do not not preclude you from asking questions, but all questions must be directly related to Islam.

You've come to the right place if you have questions about:

-specific doctrines or doctrinal traditions (Tenants of Islam, Creationsism, Young Earth, Sunni, Shia, etc.)

-understanding the Quran from the perspective of a specific viewpoint (like those listed above)

-the history of Islam

However, there are questions that are not constructive for the format of this site. These include questions asking for:

-a survey of all Muslims views on a particular subject what the Quran says about a subject (unless you specify a doctrine/tradition)

-A question that asks for personal advice

-A question that suggests in anyway one type sect is superior than the other

-A question that has the wrong tone, otherwise on topic

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I think we should add to the FAQ that which makes clear that this site is not a debate site, also mentioning that those who want to debate/dialog can come to the main chatroom and do it respectfully. Something like:

This site is not a debate site, those who wish to debate/dialog may come to our main chatroom and do it respectfully.

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