Q: I am undergoing my therapy for anxiety, fears and phobias, guilt and other issues here in Pakistan with a trained muslim psychotherapist. He recently prescribed Me doing EFT tapping to control my anxiety and issues. I did it for few days and felt better and more in control over anxiety and low mood that was disturbing me.

He has asked me to just form a short problem statement and a simple affirmation in which there is nothing unethical, unislamic or anything which could be shirk. And while repeating these statements you tap on 9 meridian points.

I wanted to ask you if it is okay for me to continue this self help technique to feel better and have focus on positive things.

Q: I am a 20 year old girl living in a western country since birth. I come from a very strict cultural family from Pakistan who are very conservative in their mindset and often mix culture with Islam. Nevertheless I want to state that I do respect my parents despite our clashing mindsets. Since the last few years my father especially gets extremely angry, shouting and saying horrible irrational things about my character, threatening to pull me out of Uni etc. over ridiculously minute things such as me wearing a bit of makeup or wearing jeans etc. He uses the excuse of Islam and constantly tells me I am a terrible muslim and a disgrace because I don't have that outward image of a "perfect muslim girl" despite me knowing in my heart that I try my best to be a good muslim in my own way-I do my best to pray 5 times a day, be a good, kind person and am slowly building up my islamic knowledge.

While I understand that wearing hijab and modest clothing is fardh in islam and that it may be one of my weaknesses (and everyone has their own weaknesses), I do not dress outrageously bad (eg. show too much skin or wear anything too tight) or any different to that of most muslim women in our western society, even those who wear hijab. I know my own limits and islamically for them to force it upon me to dress like women do in my father's village is unrealistic and incorrect.

I don't mean to say i'm an amazing muslim and he is a horrible one or a horrible parent but the mentality he was raised with does not allow him to see beyond his own beliefs. For him not wearing makeup, wearing hijab and long, loose clothing, but NOT praying or reading Quran or having internal faith, is better than me doing my best to practise and be a good person but not have that "ideal" outward appearance ie. he cares more about following the norms of the society he was brought up in but uses religion as an excuse. He doesn't even attempt to understand that I have grown up in a western society, (even though he's the one who brought us here) that my thinking is more open and that he cannot compare me to women living in his village, it is just completely unrealistic.

I know how important respecting and obeying your parents is in Islam and even though my parents think I try to "hurt them" on purpose by doing these things which make them angry, I know in my heart I do not and how much it hurts me that they do not understand things from my point of view. I cannot help but react negatively at times when such arguments and incidents happen as I too feel suffocated but at the same time feel guilty as I don't know how I can live my life and please my parents without being their little puppet and doing everything as per their terms because ultimately I am an adult and I will answer to Allah myself.

I feel extremely stuck and need the opinion of someone with more islamic knowledge than me. I just want to practise my religion in my own way and at my own pace but don't want to hurt my parents either or make them feel like I have betrayed them/ disrespect them.

Q: Keeping in mind that Allah Ta'ala is the power behind everything, can Muslims believe in the following:

1) Global warming, and that people should be environment-friendly.

2) Life in Mars might be possible.

3) People have gone to the moon.

4) The big bang theory.

Schools drill these into students' minds.

Q: I have intended that I would give sadqah everyday if this happens. Now if I don't have money always how do I give sadqah?

Q: I need naseehah if I should deactivate my Facebook account or not. This account has been helpful for my deen as through it I give many islamic posts. And I follow people who posts islamic posts , joined different islamic groups. Even I have joined groups where muftis give dars about islam, iman, aqaid, history of hadeeth, importance of adab etc and also they take quiz and give marks and they don't show their face.I am in a group where the 30th para and amal surah are targets to be memorized, so it is also benifitting me. But sometimes I become lazy and spend much time on facebook scrolling, reading Islamic posts. Nowadays I started to stalk people's (mahram) profiles which I don't want to do but I still do it and waste my time watching their photos and posts. So I have deactivated it temporarily. Should I deactivate it completely?

Q: We have a business and one of our products is bottled water. We were using a supplier to bottle water for us, who was renting a plot from someone else. The owner of the plot passed away. So now our supplier has chosen to move his operation into his other business which is a bottle store... we not sure if we should continue or find someone else? He has moved it to a cold room in the liquor store with only water in the room and no liquor... He still invoices us from his other company as was previously done.

Q: As you are aware about the corruption in the government presently..we have a building which houses the poor community,which has a common water meter..for some time now there's been a slow reading of the meter. We are passing this benefit on to the tenants,  if we have to inform the municipality..the benefit will stop to the tenants and the rent will increase by R300-00 per unit. The question is should I inform the municipality or let the tenants benefit considering all the corruption taking place.

Q: I am a guy, and my wife to be has vitiligo. My parents do not know about this but she disclosed it to me, and I am perfectly ok with this and understand that it might spread, but to me her honesty, personality and piety matters, not the skin condition. She is conscious of her condition and sometimes insecure. That being said, I am not sure whether I am required to disclose this to my parents as well, because of the way society deems such conditions, or is this a personal matter that as long as we both are ok with, and she is honest to me, should be kept private? I have not asked her if she would be ok with me telling it to my parents. Is it kind of lying to my parents to keep such information hidden? In such case, should I ask my wife to be if she is ok with me disclosing it to my parents? Or is this a personla matter between us?

Q: I have two questions on oath. 

1. What are the words which makes an oath binding?

2. Is verbal utterance necessary for an oath to be valid or will an oath be formed if a firm intention is made in the heart without saying it loudly with the mouth and tongue?

Q: If I keep my qaza fasts and nafl fasts without eating sehri, will the reward be less?