--- title: "Hard Questions | Islam Is Mercy" description: "Honest, sourced answers to the hardest questions about Islam: violence, jihad, women, hijab, sharia and common myths." lang: en url: https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/ --- 1. [Home](https://islamismercy.com/en/) 2. Hard Questions # Hard Questions Honest, sourced answers to the hardest questions about Islam: violence, jihad, women, hijab, sharia and common myths. ## Articles [Hard Questions ### 15 Common Myths About Islam — and What Is Actually True Fifteen widespread misunderstandings about Islam, each answered briefly and honestly from the Qur'an and authentic hadith, with links to read more. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/myths-about-islam/)[Hard Questions ### Are Women Oppressed in Islam? An honest answer that separates real cultural abuses from what the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ actually teach about women's dignity and rights. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/are-women-oppressed/)[Hard Questions ### Does Islam Promote Violence? An honest look at the Qur'an's verses about fighting — what they say, the context they came in, and the strict limits Islam places on war. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/does-islam-promote-violence/)[Hard Questions ### Is Anyone Forced to Become Muslim? The Qur'an forbids forcing anyone into Islam. What that principle means, how it shaped history, and why forced faith is no faith at all. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/no-compulsion-in-religion/)[Hard Questions ### What Does Islam Say About Terrorism? Islam forbids terrorism — deliberately killing or terrorising innocent people. Here is what the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ teach, with sources. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/islam-and-terrorism/)[Hard Questions ### What Is Jihad, Really? Jihad is striving in God's cause: against one's ego, with wealth and words, for parents and justice — and, as a special kind, lawful war under strict rules. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/what-is-jihad/)[Hard Questions ### Why Do Muslim Women Wear the Hijab? Why many Muslim women cover their hair — the Qur'anic basis, the modesty asked of men too, and why the hijab must be a sincere choice of faith. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/why-hijab/)[Hard Questions ### Are the Hadith Reliable? How Muslim scholars tested the reports of the Prophet's words and deeds, what the chain of narrators is, and how the grades sahih, hasan and weak work. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/are-hadith-authentic/)[Hard Questions ### Can Good People Who Aren't Muslim Go to Heaven? What Islam teaches about salvation, God's perfect justice and mercy, people the message never reached, and why Muslims never judge individuals. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/can-good-non-muslims-go-to-heaven/)[Hard Questions ### Did Islam Spread by the Sword? Early Muslim states expanded through conquest, but did people convert by force? What the Qur'an teaches and what the historical record shows. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/spread-by-the-sword/)[Hard Questions ### Do Muslims Worship the Kaaba? Why Muslims face the Kaaba in Mecca when they pray, what the Kaaba is, and why kissing the Black Stone is not worship of a stone. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/do-muslims-worship-the-kaaba/)[Hard Questions ### Does Islam Allow Polygamy? What the Qur'an says about a man marrying more than one wife, the strict condition of justice, why it is permitted but never required, and how rare it is. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/polygamy-in-islam/)[Hard Questions ### If God Knows Everything, Do We Have Free Will? How Islam holds together God's complete knowledge with real human choice and responsibility, and why belief in divine decree brings peace, not passivity. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/free-will-and-predestination/)[Hard Questions ### Is Islam Compatible with Modern Life? How a faith revealed fourteen centuries ago guides Muslims today, what never changes, what is meant to adapt, and why ease is built into Islam. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/islam-and-modern-life/)[Hard Questions ### Is Sharia Law Dangerous? What sharia actually covers, why its criminal punishments carry extremely strict conditions of proof, and how it is misused by some today. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/is-sharia-dangerous/)[Hard Questions ### Should Islam Be Judged by What Muslims Do? Why Islam is judged by its sources rather than by the behaviour of Muslims, and how to tell religion apart from culture, politics and human failure. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/islam-vs-muslims/)[Hard Questions ### What Is the Difference Between Sunni and Shia? A brief, fair introduction to Sunni and Shia Muslims, how the division began, the faith they share, and where they differ. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/sunni-and-shia/)[Hard Questions ### Why Don't Muslims Eat Pork or Drink Alcohol? Why Islam forbids pork and alcohol, what the Qur'an actually says, the exception for necessity, and how Muslims understand the wisdom behind it. Read article](https://islamismercy.com/en/questions/pork-and-alcohol/) - [Start Here](https://islamismercy.com/en/start/) - [What Muslims Agree On](https://islamismercy.com/en/core/) - [Islam's View On…](https://islamismercy.com/en/views/) - [Compare Faiths](https://islamismercy.com/en/compare/) - [Stories of the Prophets](https://islamismercy.com/en/prophets/) - [History in the Qur’an](https://islamismercy.com/en/history/) - [Islam Guides Everything](https://islamismercy.com/en/islam-guides-everything/) - [Becoming Muslim](https://islamismercy.com/en/become-muslim/) - [Glossary](https://islamismercy.com/en/glossary/)