Islamic concept of God

Islamic concept of God

Muslims belief in God and this is not unique but some details differ from other religions.

In Islam we understand God to be one but not in a numerical sense. Rather in sense that there is one God and no other. In the chapter of the sincerity or ikhlass we find the negation of eight types of disbelief.

We cannot understand God not according to minds therefore we must look beyond that. We have been given great blessings and the greatest are the Prophets and the Messengers that God sent to us. God has manifest and unbound mercy he has sent us Messengers and Prophets for us to know and understand our place in the world.

Through them we have come to know our creator. The first line in the chapter of sincerity is, “Say: God is one.” Again this is not in a numerical sense because in the Arabic language one is not a number. The numbers start with two not one. We say this to negate other beliefs of multiple deities. We also say that there are no intermediaries to God.

“God is the Sustainer.” We say that all of creation is sustained by God and if it was not for this then we would perish. This also negates anyone who believes that God has created us then left us. This is impossible because if we were abandoned then there would be nothing else that could sustain us. We are sustained with provision and many other things that we need for our existence.

“He was not born nor does he give birth.” I have simplified this translation to make things clear for the reader. This is negates that God posses a human nature because these are the characteristics of creation not creator. This is also further explained by the following verse.

“There is nothing that resembles him.” God according to the Islamic creed was not born because anyone thinks then falls into a loop. Then who created the Lord? Is the next logical answer but we do not accept that here. We say that God was before anything and he is as he was. We believe that God is uncreated and everything else is created.

“There is no one comparable to him.” There is nothing that comes close to any comparison to God. There is God alone and then everything else. As we explained above God is uncreated so any comparison is hopelessly invalid. Why? You can compare like items, for example two pens because they are the same but you cannot compare what is uncreated and what is created. As the uncreated transcends time and space and creation needs time and space. So the comparison is invalid and fruitless. We affirm that God does not need time or space or direction to be because he is the creator of time, space and direction.

This in a nutshell is the Islamic belief about God. We do call God Allah but this does not mean anyone else. This means the creator of all. When we say we believe in Allah we do not mean that there are other deities and ours is called Allah. No, we believe that there is one God called Allah. God is Allah and Allah is God.

We believe that God has delivered messages to mankind in all the different regions of the world who have proclaimed the oneness of God. This was the call that they all shared. The first Prophet was Adam (upon him peace) and the Last is Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him).

So now we understand that God did not leave us alone to find out the purpose of our existence. He sent us Prophets to show us the way and to tell us how to get home. What is our home? Paradise but it is only for the believers. So now we look for the Messenger of our time to follow, which one shall we follow? The final one, the last one, sent to all mankind Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him).




Sources

Fiqh Al-Akbar by Abu Hanifa
Quran 112:1
Quran 112:2
Quran 112:3
Sura As-Shura 42:11
Quran 112:4

Does God exist debate

How can an Atheist deny this

When the athiest denies everything the we use this denial of everything as starting point. He claims he is free to do as he wants and nothing can stop him.

Ask him not breathe again – he cannot do that

Ask him not to eat again – he cannot do that

Ask him not to go to toilet again – he cannot do that

Ask him not to sleep ever – he cannot do that

Ask him not to blink again – he cannot do that

Ask him not to exist in time – he cannot do that

Ask him not to take up space – he cannot do that

Ask him not to die when his time comes – he cannot do this either

So what does this all prove? This proves even though he denys God he is still under his control because God made man this way and it is unescape to do anything but what you are made to do. If someone refuses this, then it is like a man who travels by train and does not care about the fact that someone made, designed and worked on the train before he could ever use it. The atheist denies that there is any designer or any worker. He gets on the train uses it everyday and rejects any notion of a designer.

One day the designer comes and asks him why he has been denying him and the atheist refuses again. Don’t you think that the designer is going to be angry? Don’t you think that the ungratefulness of the passenger will be punished, the designer may throw the person of the train or worse!

Then compare this to the one who respects the designer and acknowledges the design work of the train then when he sees the designer he is grateful. Don’t you think that the designer will be happy with this passenger? He will get put into first class, at least!

So who do want to be? The denier or the accepter? How long can someone refuse God for? Then someone must need a religion now, what religion to follow? The only text which is unchanged is the Quran and therefore the only religion left is Islam.

God: five arguments for

First cause - that unless something is caused it does not exist. Everything in our universe is caused. Something therefore must have been caused it. Whatever that cause was, that we may call God, even if we have no idea of who God is!


First movement - that unless something is moved by forces acting upon it, it does not move. Everything in the universe is in motion. Whatever it was that activated the whole lot, that we my call God.


Contingency - the reverse of the first cause argument. If a thing might not existed, it is called contingent. You are a contingent being because you might never have existed? Of course. It is therefore contingent. It must exist for a reason, a cause. Is it possible that the entire cosmos with all its universes might never existed? We suppose so - therefore the whole lot is contingent. Thus, there must have been something which caused it all to be, and that we call God.


Necessary being - this is also called Ontological argument because it involves a logical play on words. God must be 'necessary' because a scale of values exist. Some things are bad, some are better, and at the top there is that which is best. Can there be "two" bests"? No, not by defintion of what we mean by best. That which is at the top of our values we may call God. And He must exist because that which does not exist cannot be the best; if it doesn't exist it cannot be the best; if it doesn't exist it cannot be regarded as supremely anything. Therefore if there is a supreme of the scale of values, it, or He, must exist.


Design - this is also called the Teleological argument because it looks forward to an end, aim or goal. The universe in every aspect of its laws and their physical manifestations shows order and pattern - other words, design. They do not appear to have evolved, they have evolved to a pattern, and seem to be moving towards an ultimate goal, even if we do not know what that goal is.



From What every Christian should know about Islam by Ruqaiyyah waris maqsood.