Belief in Almighty God

Belief in Almighty God




Question 01: So long as the three principal religions have emanated from God, why should differences appear as to the essence of God among their adherents? Why should a Christian or a Jew be required to abandon his religion and adopt Islam?
Answer 01: There is no doubt that the three religions acknowledge one source, God. They all agree as to the uniquness, the absolute omniscience and omnipresence of God, to the exclusion of any parallel power to be worshipped. All agree as to attributing to God all perfection and excluding all defects and blemishes. Whatever differences may appear is sporadic extraneous, accretious developing over the ages from distortions interpolated by members of both Judaism and Christianity. Herein came differences as to the essence of God. The difference, therefore, is between Islam, which God entrusted His prophet with, and other religions which have been distorted and adulterated. The difference is not between authentic religions, rather, it is between a true religion and others that have been invalidated and turned away. The latter category has been manipulated by vicious hands which misdirected them.
When we call upon a Jew or Christian to discard his/her religion and adopt Islam, we are in reality asking him/her to revert to the true religion which has been preached by all prophets. Should an impartial thinker consider Islam in relation to other religions, he/she is bound to acknowledge the radical difference between both categories. He/she is likely to find in the former the truth and monotheism, while the latter would reveal innovations and polytheism. Moreover, Islam advocates justice and tolerance, while the others imply racism and discrimination. In the one there are moral commitment and decency; in the other, disintegration and corruption.

Question 02: What is the penultimate reason behind the creation of man? Does God need man’s worship?
Answer 02: Man has been created in order to worship God: “And I (God) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship me (alone)” (Holy Qur’an: 51: 56). The Primary incumbency on man is to know God through His oneness, and thence to worship Him truly. Secondly, man is required to act his role as God’s vicegerent on earth, so as to enjoy bliss both here and hereafter. Indeed, his/her need to acknowledge the supremacy of God exceeds his/her need and drink: “O mankind! It is you who stand in need of God. But God is rich, worthy of all praise” (Holy Qur’an: 35: 15).
God is above the need for man’s worship. He does not benefit from man’s devotion, nor would He be adversely affected by man’s blasphemy. From beginning to end the story of man’s existence on earth, no matter how many are its incidents, is an ordeal, a test, whether for him/her as an individual or for all humanity. Man’s performance in this test determines either his praise and reward or reproof and punishment.

Question 03: You Muslims claim that you worship One God, while in actual fact you resemble the Christians who say “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” for you say “In the name of God, the Mercifu; the Compaasionate.” How would you account for this resemblence?
Answer 03: In the Christian creed, God is the Creator. The Son is Jesus the Deliverer. And the Holy Spirit is His life or one of His creations chosen by Him as a messenger and/or prophet imparting God’s inspiration or cosmic order to whoever He wishes. Whatever the mission carried out by the Holy Spirit, the Christians believe in the above powers as three entities, three aspects, three qualities. They say: “Oneness in Trinity and Trinity in Oneness.” They are all phenomena of one God, etc. Therefore, the One God, they claim, consists of three separate categories, which they call the Trinity. As a matter of fact, God, as they take Him, is not one but three. In the Qur’an God says: “Surely, disbelievers are those who said: ‘God is the third of the three (in aTrinity)’.” (Holy Qur’an: 5: 73). The verse means that God the Creator is the third in relation to the Son and the Holy Spirit.
As for the Muslim dictum “In the name of God, the Mercifu, the Compaasionate,” it means three names of God which exceed ninety nine, all denoting one Entity. A name is not separate from the named. The Being named and described is not to be conceived except by His names and qualities, unlike the case of the Christian Entities, for they are three dimentional, but separate, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Question 04: How can you claim that your God is Mercifu and Compasionate, while He created evil in the world, expressed in illnesses, volcanoes, toxics, earthquakes, hatred, etc.?
Answer 04: The answer to this question is threefold:
1. God almighty is a universal God, the God of all creation. This is obvious in the following verse: “And your God is One (God), there is none who has the right to be worshipped but He, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful…” (Holy Qur’an: 2: 163).
2. Undoubtedly, God’s mercy is comprehensive. It encompasses all creatures under its canopy. The evidence is clear: “…And My Mercy embraces all things...” (Holy Qur’an: 7: 156). Such a spacious clemency expresses itself in bestowing upon His creation so much bliss: material sustenance, the gifts of sight and hearing. Indeed, such blesisngs are countless.
3. Whatever adversities may befall man in this world, like pain, illness, poison, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc., are not exclusively evils. They are mixed blessings. For some who are harassed by such evils they are a punishment for their disobedience or heresy, while for some others they are a reminder, a nudge, to awaken them from their slumber. They also indicate the absolute power of God, His ability to deal with His creation, the sphere of His dominion, in the ways He deems just and wise. All that God decrees emanates from His compassion, wisdom and justice.

Question 05: Does God allow prostration to any power or creature other than Himself? If the answer is negative how can we account for the prostration of Jospeh’s brothers and parents before him?

Answer 05: Initialy, it is to be maintained that there are two kinds of prostration:
1. Expressive of worship and favour-seeking, which is permissible only to God. If it is practised to appease some other power, this is polytheism.
2. Indicative of man’s desire to glorify an absolute power, in which case the action of prostration is not polytheistic. Kneeling down and/or prostration before human beings as a way of showing respect or greeting was quite acceptable in earlier creeds. But it has been abrogated in Islam. Joseph’s brothers did not worship him. They bent down before him in a expression of esteem and reverence. Such a posture was permissible in their creed, but abolished and abrogated in Islam. Abdullah ibn Abi Awfa was reported to have said that on coming from Sham (currently greater Syria) Mu’az ibn Jabal knelt down before the prophet (pbuh) whereupon the prophet enquired what the man meant. In explanation, Mu’az said that in Sham he had seen people bending down before their bishops and patriarchs, so he thought it would be fit to do so in front of the prophet. In response the prophet denied this by saying: “Muslims may not bow down to anybody except God…”.
It was obvious that Mu’az’s postutre before the prophet implies reverence, a sentiment he noted in the case of the faithful, but in no way does it denote worship, which is exclusive to God. When the prophet knew that Mu’az’s posture did not denote worship, he still exhorted him not to perform such an action. Consequently, abrogation was applied to kneeling down and prostration in glorification of human grandeur.
It is true that Joseph’s father and brother prostrated before him, and equally true that God almighty enjoined the angels to prostrate before Adam, but in neither case did the posture imply worship, rather it meant a gesture of honour and recognition of merit.