Belief in Allah (God)
By Dr. Ja’afar Sheikh Idris
In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful;
All the praise and Thanks is due to Allāh,
the Lord of al-`ālamīn. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except
Allāh, and that Muhammad, Sallallāhu `alayhi wa sallam is His Messenger.
Pillars of Faith
Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sent to invite people to God and to teach them
how to perform the task for which they were created, namely to worship Him.
Many of the people whom he addressed had a hazy idea of God. Some did believe
in Him, though they associated other lesser gods with Him, but a few of them
were downright atheists, or materialists, whose creed was, 'we live and we die
and nothing causes our death except Time.' [Al-Jathiya, 45:24] Before inviting
such atheists to God one must first convince them that there is such being.
"What reason do you have for believing that there is a God?" This,
logically, is the first question which a theistic view of life should address
itself to. The Qur`anic answer to it is given in the following words:
"
. . were they created out of nothing? Or were they the creations (of
themselves) or did they create the heavens and earth." [At-Takhathur,
102:36]
The
Qur’an is here saying that for everything like man that has a beginning in
time, there are only three ways of explaining how it came to be.
a.
Either it is created, or made, or caused by nothing at all i.e. it came out of
nothing, or
b.
It is the creator of itself, or
c.
It has a creator, cause, or maker, outside itself.
The
third possibility is not mentioned in the quoted verse but it is understood
because the verse is addressed to people who deny the existence of a creator
and it is telling them that if there is no creator then only two possibilities
remain. But the Qur`an does not go into the details of showing why the first
two positions are untenable. Clarity of expression often convinces people of
the truth or untruth of a statement. Mental seeing here, more than physical
seeing, is believing (or rejecting). This is borne out in the case of these Qur`anic
words by a historical event. Jubair Ibn Mut’im, until then, a non-Muslim was
sent by Quraish on a mission to the Muslims at Madinah. He says that when he
arrived he heard the Prophet, who was leading the evening prayer, reading Surah
At-Tur and when he reached the foregoing verses "my heart was almost rent
asunder.'' Shortly after that Jubair embraced Islam.
Why
did this happen to him? Probably because the verse made things clear to him for
the first time. It is inconceivable for something to come out of or be made by
nothing at all, he realized, and it is even more inconceivable that it should
bring itself into being. Hence the only conclusion is that it must have a
creator outside itself.
A
thesis is therefore untenable if it means the denial of any maker or cause
whatsoever. But admitting that this is indeed so, one might still wonder why
should that cause or maker or creator be the God to whom Muhammad was inviting
people? Why it shouldn’t be one of the many other gods in whom people believe or
why shouldn't it even be the "matter" of the materialists? Almost the
entire Qur`an deals with this question but we shall do our best to give a brief
answer which would provide the reader with the basics of the Qur`anic position.
In a nutshell the answer is as follows: to explain the coming into being of
temporal things, the creator (or cause or maker) for which we are looking, must
(logically must) have the attribute of the God to whom Muhammad invites us. How
so?
The
creator must be of a different nature from the things created because, if he is
of the same nature as they are, he will have to be temporal and therefore need
a maker. It follows that "nothing is like Him." [Shura, 42:11] If the
maker is not temporal then he must be eternal. But if he is eternal, he cannot
be caused, and if nothing causes him to come into existence, nothing causes him
to continue to exist, which means that he must be self sufficient. And if he
does not depend on anything for the continuance of his existence, then that existence
can have no end. The creator is therefore eternal and everlasting: "He is
the first and the last." [Hadid, 57:3] "All that dwells upon the
earth is perishing, yet still abides the Face of thy Lord, majestic,
splendid." [Ar-Rahman, 55:26-27]
There
are two ways in which causes produce their effects. Either they produce them
naturally or intentionally. The maker that has the attributes we have
enumerated cannot be a natural cause. Because if things of this world flow from
Him naturally and spontaneously, they cannot be but of the same nature as He
is. And if like all natural causes He causes only under certain conditions,
then His power is limited. It follows that He must be a willful agent. But
intention implies knowledge and both imply life. So, that maker must be a
living all-knowing agent with a will that is absolutely free. Thus God
according to the Qur'an does everything with intention and for a purpose.
"Surely
We have created everything in (due) measure." [Qamar, 54:49]
"What,
did you think that We created you only for sport?" [Mu'minun, 23:115]
He
is absolutely free to do whatever he wills [Hud, 11:107] and is aware of every
movement of His creation.
"He
knows what is in land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. Not a grain
in the earth's shadow, not a thing fresh or withered, but it is in a Book
Manifest. It is He who recalls you by night, and He knows what you work by
day."[An'am, 6:59-60]
Allah (God) is living.
"There
is no God but He, the living, and the everlasting. Slumber seizes Him not,
neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is
there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what lies before
them and what is after them, and they comprehend not anything of His knowledge
save such as He wills. His throne comprises the heavens and earth; the
preserving of them oppresses Him not; He is the All-high, the All-Glorious.
[Al-Baqarah, 2:255]
God
is not only willing and powerful; He is also Just in that He does not punish a
sinner for more than his crime. He is merciful and His mercy, in the words of
the Prophet "overcame his punishment." So He does not punish us for
whatever we do, but forgives and erases our sins, and magnifies and multiplies
our good deeds.
"The
likeness of those who expend their wealth in the way of God is as the likeness
of a grain of corn that sprouts seven years, in every ear a hundred grains, so
God multiplies unto whom He will; God is All-embracing,
All-knowing."[Al-Baqarah, 11:261]
These,
and many others which can be arrived at in a similar way, are the attributes
which the true creator must possess. Any other being or object which is alleged
to be a god or an ultimate cause and which necessarily lacks some of them
cannot in actual fact be what it is believed to be. Thus, having shown clearly
what the true God should be like, the Qur'an goes on to show why there cannot
be any god but He, and reveals the falsity of all alleged gods.
To
the worshipers of man-made objects it says:
"Do
you worship what you have carved out and God created you and what you
make?"[As-Saffat, 37:95]
"...
have they taken unto themselves others beside Him who create nothing, who are
themselves created, who cannot protect them, nor can they protect
themselves." [Al-A’raf, 7:191-192]
To
the worshipers of heavenly bodies it relates as a reminder the story of Abraham
('alaihissalam):
When
night outspread over him he saw a star and said, 'This is my Lord.' But when it
set he said, 'l love not the setters.' When he saw the moon rising, he said,
'This is my Lord.' But when it set he said, 'If my Lord does not guide me I
shall surely be of the people gone astray.' when he saw the sun rising, he
said, 'This is my Lord; this is greater!' But when it set he said, 'O my
people, surely I am quit of what you associate with God. I have turned my face
to Him who originated the heavens and the earth, a man of pure faith; I am not
of the idolaters.' [Al-An`am, 6:76-79]
And
when, later on, the Prophet comes into contact with the Jews and Christians,
the Qur'an condemns their belief in the divine nature of human-beings.
"The
Jews say, 'Ezra is the son of God.' The Christians say, 'The Messiah is the son
of God.' That is the utterance of their mouths, conforming to the unbelievers
before them. God assail them! How they are perverted." [At-Tawbah, 9:30]
It
tells them that if everything is created by God then it must be His servant and
cannot, therefore be his son, [Maryam, 19: 88-95].
It
then goes on to explain to the Christians the real nature of Jesus.
"Truly,
the likeness of Jesus in God's sight is as Adam's likeness; He created him of
dust, then said He unto him 'Be!' and he was." [Ali-‘Imran, 3:59]
For
someone to take something as a god, it is not necessary that he should
acknowledge it as such or worship it in a ritualistic way; it is enough for him
to follow its dictates obediently, or devote to it acts or have towards it
feelings which should be devoted to or felt towards God only. There are many
such unacknowledged gods.
"Hast
thou seen him who has taken his caprice to be his God? Wilt thou be a guardian
over him?" [Al-Furqan, 25:43]
"They
have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords apart from God, and the
Messiah, Mary's son, and they were commanded to serve but one
God." [At-Tawbah, 9:31]
Thus
to be a Muslim - i.e... to surrender oneself to God— it is necessary to believe
in the unity of God in the sense of His being the only creator, preserver and
nourisher. But this belief - later on called Tawhid ar-Rabbubiyah - is not
enough. In fact many of the idolaters did know and believe that it is the
supreme God alone who can do all this. But that was not enough to make them
Muslims. To Tawhid ar-Rabbubiyah one must add Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah i.e. one must
acknowledge the fact that it is this God alone who deserves to be worshiped,
and therefore abstain from directing any of one's acts of worship to someone or
something else. In the Qur'an the argument for Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah is based on
Tawhid ar-Rabbubiyah i.e. if it is God alone who creates and controls
everything why then and to what end do you worship others beside Him?
"O
you men, serve your Lord who created you, and those that were before you; haply
so you will be god-fearing; who assigned to you the earth for a couch, and
heaven for an edifice, and sent down out of heaven water, wherewith He brought
forth fruits for your provision; so set not up rivals to God wittingly."
[Al-Baqarah, 2:21-22]
Having
known the true God, man is called upon to affirm what he knows i.e. to believe
and have faith in God, and not allow any ulterior motives to induce him to deny
a fact which he knows to be true.
"...
that they who have been given knowledge may know it is the truth from thy Lord
and so believe in it, and thus their hearts become humble unto him." [Hajj,
22:54]
"But
when our signs came to them visibly, they said, "This is a manifest
sorcery;' end they denied them, though their souls acknowledged them,
wrongfully and out of pride." [Naml, 27:14]
When
faith enters a person's heart, it causes therein certain mental states, which
result in certain apparent actions, both of which are the proof of true faith.
Foremost
among those mental states is the feeling of gratitude towards God, which could
be said to be the essence of `Ibadah (worshiping or serving God).
This
feeling of gratitude is so important that a nonbeliever is called kafir which
means, 'one who denies a truth' and also 'one who is ungrateful.' One can
understand why this is so when one reads in the Qur'an that the main motive for
denying the existence of God is that of unjustified pride. Such a proud person
feels that it does not become him to be created or governed by a being whom he
must thus acknowledge to be greater than himself and to whom he must be
grateful.
"Those
who dispute concerning the signs of God without any authority come to them, in
their hearts is only pride that they shall never attain." [Al-Ghafir,
40:56]
The Feeling Of Gratitude Goes With That Of Love.
"There
are some people who take to themselves (for worship) others apart from God
loving them as they should love God: But those who believe love God more
ardently than they love anything else." [Al-Baqarah, 2:165]
A
believer loves and is grateful to God for His bounties, but being aware of the
fact that his good deeds, whether mental or physical, are far from being
commensurate with Divine favors, he is always anxious lest because of his sins
God should withhold from him some of these favors or punish him in the
hereafter. He therefore fears Him, surrenders himself to Him, and serves Him
with great humility.
"Your
God is one God, so to Him surrender. And give thou good tidings unto the humble
who, when God is mentioned, their hearts quake."[Al-Anfal, 8:2]
One
cannot be in such a mental state, without being almost all the time mindful of
God. Remembering God is thus the life-force of faith, without which it fades
and might even wither away. So,
"The
faithful are those who remember God, standing and sitting, and on their
sides." [Ali-`Imran, 3:191]
The
Qur'an therefore prescribes and describes, in great detail ways and means of
helping man to remember God and keep his faith alive. All Qur`anic and
Prophetic injunctions and prohibitions which extend to all aspects of human
life acts of worship and personal matters, social relations, political order,
etc., etc. - are designed to put man in a state which is conducive to God's
remembrance. The details of this Islamic way of life were expounded in the
Madinah period, and we shall not therefore be concerned with them now. But the
main principles of this new order were already laid down in the Makkan period,
and will be summarized at the end of this chapter.
And
Allāh Almighty Knows best.
[Via Islam.com]
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