From: d89-gsk@nada.kth.se (Gani Skepi)
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Concept of God in Islam (was Re: Islam at a Glance)
Date: 10 Jan 93 13:16:23 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

In article <1811@rwja.umdnj.edu>, gopal@rwja.umdnj.edu (Srihari Gopal) writes:
|> d89-gsk@nada.kth.se (Gani Skepi) writes:
|> 
|> >The Five Pillars of Islam
|> >-------------------------
|> >1. The DECLARATION OF FAITH. "I bear witness that there is no one
|> >worthy  of worship except  God (Allah), and  that Muhammad is His
|> >servant  and  messenger."  The  Prophethood  of  Muhammad obliges
|> >Muslims to follow his exemplary life in every respect.
|> 
|> So basically what you are saying is:
|> There is no other true religion except Islam, and that all other
|> religions are false.

If you take a look at the articles with the subject "Re:Basics of Islam"
which I've written and have been posted you will see the Islamic view 
explained a little better.

|> 
|> You claim that Islam is a universal religion. How can it be considered
|> universal if for one of its stipulations for membership be that you 
|> submit yourself to it completely while ignoring all other paths to
|> God? Islam is 'universal' in the sense that the whole world must submit
|> to ONLY Allah as outlined by the prophet Muhammed. 'Universality' is achieved
|> once the whole world is converted to Islam, correct?
|> 

Islam is universal in the sense that it is not for a special race but 
for everyone.

|> In other words, why should I limit myself to praying ONLY to Allah?
|> What if I want to pray to Jesus, Yahweh, Krishna or Buddha? Why are these
|> manifestations of God wrong? And why is the worship ONLY to Allah the only
|> correct path to salvation?
|> 

I believe the following article may explain the case.

******************************************************************************


                   CONCEPT OF  GOD IN ISLAM


 
                   III&E Broc. Series # 2
                         Published by
                 The Institute of Islamic Information & Education



--------------------------

 In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are
used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not
the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God.
Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This
shows its uniqueness when compared with the word god which can be made
plural, gods or feminine, goddess. It is interesting to notice that
Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and
a sister language of Arabic.

The One true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam
associates with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty, Creator and
Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing and nothing is
comparable to Him. The prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries
about Allah; the answer came directly from God Himself in the form of a
short Chapter of the Quran, which is considered the essence of the unity
or the motto of monotheism. This is Chapter 112 which reads:

<In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Say (O Muhammad) He is God the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, Who
has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not
anyone.>

Some non-Muslims allege that God in Islam is a stern and cruel God who
demands to be obeyed fully. He is not loving and kind. Nothing can be
farther from truth than this allegation. It is enough to know that, with
the exception of one, each of the 114 Chapters of the Quran begins withe
the verse:"In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate." In one
of the sayings of prophet Muhammad (PBUH) we are told that "God is more
loving and kinder than a mother to her dear child."

But God is also Just. Hence evildoers and sinners must have their share
of punishment and the virtuous, His bounties and favors. Actually God's
attribute of Mercy has full manifestation in His attribute of Justice.
People suffering throughout their lives for His sake and people
oppressing and exploiting other people all their life should not receive
similar treatment from their Lord. Expecting similar treatment for them
will amount to negating the very belief in the accountability of man in
the Hereafter and thereby negating all the incentives for a moral and
virtuous life in this world. The following Quranic verses are very clear
and straightforward in this respect.

<Verily, for the Righteous are gardens of Delight, in the Presence of
their Lord. Shall We then treat the people of Faith like the people of
Sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you? > (68:34-36).

Islam rejects characterizing God in any human form or depicting Him as 
favoring certain individuals or nations on the basis of wealth, power ,
or race. He created the human beings as equals. They may distinguish
themselves and get His favor through virtue and piety only.

The concept that God rested in the seventh day of creation, that God
wrestled with one of His soldiers, that God is an envious plotter
against mankind, or that God is incarnate in any human being are
considered blasphemy from the Islamic point of view.

The unique usage of Allah as a personal name of God is a reflection of
Islam's emphasis on the purity of the belief in God which is the essence
of the message of ALL God's messengers. Because of this, Islam considers
associating any deity or personality with God as a deadly sin which God
will never forgive, despite the fact He may forgive all other sins.
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 be temporal and
will therefore need a maker. It follows that nothing is like Him.
If the maker is not temporal, then he must be eternal. But if he is
eternal, he cannot be caused, and if nothing caused him to come into
existence, nothing outside him 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 own existence, then this existence
can have no end. The Creator is therefore eternal and everlasting:"He is
the First and the Last."

He is Self-sufficient or Self-Subsistent or, to use a Quranic term,
Al-Qayyum. The Creator does not create only in the sense of bringing
things into being, He also preserves them and takes them out of
existence and is the ultimate cause of whatever happens to them.

<God is the Creator of everything. He is the guardian over everything.
Unto Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth.> (39:62,63)
<No creature is crawling on the earth, but its provision rests on God.
He knows its lodging place and its repository.> (11:6)

GOD'S ATTRIBUTES

If the Creator is Eternal and Everlasting, then His attributes must also
be eternal and everlasting. He should not lose any of His attributes nor
acquire new ones. If this is so, then His attributes are absolute. Can
there be more than one Creator with such absolute attributes? Can there
be e.g. two absolutely powerful Creators? A moment's thought shows that
this is not feasible.

The Quran summarizes this argument in the following verses:

<God has not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god with Him:
For then each god would have taken of that which he created and some of
them would have risen up over others.> (23:91)
<And Why, were there gods in earth and heaven other than God, they
(heaven and earth) would surely go to ruin.> (21:22)

THE ONENESS OF GOD

The Quran reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. To the
worshippers of man-made objects it asks:
<Do you worship what you have carved yourself.> (37:95) or
<Have you taken unto you others beside Him to be protectors, even such
as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves.?> (13:16)

To the worshippers of heavenly bodies it cites the story of Abraham:

<When night outspread over him he saw a star and said,"This is my Lord."
But when it set he said,"I 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 quit that which you
associate, I have turned my face to Him who originated the heavens and
the earth; a man of pure faith, I am not of the idolators.>(6:76-79)

THE BELIEVER'S ATTITUDE

In order to be a muslim i.e. to surrender oneself to God, it is
necessary to believe in the oneness of God, in the sense of His being
the only Creator, Preserver, Nourisher, etc ... But this belief - later
on called Tawhid Ar-Rububiyyah-is NOT ENOUGH. Many of the idolators knew
and believed that only the Supreme God could do all this. But that was
not enough to make them Muslims. To Tawhid A-Rububiyyah one must add
Tawhid Al'Uluhiyyah i.e., one acknowledges the fact that it is God alone
who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstain from worshipping any
other thing or being.

Having achieved this knowledge of the one true God, man should
constantly have faith in Him, and should allow nothing to induce him to
deny truth.

When faith enters a person's heart, it causes certain mental states
which result in certain actions. Taken together these mental states and
actions are proof for the true faith. The prophet (PBUH) said,"Faith is
that which resides firmly in the heart and which is proved by
deeds."          

Foremost among those mental states is the feeling of gratitude towards
God, which could be said to be the essence of Ibadah (worship).

The feeling of gratitude is so important that a non-believer is called
"kafir", which means "one who denies a truth" and also "one who is
ungrateful."

A believer loves, and is grateful to God for the bounties He bestowed
upon him, 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 God should punish him, here or in the
Hereafter. He, therefore, fears Him, surrenders himself to Him and
serves Him with great humility. 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 withers away.

The Quran tries to promote this feeling of gratitude by repeating the
attributes of God very frequently. We find most of these attributes
mentioned together in the following verses of the Quran:

<He is God; there is no god but He. He is the Knower of the unseen and
the visible; He is the All-merciful, the Al-compassionate. He is God;
there is no God but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-peace, the
Guardian of Faith, the All-preserver, the All-mighty, the All-Compeller,
the All-sublime. Glory be to God, above that they associate! He is God
the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most
Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is
the All-mighty, the All-wise.> (59:22-24)

<There is no god but He, the Living 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.> (2:255)

<People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say
not to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the
Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit
from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers and say not, "Three."
Refrain; better is it for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him- (He
is) above having a son.> (4:171)


-----------------


For more information please contact:

The Institute of Islamic Information and Education
P.O. Box 41129
Chicago, Illinois 60641-0129
U.S.A.

***********************************************************************

Peace
Gani Skepi
d89-gsk@nada.kth.se
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc