Concept of God in Islam...8 (1)

CONCEPT OF GOD IN ISLAM

Islam is Semitic religion, which has more than 1.2 billion adherents all over the world. Islam means “submission to the will of Allah”. Muslims accept the Quran, as the word of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam states that Allah sent messengers and prophets throughout the ages with the message of the Unity of God, and accountability in the Hereafter. Islam thus makes it an article of faith to believe in the earlier prophets, starting with Adam, and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, John, Jesus and many others (may peace be on them all).

The Most Concise Definition of God:

The most concise definition of God in Islam is given in four verses of Surah Ikhlas which is Chapter 112 of the Holy Quran:

1.      “Say: He is Allah. The one and only”.

2.      “Allah, the Eternal, Absolute”.

3.      “He begets not, nor is He begotten”.

4.      “And there is none like unto Him”.

(Holy Quran 112:1-4)

The word “Assamad” is difficult to translate. It means ‘absolute existence’, which can be attributed only to Allah, all other existence being temporal or conditional. It also means that Allah is not dependent on any person o thing but all persons and things dependent on Him.

Surah Ikhlas – the touchstone of theology:

Surah Ikhlas (chapter 112) of the Holy Quran is the touchstone of theology. ‘Theo’ in Greek means God and logy means study. Thus Theology means study of God and to Muslims this four lines definition of Almighty God serves as the touchstone of the study of God. Any candidate to divinity must be subject to this ‘acid test’. Since the attributes of Allah given in this chapter are unique, false gods and pretenders to divinity can be easily dismissed using these verses.

What does Islam say about ‘god-men’?

Indian is often called the land of ‘god-men’. This is due to the abundance of so called spiritual masters in India. Many of these ‘babas’ and ‘saints’ have a large following in many countries. Islam abhors deification of any human being.

To understand the Islamic stand towards such pretenders to divinity let us analyze one such ‘god-men’, Osho Rajneesh. 

Rajneesh was one among the multitude of ‘spiritual teacher’ produced by India. In May 1981 he went to U.S.A. and established a town called ‘Rajneeshpuram’.

 He later fell foul of the West and was finally arrested and asked to leave the country. He came back to India and started a commune in Pune which is now known as the ‘Osho’ commune. He died in 1990. The followers of Osho Rajneesh believe that he is Almighty God. A visitor to the ‘Osho commune’ in Pune will find the following epitaph on his tombstone:

‘Osho – never, born never died; only visited the planet earth between 11^th December 1931 to 19^th January 1990”.

They forget to mention that he was not given visa for 21 different countries of the world. The followers of Rajneesh see no problem in their ‘god’ visiting the earth and requiring a visa to enter a country!

Let us put this candidate to divinity, Bhagwan Rajneesh, to the test of Surah Ikhlas, the touchstone of theology:

1.      The first criterion is “say, He is Allah, one and only”. Is Rajneesh one and only? No! There are many people like Rajneesh who claim divinity. Some disciples of Rajneesh may still hold that Rajneesh is one and only.

2.      The second criterion is, ‘Allah is absolute and eternal’. Rajneesh was surely not absolute and eternal since he died in 1990. We now from his biography that he was suffering from diabetes, Asthma, and chronic backache. He alleged that the U.S.A. Government gave him slow poison in Jail. Imagine Almighty God being poisoned! Rajneesh was neither absolute nor eternal.

3.      The third criterion is ‘He begets not, nor is He begotten’. We know that Rajneesh was born in Jabalpur in India and had a mother as well as a father who later became his disciples.

In May 1981 he went to U.S.A. and established a town called ‘Rajneeshpuram’. He later fell foul of the West and was finally arrested and asked to leave the country. He came back to India and started a commune in Pune which is now known as the ‘Osho commune’. He died in 1990. The followers of Osho Rajneesh believe that he is Almighty God. A visitor to the ‘Osho commune’ in Pune will find the following epitaph on his tombstone: ‘Osho – never,  born never died; only visited the planet earth between 11^th December 1931 to 19^th January 1990”. They forget to mention that he was not given visa for 21 different countries of the world. The followers of Rajneesh see no problem in their ‘god’ visiting the earth and requiring a visa to enter a country! The Archbishop of Greece said that if Rajneesh had not been deported, they would have burnt his house and those of his disciples.

The fourth test, which is the most stringent, is “there is none like unto Him”. The moment you can imagine ‘God’ or compare ‘God’ to anything then he (the candidate to divinity) is not God. It is not possible to conjure up a mental picture of the One True God. We know that Rajneesh was a human being with a white flowing beard. He had 2 eyes 2 ears, 1 nose, 1 mouth Photographs and posters of Rajneesh are available in plenty. The moment you can imagine what god is, he is not God.

Many are tempted to make anthropomorphic comparisons who was given the title of Mr. Universe, the strongest man in the world. What is the concluding remark to this section of “acid test”? This said test cannot be passed by anyone except the True God