Concept of God in Islam...8 (2)

By what name do we call God?

The Muslims prefer calling Allah, instead if the English word “God”. The Arabic word ”Allah”, is pure and unique, unlike the English word “God”, which can be played around with.

If you add ‘s’ to the word God, it becomes ‘Gods‘, that is the plural of God. Allah is one and singular, there is no plural of Allah. If you add ‘dess’ to the word God, it becomes ‘Goddess’ that is a female God. There is nothing like male Allah or female Allah. Allah has no gender. If you pre-fix tin before the word God, it becomes tin-God i.e., fake God. Allah is a unique word which does jot conjure up any mental picture nor can it be played around with.   Therefore the Muslims  prefer saying ‘Allah’ , but sometimes while speaking to the non-Muslims we may have to use the inappropriate word God for Allah. Since the intended audience of this book is general in nature, consisting of both Muslims as well as non-Muslims, I have use the word God instead of Allah in several places in this article.

God does not becomes a human being

Some people argue that God can do everything, then why cannot He take human form? If God wishes he can become a human being. But then He no longer remains God because the qualities of God and human beings in many respecs are completely incompatible. The following paragraphs will show the absurdity of the idea of God becoming a human being.

God is immortal and human beings are mortal. You cannot have a God-man i.e. an immortal being, and at the same time and in the same entity. It is meaningless. God does not have a beginning while human beings have a beginning. You cannot have a person, not having a beginning and at the same time having a beginning. Human being has an end. You cannot have a being, which has no end and an end at the same time. It is meaningless.

God Almighty does not require eating whereas human beings require nourishment to sustain life.

“And He it is that Feeds but is not fed.” (Holy Quran 6:14)

God does not require rest or sleep while human beings cannot go indefinitely without rest.

“But He – the Living, The Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him Nor sleep. His are all things In the heavens and on earth.”  (Holy Quran 2:255)

Worship of another human is useless:

  If the idea of God becoming a human is unacceptable, we must also agree that there is therefore no sense in worshipping another human. If God becomes a human form, He ceases to be God and possesses al the qualities of human. For example if a brilliant professor meet with an accident and suffers irreparable loss of memory, it would be foolish on the part of his students to continue to take lessons from him in that subject.

Moreover if God takes human form, the same human cannot later become God, since human beings by definition do not possess the power to become God. The worship of God in a human form is therefore a logical fallacy and should be abhorred in all its forms.

That is the reason why the Holy Quran speaks against all forms of anthropomorphism. The glorious Quran says in the following verse:

“There is nothing whatever like create him”. (Holy Quran 42:11)

God does not perform ungodly acts:

The attributes of Almighty God preclude any evil since God is the fountainhead of justice, mercy and truth. God can never be thought of as doing an ungodly act. Hence we cannot imagine God telling a lie, being unjust, making a mistake, forgetting things, and such other human falling. Similarly God can do injustice if he wants but He will never do it because being unjust is an ungodly act.

The Holy Quran says:

“Allah is never unjust In the least degree”. ( Holy Quran 4:40)

God can be unjust if he wants, but the moment God does injustice He ceases to be God.

God does not forget nor does He make mistakes:

God will not forget anything because forgetting is an ungodly act, which reeks of human limitations and failing. Similarly  God will not make a mistake, because making mistakes is an ungodly act.

“…… my Lord never errs, nor forgets”. (      Holy Quran 20:52)

God performs Godly acts

He has power over all things: the Islamic concept of God is that God has power over all things. The Holy Quran says in several places:

“for verily Allah has power over all things”. (Holy Quran 2:106, 2:109, 2:284, 3:29, 16:77, 35:1)

Further the Glorious Quran says:

“Allah is the doer of all He intends”. (Holy Quran 85:16)

We must keep in mind that Allah intends only Godly acts and not ungodly acts.

  Many religions at some point believe, directly or indirectly in the philosophy of anthropomorphism i.e. God becoming a human form. Their contention is that Almighty God is so pure and Holy that he is unaware of the hardship, shortcomings and feelings of human beings. In order to set the rules for human beings He came down to earth in the form of a human. This deceptive logic has fooled countless   millions through the ages. Let us now analyze this argument and see if it stands to reason.

The Creator prepares the instruction manual:

Allah (SWT) has endowed us humans with reason and intelligence. We invent and manufacture appliances for specific purposes. Tape recorders for instance are manufactured in large numbers. It has never been suggested that in order to understand what is good for the tape recorder that manufacturer should become a tape recorder himself. One simply assumes that the manufacturer will publish an instruction manual, since he has complete knowledge of his product.  In short the instruction manual gives the dos and don’ts for the machine.

If you think of the human being as a machine, it is indeed a complex creation of Allah (SWT). Our Lord and Creator Allah(SWT) need not come in the form of a human being to know what is good or bad for the human being. He only has to reveal the instruction manual to mankind. The Holy Quran is the instruction manual for human beings.

Moreover, Allah will call this creation to account on the Day of Judgment.   It therefore stands to reason, that the Creator informs us about the dos and don’ts of life.

Allah chooses Messengers:

Allah (SWT) need not come down personally for writing the instruction manual. Over the ages Allah has chosen men in every nation to deliver the Divine message. Such chosen men are called as messengers and prophets of God.

Some people are ‘blind’ and ‘deaf’:

Despite the absurdity of the philosophy of anthropomorphism, followers of many religions believe in and preach it to others. Is it not an insult to human intelligence and to the Creator who gave us this intelligence? Such people are truly ‘deaf’ and ‘blind’ despite the faculty of hearing and sight given to them by Allah. The Holy Quran says:

“Deaf, dumb, and blind, They will not return (to the path)”. (Holy Quran 2:18)

 The Bible gives a similar message in the Gospel of Mathew:

“Seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand”. (Mathew 13:13)

A similar message is also given in the Hindu Scriptures in the Rig-Veda

“There maybe someone who sees the words and yet indeed do not see them; may be another one who hears these words but indeed does not hear them”  ( Rig-Veda 10:71:4)

 All these Scriptures are telling its reader that though the things are made so dear yet they divert away from the truth.