Tag: iman

5a – The Hereafter – Prelude

“O mankind!  Indeed, Allah’s promise is true, so do not let the life of the world delude you, nor let the Deluder (Satan) delude you from Allah.” [Qur’an, 35:5]

“And they inquire from you, ‘Is it (the Day of Judgement) true?’  Say, ‘Yea.  By my Lord!  Indeed, it is true.  And you shall not escape.” [Qur’an, 10:53]

This world, with the precise and well-defined roles of its constituents, indicates the existence of a wise, knowing and powerful Creator.  (See: [Qur’an, 50:4,16,18, 34:3 and 46:33, 50:15, 36:82]) Yet, we sometimes see people around us getting other than what they deserve.  Very good people might suffer greatly, while evil, dishonest individuals might escape the hand of the law, and live in luxury and wealth that they have amassed by illicit and immoral means.  It would be wishful thinking to imagine that human free-will, with its accompanying conscience, carries no accountability or consequences. There must be another life, in which all will receive their just reward or punishment.  [See: Qur’an, 3:190, 23:115-116, 68:35-36, 45:21, 75:36-40, 44:34-40] Continue reading “5a – The Hereafter – Prelude” →

1b – Attributes Of Allah

Mere profession of faith in one god is not sufficient for one to be a believer. In fact, many people may claim to profess such a belief, and yet their conceptions of the One God are often strikingly different. The prophets, and in particular Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), were sent to eradicate idolatry, and describing Allah as resembling creatures is nothing but a manifestation of idolatry. Allah is transcendent, above the limitations of created things, beyond our sensory perception, and can be recognized only through His attributes. An important principle, which follows from Allah’s transcendence, is that we may only describe Him by those names and attributes by which He describes Himself, or by which His Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has described Him.

It is important to stress that Allah’s non-resemblance to creatures does not make Him unreachable or incomprehensible.

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.” [Qur’an, 2:186]

Indeed, we can sense or comprehend the effects of many of Allah’s attributes. An example is the attribute of mercy.

“So observe the effects of the mercy of Allah – how He gives life to the earth after its lifelessness.” [(30) Al-Rum, 50] Continue reading “1b – Attributes Of Allah” →

1a – The Existence Of Allah

Mankind in general has maintained a belief in the existence of the Creator of the Universe since time immemorial. The duty of the prophets of Allah was not so much to inform their people of Allah’s existence as to warn them against associating others with

Him, and to teach them how to serve Him.

“Their messengers said, ‘Is there any doubt concerning Allah, the originator of the Heavens and the Earth?'” [Qur’an, 14:10]

The early Muslim scholars did not even have to address the issue of the Existence of God, for it was a blatantly obvious fact which nobody questioned. It was only around the fourth century after hijrah, when people’s doctrine started being infiltrated with atheism and permeated by unbelief, that the scholars had to address the issue.

Human beings acquire knowledge through four different channels: credible reports, intuition (or instinct), deduction and sense perception. Each of these channels can lead us to knowledge of the existence of Allah. Continue reading “1a – The Existence Of Allah” →