Islam is a 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 Mohammed
(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 or thing but all persons and things are 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?
India 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.
Osho never, born never died; only visited the planet earth between 11th December 1931 to 19th 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:
i) 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.
ii) The second criterion is, Allah is absolute and eternal. Rajneesh was surely not absolute and eternal since he died in 1990. We know 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.
iii) 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 establised 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 epitah on his tombstone:"Osho never, born never died; only visited the planet earth between 11th December 1931 to 19th january 1990".
They forget to mention that he was not granted visa for 21 countries of the world. Can aperson imagine a 'God' visiting the earth and requiring a visa to enter a country! The Arcbishop of Greece said that if Rajneesh had not
been deported, they would have burnt his house and those of his discipiles. 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 mouthPhotographs 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 worl. What is the concluding remark to this section of "acid test"? This said testcannot be
passed by anyone except the true God.
By what name do we call God?
The Muslims prefer calling Allah, instead of 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 not 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 used 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 respects 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 have an end You cannot have a being, which has no end and an end at the
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. 296 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 all the qualities of a human. For example if a brilliant professor meets 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 Qur'an says in the following verse:
"There is nothing whatever like create him"
(Al-Qur'an 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 failings.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 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)]
[Holy Quran (2:109)]
[Holy Quran (2:284)]
[Holy Quran (3:29)]
[Holy Quran (16:77)]
[Holy Quran (35:1)]
Futher the Glorious Qur'an 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 hardships, 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 the 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 donts 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 Judgement. It therefore stands to reason, that the Creator informs us about the dos and donts 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.
[Matthew 13:13]
A similar message is also given in the Hindu Scriptures in the Rigveda
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
[Rigveda 10:71:4]
All these Scriptures are telling its reader that though the things are
made so clear yet they divert away from the truth.
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