|
How does the Qur'an present God? |
|
|
|
|
Articles -
Quran & Hadith
|
How does the Quran present God?
When we wish to assess the scientific personality and knowledge of a scholar we
examine his works and subject them to close study. Similarly in order to measure
the talent creativity and ability of an artist to invent original images we
undertake the study of his artistic production.
In the same way we can also perceive the attributes and characteristics of the
pure essence of the Creator from the qualities and orderliness that pervade all
phenomena together with their subtlety and precision. Thereby within the limits
set by our capacity to know and perceive we can become acquainted with God's
knowledge wisdom life and power.
If it be a question of complete and comprehensive knowledge of God then of
course we must accept that man's ability to know does not extent that far. God's
characteristics cannot be placed within given limits and whatever comparison or
simile we offer for them is bound to be false for whatever is observable to
science and thought in the natural realm is the work of God and the product of
His will and command whereas His essence is not part of nature and does not
belong to the category of created beings. Hence the essence of the divine being
cannot be grasped by man by way of comparison and analogy.
He is in short a being for the knowledge of Whose essence no measure or
criterion exists and for the fixing of Whose power authority and knowledge we
have no figures or statistics.
Is man then too abject and powerless to perceive anything of the essence and
attributes of so elevated a reality? To concede the weakness of our powers and
our inability to attain complete profound and comprehensive knowledge of God
does not imply that we are deprived of any form of knowledge however relative.
The orderly pattern of the universe loudly proclaims His attributes to us and we
can deduce the power and unlimited creative of the Lord from the beau and value
of nature. Phenomena are for us an indication of His unique essence.
Contemplation of the will consciousness knowledge and harmony inherent in the
order of being and all the various phenomena of life makes it possible for us to
perceive that all these qualities together with all the other elements that
speak of aim direction and purpose necessarily derive from the will of a creator
Who Himself possesses these attributes before they are reflected in the mirror
of creation.
That which comes to know God and to touch His being is the remarkable power of
thought flash which deriving from that pre-eternal source shone on matter and
bestowed on it the capacity of acquiring knowledge and advancing toward truth.
It is within this great divine gift that the knowledge of God is manifested.
Islam deals with the knowledge of God in a clear and novel way. The Quran the
fundamental source for learning the worldview of Islam applies the method of
negation and affirmation to this question.
First it negated by means of convincing proofs and indications the existence of
false gods because in approaching the transcendent doctrine of unity it is
necessary first to negate all forms of pseudo-divinity and the worship of
other-than-God. This is the first important step on the path to unity.
The Quran says: "Have the ignorant polytheists abandoned the true God and chosen
instead the false and powerless gods? Tell them: 'Bring forth your proof!' This
call of mine to unity is my saying and that of all the learned men of the
community as well as the saying of all the Prophets and learned men before me.
But these polytheists have no knowledge of the truth and constantly avert
themselves from it. (21:24)
"Say O Messenger 'You worship one other than God who has no power to help or to
harm you . It is God Who is all-hearing and Who knows the state of all of
creation."(5:79)
The one who has severed his connection with divine unity forgets too his own
true position with respect to the world and being and becomes estranged from
himself. For the ultimate form of self-alienation is the severing of all links
with one's essential nature as man. Conversely once man has become alienated
from his own essence under the influences of internal and external factors he
will also be separated from his God and become enslaved by other-than-God.
Subordination to other-than-God then takes the place of all logical thought.
This represents a reversion to the worship of phenomena for worshipping an idol
and according primacy to matter both are forms of regression that rob man of his
innate capacity for growth.
Monotheism is the only force that makes it possible for man to recapture the
creativity of human values. By regaining his true rank he enters a state of
harmony with his own human nature and the ultimate nature of all being thus
attaining the most perfect form of existence open to him.
Throughout history all divine summons and movements have begun with the
proclamation of divine unity and the exclusive lordship of God. No concept has
ever occurred to man that is more productive of creative insights and more
relevant to the various dimensions of human existence or a more effective brake
on human perversity than the concept of divine unity.
Using clear proofs the Quran shows man the way to attaining knowledge of the
divine essence as follows: "Did man emerge from non-being through his own
devices? Was he his own creator? Did mankind create the heavens and earth?
Certainly they do not know God." (52:35-36)
The Quran leaves it to man's reason and commonsense to realize the falsity of
these two hypotheses that man came into being of himself or that he was his own
creator by testing and analyzing them in the laboratory of his thought. By
reflecting on the signs and indications of God he will come to recognize with
clear and absolute certainty the true source of all being and to understand that
no value can be posited for any model of the universe unless behind it an
organizing and capable intellect is at work.
In other verses man's attention is drawn to the manner of his creation and
gradual emergence from non-being. He thus comes to realize that his remarkable
creation with all the wonders it contains is a sign and indication of the
infinite divine will the penetrating rays of which touch all beings.
The Quran says: "We created man out of an essence of clay then We established
him in a firm place in the form of sperm. Then We made the sperm into coagulated
blood and then into a formless lump of flesh. Then we made it into bones and
then clothed the bones with flesh. Finally We brought forth a new creation. How
well did God create the best of all creators!" (23:12-14)
When the foetus is ready to receive shape and form all the cells of the eyes the
ear the brain and the other organs start to function and begin their ceaseless
activity. This is the truth to which the Quran is directing men's attention. It
then poses to man the question of whether all these wondrous changes are
rationally compatible with the hypothesis that there is no God.
Is it not rather the case that phenomena such as these prove and demonstrate
with the utmost emphasis the need for a plan a design a guiding hand inspired by
conscious will? Is it at all possible that the cells of the body should learn
their functions pursue their aim in a precise and orderly fashion and
crystallize so miraculously in the world of being without there being a
conscious and powerful being to instruct them?
The Quran answers this question as follows: "He it is Who creates and brings
forth (the totality of parts) Who separates (the parts belonging to each organ)
and Who gives form (to different aspects)." (59:24)
The Quran describes every sense phenomenon that man sees around him as something
calling for reflection and the drawing of conclusions. "Your God is but one God.
There is no God other than Him Compassionate and Merciful. In the aeation of the
heavens and the earth in the alternation of night and day in the ships that ply
the seas to the benefit of man in the water sent down from the heavens to revive
the earth after its death in the different species of animals scattered across
the earth in the rotation of the winds in the clouds that are subordinate to
God's command between heaven and earth in all of this there are signs for men
who use their intellects." (2:163-164) "Tell men to reflect with care and see
what things the heavens and the earth contain." (10:101)
The Quran also mentions the study of human history and the peoples of the past
with all the changes they have undergone as a special source of knowledge. It
invites man to pay heed in order to discover the truth to the triumphs and
defeats the glories and humiliations the fortune and misfortune of various
ancient peoples so that by learning the orderly and precise laws of history he
will be able to benefit himself and his society by aligning the history of his
own age with those laws. The Quran thus proclaims: "Even before your time
certain laws and norms were in force so travel and examine the historical traces
left by past peoples to see what was the fate of those who denied the truths of
revelation and the promises of God." (3:137) "How many were those powerful ones
whom We destroyed in their cities on account of their oppression and wrongdoing
and We made another people to be their heirs." (21:11)
The Quran also recognizes man's inner world which it expressed by the word anfus
("souls") as a source for fruitful reflection and the discovery of truth. It
points out its importance as follows: "We make our signs and indications
entirely manifest in the world and in the souls and inner beings of Our servants
so that it should be clear that God is the True." (41:53) "On the face of the
earth there are signs for the possessors of certainty and also in your own
selves; will you not see?" (51:20-21)
In other words there is an abundant source of knowledge in the beauty and
symmetry of the human body with all of its organs and capacities its actions and
reactions its precise and subtle mechanisms its varied energies and instincts
its perceptions feelings and sensations both animal and human and most
especially in the astounding capacity of thought and awareness with which man
has been entrusted a capacity which still remains largely unknown for man has
taken only a few steps in studying this invisible power and its relationship
with his material body.
The Quran proclaims that it is sufficient to reflect on and examine your own
self in order to be guided to the eternal infinite source that is free of all
need has unlimited knowledge skill and power and a feeble reflection of which is
manifest in your being. You will then know that it is that infinite reality
which has thus brought together in one place so fruitful a compound of elements
and brought it forth onto the plain of existence.
Given the existence of such vivid indications and decisive proofs placed at your
disposal and within your own being for you to seek the knowledge of God no
excuse will be accepted from you for misguidance and denial.
The Quran also applies the method of negation and affirmation to the question of
God's attributes. Thus it describes the attributes that the essence of the
Creator possesses as "affirmative attributes." Among them are knowledge power
will the fact that His existence was not preceded by non-existence and that His
being has no beginning and the fact that all the motions of the world derive
from His will and His power.
The Quran says: "He is God the One other than Whom there is no god the knower of
the hidden and the manifest the Compassionate the Merciful. He is God the One
other than Whom there is no god the Commander the All-powerful Pure and Without
Defect the Bestower of Safety the Protector the Precious the Mighty the Sublime
the Most Elevated. Exempt and purified be He from the partners which they
ascribe to Him."(59:22-23)
The "negative attributes" are those from which God is free. They include the
fact that God is not a body and has no place; His sacred being has no partner or
like; He is not a prisoner to the limitations set up by the bounds of the
senses; He neither begets nor is begotten; there is neither change nor motion
within His essence for He is Absolute Perfection; and He does not delegate the
task of creation to anyone.
The Quran says: "O Messenger say: 'He is God the One the God Who is free of need
for all things and of Whom all beings stand in need. No one is His offspring and
He is not the offspring of anyone and He has no like or parallel." (112:14)
"Pure and exalted is thy Lord God the Powerful and Unique Who is pure of what
men in their ignorance ascribe to Him." (37:180)
Human logic which inevitably thinks in terms of limited categories is incapable
of sitting in judgment on divinity because we must admit that it is impossible
to perceive the ultimate ground of that being for whom no observable or
comprehensible analogue or parallel exists in the world of creation. The most
profound schools of thought and the greatest methods of reflection here fall
prey to bewilderment.
Just as all existent beings must lead back to an essence with which existence is
identical to an independent being on which all other beings depend so too they
must derive from a source of life power and knowledge from the infinite being of
which all these attributes and qualities surge forth in abundance.
Comments posted are the sole opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of AIM. |
