Fundamental
Question
A Critic:-
I have done many readings in theology, be it
Catholic or protestant, I have read the Bible, the Torah and the Holy Quran and
my honest belief is that Jesus of Nazareth, Muhammad the prophet and Abraham
were all group motivators and not as holy as we think.
If God or Allah or any other for that matter,
is so powerful and great, WHY would he send a messenger to do his work. The almighty
is suppose to be everywhere and knows everything. Why doesn't he manifest
himself in person? And why would a GOD ask his believers to commit suicide and
kill innocent children? Isn't this like a rebirth of the old Crusades except in
the year 2006 to boost the number of followers in a religion?
Comment:-
The trick is to study the scriptures with
understanding.
Judging from your questions, you have
obviously not studied or understood the scriptures.
God works through all things including
people. The Universe is a proof or manifestation of the existence of Allah. The
Prophets and Messengers and the human faculties for consciousness, conscience
and will are also manifestations.
Critic:-
Considering the widespread belief of Muslims
that the Quran is the last book from God for guidance to mankind, it is quite
amazing at how vague it is about most of the things it talks about. The most
likely explanation of this could be that the Quran was only intended to be a
good book of poetry and substance was not it's primary goal.
Comment:-
That is your view and you are not a Muslim.
It is not the Muslim view.
The Quran confirms the previous scriptures.
Is that vague?
The Quran states that it is not poetry 36:68,
37:36-37.
But the Quran does require pondering and
meditating upon and it requires prayer and reading according to the
instructions provided in the Quran. This is because it is meant as part of a
discipline for spiritual development. Did you follow the instructions as to how
it should be read? Did you undertake the discipline? No. Then your views about
it are worthless. You have not read the Quran.
Critic:-
But considering this reply all it comes down
to is that to appreciate the Quran etc. I need to be a Muslim. Well that is a
circular argument that I require no need to reply to.
About it being all my view etc., thank god
for free speech, freedom and liberty. God bless the white man
Comment:-
So you are into racialism!! It is prejudices
such as these that prevent you from understanding much. Did you not know that
White men are also followers of the religions created in the Middle
East? Did you not know that all human beings are basically alike
and have descended from a single source - Africans according to
Anthropologists?
Free Speech has value only if it conveys what
is true, good, useful and beautiful. It is harmful if it merely promotes
prejudice, lies, futilities, evil and ugliness.
You, like may others, wish to hide behind a
"logical" argument about its circularity. But the application of knowledge
and reason should have told you that people were originally converted to Islam
and are still converted. So it is a question of having some insight.
Know that a Muslim is also defined as one who
lives according the nature as made by Allah and that all persons are regarded
as inherently Muslim until their faculties have been distorted by conditioning.
Critic:-
People have a innate tendency to ask certain
questions, these are mostly condensed to: (1) Where did we come from? (2) Why
are we here? And (3) Where are we going? Now considering the content of the
Quran, it does not really live up to these expectations. Anyone looking for
these answers would be very disappointed with the Quran.
Comment:-
"And when your Lord said unto the
angels: I am about to place a Vicegerent (Agent, Successor, Inheritor) in the
earth, they said: Will you place therein one who will do evil therein and shed
blood? While we celebrate Thy praise and glorify Thee. Said (the Lord): I know
what you know not. And He taught Adam the Names (qualities), all of them; then
He propounded them to the angels and said: Declare to Me the names of these, if
you are truthful." 2:30-31
"They shall say: Allah Who gives
speech to all things has given us speech, and He Who created you at first, unto
Him you are returning." 41:21
"Verily, we are Allah's and, verily,
to Him is our return." 2:156
Critic:-
Am I stupid or is the above
self-contradictory. Considering above, the real question is WHY???? WHY does
God need to show His awesome power to anyone. If as is asserted He has no need
of anyone, so why does He create. The only answer we get in the Quran is that
we (humans) were created to worship him. What need does he have of this
worship? People say: He doesn't have any need but we need it to gain salvation,
heaven etc. My reply is: so why create? We go in circles because there is
realistically no answer to this question. We must believe blindly, and hope the
Hindus weren't right all the way.
Comment:-
What were the Hindus right about? They have a
number of Theories.
As you have noticed it is not Allah who needs
our worship but we do. The reason could be found in the following:-
The Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said
in a Hadith Qudsi:-
"Allah says: I was a hidden treasure.
I wished to be known. Therefore, I created the world that I might be
known."
I.e. Creation can be regarded as increasing
consciousness. Or, in so far as Allah is Reality, creation could be regarded as
Allah's Self-consciousness.
One could, of course, like the child continue
to ask the question "WHY" ad infinitum, but one is reduced at last to
accepting something as a fundamental, something from which the question itself
springs - e.g. why do we want to know why? The answer is: We want an
explanation. But this consists of relating something needing explanation to
something taken for granted, something that cannot be explained in relation to
anything else. Why do we eat? We eat to live. Why do we want to live? It is
built-in in our existence. We would not be here if this were not so. We take
Allah for granted. The ultimate answer to the ultimate question "why"
is that the purpose lies in Allah.
The ability to understand the answers to the
ultimate questions depends on the degree of spiritual development, of consciousness,
conscience and will. If we continue to develop spiritually according to the
instructions in the Quran and return to Allah, then no doubt we will know the
answer to the ultimate question.
However, it seems fairly obvious that if we
are not conscious, then nothing can exist for us, neither the universe nor
ourselves. Therefore, existence itself is explained by consciousness of it. It
is both the source of the question and the answer.
The answer can also be found in the following
verses of the Quran:-
"And when your Lord said unto the
angels, "I am about to place a Vicegerent (Agent, Successor, Inheritor) in
the earth," they said, "Will you place therein one who will do evil
therein and shed blood? While we celebrate Thy praise and glorify Thee."
Said (the Lord), "I know what you know not."
"And He taught Adam the Names
(qualities), all of them; then He propounded them to the angels and said,
"Declare to Me the names of these, if you are truthful." 2:30-31
"Surely, We have created man in the
best of moulds. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low; save those who
believe and act right; for theirs is a reward unfailing." 95:4-6
"And the soul and Who fashioned it,
and enlightened it with what is wrong and right for it! He indeed is successful
who causes it to grow (or purifies it)! And he indeed is a failure who corrupts
it! " 91:7-10
"But O, you soul in peace and
fulfilment! Return unto your Lord, well pleased and well pleasing unto Him!
Enter you amongst My servants, Enter you My Garden (Paradise)!"
89:27-30
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