ROSE AND LINDA'S JOURNAL

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY:

WORD OF THE DAY:  ALLAH

Allah is an Arabic word that has to do with the worship of the moon god in early Arabia.  The word is not found in the Hebrew Old Testament nor the Greek New Testament.  So who is allah.  In Islam the word is ‘unknowable.’  Allah is so exalted no one can personally know him.  It will only be on judgement day that Muslims will find out if allah loves them and will invite them into paradise.  

Source : III&E Brochure Series; No. 2

(published by The Institute of Islamic Information and Education (III&E))

 The Believer's Attitude

In order to be a Muslim, i.e., to surrender oneself to God, it is necessary to believe in the oneness of God, in the sense of His being the only Creator, Preserver, Nourisher, etc. But this belief - later on called "Tawhid Ar-Rububiyyah" - is not enough. Many of the idolaters knew and believed that only the Supreme God could do all this, but that was not enough to make them Muslims. To tawhid ar-rububiyyah one must add tawhid al'uluhiyyah, i.e., one acknowledges the fact that is God alone Who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstains from worshipping any other thing or being.

Having achieved this knowledge of the one true God, man should constantly have faith in Him, and should allow nothing to induce him to deny truth.

When faith enters a person's heart, it causes certain mental states which result in certain actions. Taken together these mental states and actions are the proof for the true faith. The Prophet said, "Faith is that which resides firmly in the heart and which is proved by deeds." Foremost among those mental states is the feeling of gratitude towards God which could be said to be the essence of 'ibada' (worship).  "Proved by deeds, feelings of gratitude towards God."  {recj}

The feeling of gratitude is so important that a non-believer is called 'kafir' which means 'one who denies a truth' and also 'one who is ungrateful.'  "To not have this gratitude means that one does not believe and is ungrateful." {recj}

A believer loves, and is grateful to God for the bounties He bestowed upon him, but being aware of the fact that his good deeds, whether mental or physical, are far from being commensurate with Divine favors, he is always anxious lest God should punish him, here or in the Hereafter. He, therefore, fears Him, surrenders himself to Him and serves Him with great humility. One cannot be in such a mental state without being almost all the time mindful of God. Remembering God is thus the life force of faith, without which it fades and withers away.

The Quran tries to promote this feeling of gratitude by repeating the attributes of God very frequently. We find most of these attributes mentioned together in the following verses of the Quran:

"He is God; there is no god but He, He is the Knower of the unseen and the visible; He is the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. He is God, there is no God but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peace, the Guardian of Faith, the All-Preserver, the All-Mighty, the All-Compeller, the All-Sublime. Glory be to God, above that they associate! He is God the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." (59:22-24)

"There is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting. Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows what lies before them and what is after them, and they comprehend not anything of His knowledge save such as He wills. His throne comprises the heavens and earth; the preserving of them oppresses Him not; He is the All-High, the All-Glorious." (2:255)

"People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, 'Three.' Refrain; better is it for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him - (He is) above having a son." (4:171)

"Jesus was only a messenger, meaning he was a man like any man, not the son of God." {recj}

To merely read the article above it is easy to see that allah is spoken as a god of love, that is to be worshipped above and alone above all other names.  Then we read quietly woven into their words we are told that we need to be proven by deeds, and with this comes gratitude towards god.  The God that we ‘non-believers’ believe in our relationship comes from faith and not by works.  We then are considered to be ungrateful and denying the truth.  The article goes on to tell us that Jesus was only a messenger just like other messengers, no more no less, but surely not god’s son.  That words spoken to Mary does not with Jesus make three.  We ‘non-believers’ have never looked at the ‘Three as God, Mary and Jesus'.  We look at the Three as titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost being Jesus Christ, One and only One.  The Beginning and the End always was One and always shall be One. 

Allah is unknowable, yet our Lord Jesus Christ wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us.  We are able to intercede with the Lord our selves by going to Jesus.  Jesus is not an unknown that is above and beyond our reach.  To a Muslim our saying that we ourselves personally can reach out and touch God would be blasphemy.  Where we are taught to love one another and to reach out to non-believers the Muslim has a different approach.

What though does the Quran say of 'non-believers’ now that is another word to be looked up.  

God Bless,

recj/LJG