Reading The Muslim Mind
Chapter One:
GOD?
I asked my granddaughter, "Do you believe in God?" She almost snapped " Of course," and
then, catching her breath, she added, "Mummy says so!" But then I picked up one of her
books and asked her "Who wrote this book?", and immediately she read the name of the
author. Continuing the argument, I said, "Suppose I tear the front page bearing the name of
the author and suggest to you that this book has written itself by itself, that is without a
writer, what would you say?" It was of course an emphatic "Impossible", and the rest of the
discussion went smoothly and logically that a book is proof of a writer, and similarly the
creation is proof of the Creator.
Straight and simple, but it is the central idea in the thinking of a Muslim. It was perhaps a similar intellectual process that led the Patriarch Abraham (also known in Islam as the Father of the Prophets) to find God. Unconvinced with the idols his people carved and worshipped, he started to consider articles of nature for godhood such as the stars, moon, and sun, only to find that all were obedient to certain laws so he pondered on the One who set those laws. The relevant Quranic reportage is most interesting: "So also did We show Abraham the realm of the heavens and earth, that he might have certitude. When the night covered him over he saw a star. He said 'This is my Lord' but when it set he said 'I love not those that set'. When he saw the moon rising in splendor he said 'This is my Lord'; but when the moon set he said 'Unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray.' When he saw the sun rising in splendor he said 'This is my Lord, this is the greatest'. but when the sun set he said ' O my people.. I am indeed free from your (guilt of) giving partners (to the One True God). For me, I have set my face firmly and truly towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Him." (6: 75-78)
Yet, the idea of God is not as popular as one would imagine. I was surprised to find that many of my scientist colleagues in the academic circles in Europe and America and not just in the ex communist block were atheist. I myself tried hard to be one at a certain stage of my life. It was in vogue at one time just after the second world war, amongst university students in my mother country of Egypt. I did try to conform with my peers but could never apply myself to the concept of a Godless universe. The issue was finally laid to rest when one evening I opened the dictionary to look up the meaning of a word when an idea dawned on me: suppose someone suggested to me that the unerring arrangement of the words in the dictionary in their alphabetical order, was the outcome of an explosion in a printer's shop that caused the lead letters to be blown up in the air and when they fell down they were found, just like that, to be arranged the way they are in the dictionary. My mind just couldn't take it! If He is the Ultimate Creator, it follows that nothing could be "more" than Him in any respect, or else He would be "less" than something, He would have limits, and this would be incompatible with being the Ultimate One or the Primary Cause that philosophy refers to. His dimensions in all His attributes can be expressed in terms of infinity. Of course, we cannot comprehend what infinity really means, but we should acknowledge that this is only natural since we are finite, and the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Our science of mathematics, does indeed acknowledge infinity as a mathematical fact and expresses it with a special sign, "", in common use in our teaching of mathematics. God is therefore infinite. He therefore can comprehend us although we, by our finitude, cannot comprehend Him, and we know about Him by knowing His signs and manifestations through His creation. And since infinity cannot be divided by two or three or more (a mathematic fact), it follows that there cannot be God for Jews, another for Christians, another for Muslims, another for Hindus and yet another for the Godless, etc. God is One! It is this Oneness of God that is at the root of the Islamic faith and the belief of Muslims.
When the pronoun "He" is used to refer to God, of course it carries no gender connotations. God is beyond such classification and the question is one of linguistic usage which is both limited and arbitrary. Speaking of languages, it is also noteworthy that some languages (including the English) do not have a word to signify the One Ultimate Creator and capitalize the word God to make the distinction from other (man made) gods, with a small "g". Other languages hold a special name for Him which is Allah in the Arabic language. Whether one reads God (English), Dieu (French), Adonai (Hebrew), or Allah (Arabic).... there should be no confusion. Quite often the question has been posed to me from audiences at my talks, "if you worship God, then who is Allah?" At other times the reference is not as innocent since certain scholars on tape or in writing say that Muslims do not worship God and have a separate god of their own whom they call Allah! .... continue reading
Straight and simple, but it is the central idea in the thinking of a Muslim. It was perhaps a similar intellectual process that led the Patriarch Abraham (also known in Islam as the Father of the Prophets) to find God. Unconvinced with the idols his people carved and worshipped, he started to consider articles of nature for godhood such as the stars, moon, and sun, only to find that all were obedient to certain laws so he pondered on the One who set those laws. The relevant Quranic reportage is most interesting: "So also did We show Abraham the realm of the heavens and earth, that he might have certitude. When the night covered him over he saw a star. He said 'This is my Lord' but when it set he said 'I love not those that set'. When he saw the moon rising in splendor he said 'This is my Lord'; but when the moon set he said 'Unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray.' When he saw the sun rising in splendor he said 'This is my Lord, this is the greatest'. but when the sun set he said ' O my people.. I am indeed free from your (guilt of) giving partners (to the One True God). For me, I have set my face firmly and truly towards Him who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Him." (6: 75-78)
Yet, the idea of God is not as popular as one would imagine. I was surprised to find that many of my scientist colleagues in the academic circles in Europe and America and not just in the ex communist block were atheist. I myself tried hard to be one at a certain stage of my life. It was in vogue at one time just after the second world war, amongst university students in my mother country of Egypt. I did try to conform with my peers but could never apply myself to the concept of a Godless universe. The issue was finally laid to rest when one evening I opened the dictionary to look up the meaning of a word when an idea dawned on me: suppose someone suggested to me that the unerring arrangement of the words in the dictionary in their alphabetical order, was the outcome of an explosion in a printer's shop that caused the lead letters to be blown up in the air and when they fell down they were found, just like that, to be arranged the way they are in the dictionary. My mind just couldn't take it! If He is the Ultimate Creator, it follows that nothing could be "more" than Him in any respect, or else He would be "less" than something, He would have limits, and this would be incompatible with being the Ultimate One or the Primary Cause that philosophy refers to. His dimensions in all His attributes can be expressed in terms of infinity. Of course, we cannot comprehend what infinity really means, but we should acknowledge that this is only natural since we are finite, and the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. Our science of mathematics, does indeed acknowledge infinity as a mathematical fact and expresses it with a special sign, "", in common use in our teaching of mathematics. God is therefore infinite. He therefore can comprehend us although we, by our finitude, cannot comprehend Him, and we know about Him by knowing His signs and manifestations through His creation. And since infinity cannot be divided by two or three or more (a mathematic fact), it follows that there cannot be God for Jews, another for Christians, another for Muslims, another for Hindus and yet another for the Godless, etc. God is One! It is this Oneness of God that is at the root of the Islamic faith and the belief of Muslims.
When the pronoun "He" is used to refer to God, of course it carries no gender connotations. God is beyond such classification and the question is one of linguistic usage which is both limited and arbitrary. Speaking of languages, it is also noteworthy that some languages (including the English) do not have a word to signify the One Ultimate Creator and capitalize the word God to make the distinction from other (man made) gods, with a small "g". Other languages hold a special name for Him which is Allah in the Arabic language. Whether one reads God (English), Dieu (French), Adonai (Hebrew), or Allah (Arabic).... there should be no confusion. Quite often the question has been posed to me from audiences at my talks, "if you worship God, then who is Allah?" At other times the reference is not as innocent since certain scholars on tape or in writing say that Muslims do not worship God and have a separate god of their own whom they call Allah! .... continue reading
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