Introduction
People with little knowledge of Islam and malice make efforts to misguide the people by twisting the scripture. Stephen Blanton is one of such Islamophobes who has drawn a fallacious comparison titled: “COMPARE CHRISTIANITY TO ISLAM” on his website with his name. It is considered prudent to unveil the reality for the benefit of people of all faiths to clear the false propaganda. It is being presented in a series of articles for convenience and better comprehension. In the previous issues of DJ in July and August 2018, some points out of the 15 points of comparison between Christianity and Islam were responded. Here point number 4 and 5, the doubts regarding the nature of God and His love for humanity are being taken up:
Comparison-4: The Nature of God
Christianity: God is personal.
Islam: Allah is unknowable.
Analysis
A personal God is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an impersonal force, such as the Absolute, “the All”, or the “Ground of Being”. In the scriptures of the Abrahamic religions God is described as being a personal creator, speaking in the first person and showing emotion such as anger and pride, and sometimes appearing in anthropomorphic shape in the Bible. In the Pentateuch, for example, God talks with and instructs his prophets and is conceived as possessing volition, emotions (such as anger, grief and happiness), intention, and other attributes characteristic of a human person. Personal relationships with God may be described in the same ways as human relationships, such as a Father, as in Christianity, or a Friend as in Sufism.
Judaism
Jewish theology states that God is not a person. However, there exist frequent references to anthropomorphic characteristics of God in the Hebrew Bible such as the “Hand of God.” Judaism holds that these are to be taken only as figures of speech. Their purpose is to make God more comprehensible to the human reader. As God is beyond human understanding, there are different ways of describing him. He is said to be both personal and impersonal, he has a relationship with his creation but is beyond all relationships.
Christianity
God in Christianity is the eternal being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe God to be both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) and immanent (involved in the world). Christian teachings of the immanence and involvement of God and his love for humanity exclude the belief that God is of the same substance as the created universe but accept that God’s divine Nature was hypostatically united to human nature in the person of Jesus Christ, in an event known as the Incarnation.
1 Corinthians 8:5-6: “ We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), yet for us there is but one God (θεὸς, theos,God, 2316), the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, (lord, master) (κύριος,kurios,lord, master, from kuros (authority, 2962) Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist”
The Deception in Translation
Here there is a trick played in translation from Greek to English, which is exposed through original Greek NASB Lexicon. For God original Greek script uses: theos, God, 2316, and for Jesus Greek script used: kurios, lord, master, from kuros (authority, 2962), with small ‘l’ not capital ‘L’. This has been done deliberately by all the Christian Bible translators to deceive the reader to equate Jesus with God in support of Trinity. Check out at: http://biblehub.com/lexicon/1_corinthians/8-6.htm
Translators use LORD for God all capitals, Lord or lord is not equal to God or LORD:
Deuteronomy 10:17: For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
[Yah-weh, the LORD and your God]
1 Timothy 2:5: There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and human beings—a human, the Messiah Jesus.
In the case of the majority Christian belief in the Trinity, whether the Holy Spirit is impersonal or personal, is the subject of dispute, with experts in pneumatology debating the matter. Jesus (or God the Son) and God the Father are believed to be two persons or aspects of the same God. Jesus is believed to be of the same ousia or substance as God the Father, manifested in three hypostases or persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity. In Jehovah’s Witness theology only God the Father is the one true and almighty God, even over his Son Jesus Christ. While the Witnesses acknowledge Christ’s pre-existence, perfection, and unique “Sonship” with God the Father, and believe that Christ had an essential role in creation and redemption, and is the Messiah, they believe that only the Father is without beginning.
Trinity and Pagan Roots
The development of the idea of a co-equal triune godhead was based on pagan Greek and Platonic influence, including many basic concepts from Aristotelian philosophy incorporated into the biblical God. Hindus also have concept of trinity. The ancient Egyptians whose influence on early religious thought was considered profound, usually arranged their gods and goddesses in groups of three, or trinities: some examples of this are the trinity of Osiris, Isis, and Horus, the trinity of Amen, Mut, and Khonsu, and the trinity of Khnum, Satis, and Anukis. A link between the doctrine of the Trinity and the Egyptian Christian theologians of Alexandria suggests that Alexandrian theology, with its strong emphasis on the deity of Jesus, served to infuse Egypt’s pagan religious heritage into Christianity. They accuse the Church of adopting these Egyptian tenets after adapting them to Christian thinking by means of Greek philosophy.
Bible on Knowing or Seeing God:
• 1 Timothy 6:16: He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light.
No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.
• Exodus 33:20: And He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
• 1 John 1:5: And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
• Jeremiah 4:22: My people are fools; they do not know me.
• Isaiah 55:6: Seek the LORD while He may be found.
• “Indeed, God is great—beyond our knowledge..” [Job 36:26]
• Psalm 145:3: Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
• Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
• Job 37:23 The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness, He does not oppress.
• 1 Kings 8:27: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple have built!
God in Islam
“There is none comparable unto Him,” (Quran;112:4)
“There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him. And He is the Hearer, the Seer.” (Quran;42:11)
“No vision can encompass Him while He encompasses all vision. He is Subtile, Unfathomable, and therefore beyond physical perception. He is Aware of the minutest details.” (Quran;6:103)
Most Islamic sources teach that God is a personal God, he speaks in the Quran in first person and has personal attributes, yet the Quran still maintains God is unique in nature and substance and has no similarity to anything else. Islam also teaches that God is beyond comprehension and the best way for Muslims to have a relationship of God is to appreciate Him through His ‘signs’ all around us and obey his commands. The Quran asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world: a unique and indivisible being who is independent of the entire creation. The Qur’an clearly opposes conceiving God as resembling “the creation” and it maintains that whatever image a believer has of God is not God, and that he is truly transcendental. According to the Qur’an:
“Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.” (Quran;112:1-4)
“Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were God’s will, God could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom God will as your successors, even as God raised you up from the posterity of other people.” (Quran;6:133)
God, the Glorified, is free from matter and that He cannot be likened to anything on the surface of the earth. There is mention of God’s hand, eye, face in Quran. A careful look at the Quranic verses and the likes will reveal their true purport to us. For instance, some scholars state that the word “yad” (hand) in the Quran refers to God’s power. Thus it means that God is Almighty and All-Powerful. What is meant by ‘wajh’ (face) is God, the Almighty Himself. That is to say, everything is mortal except God. As for being ‘establishing on throne’, it also means that God is All-Knowing and All-Powerful in contriving and running the world. Not only should we believe in the denial and likeness and resemblance of Allah to any other things, rather the principle that God is purified of all likeness applies to all divine attributes. The position is the same with God’s power and life which are infinite and identical with His very essence. Some scholars just keep the organs mentioned as such, without commentary or details, leave it as it is. While others consider them parables (mutashabihat) according to the Quran:
“He it is Who has revealed to you (O Prophet) the Scripture. (The Book He has sent down bears an important Principle.) In it some verses are Literal, while some verses are Allegorical. The verses that pertain to Permanent Values have been presented literally. These verses, MUHKAMAT, are the Essence of the Divine Law. On the other hand, abstract phenomena, historical events, and the World of the Unseen are described in similes, metaphors and allegories for your understanding (MUTASHABIHAT). But those who are given to crookedness in their hearts pursue the allegories and try to give them literal meanings, thus creating dissension. None knows their final meaning (of such as the Essence of God, His Throne, His Book of Decree, the Eternity) but Allah. Those who are well founded in knowledge understand why the allegories have been used and they keep drawing lessons from them (74:31). They proclaim the belief that the entire Book is from their Lord. As the human knowledge evolves, many of the other allegories will unfold their literal meaning (41:53). But only the men and women of understanding will bear this fact in mind. (Each of the verses in the Qur’an is MUHKAM, Absolute Truth and you can understand which ones are to be taken literally and which ones are to be taken allegorically, by the context (11:1), (47:20). And each verse in the Book complements the other (39:23)). [Quran;3:7, Translation and explanation by Dr. Shabbir Ahmad]
What is knowable about Allah?
Despite Allah’s transcendence and ultimate unknowability, the Quran does not teach that Allah does not know people, nor that he remains aloof in some distant heaven. Quite the contrary: He knows everything everywhere and close to a man:
“And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein” (Quran;50:16)
The one thing that is made abundantly clear, however, is that Allah is One. He is unique and indivisible. The Quran repeatedly emphasizes strict monotheism, explicitly rejecting both polytheism and the Christian concept of the Trinity.
Attributing a form to Allah prohibited, it is not possible to grasp the entity of Allah, because “there is none comparable unto Him,” (Quran;112:4)
“No vision can encompass Him while He encompasses all vision. He is Subtile, Unfathomable, and therefore beyond physical perception. He is Aware of the minutest details.” (Quran;6:103)
The mind can only comprehend those which are material, however, Allah is not material. All beings whether we can perceive with five sense organs or not, have been created by the Creator Who is Glorified. Creature is neither a part of nor like the Creator. “Substance is a composite that comes into existence through the combination of some matters and also needs a place. To be composed and to be in need of place are the signs of being created.” Since Allah does not resembles any of the creatures, it is impossible for human mind to imagine Him. If somebody is talking about an object unknown to us and that we have never seen, we try to understand it by asking questions like “How is it? What is it like?” Because there are two ways for humans to comprehend such objects: one is to try to comprehend it by the help of some similar objects and the other way is to try to understand it by the help of objects carrying opposite properties to it. But Allah is free from having similarities and opposites. That is why it is not possible to comprehend the form of Allah and compare Him to His creatures.
Allah manifests Himself in the universe through His Names and attributes, by answering prayers:
“If My servants ask of Me to you, there is no doubt that I am very close (to them). I answer the supplication of the suppliant when he prays to Me; therefore they should (also) comply (to My call) (for My sake) and believe in Me so that they may find the true path.” (Quran; 2:186)
Allah will demonstrate His Jamal (Beauty and Perfection) in Paradise to the Righteous:
“On that Day some faces shall be fresh, looking towards their Lord”(Quran;75:22-23)
Some commentators have understood this allegorically. They say that the words “looking towards someone” are used idiomatically for having expectations from someone, awaiting his decision and hoping for his mercy and kindness, so much so that even a blind person also says that he is looking towards someone in the hope to see how he helps him. But in a large number of the Ahadith the commentary that has been reported of it from the Holy Prophet (upon whom be peace) is that on the Hereafter the illustrious servants of Allah will be blessed with the vision of their Lord. According to a tradition in Bukhari: “You will openly see your Lord.” Muslim and Tirmidhi have related on the authority of Hadrat Suhaib that the Holy Prophet said: “When the righteous people enter Paradise. Allah will ask them: Do you want that I should bless you with something more? They will answer: Have You not made our faces bright: Have You not admitted us into Paradise and saved us from Hell? Thereupon, Allah will remove the curtain and none of the blessings that they had been blessed with until then will be dearer to them than that they should be blessed with the vision of their Lord” And this very reward is the additional reward about which the Qur’an says:
“Those who have done excellent works will get excellent rewards and even something in addition to that.” (Quran;10:26)
On the basis of many traditions, the followers of the Sunnah almost unanimously understand this verse in the meaning that in the Hereafter the Dwellers of Paradise will be blessed with the vision of Allah, and this is supported by this verse of the Qur’an too: “Nay, surely on that Day they (the sinners) shall be kept away from their Lord’s vision.” (AI-Mutaffifin: 15). From this one can automatically conclude that this deprivation will be the lot of the sinners. not of the righteous. [Extract form Tafheem ul Quran]
Comparison-5: Love of God & Humanity
Christianity: God loves all people, including Muslims. Allah and God cannot possibly be one and the same.
Islam: Allah hates apostates and blasphemers. Allah and God are one and the same.
Analysis
Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
2 Chronicles 15:12-13: And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
Quran on God’s Love
The God has His mercy and compassion for mankind, out of 114 chapters of Quran, 113 start with:
“In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.”
It does not mentions His Mercy for Muslims only.
Quran, Chapter 3, Verses 31 and 32:
“Say: if you love God, then follow me, God will love you and forgive you your faults, and God is forgiving, merciful”
“Say: obey God and the messenger; but if they turn back, then surely God does not love the unbelievers” Islam in one sense is different from some other major religions of the world. The picture of God that has been depicted in Quran, as we Muslims all believe, is a combination of love toward good people and aversion toward bad people. This has been repeated in at least 40 verses of holy Quran with a clear definition for good people and bad people. This article aims to distinguish between these two groups based on Quranic verses and clarify the image of people whom God loves.
As mentioned in above two verses, the first step is to follow the path that has been shown to us by God’s messenger. This is the most beautiful picture that one can demonstrate as a mutual love. If you do love your God, you are therefore prompted to follow the path that has been shown to you and prepare yourself to receive his love. But it is also stated that the people who do not follow the right path are not to be loved by God.
This may need a little bit more clarification on the definition of right path and people who are to be loved by God. Perhaps the most distinguished characteristic for these people which has been mentioned in 5 verses of Quran (2:195, 3:134, 3:148, 5:13 and 5:93) is to do good to others. Doing good could be helping poor people, supporting orphans or even respecting one’s parents which have been also mentioned in various verses of Quran.
Others, based on Quran, are people who:
Guard themselves against sin (3:76, 9:4, 9:7), judge fairly (5:42, 49:9, 60:8) , fight in God’s way (61:4), purify themselves (2:222, 9:108), turn much to God (2:222) , trust in God (3:159), and are patient (3:146).
On the other hand, God does not love the person who is: an unbeliever (3:32, 30:45), arrogant (16:23, 4:36, 31:18, 57:23), cruel (3:57, 3:140, 42:40), unfaithful and ungrateful (2:276, 22:38), exceeding the limits (2:190, 5:87, 7:55), extravagant (6:141, 7:31), mischief-maker (2:205, 5:64, 28:77) , treacherous (8:58, 4:107), and exulting in riches (28:76).
Comparison-6: Love of Humanity
Christianity: God commands all people to love him and love one another, even their enemies.
Islam: Allah commands Muslims to “Fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily Allah sees all that they do.” (Quran 8:39)
Analysis
Christianity and Love of Humanity
Love for Humanity is the popular theme in Christianity, but once we look around the world is full of wars waged by the Christians. Love your enemies is just a phrase least practiced by the Christians and contradicted through other verses:
Love Thy Neighbor
Old Testament law makes it very clear that love was reserved for people who embraced Yahweh as their God and who were thus absorbed into the Israelite nation. This was the dominant definition of neighbor in Israelite history and tradition.
Many Christians claim a personal relationship with Jesus but show little regard for his commandments to serve the poor and love thy neighbor. Some conceal these contradictions by narrowing the definition of “neighbor,” as Rev. Howard Bess explains.
Jesus set his ethical agenda in a conversation with a Scribe, who asked Jesus about the greatest of commandments. Jesus responded with not one but two: “You shall love God with heart, mind, strength and soul” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus’s response is recorded in Mark 12:28, and similar statements are found in the Matthew and Luke gospels. Since then, Christians have never disputed his standards; however, over the centuries Christians have argued over who constitutes a neighbor. The vast majority of Christians over the past 2,000 years have conveniently avoided including all human beings in the embrace of a loving God. A lawyer once asked Jesus “and who is my neighbor?” Jesus did not give a direct answer but rather told the story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus was including the Samaritan, though coming from a despised group, as a neighbor. Christians have abandoned the Jesus expansion of the definition of neighbor. Indeed, Jesus’s definition of neighbor made him the unique person that he was.
The unbelievers, (Non Christians) are rejected, not Loved
a. 2 Chronicles 15:12-13: And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul, but that whoever would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
b. Luke 19:27: But as for these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’”
c. 2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
d. Revelation 21:8: But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
e. Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
f. 2 Corinthians 6:14-17: Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you.
g. 2 Thessalonians 3:6: Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.
h. 2 John 1:9-11: Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
i. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13: I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
j. John 9:30-33: The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
k. Psalm 14:1: To the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good.
l. Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“God of Vengeance”& “God of Love”
The apparent contradictions in the Bible between a “God of vengeance” and a “God of love” are the basis of a tension between the irenic and eristic tendencies of Christianity that has continued to the present day. Gibson and Matthews assert that many studies of violence in the Bible focus on violence in the Old Testament while ignoring or giving little attention to the New Testament. They find even more troubling “those studies that lift up the New Testament as somehow containing the antidote for Old Testament violence.” Some verses are:
1. God is peaceful (Romans;15:33, Corinthians;14:33), God is warlike (Exodus;15:3, Isaiah;51:15).
2. Exodus 15:3 states “Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.” The Israelite God was not a peace lover, and neither were the Israelites.
3. Jesus Christ said: “I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword” (Matthew 10:34)
4. Advice for slaves in 1 Peter 2:18: “Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with
all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel.”
5. “This is what the Lord Almighty says… ‘Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” (1 Samuel 15:3)
6. Command of Moses: “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” (Exodus 22:18)
7. The ending of Psalm 137, a psalm which was made into a disco calypso hit by Boney M, is often omitted from readings in church: “Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us – he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:9)
8. Another blood-curdling tale from the Book of Judges where an Israelite man is trapped in a house by a hostile crowd and sends out his concubine to placate them: “So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, ‘Get up; let’s go.’ But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.” (Judges 19:25-28)
9. In this story from the Book of Judges an Israelite leader Jephthah makes a rash vow to God, which has to be carried out: “And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.’ Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.’” (Judges 11:30-1, 34-5).
Islam – God and Love for Humanity
God is the Lord of the worlds (Quran 1:2) and the Prophet is described as the messenger for the worlds (Quran 21:107) and the Quran is introduced as a reminder to the worlds, (Quran 68:52). Allah is Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
“O mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single soul, created, of like nature, the mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women;- reverence Allah, through whom ye demand your mutual (rights), and (reverence) the wombs (That bore you): for Allah ever watches over you.” (Quran 4:1)
God created the mankind, provided it with guidance through prophets, scriptures and intellect. Man has been given a free will to believe or disbelieve as a test. God in His Mercy as Lord of the Worlds (Rab-ul-Alameen) and Lord of Humanity (Rab-un-Nas, Malik-un-Nas), provides wealth and provisions to all humans, believers or non-believers and creatures. As per His grand design, this world is the place of striving and the Hereafter is the place of reward or punishment, where the believers will be rewarded with Paradise and the disbelievers will be punished with Hell. God is Good and accepts nothing but that which is good. So the way of God with His believers is to test them with calamities and tribulations, so that the believer may be distinguished from the non-believers and the truthful may be distinguished from the liar.
Allah, may He be exalted, does not love the transgressors, and He does not love the evildoers, and He does not love the disbelievers: “If you disbelieve, then verily, Allah is not in need of you; He likes not disbelief for His slaves. And if you are grateful (by being believers), He is pleased therewith for you” (Quran: 39:7)
Love & Mercy of Allah
Allah loves those who do good and He loves the pious, and He loves those who repent, and He loves those who purify themselves, and He loves those who are patient, and He loves those who put their trust in Him, and He loves those who are fair and just. These types of people are the ones for whom Allah, may He be exalted, affirmed His love and they naturally cannot be any but those who affirm His Oneness and not those who associate others with Him. But despite all that, among the names of Allah, may He be glorified, are the names Al-Rahman (the Most Gracious), Al-Raheem (the Most Merciful). His mercy precedes His wrath and His pardon precedes His punishment and He is more merciful to His slaves than a mother to her child.
Justice and Reward to Unbelievers
Someone who doesn’t believe in God but performs acts which help mankind, such as charity, building homes for the poor, establishing medical and educational institutions, etc., will not receive any reward in the next world. God is Just, He does not disregard the labour of any human being, and He will not deny the reward due to a doer of good deeds. Indeed, He will respond to his requests. Is there a better way of expressing one’s gratitude to a person who has done something good for him?
The Holy Qur’an has stated, principles explicitly about reward of deeds:
1. The deeds of the disbelievers, idolaters and hypocrites (i.e. the deeds regarded as virtuous) have been rendered vain; they will receive no reward for them in the Hereafter; if at all they deserve a reward for them, they will receive it here in the world. [Quran;7:147, 9:17, 67-69; Hud: 15-16; Ibrahim: 18; Al-Kahf: 104-105; An-Nur: 39; Al-Furgan: 23; Al-Ahzab: 19; Az-Zumar: 65; Al-Ahqaf: 20]
2. The evil will be punished to the extent that evil has been committed but the good deeds will be rewarded much more generously than what they will actually deserve. At some places it has been explicitly stated that a good act will have a ten-fold reward for it, and at others that Allah will increase the reward of the good act as much as He will please. [AI-Baqarah: 261, AI-An`am: 160, Yunus: 26-27, An-Nur: 38, Al-Qasas: 84, Saba: 37, Al Mu’min:40]
3. If the believers abstained from major sins, their ordinary offenses will be forgiven. [An-Nisa’: 31, Ash-Shura: 37, An-Najm: 32]
4. The righteous believer shall have an easy reckoning, his evils will be overlooked and he will be rewarded according to his best deeds. [Al`Ankabut: 7, Az-Zumar: 35, Al-Ahqaf: 16, Al-Inshiqaq: 8].
“Those who desire the life of this world (unbelievers) and all its finery shall be repaid in full in this life for their deeds nothing shall be denied them. These are the people who, in the world to come, shall have nothing but Hellfire and all that they used to do shall be in vain. (Quran;11:15,16)
“And on the Day that the Unbelievers will be placed before the Fire, (It will be said to them): “Ye received your good things in the life of the world, and ye took your pleasure out of them: but today shall ye be recompensed with a Penalty of humiliation: for that ye were arrogant on earth without just cause, and that ye (ever) transgressed.” (Quran;46:20)
“Those who fall for quick gains of life that hastens away, (disregarding the Eternal Values and the Hereafter), We hasten for them according to Our Laws indiscriminately. (But, since they have not invested in the Hereafter) We have appointed for them Hell; they will endure its heat, disgraced, rejected. (2:200), (11:15-16). [Quran;17:18]
If the doer of a good deed believes in God and the life hereafter, and seeks the reward of the next world. God will grant him his reward. However, if the person is only interested in worldly achievements, he will be rewarded accordingly. Even from a common logic, a person who does not believe in God and in the Hereafter should not get any reward in something he does not believe. Yet God in His infinite Mercy rewards such unbelievers in this world.
“Indeed, Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and wrongful transgression. He admonished you that you may take heed”. (Al Quran 16:91)
“Verily! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and do righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (Quran 2:62, 5:69)
“So whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it.” [Quran 99:7]
The Non-believer will be rewarded for good deeds in the world but not in Hereafter.
Muslims are commanded to be kind with unbelievers:
“Allah does not forbid you to treat kindly and act equitably towards those who have neither fought you in the matter of religion nor driven you out of your homes. Indeed Allah loves the just. He only forbids you to take for friends those who fought you in the matter of religion, and drove you out of your homes, and cooperated with others in your expulsion. Those who take them for friends are indeed the wrongdoers. [Quran 60:8-9].
“Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend” (Quran;41:34)
“Those who are patient, seeking the countenance of their Lord, and establish prayer and spend from what We have provided for them, secretly and publicly, and repel evil with good, for those will have the good end.” (Quran; 13:22)
“Those will be given their reward twice for what they patiently endured and they repel evil with good, and they spend from what We have provided them.” (Quran: 28:54)
Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: No servant is wronged by an oppressor and he forgives him for the sake of Allah except that Allah the Exalted will support him. [Source: Musnad Ahmad 9411, Grade: Sahih]
Uqbah ibn Amir reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Reconcile with whoever cuts you off, give to whoever deprives you, and turn away from whoever wrongs you. [ Musnad Ahmad 16883, Grade: Sahih li ghayri]
Islam and Violence
The Sword Verse
The verses about conduct of warfare are frequently quoted out of context to mislead non- Muslims:
“Fight and subdue those who persist in aggression until persecution is no more, and absolute freedom of religion is established. People must be able to adopt a religion only for God’s Approval, and as free choice (2:193), (12:108). If they cease from aggression, Allah is the Seer of their actions, and therefore you shall leave them alone.” (Quran;8:39) [Exploratory translation by Dr. Shabbir Ahmad]
This verse must be analysed in context, this and many other verses are frequently quoted out of context to mislead. These verses from Chapter 8 are about the polytheists of Makkah, who bitterly opposed Islam, stopped them from worship at Kaba and used all means including weapons to oppress, persecute and eliminate the Muslims. Thus in response the Muslims were allowed to respond with force:
“It is worthwhile to remember the time when those who rejected the Truth were making plots against you to capture you or to slay you or to exile you. They were plotting their plots and Allah was devising His schemes: and Allah’s schemes are most effective of all. When Our revelations were recited to them, they said, “Well, we have heard: if we will, we also can fabricate such things: for these are the same ancient tales which have already been told again and again by the former people. “ And recall also to mind the thing they said, “If it is the Truth and has been sent down by Thee, rain down stones on us from the heavens or send down any other painful torment on us. At that time Allah would not send down any torment on them for you dwelt in their midst: nor does Allah chastise people while they are asking His forgiveness. But now there is no reason why He should not send torment on them, when they are barring the way to the Masjid-i-Haram whereas they are not its lawful guardians. Indeed the God fearing people alone can be its lawful guardians, but most of the people do not know this thing: And what is their “prayer” near the House of Allah ?: it is nothing but whistling and clapping of hands. So now take the chastisement and taste the torment in requital for your persistent denial of the Truth. Those who have denied the Truth spend their wealth in blocking the way of Allah, and will go on spending still more of it. But in the end, these very efforts of theirs will become a cause of their regret; then they will be overcome, and the disbelievers shall be gathered and driven towards Hell: so that Allah may separate the filthy from the pure and gather together every sort of filth and then throw the whole heap into Hell: they are the people who have, in fact, become bankrupt [38] O Prophet, tell the disbelievers that if they desist (from their evil ways), their past actions will be forgiven; but if they persist in their ways, all know what happened to the peoples before them. “O Believers, fight with the disbelievers till there is no more mischief and the way of life prescribed by Allah is established in its entirety. Then if they desist from mischief, surely Allah beholds what they do, but if they give no heed, know it that Allah is your Protector, and He is the best of all protectors and helpers.” [Quran; 8:30-40] [Tafheem ul Quran]
Love of Humanity
Islam advises and teaches the Muslims to love for others and give others what one likes and chooses for himself.
Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) said: Abu Huraira narrated: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: Love for the people what you love for yourself and you will be a believer. Behave well with your neighbors and you will be a Muslim. [Sunan Ibn Majah 4217, Source: Sahih]
Abu Huraira narrated: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “You will not enter Paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace between yourselves.” [Sahih Muslim 54, Grade: Sahih]
An-Nu’man ibn Basheer narrated: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: The Muslims are like a single man. If the eye is afflicted, then the whole body is afflicted. If the head is afflicted, then the whole body is afflicted. [Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2586, Grade: Sahih]
A Muslim who plants a tree or sows a field, from which man, birds and animals can eat, is committing an act of charity.
Thus, Islam focuses on teaching the people love of humanity through performance of good deeds, Muslims should abide by these rules as Allah says:
“We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. Strive, then, to excel each other in good deeds. Every one of you will return to God and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed.” (Quran;5: 48)
Next …… The Nature of God…
References
http://SalaamOne.com/christianity-islam
