Islam and Other Religions

CONCEPT OF GOD IN ISLAM

by Dr. Zakir Naik

The Most Concise Definition of God:

The most concise definition of God in Islam is given in the four verses of Surah Ikhlas which is Chapter 112 of the Qur'an:

\"Say: He is Allah,

The One and Only.

\"Allah, the Eternal, Absolute.

\"He begets not, nor is He begotten.

And there is none like unto Him.\"

[Al-Qur'an 112:1-4]

The word 'Assamad' is difficult to translate. It means 'absolute existence', which can be attributed only to Allah (swt), all other existence being temporal or conditional. It also means that Allah (swt) is not dependent

on any person or thing, but all persons and things are dependent

on Him.

The most concise definition of God in Islam is given in the four verses of Surah Ikhlas which is Chapter 112 of the Qur'an:

\"Say: He is Allah,

The One and Only.

\"Allah, the Eternal, Absolute.

\"He begets not, nor is He begotten.

And there is none like unto Him.\"

[Al-Qur'an 112:1-4]

The word 'Assamad' is difficult to translate. It means 'absolute existence', which can be attributed only to Allah (swt), all other existence being temporal or conditional. It also means that Allah (swt) is not dependent

on any person or thing, but all persons and things are dependent

on Him.

Surah Ikhlas - the touchstone of theology:

Surah Ikhlas (Chapter 112) of the Glorious Qur'an, is the touchstone of theology. 'Theo' in Greek means God and 'logy' means study. Thus Theology means study of God and to Muslims this four line definition of Almighty God serves as the touchstone of the study of God. Any candidate to divinity must be subjected to this 'acid test'. Since the attributes of Allah given in this chapter are unique, false gods and pretenders to divinity can be easily dismissed using these verses.

What does Islam say about 'god-men'?

India is often called the land of 'god-men'. This is due to the abundance of so-called spiritual masters in India. Many of these 'babas' and 'saints' have a large following in many countries. Islam abhors deification of any human being. To understand the Islamic stand towards such pretenders to divinity, let us analyze one such 'god-man', Osho Rajneesh.

Let us put this candidate, 'Bhagwan' Rajneesh, to the test of Surah Ikhlas, the touchstone of theology:

i)

The first criterion is \"Say, He is Allah, one and only\". Is Rajneesh one and only? No! Rajneesh was one among the multitude of 'spiritual teachers' produced by India. Some disciples of Rajneesh might still hold that Rajneesh is one and only.

ii)

The second criterion is, 'Allah is absolute and eternal'. We know from Rajneesh's biography that he was suffering from diabetes, asthma, and chronic backache. He alleged that the U.S. Government gave him slow poison in prison. Imagine Almighty God being poisoned! Rajneesh was thus, neither absolute nor eternal.

iii)

The third criterion is 'He begets not, nor is He begotten'. We know that Rajneesh was born in Jabalpur in India and had a mother as well as a father who later became his disciples.

In May 1981 he went to U.S.A. and established a town called 'Rajneeshpuram'. He later fell foul of the West and was finally arrested and asked to leave the country. He came back to India and started a commune in Pune which is now known as the 'Osho' commune. He died in 1990. The followers of Osho Rajneesh believe that he is Almighty God. At the 'Osho commune' in Pune one can find the following epitaph on his tombstone:

\"Osho - never born, never died; only visited the planet Earth between 11th December 1931 to 19th January 1990.\"

They forget to mention that he was not granted visa for 21 countries of the world. Can a person ever imagine 'God' visiting the earth, and requiring a visa to enter a country! The Archbishop of Greece said that if Rajneesh had not been deported, they would have burnt his house and those of his disciples.

(iv)

The fourth test, which is the most stringent is, \"There is none like unto Him\". The moment you can imagine or compare 'God' to anything, then he (the candidate to divinity) is not God. It is not possible to conjure up a mental picture of the One True God. We know that Rajneesh was a human being, having two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth and a white flowing beard. Photographs and posters of Rajneesh are available in plenty. The moment you can imagine or draw a mental picture of an entity, then that entity is not God.

Many are tempted to make anthropomorphic comparisons of God. Take for instance, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the famous body builder and Hollywood actor, who won the title of 'Mr. Universe', the strongest man in the world. Let us suppose that someone says that Almighty God is a thousand times stronger than Arnold Schwarzenegger. The moment you can compare any entity to God, whether the comparison is to Schwarzenegger or to King Kong, whether it is a thousand times or a million times stronger, it fails the Qur'anic criterion, \"There is none like unto Him\".

Thus, the 'acid test' cannot be passed by anyone except the One True God.

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