Monday, 12 September 2016

God's Awesome Oneness

Following on from my last post (about Allah summoning to Eden every human being who has ever existed or ever will exist, in order to clarify with them that he alone is their God), Muslims believe that the Islam is the natural way humans are supposed to live: any deviations from the natural Islamic way of life are caused by the environment. If children are left alone, they grow up being good Muslims believing in Allah (obviously, no studies are cited to back up this assertion). A child is not born a blank slate, but an Islamic slate (geddit?). The natural Islamic way of life is called the 'Fitrah'. As a child grows up, environmental pressures - friends, parents, government, jinn, etc - lead them astray, turning them into Christians, Jews, Communists, etc.

'There is no god but God.' Islam is very big on the oneness and almightyness of God. It's extremely easy to blaspheme in Islam, if we're taking my book's stance as fairly orthodox. Here are some beliefs that go against the Islamic belief in God's awesome oneness:

Free will. Allah has complete control over the universe. Nothing happens without his will. Everything is under his control. (Since belief in free will is affirmed two chapters later, because otherwise the afterlife Reward vs Punishment thing would be utterly stupid, perhaps a denial of free will is also blasphemous?)

Associating other gods with Allah. Polytheism and dualism are bad. Christianity is bad because it divides God into three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit, united in substance. No: God is one. Deifying humans is also, obvs, a no-no: Muslims believe Jesus was a human prophet whose teaching was warped over time, resulting in Christianity.

Denying God's existence. Since my book is authored by a Sunni Muslim who disapproves of Sufi Islam, mystical theology - all is Allah, Allah is all - is also in this category: denying God's separateness from the rest of reality is as bad as denying him altogether.

Humanizing God. Allah cannot be depicted in human or animal form. Allah is so beyond such imagery that, by depicting 'him' this way, you are implying a limitation of him: this is the beginnings of idolatry. Sistine Chapel bad.

The belief that energy can neither be created or destroyed is blasphemous, because Allah created everything and can destroy everything whenever he jolly well likes.

Praying to something, or someone, other than God. Allah has complete control over creation: all prayers should be directed to him. Praying to something, or someone, else implies that you believe that thing or person has powers over creation to rival Allah's. Don't pray to Muhammad. Don't pray to saints. Don't pray to angels. Likewise, belief in omens and charms, lucky and unlucky, are offensive to God, because they imply that the material thing (rabbit's foot, 4-leaf clover, broken mirror, etc) has powers over creation to rival Allah's total control. Fortunetelling of any kind is bad, because only Allah knows and controls the future: reading your horoscope is offensive to God.

God is one. God is all-powerful. Free will doesn't exist but also does. Only God knows the future. God is utterly transcendent and beyond our comprehension. Everyone with me so far?

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