CONCEPT OF GOD
IN CHRISTIANITY, HINDUISM & ISLAM
Categorization of Major world religions
Religions of the world can be broadly categorized into Semitic religions and non-Semitic religions. Non-Semitic religions can be divide into Aryan and non-Aryan religions.
Semitic religions:
Semitic religions are religions that originated among the Semites. According to the Bible, Prophet Noah (pbuh) had a son called Shem. The descendants of Shem are known as Semites. Therefore, Semitic religions are the religions that are originated among the Jews, Arabs etc. Major Semitic religions are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. All these religions are Prophetic religions that believe in Divine guidance sent through prophets of God.
Non-Semitic religions:
The non-Semitic religions are further subdivided into Aryan and non-Aryan religions.
Aryan Religions:
Aryan religions are the religions that originated among the Aryans, a powerful group of Indo-European speaking people that spread through Iran and Northern India in the first half of the second Millennium BC (2000 to 1500 BC). The Aryan religions are further subdivided into Vedic and non-Vedic religions. The Vedic religion is given the misnomer of Hinduism or Brahminism. The non-Vedic religions are Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc. Almost all Aryan religions are non-Prophetic religions.
Non-Aryan religions:
The non-Aryan religions have various origins. Confucianism and Taoism are of Chinese origin while Shintoism is of Japanese origin. Many of these non-Aryan religions do not have a concept of God. They are better referred to as ethical systems rather than as religions.
CONCEPT OF GOD IN CHRISTIANITY
Christianity is a Semitic religion, which claims to have nearly two billion adherents all over the world. Christianity owes it name to Jesus Christ (peace be on him). Jesus (pbuh) is also a revered figure in Islam. Islam is the only non-Christian Faith that prescribes faith in Jesus (pbuh):
Before we discuss the concept of God in Christianity let us examine the position of Jesus (pbuh) in Islam:
Islam is the only non-Christian faith, which makes it an article of faith to believe in Jesus (pbuh). No Muslim is a Muslim if he does not believe in Jesus (pbuh).
We believe that he was one of the mightiest Messengers of Allah (SWT).
We believe that he was born miraculously without any male intervention, which many modern day Christians do not believe.
We believe that He gave life to the dead with God's permission.
We believe that He healed those born blind, and the lepers with God's permission.
One may ask, if both Muslims and Christians love and respect Jesus (pbuh), where exactly is the parting of ways? The major difference between Islam and Christianity is the Christians' insistence on the supposed divinity of Christ. A study of the Christian scriptures reveals that Jesus (pbuh) never claimed divinity. In fact there is not a single unequivocal statement in the entire Bible where Jesus (pbuh) himself says, "I am God" or where he says, "worship me". In fact the Bible contains statements attributed to Jesus (pbuh) in which he preached quite the contrary.
The mission of Jesus Christ (pbuh) - he came to fulfill the Law:
Jesus (pbuh) never claimed divinity for himself. He clearly announced the nature of his mission. Jesus (pbuh) was sent by God to confirm the previous Judaic law. This is clearly evident in statements attributed to Jesus (pbuh) in the bible. Jesus refuted even a remote suggestion of his divinity.
The First Commandment is that God is One:
The Bible does not support the Christian belief in trinity at all. One of the scribes once asked Jesus (pbuh) as to which was the first commandment of all, to which Jesus (pbuh) merely repeated what Moses (pbuh) had said, namely: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord."
CONCEPT OF GOD IN OLD TESTAMENT
God is One
Old Testament condemns idol worship
CONCEPT OF GOD IN HINDUISM
Hinduism is commonly perceived as a polytheistic religion. Indeed, most Hindus would attest to this, by professing belief in multiple Gods. While some Hindus believe in the existence of three gods, some believe in thousands of gods, and some others in thirty three crore i.e. 330 million Gods. However, learned Hindus, who are well versed in their scriptures, insist that a Hindu should believe in and worship only one God.
The major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim perception of God is the common Hindus’ belief in the philosophy of Pantheism. Pantheism considers everything, living and non-living, to be Divine and Sacred. The common Hindu, therefore, considers everything as God. He considers the trees as God, the sun as God, the moon as God, the monkey as God, the snake as God and even human beings as manifestations of God!
Islam, on the contrary, exhorts man to consider himself and his surroundings as examples of Divine Creation rather than as divinity itself. Muslims therefore believe that everything is God’s i.e. the word ‘God’ with an apostrophe ‘s’. In other words the Muslims believe that everything belongs to God. The trees belong to God, the sun belongs to God, the moon belongs to God, the monkey belongs to God, the snake belongs to God, the human beings belong to God and everything in this universe belongs to God.
Thus the major difference between the Hindu and the Muslim beliefs is the difference of the apostrophe ‘s’. The Hindu says everything is God. The Muslim says everything is God’s.
Concept of God according to Hindu Scriptures
We can gain a better understanding of the concept of God in Hinduism by analysing Hindu scriptures.
BHAGAVAD GITA
The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.
UPANISHADS
The Upanishads are considered sacred scriptures by the Hindus. There are verses in it saying,
God is one
He is not born .
There is none like Him
Cannot be imagined
THE VEDAS
Vedas are considered the most sacred of all the Hindu scriptures. In it we can find
Do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Praise Him alone.
There is no image of Him.
He is bodyless and pure.
Do not worship anyone/anything.
Brahma means ‘The Creator’. Hindus say that Brahma is Almighty God who has four heads with each head having a crown, Muslims take strong exception to it.
Vishnu means ‘The Sustainer’. The popular image of Vishnu among Hindus, is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the Chakra, i.e. a discus and one of the left arms holding a ‘conch shell’, or riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. Muslims can never accept any image of God. As mentioned earlier this also goes against Hindu scriptures.
Brahma Sutra of Hinduism
"There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit."
Thus only a dispassionate study of the Hindu scriptures can help one understand the concept of God in Hinduism.
The Rishi was enlightened by the Shariah of Prophet Muhammad. Allah says in the Qur’an in Surah Saba Chapter 34 verse 28 (34:28): "We have not sent thee but as a universal (Messenger) to men, giving them glad tidings and warning them (against sin), but most men understand not."
CONCEPT OF GOD IN ISLAM
Islam is a Semitic religion, which has more than 1.2 billion adherents all over the world. Islam means "submission to the will of Allah". Muslims accept the Qur'an, as the word of God revealed to Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him). Islam states that Allah sent messengers and prophets throughout the ages with the message of the Unity of God, and accountability in the Hereafter. Islam thus makes it an article of faith to believe in the earlier prophets, starting with Adam, and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, John, Jesus and many others (may peace be on them all).
The Most Concise Definition of God
The most concise definition of God in Islam is given in 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."
The word 'Assamad' is difficult to translate. It means 'absolute existence', which can be attributed only to Allah, all other existence being temporal or conditional. It also means that Allah 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 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 lines definition of Almighty God serves as the touchstone of the study of God. Any candidate to divinity must be subject 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 put the candidates claiming divinity, to the test of Surah Ikhlas, the touchstone of theology:
i) The first criterion is "Say, He is Allah, one and only". Is he one and only? No! There are many people like him who claim divinity.
ii) The second criterion is, 'Allah is absolute and eternal'. Surely, none of them are surely absolute and eternal since they have died and those present will also die. Imagine Almighty God being poisoned or suffering an illness! They are neither absolute nor eternal.
iii) The third criterion is 'He begets not, nor is He begotten'. We know these men were born in and have a mother as well as a father.
iv) The fourth test, which is the most stringent, is "There is none like unto Him". The moment you can imagine 'God' 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 these men are all human beings most of them with white flowing beards, having 2 eyes 2 ears, 1 nose, 1 mouth Photographs and posters of these men are available in plenty. The moment you can imagine what god is, he is not God.
God does not becomes a human being:
Some people argue that God can do everything, then why cannot He take human form? If God wishes He can become a human being. But then He no longer remains God because the qualities of God and human beings in many respects are completely incompatible. The following paragraphs will show the absurdity of the idea of God becoming a human being.
God is immortal and human beings are mortal. You cannot have a God- man i.e. an immortal being, and at the same time and in the same entity. It is meaningless. God does not have a beginning while human beings have a beginning. You cannot have a person, not having a beginning and at the same time having a beginning. Human being have an end You cannot have a being, which has no end and an end at the same time. It is meaningless.
God Almighty does not require to eat whereas human beings require nourishment to sustain life.
"And He it is that Feeds but is not fed." [Qur'an 6 : 14]
God does not require rest or sleep while human beings cannot go indefinitely without rest.
“But He - the Living, The Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him Nor sleep. His are all things In the heavens and on earth." [Qur'an 2:255]
Worship of another human is useless
If the idea of God becoming a human is unacceptable, we must also agree that there is therefore no sense in worshipping another human. If God becomes a human form, He ceases to be God and possesses all the qualities of a human. For example if a brilliant professor meets with an accident and suffers irreparable loss of memory, it would be foolish on the part of his students to continue to take lessons from him in that subject.
Moreover if God takes human form, the same human cannot later become God, since human beings, by definition, do not possess the power to become God. The worship of God in a human form is therefore a logical fallacy and should be abhorred in all its forms.
That is the reason why there are verses in the Qur'an against all forms of anthropomorphism. "There is nothing whatever like create him" (Al-Qur'an 42:11)
God does not perform ungodly acts
The attributes of Almighty God preclude any evil since God is the fountainhead of justice, mercy and truth. God can never be thought of as doing an ungodly act. Hence we cannot imagine God telling a lie, being unjust, making a mistake, forgetting things, and such other human failings. Similarly God can do injustice if he wants but He will never do it because being unjust is an ungodly act.
"Allah is never unjust In the least degree" (Qur'an 4:40)
God does not forget nor does He make mistakes
God will not forget anything because forgetting is an ungodly act, which reeks of human limitations and failing. Similarly God will not make a mistake, because making mistakes is an ungodly act.
" my Lord never errs, nor forgets". (Qur'an 20:52)
God performs Godly acts
He has power over all things: The Islamic concept of God is that God has power over all things. It is stated in the Qur'an in several places:
"For verily Allah has power over all things" (Qur'an 2:106)
"Allah is the doer of all He intends" (Qur'an 85:16)
We must keep in mind that Allah intends only Godly acts and not ungodly acts.
Many religions at some point believe, directly or indirectly in the philosophy of anthropomorphism i.e. God becoming a human form. Their contention is that Almighty God is so pure and holy that He is unaware of the hardships, shortcomings and feelings of human beings. In order to set the rules for human beings He came down to earth in the form of a human. This deceptive logic has fooled countless millions through the ages. Let us now analyze this argument and see if it stands to reason.
The Creator prepares the instruction manual:
Allah (SWT) has endowed us humans with reason and intelligence. We invent and manufacture appliances for specific purposes. Tape recorders for instance are manufactured in large numbers. It has never been suggested that in order to understand what is good for the tape recorder the manufacturer should become a tape recorder himself. One simply assumes that the manufacturer will publish an instruction manual, since he has complete knowledge of his product. In short the instruction manual gives the dos and don'ts for the machine.
If you think of the human being as a machine,it is indeed a complex creation of Allah (SWT). Our Lord and Creator Allah (SWT) need not come in the form of a human being to know what is good or bad for the human being. He only has to reveal the instruction manual to mankind. The Qur'an is the instruction manual for human beings.
Moreover, Allah will call this creation to account on the Day of Judgement. It therefore stands to reason, that the Creator informs us about the dos and don'ts of life.
Allah chooses Messengers
Allah (SWT) need not come down personally for writing the instruction manual. Over the ages Allah has chosen men in every nation to deliver the Divine message. Such chosen men are called as messengers and prophets of God.
Some people are 'blind' and 'deaf'
Despite the absurdity of the philosophy of anthropomorphism, followers of many religions believe in and preach it to others. Is it not an insult to human intelligence and to the Creator who gave us this intelligence?
Such people are truly 'deaf' and 'blind' despite the faculty of hearing and sight given to them by Allah. Allah says in the Qur'an says: "Deaf, dumb, and blind. They will not return (to the path)." (Qur'an 2:18)
Similar messages are given in the Bible and in the Hindu Scriptures. All these Scriptures are telling its reader that though the things are made so clear yet they divert away from the truth.
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