|
1. "If God created everything - then who created
God?"
Answer:
(Muslims - Remember to use the formula above - i.e.;
"Thank you for asking me about my religion..."
etc.)
According to the Quran, Allah
tells us that He is the only creator and sustainer of all that
exists and that nothing and no one exists alongside Him, nor does He
have any partners. He tells us that He is not created, nor is He
like His creation in anyway. He calls Himself by a number of names
and three of them are:
- A) The First - (Al-Awal)
- B) The Last - (Al Akhir)
- C) The Eternal, who is sought
after by His creation, while He has no need from them at all.
(As-Samad)
He always has existed and He
never was created, as He is not like His creation, nor similar to
it, in any way.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
2. "How can
you believe in God, when you can't see, hear, touch, smell, taste or
even imagine what He is?"
Answer:
We know from the teachings
of Muhammad, peace be upon him, that no one has ever actually seen
God - at least not in this lifetime. Nor are we able to use our
senses to make some kind of contact with Him. However, we are
encouraged in Islam to use our senses and our common sense to
recognize that all of this universe could not possibly come into
existence on its own. Something had to design it all and then put it
into motion. That is beyond our ability to do, yet it is something
that we can understand.
We don't have to see an artist to
recognize a painting, correct? So, if we see paintings without
seeing artists painting them, in the same way, we can believe that
Allah created everything without having to see Him (or touch, or
hear, etc.).
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
3. "Can God do anything? - For example: "Can He make a rock so big that
nothing can move it?" - If He did make a rock so big that nothing
could move it, would that mean that He couldn't move it too? Or
would it be impossible for Him to make something so big that He
couldn't move it?"
Answer:
Allah tells us that "Allah is capable of doing anything
that He Wills to do." He can make a rock (or anything for that
matter) that is so large or heavy that nothing in the entire
universe can move it. As regards Allah "moving" it, He is not in the
universe and He does not resemble His creation. Therefore, Allah is
never subject to the Laws of the Creation because He is both the
Creator and the Law Giver. Whenever He wants anything done, He
merely says "Qun! Faya Qun!" (Be! And so it will be!)
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
4. "Where is God?"
Answer:
Some other religions teach that "God is everywhere."
This is actually called "pantheism" and it is the opposite of our
believe system in Islam. Allah tells us clearly that there is
nothing, anywhere in the universe that resembles Him, nor is He ever
in His creation. He tells us in the Quran that He created the
universe in six "yawm" (periods of time) and then He "astawah 'ala
al Arsh" (rose up, above His Throne). He is there (above His Throne)
and will remain there until the End Times.
5. "Why did God create everything?"
Answer:
Allah says in His Quran
that He did not create all of this for any foolish purpose. He tells
us that He created us for the purpose of worshiping Him, Alone and
without any partners.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
6. "Is God pure, good, loving and fair? - If so, then
where does evil, hatred and injustice come from?"
Answer:
Allah tells us that He is Pure, Loving, and absolutely
Just in every respect. He says that He is the Best of Judges. He
also tells us that the life that we are in is a test. He has created
all the things that exist and He has created all that happens as
well. There is nothing in this existence except what He has created.
He also says in the Quran that He created evil (although He is not
evil). He is using this as one of the many tests for us.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
7. "Does God really have power of things? - If so, then
why does He let people become sick, oppressed and die?"
Answer:
Allah has created all that we call the universe as a
test for us. This is not our final destination. What we might
consider to be "bad" or "good" could actually be quite the opposite.
As regards oppression, this is something that Allah forbids for
Himself to do to anyone and He hates it when anyone oppresses
someone else. He does have absolute power over everything. He allows
sickness, disease, death and even oppression so that we can all be
tested in what we do.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
8. "Can you prove there is a God?"
Answer:
Can you prove that you exist? Yes, of course you can.
You merely use your senses to determine that you can see, hear,
feel, smell, taste and you have emotions as well. All of this is a
part of your existence. But this is not how we perceive God in
Islam. We can look to the things that He has created and the way
that He cares for things and sustains us, to know that there is no
doubt of His existence.
Think about this the next
time that you are looking up at the moon or the stars on a clear
night; could you drop a drinking glass on the sidewalk and expect
that it would hit the ground and on impact it would not shatter, but
it would divide up into little small drinking glasses, with iced tea
in them? Of course not.
And then consider if a
tornado came through a junkyard and tore through the old cars; would
it leave behind a nice new Mercedes with the engine running and no
parts left around? Naturally not.
Can a fast food restaurant
operate itself without any people there? That's crazy for anyone to
even think about.
After considering all of the
above, how could we look to the universe above us through a
telescope or observe the molecules in a microscope and then think
that all of this came about as a result of a "big bang" or some
"accident?"
(see also "Quran")
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
9. "Does God know everything that is going to happen? -
Does He have absolute control on the outcome of everything? - If so,
how is that fair for us? Where is our free will then?"
Answer:
Allah Knows everything that will happen. The first
thing that He created was the "pen" and He ordered the pen to write.
The pen wrote until it had written everything that would happen. And
then Allah began to create the universe. All of this was already
known to Him before He created it. He does have absolute and total
control at all times. There is nothing that happens except that He
is in control of if.
There is a mistake in the question: "Free
Will." Allah alone, has Free Will, He Wills whatever He likes and it
will always happen as He wills. We have something called, "Free
choice." The difference is that what Allah "Wills" always happens
and what we choose may or may not happen. We are not being judged on
the outcome of things, we are being judged on our choices. This
means that at the core of everything will always be our intentions.
Whatever we intended, is what we will have the reward for. Each
person will be judged according to what Allah gave them to work
with, how they used it and what they intended to do with it.
As regards the actual
"Judgment Day" - Allah tells us that everything we are doing is
being recorded and not a single tiny thing escapes from this record.
Even an atom's weight of good will be seen on the Day of Judgment
and even a single atom's weight of evil will be seen too.
The one who will bring the
evidences against us will be ourselves. Our ears, tongue, eyes and
all of our bodies will begin to testify against us in front of Allah
on the Day of Judgment. None will be oppressed on that Day, none
will be falsely accused.
He could have put everyone in
their respective places from the very beginning, but the people
would complain as to why they were thrown in Hell without being
given a chance. This life is exactly that; a chance to prove to
ourselves who we really are and what we would really do if we indeed
had a free choice.
Allah Knows everything that
will happen, but we don't. That is why the test is fair.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
10. "If there is only one God, then why are there so
many religions?
Answer:
Allah does not force anyone to submit to Him. He has
layed out a clear path and then made it known to them the two ways
(Heaven or Hell). The person is always free to make his or her own
choice. There is not complusion in the way of "Islam." Whoever
choses to worship Allah without partners and is devoted to Him and
is obeying His commands as much as possible, has grasped the firm
handhold that will never break. Whoever denies God and choses some
other way to worship or not to believe at all, for them there is an
eternal punishment that is most horrible (Hell).
All religions originated with
Allah and then people began to add or take away from the teachings
so as to take control over each other. Man made religions are an
abomination before the Lord and will never be accepted. He will only
accept true submission, obedience and in purity and peace to His
commandments.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
11. "How do you know that the Quran is really from
God?"
Answer:
Muslims have something that
offers the most clear proof of all - The Holy Quran. There is no
other book like it anywhere on earth. It is absolutely perfect in
the Arabic language. It has no mistakes in grammar, meanings or
context. The scientific evidences are well known around the entire
world, even amongst non-Muslim scholars. Predictions in the Quran
have come true; and its teachings are clearly for all people, all
places and all times. No one has been able to produce a book like
it, nor ten chapters like it, nor even one chapter like it. It was
memorized by thousands of people during the lifetime of Muhammad,
peace be upon him, and then this memorization was passed down from
teacher to student for generation after generation, from mouth to
ear and from one nation to another. Today every single Muslim has
memorized some part of the Quran in the original Arabic language
that it was revealed in over 1,400 years ago, even though most of
them are not Arabs. There are over nine million (9,000,000) Muslims
living on the earth today who have totally memorized the entire
Quran, word for word, and can recite the entire Quran, in Arabic
just as Muhammad, peace be upon him, did 14 centuries ago.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
12. "Why does it say "WE" in Quran when referring to God
(Allah)?"
Answer:
This is a good question and
one that Bible readers have also asked about. The term "We" in the
Bible and in the Quran is the royal "We" - as an example when the
king says, "We decree the following declaration, etc." or, "We are
not amused." It does not indicate plural; rather it displays the
highest position in the language. English, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic
and many languages provide for the usage of "We" for the royal
figure. It is helpful to note the same dignity is given to the
person being spoken to in English. We say to someone, "You ARE my
friend." Yet the person is only one person standing there. Why did
we say "ARE" instead of "IS"? The noun "you" is singular and should
therefore be associated with a singular verb for the state of being,
yet we say, "are." The same is true for the speaker when referring
to himself or herself. We say, "I am" and this is also in the royal
plural, instead of saying, "I is."
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page |
13. "Why does Quran say "He" when referring to God
(Allah) if God is not having gender?"
Answer:
This is similar to the above
answer. The word "He" is used when referring to Allah out of
respect, dignity and high status. It would be totally inappropriate
to use the word "it" and would not convey the proper understanding
of Allah being who Allah is; Alive, Compassionate, Forgiving,
Patient, Loving, etc. It is not correct to associate the word "He"
with gender, as this would be comparing Allah to the creation,
something totally against the teaching of Quran.
| Back to
Questions | Top
of Page | | 
