1. "If God created everything
- then who created God?"
(may Allah forgive me)
Answer:
(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.
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.).
3. "Can God do anything? - 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. Whenever
He wants anything done, He merely says "Qun! Faya Qun!"
(Be! And so it will be!)
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.
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.
7.
"Does God really have power of things? - If so, then why
does He let people become sick, oppressed and die?"
Answer:
Oppression 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.
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" below)
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.
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.
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.
|