CHAPTER FIVE
God:
Unique In His
Attributes
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God
Almighty is absolutely unique in His Person and in His Attributes. In no way is
he to be compared, or comparable, with any other person or thing that we know or
can imagine. In the last verse of the Sura quoted in the preceding
chapter, we are reminded that not only "Is nothing like Him, but nothing
is in the likeness of Him that can be imagined". Then how can we know
Him? We will realize him through His Attributes.
The
last and Final Revelation of God – the Holy Qur'an – gives us ninety-nine
Attributres of God with the crowning name – ALLAH! These ninety-nine
attributes or names called the Asma-ul-husna (the Most
Beautiful names) are interspersed throughout the whole Qur'anic text, like a
beautiful necklace of pearls with a magnificent pendant – Allah.
Here
is a sample segment of that necklace:
HE
IS ALLAH,
BESIDES WHOM THERE IS NO OTHER GOD,
THE SOVEREIGN, THE HOLY ONE,
THE SOURCE OF PEACE (AND PERFECTION),
THE GUARDIAN OF FAITH,
THE PRESERVER OF SAFETY,
THE EXALTED IN MIGHT,
THE IRRESISTIBLE,THE SUPREME:
GLORY TO ALLAH: (HIGH IS HE)
ABOVE THE PARTNERS THEY
ASCRIBE TO HIM,
HE IS ALLAH, THE CREATOR,
THE EVOLVER, THE BESTOWER OF FORMS (OR COLOURS).
TO HIM BELONG THE
MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES:
ALL THAT IS IN THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH,
DOTH DECLARE HIS PRAISE AND GLORY:
AND HE IS THE EXALTED
IN MIGHT, THE WISE.
(SURA
HASHR) Holy Qur'an 59:23-24
[English interpretation by A. Yusuf
Ali]
"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES"
In
the two verses quoted above, we count thirteen of the ninety-nine attributes
interspersed throughout the Holy Qur'an. Even the most jaundiced and inimical
opponent of Islam will be forced to admit that, even in its translated form, the
attributes and the phraseology are beautiful and unique. In its original Arabic,
the wordings and their construction are absolutely inimitable and sublime.
How
could an ummi, and unlettered person, among an ummi
-unlearned nation cognitive such a rhapsody of God fourteen hundred years
ago? We must remember that there were no encyclopaedias or treatises that
Muhammad (pbuh) could consult even if they were lying around in the deserts of
Arabia. From where, then, did Muhammad (pbuh) get this treasure trove of
theology? He said, "It is all given to me by God through
inspiration!" how else can we account for it?
It
would be a good experiment to ask the most learned of our learned friends to
conjure up some attributes of God for us. I assure you that with all their
acquired knowledge the professors of theology and the doctors of divinity will
not be able to recount even a dozen. The worldly-wise will say that “You
see,
Muhammad was a
genius, and after all a genius can
excel ten times better than us!” To which we respond: “It is true
that a genius can do ten times better than us. The Prophet (pbuh) gave us
ninety-nine attributes, but what makes his list MIRACULOUS and DIVINE is
the one he left out of his list.” The word “Father”, that is
Miracle!
THE FATHER IN
HEAVEN
You have a right to ask me, “What about the Christians’ Lord’s
Prayer?” Yes, what about it? Read it Mr Deedat! So I read:
“0
our father which art In
heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.”
In all the twenty-seven books of the New Testament God’s name does not
occur even once! “Father” is given here as a substitute. This is not
His Name! As an attribute, meaning —
Lord, God, Creator, Provider, I can take
no exception to it. “The loving Father in Heaven. O our Heavenly Father!”
etc. We Muslims take exception to the new meaning, the acquired connotation
of the word Father.
ONLY BEGOTTEN SON ETC.
MEANINGS
CHANGE
In
the beginning the word “Father”for
God did not carry any blasphemous associations, but words do change in their
meanings at times. I will give you just two as examples: “Comrade”
and “gay.”
“Comrade”:
originally a beautiful and innocent
word, meaning - a friend, an associate or a companion; derived from the Old
French comrade, roommate or soldier sharing the same room. But
today the same word stinks in the nostrils of the Americans as a “commy”, a
communist, a member of the Marxist-Leninist party, any radical veiwed as a
subversive or revolutionary who should be eliminated as a pest or parasite. If
any foolish friend addresses you today as COMRADE in the United States, he could
jeopardize your career, as well as your life!
"Gay:" What is wrong with this word? Nothing at all! I learnt this word in my
early schooling as showing or characterized by cheerfulness and light-hearted
excitement; a merry person. I was taught to sing –
"GENTLE
LORDS AND LADIES GAY
ON THE MOUNTAIN DAWNS THE DAY".
I
have forgotten the balance of the poem. Here, I understood the meaning of the
word "gay" to mean happy and joyous. I did not have the
slightest inkling that one day such an innocuous word which children learn at
school would in time acquire a filthy, dirty meaning of being homosexual:
sodomites and catamites in its very primary sense. So, "LADIES GAY"
would mean today – LADIES LESBIAN! In like manner the respectable word
"Father" has become contaminated by the belief of – "the
only BEGOTTEN of the father!" etc.
RABB
OR ABB?
God
Almighty through Muhammad (pbuh) has protected Islam and the Muslims by keeping
the word "Father," (ABB) for God, out of its religious
vocabulary. It is a miraculous fact that though the Holy Qur'an lists
ninety-nine attributes to God, including the word RABB which means
– Lord, Cherisher, Sustainer, Evolver, etc, (this attribute Rabb
occurs dozens of times in the Book of God) - But the easier word Abb,
meaning "Father" in Arabic and in Hebrew, is not used even once, thus
preserving the Muslims from the blasphemy of the only BEGOTTEN son! To whom must
we give credit for this feat: Allah or Muhammad (pbuh)? The Holy Prophet (pbuh)
disclaims any credit, always saying that all this is given to him by
inspiration, the words ye hear are not his, they are God's Word as
dictated to him!