RE: What is a 'god'? A poll for anyone with an opinion about what all the fuss is about.
March 1, 2014 at 8:45 pm
An intriguing question that I think about a lot as well.
First of all, I think it's obvious that God can be defined only in terms of possessing very abstract and subjective qualities (things like consciousness, emotions, beauty, perfection, glory, etc.), as opposed to quantitative notions like length, width, size, dimension, time, location, and so on. We can never understand nor speak of God using the latter perspective.
From an Islamic point of view, the idea that is most strongly emphasized about God is that He is simply one and unique. God is not feminine, masculine, solid, liquid, gas, matter, antimatter, energy, nor anything that we know of from our experiences. There is nothing imaginable by us that is even comparable to Him. "He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none like unto Him" [Quran 112:3-4]. God is the one that is running and sustaining everything, but He himself doesn't need to depend on anything for His existence. God is infinite, and all of His creations are finite, and it is those finite creations that need to depend on the infinite, not the other way around. "And rely upon the Ever-Living who does not die, and celebrate His praise" [Quran 25:58]. There are many other ways to describe God by using such abstract/subjective terms, but still we cannot actually understand His primary nature because He is beyond our limited comprehension.
As for the poll, I chose 1 and 2 because there is no contradiction between those options. God is aware of everything and He also created a propensity to believe in Him in our innermost psyches.
"We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth." [Quran 42:52]
First of all, I think it's obvious that God can be defined only in terms of possessing very abstract and subjective qualities (things like consciousness, emotions, beauty, perfection, glory, etc.), as opposed to quantitative notions like length, width, size, dimension, time, location, and so on. We can never understand nor speak of God using the latter perspective.
From an Islamic point of view, the idea that is most strongly emphasized about God is that He is simply one and unique. God is not feminine, masculine, solid, liquid, gas, matter, antimatter, energy, nor anything that we know of from our experiences. There is nothing imaginable by us that is even comparable to Him. "He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none like unto Him" [Quran 112:3-4]. God is the one that is running and sustaining everything, but He himself doesn't need to depend on anything for His existence. God is infinite, and all of His creations are finite, and it is those finite creations that need to depend on the infinite, not the other way around. "And rely upon the Ever-Living who does not die, and celebrate His praise" [Quran 25:58]. There are many other ways to describe God by using such abstract/subjective terms, but still we cannot actually understand His primary nature because He is beyond our limited comprehension.
As for the poll, I chose 1 and 2 because there is no contradiction between those options. God is aware of everything and He also created a propensity to believe in Him in our innermost psyches.
"We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth." [Quran 42:52]
