Imam Ahmad recorded from Ubayy bin Ka`b that the idolators said to the Prophet , "O Muhammad! Tell us the lineage of your Lord.'' So Allah revealed 1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; 2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; 3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; 4. And there is none like unto Him. This short chapter is equivalent to a third of the whole Quran sense a third of it speaks about Allah(may he be exalted) , his names and his Attributes. He is the one who created all and controls all and every creature comes to him as a slave. 91. That they ascribe a son to the Most Gracious. 92. But it is not suitable for the Most Gracious that He should beget a son. 93. There is none in the heavens and the earth but comes unto the Most Gracious as a slave. 94. Verily, He knows each one of them, and has counted them a full counting.[Mary 19.91-94] We muslims hold the view that Allah(may he be exalted) is above the 7 heavens, above his throne, exalted far above having any wrongs. We are also of the view that Allah(may he be exalted) has hands and a face because of the evidence found in the quran that support this, there is a verse which speaks about Allah(may he be exalted) having foot also, but it should be noted that these are not like the hands we have or anything which we can imagine; (interpretation of the meaning) There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.[Quran] No one can see Allah(may he be exalted) in this world but it will be possible in the herafter for his believing slaves, we are of the view that Moses(may he peace be upon him) didn´t see Allah(may he be exalted) but that Allah(may he be exalted) showed a small part of him self to a mountain and when Moses(peace be upon him) saw it collapse to dust he fainted. Allah(may he be exalted) is free from need and we are all in need of him, to him belongs all worship and all praise, it was He who saved Noah(peace be upon him) and the believing slaves among him and it was He who saved Ibrahim(peace be upon) from the fire and it was He who honored Moses(peace be upon him) and saved the children of Israel from their enemy, it was He who gave them a light, the torah and it was He who drove out the arabs from the darkness of polytheism into the light of monotheism and it was He who saved Jesus son of Mary(peace be upon him) from the plot of the jews and it is He who fufilled his promise of making Ishmael a great nation(Genesis 17:20). Finally I will end with the greatest verse in the Quran,(interpreation of hte meaning); 2.255. Allah! None has the right to be worshipped but He, the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission He knows what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter. And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.
Cab, Thank you for your long and thought-out answer. What does Kursi means? Is there any free-will in Islam? Do all Muslims view Allah in exactly the same way? Thank you. Dauer
Waki` narrated in his Tafsir that Ibn `Abbas said, Kursi is the footstool, and no one is able to give due consideration to [Allah's] Throne.' Man has free will but at the same time everything is ordained for him. But no one can claim that he was forced by someone when he lied or if he commited sin unless he really was forced and then it will not be accepted as a sin. Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope... [Quran Baqarah] There are people who argue that a persons sins will not be asked about nor punished because it is already decreed for him, this is like a person who never goes to his english class, and fail all tests and his teacher is ceratain that in the end of the term he will give him an F, could this student then complain when he gets a failure that the teacher knew all along and becase of that he shouldn´t receive a F or was it his own wrong sense he wasn´t forced to do all he did? According to those who follow the Quran and the example of the prophet(his sunnah) this is their view but there are some sects that for instance say that the hand of Allah(may he be exalted) is like our hands, may he be exalted from such decreption and there are others who argue that he exists everywhere even though all evidence from Quran and Sunnah show that Allah(may he be exalted) is above the heavens while his knowledge, sight and hearing he can reach everywhere.
Are there any other ways in which views of Allah vary from sect to sect? Can you tell me anything about the Sufi view of Allah? Is it different? Dauer
They search for a connection with god. That can be felt thru dance, meditation, yoga even talk of entheogens.
Sufis are more into mysticism and more "trippy" thoughts of Allah. I'm pretty sure that they think Allah created everything and since we are a creation of God we have a part if God in us. I know a story of one sufi named Mansur Al-Hallaj who in Baghdad awhile ago (super oldschool sufi) went around saying "He is I and I am him", refering to Allah. Another story goes He said "I am truth and truth is me", Truth being one of the 99 auspicious names of Allah. would not retract his statement and was executed for being considered an apostate. If you get a chance read the conference of the birds by Rumi. Some nice stories in there about Abu Bakr (RA) and other early Sheikhs. lets see if I can find any good sufi sayings......ok here we go. "a seeker went to ask a sage for guidance on the sufi way. The sage counseled, "If you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love; then come back and see us."- Jami "look at what you do, for that is what you are worth. True labor means neither fasting or prayer." "For every sin but the killing of time there is forgiveness" If someone remarks,"What an excellent man you are!" and this pleases you more than his saying,"What a bad man you are!" know that you are still a bad man. The sufi attitude runs real similair to buddhism in my view. But you can see they say things that run contradictory to the teachings of Islam by our Prophet SAWS. Now the Main sects, Sunni and Shia do not disagree with the Oneness of Allah or his perfections but rather on how the Caliphate should be picked and Shia'tes are less scientific when studying Hadiths of the Prophet SAWS. While Sunnis have what is called the science of Fiqh to test compare and study a hadith to determine if it is authentic Shia's go by whatever the Imam (aka Ayat'Allah) says. An Ayat'Allah can say any hadith is authentic since he is the top boss even if it is determined to be a weak hadith with little evidence to support its authenticity. Heck, Im sure the Ayat'Allah could make up his own Hadith and get away with it. One saying I like though that my high school government teacher taught me was, "if you ain't Muslim, you ain't Shii'ite." There is also another sect of Islam that resides in Bahrain since the majority of muslims there follow that sect. I forget the name of it but they do not curse their enemies in times of Jihad during fajr prayer and have very minute differences to sunni Islam. But the mother of all heretics is a sect of Islam (once again I forget the name) in Indonesia (not the majority of the country Alhamduilah) where they believe that something like jesus is not dead he ran away to pakistan and lived there and after Muhammad SAWS passed the founder of the religion (i forget the A-holes name) hung out with jesus and is the last and final prophet the Mahdi. They even mix some hindu stuff in there too. totally bogus. hope my rant helped.
I don't think so no. Well, any human being can but I think Sufis understand that the love of God is not to be found in drugs.
