God (Allah)

Allah (الله‎, romanized: Allāh) is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam.

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Universe . Atheism . God (Allah)

How does one answer atheists who ask why God needed to create us in the first place and what was the reason behind creating the universe?

Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi, Sayyed Mohammad al-Musawi is originally from Iraq and heads up the World Ahlul Bayt Islamic League in London. Other than being involved in various humanitarian projects, he frequently responds to... Answered 15 hours ago

The reason of our creation by Allah is to shower on us His Mercy and bounties.

Our existence is a great bounty from our Creator Allah (SWT). All human beings know that their life is the most important for them, and it is in fact a bounty from Allah (SWT).

Wassalam.

89009

Life . Universe . God (Allah)

Why did Allah create life and the universe?

Abbas Di Palma, Shaykh Abbas Di Palma holds a BA and an MA degree in Islamic Studies, and certifications from the Language Institute of Damascus University. He has also studied traditional Islamic sciences in... Answered 18 hours ago

as salam alaikum

Allah is All-Powerful and He does whatever He wishes. Therefore He created the universe because He willed, and so it was.

With prayers for your success.

86785

Qur'an . God (Allah)

According to Quran 95:4 Allah creates us in a perfect shape. Why then are some of us physically crippled? Similarly, in Quran 51:49 Allah says that He creates everything in a pair. When then do we see transgender people?

Amina Inloes, Amina Inloes is originally from the US and has a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Exeter on Shi'a hadith. She is the program leader for the MA Islamic Studies program at the... Answer updated 1 week ago

Individual human beings are not born identical, whether or not we have an obvious physical disability. We all have our own uniquenesses, characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses; often, some people will consider a characteristic a merit while others will consider it a flaw. (For instance, one person will consider someone who talks a lot to be friendly and social, and another might find them annoying. In some cultures it is good to be tall and in others it is strange. Etc.)

In any case, there is a lot of variety in our appearance, character, personality, etc, and usually some things are not as perfect as we would like them to be. (In fact, it is usually our imperfections that make us interesting! If all people were perfect, the world would be very boring.) (Note that for the sake of simplicity I am not speaking about the masoumeen (A) but rather the vast majority of human beings.)

What can be understood from this verse is that God created the archetype or "model" of the human being in a perfect form. That is, the model for the human being is designed in a perfect manner, both in terms of our ideal physique and our ideal attributes. However, when we are born into this world, we have a lot of individual variety. This is similar to how a world-class artist might paint a painting, and then other artists might copy it; they are all copying the same model, but each copy has its own unique ways in which it differs from the main model.

In this day and age, many people strive to perfect their physical bodies (for instance, through plastic surgery). Sometimes this is possible, and sometimes it is not. However, almost everyone can strive to perfect their ethics and character and to come closer to the ideal that Allah has set forth for us.

Similarly, the idea that things are created in pairs is a general, archetypal rule for the universe. (For instance, there is night and day, male and female, up and down, etc) It doesn't mean that there is absolutely never any individual variation or that males and females need to be completely opposite each other. It was also understood during the era of revelation that some people are not clearly identified as males or females physically.

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ADDENDUM:

It is narrated in al-Durr al-Manthūr (one of the Sunni tafāsir) that the Prophet caught sight of a man who had let his wrapper (izār) hang low. He told him: ‘Lift up your wrapper!’ He said: ‘O Messenger of God! I have a deformity in my foot that causes my knees to knock together.’ He replied: ‘Lift up your wrapper! All that God creates is beautiful (ḥasan).’

It is also related from Imam al-Baqir from Luqman: 'Every beast loves its likeness, but the son of Adam does not love his.'

Just some thoughts!

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Wisdom . Woman . Hijab . Salah (Prayers) . God (Allah)

What is the wisdom behind a woman wearing Hijab and covering herself whilst praying to God, even in private?

Zoheir Ali Esmail, Shaykh Zoheir Ali Esmail has a Bsc in Accounting and Finance from the LSE in London, and an MA in Islamic Studies from Middlesex University. He studied Arabic at Damascus University and holds a PhD... Answered 1 week ago

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. While the wisdom is not known with certainty, some have opined that it is a symbol that the female path to God is one of chastity and so the donning of full hijab during prayer to a God who sees the female in all her states is a symbol of that path.

May you always be successful

87997

Music . God (Allah)

Is it allowed to create music about Allah that praises Him and where there is just vocals and no use of musical instruments?

as salam alaikum

if the tunes of the vocals do not resemble those suitable for gatherings of corruption, there is no problem and it is actually encouraged; otherwise it is haram.

With prayers for your success.

78696

Sin . Fear . Punishment . Repentance (Tawbah) . God (Allah)

Is it okay that, when I sin, I repent out of fear of punishment from Allah rather than out of feelings of remorse?

Repentance needs real feeling of sorrow on committing the sinful act and firm decision not to do it again. If you just fear the punishment but do not sincerely feel sorry for committing the sin or you did not decide to refrain from doing it again, then there is no question of forgiveness.

Wassalam.

86037

Shirk . God (Allah) . Forgiveness . Prophet Moses . Qur'anic Verse

How can one understand the idea that Allah never forgives Shirk while in the Quran 4:153 Allah seems to forgive the people of Moses when they committed Shirk?

as salam alaikum

The Qur'an says: "Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him but forgive anything else" (4:48). However many people who were mushrikin became Muslims and Allah forgave all their past sins. One of the interpretations of the above-mentioned verse is that as long as you are associating something with Allah, you won't be able to go back to Him through tawbah while it is possible if you are committing other sins.

With prayers for your success.

Shirk . God (Allah) . Forgiveness . Prophet Moses . Qur'anic Verse

How can one understand the idea that Allah never forgives Shirk while in the Quran 4:153 Allah seems to forgive the people of Moses when they committed Shirk?

Those who insist on Shirk and die with Shirk will not be forgiven, but those who repented and left Shirk will be forgiven.

Millions of people who committed Shirk,then became Muslims, were forgiven.

The Hadeeth says: Believing in Islam cuts off whatever was before it الاسلام يجُبّ٫ ما قبله

Wassalam.

86841

God (Allah) . Divine Wisdom

Why did Allah not protect the first book He sent down, but rather waited for the fifth book before promising to protect it?

Perhaps Allah willed to test human beings, since a repeated principle in the Quran and hadith is that Allah gives people repeated chances to prove themselves and make the best decisions before intervening in a situation.

Maybe there is some other wisdom behind this also.

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Atheism . God (Allah) . Sunni-Shi'a

I am on the cusp of atheism. How am I supposed to know God exists, that Islam is right and that Shia Islam, despite being the minority, is also right?

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. Although such broad questions would require a series of discussions rather than an online answer, the question of knowing largely comes down to a number of presumptions about how things are known. Most people do not actually know what they have presumed or the nature of how presumptions are evaluated and that is how they can get into intellectual predicaments as our presumptions can simply arise from those that dominate the intellectual environment that we live in and digest through the arts.

For example, if we have presumed that all that can be reliably known must be known by the five senses, then with that presumption it is impossible to know that God exists. But why should someone take that presumption over the presumption that a human can know more than what their physical sense perception accounts for? If we presume that we can know through other than our physical sense, then we can know God through our other senses and trust those senses in the way that we can trust what we already know to be limited physical senses. So once the issue of presumptions is solved a person can rationally move towards establishing the existence of God and answering the other questions you have posed.

God is also known through a deep connection and feeling within the soul.

If you would like to discuss your questions further please feel free to reach out on social media via my Facebook account.

May you always be successful

79271

Word . Christianity . Scholars . Qur'an . God (Allah)

What would our response be to a Christian scholar who accuses the Quran of not being the original word of God?

Quran has challenged all those who claimed what this person is claiming, to bring like Quran. ( Say: If the human beings and the Jinn join together to bring like this Quran, they will never bring like Quran even if all of them support each other.( Sura 17, Verse88).

If Quran is not the original word of God, then it should be possible for the enemies of Quran to produce like Quran. When they failed to do that, it means that Quran is the word of God.

After failing to bring like Quran which is from 114 chapters , Quran challenged the enemies to bring just ten chapters like Quran.( Or they say: He (Prophet Muhammad) fabricated it (Quran). Say: Then you bring ten fabricated chapters like its chapters, and seek help from whom you want apart from Allah, if you are truthful. (Sura 11, verse 13).

They again failed to face this challenge, which proved that Quran is not from any human source but from God.

Quran challenged them again to bring just one chapter like Quran.

(And if you are in doubt about what we revealed (Quran) on Our servant (Muhammad), then bring one chapter like Quran's chapters, and call all your partners and supporters besides Allah if you are truthful). (Sura 2, verse 23)

All these challenges were since over 1400 years, against all the enemies of Quran, but not a single response has come from them. This fact itself stands as a living evidence that Quran is The True Word of God and all claims of the enemies are false.

We put this fact in front of all enemies of Islam and ask them to produce even one chapter like Quran if their claims are right.

Last note for the person who claims to be a Christian yet accuses Quran, to deal with enemies of Jesus and his mother Mary who accuse Mary with false allegations with out any evidence. They are in fact doing wrong and misleading themselves and others. He is in fact doing the same by accusing Quran, The True and Original word of God.

We also invite him to read what the great scientists stated about Quranic verses including scientific facts which were impossible to be known before 1400 years but mentioned in Quran. Many books were written in this subject. Just search for: scientific miracles in Quran. You read and think between you and God and decide whether you really want to follow the Truth?

Wassalam.

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God (Allah) . Divine Mercy . Karbala . Imam Husayn

When Allah is so Raheem and Kareem why didn't He stop the harsh behavior of Yazid and his army on Imam Hussain and his family?

Allah (SWT) does not enforce justice in this life stopping people from doing wrong, but He gives freedom and leaves human beings to select their own options, whether good or bad, although He guides and helps them to do good, that is why He did not stop Cane from killing his brother Able and did not stop the criminals who killed prophets like Yahya (AS) and did not stop Ibn Muljam from killing Imam Ali (AS). That is the Justice of Allah which gives every one the result of his own actions.

Wassalam.