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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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... Answered 2 years ago

There are different ways that people try to gain knowledge about what happens after death. Usually, Muslims look to scripture (Quran and hadith) for information about life after death.

The majority of Muslims interpret the Qur'an and hadith to say that people are only born once and die once (apart from the possibility of the raj'ah, as held by Shi'is, and which is not reincarnation). The standard view among Sunnis and Twelver Shi'is is that people do not reincarnate or transmigrate, and every being has its own soul. 

Beyond that, it is hard to say with full certainty what happens after death, since we cannot learn about life after death through conventional means.

If it were possible to prove what happens after death with full certainty in a way that all people would agree and accept it, these things would not be questions. No one disagrees about what happens immediately when you arrive at Los Angeles airport, because it is known and provable. Life after death is a different sort of subject.

While some people argue for reincarnation on the grounds that some young children seem to remember things about previous lives, there are also other non-physical explanations for how they could have this sort of knowledge, so it isn't necessarily proof for reincarnation.

What one can say that, if there were a possibility that people reincarnate, the Qur'an did not consider it important to tell us about it. Instead, it tells us to focus on this life and how we are living right now, and not to guess whether we might be suffering due to wrongdoing in a previous life.

It also tells us to interact with others equally and fairly, based on the idea that they have come to this life newly, rather than what one might guess about their previous life. 

Sometimes, belief in reincarnation can lead people to limit themselves or treat others wrongly, due to the belief that they are bearing a karmic burden or something equivalent, and this is against the Qur'anic ethos of justice. 

As with all things, God knows best.

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 2 years ago

The claim of some people that the soul of somebody will be transferred to another person is baseless and it goes against the justice of God. Allah is fully able and He creates for every one his own body and his own soul. Allah's Justice will never put a burden on any one because of the acts of another person. Body and soul of every one will get the results of his faith and deeds and there is no point at all in a person having the soul of someone else. This false claim of incarnation came from non Muslims.

Those who claim incarnation need to prove it, and they could not and will never be able to prove their claim. It is just imagination with no evidence whatsoever.

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Compassionate created us to shower on us His Mercy. Allah does need us and never gets any benefit from our worshiping Him. The benefits are for us only. Allah says in Quran: Except those on whom Your Lord Has bestowed His Mercy, and for that He did create them.(Sura 11, Verse 119).

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

Allah is able to do whatever He wants but Allah never orders people to do wrong. Worshiping other than Allah is most dangerous act as Allah says in Quran: Surely, polytheism is dangerous injustice. (Sura 31, verse 13).

We read in Quran about the enemies of Allah who claim that Allah ordered them to do what they do (Nay, Allah never commands wrong) Sura 7, verse 28.

The absolute ability of Allah (SWT) to do whatever He wants does not mean that He misguide or orders or commands wrong. Allah never orders people to worship other than their Creator who is Allah (SWT).

Please advise your friend that his answer was not correct.

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

The content is mentioned in many narrations mentioned in our books. If you have a specific narration which you want to research its authenticity, you can send it to this site with name of the book where you found it. We will try to research and reply you iA.

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

We ask and seek from Allah to grant us more Love to Him. The Du'a narrated from the Prophet (SAWA) states: O Allah, grant me loving You, loving those who love You and loving everything which makes me more near to You.

Allah says in Quran: The believers love Allah much more.(Sura 2, Verse 165).

We don't use the term of friendship with Allah, as friendship requires usually common or similar status between the friends. Allah is our Creator, Our Lord Who is showering on us every bounty. We love him to elevate ourselves from loving worldly things which can be harmful in the future.

The Prophet (SAWA) and Ahlul Bayt (AS) had the maximum love to Allah (SWT). More faith we achieve, the more we love Allah.

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

You can not take back your promise to Allah (SWT) as far as you are able to fulfill it even with reasonable difficulty. If you don't fulfill your promise to Allah, it will a sinful act, and you must face a heavy Kaffara which is called Kaffara of breaking the promise كفارة العهد which is feeding sixty poor believers.

Wassalam.

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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 2 years ago

According to the Qur'an, God has absolute power over all things.

Satan, as a created being, is under God's power and only has some capability to influence or affect people because God has allowed this for the duration of this world or universe.

God has given Satan free will, just as God has given free will to human beings and other jinn. (According to most Muslim exegetes, Satan is one of the jinn, not an angel or fallen angel.) However, this free will is not absolute: while we are responsible for our decisions in the hereafter, and lead ourselves to heaven or hell, we cannot always do everything we want since sometimes the divine decree/destiny affects what happens in our lives. So, we are still under the power of God, even if we have free will in how we respond to matters that are fated.

Therefore, Satan is not an equal contender to God and there is no cosmic battle between good and evil, even if sometimes an individual person may go back and forth towards or against Satan.

(However, the idea of a cosmic battle between good and evil predates Islam, and has hence influenced some cultures, and also seems to be part of the human psyche, so you will sometimes hear Muslims framing things like that. But that is not theologically correct according to the Qur'an.)

Some scriptural references from the Qur'an:

* Satan has no powerful over the faithful who seek refuge with their Lord (16:22).
* On Judgment Day, Satan will tell people, "God made promises that were true, and I made promises to you that I did not keep. I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you obeyed me. So do not blame me; blame yourselves. I cannot aid you now, and you cannot aid me now. I disassociate myself from the way you associated partners with God." (14:22) 
* The story of when Adam is created, God orders Satan to bow to him. Satan refuses, and God expels him from the celestial realms. Satan swears to misguide humanity, so God allows him to do that for the duration of this world or universe, after which time Satan and those who choose to obey him will enter hell. (7:11-7:18, and elsewhere in the Qur'an)
* Satan's power is to whisper and delude. (4:120)
* Satan's plots are weak. (4:76)
* People choose by their own free will to obey (and hence worship, since obedience is considered a form of worship) Satan and are held accountable for it. (36:59-63)

These sections of the Qur'an can be read further at quran.al-islam.org or other websites if one does not have a printed copy of the Qur'an.

However, insofar as Satan's power in this world among humanity is proportional to how many people choose to support, follow, or obey him, one could say that, to some degree, Satan's power depends on people's choices. This is similar to a country which has a president who has full authority to exert his/her will (for instance, a military and police force which will do what he says), but where the people follow what a social influencer says. He may allow this and be the ultimate authority, and could shut down the influencer if he wanted, but, in practice, the social media influencer is asserting some authority due to the people's choice. 

So, from this angle, one could say that sometimes Satan's influence is greater or lesser, depending on where one is, what era one is living in, etc. Certainly there has been a lot of evil in the world in the 20th century, however, it is also quite possible that Satan was not behind this and is simply standing there smiling and laughing as human beings make a mess of things themselves.

Some of this is apparently also due to human choice, especially the move away from the divine and the sacred in some heavily secular ideologies; the Qur'an says: "They forgot God, so God forgot them". (8:67) People can do this with or without Satan.

Still, the Qur'an says: Had it not been for the grace and mercy of God Allah upon you, you would have followed Satan, except a few of you (4:83). So this reiterates the idea that God is the ultimate authority, not Satan.

I also like to think that, despite the evils of the world, most people are ultimately good at heart and want for things to go aright; we are just going through a difficult time.

Hope that helps!

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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 2 years ago

Injustice , discrimination and corruption are done by people who don't fear God and you can not blame Allah (SWT) for acts done by the sinners. 
Allah is The Absolute Just and Fair.

Wassalam.

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Hassanain Govani, Hassanain Govani is based in Sweden and has an MA in History of Religion from Uppsala University and an MA in Islamic Studies from the Islamic College of London, and has also studied Arabic in... Answer updated 2 years ago

Salaamun Alaykum
 

I'd like to tackle this question from a non-legalistic perspective, but rather from a rational perspective. 
There are certain things that we are not able to grasp. Look for example at the 1st sermon recorded in Nahjul Balaghah:
Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot reach; He for whose description no limit has been laid down, no eulogy exists, no time is ordained and no duration is fixed. He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence, dispersed winds through His Compassion, and made firm the shaking earth with rocks. 

Look especially at these lines:
whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the divings of understanding cannot reach;
 

Imam Ali (pbuh) says that God is such that he cannot be fathomed by our limited understanding. In my humble understanding, this would also cover your query, i.e. why does God exist. 

Now think about from a different perspective - what would exist if there was no God? Such a question cannot yield anything but utter confusion, for in our understanding of existence, there is no existence except by God.

Although we would normally not reply to a question by saying "just accept it", this I would say is such a question.

With Salaams

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 2 years ago

Allah, The Glorious, is the origin and The only source of every good in this existence. He is The Most Merciful and Most Compassionate. He created us and all the creatures to shower on us His mercy and countless bounties.

Wassalam.

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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... Answer updated 2 years ago

Although the fact of the existence of God is very clear for any one who thinks properly, those who need more detailed evidence can read thousands of books written by leading scholars and thinkers. You can read many books on this website al-Islam.org discussing the evidence of God's existence and the prophethood of Muhammad (SAWA).

hundreds of websites which are easily accessible on the internet have hundreds of books on these subjects.

Wassalam.