"Indeed, Allah* will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves" [Qu'ran, 13:11]
(*GOD!!! Allah just means God in Arabic...why do people insist on using the Arabic word, making it sound as if they are talking about a different God??)
there is this book: Dante's Divine Comedy. in it, Dante goes on a journey through Hell and Purgatory and Heaven and describes what each of them is like. the whole book is really cool, but he has this idea that hell and heaven and purgatory are all made by love. they are the place where God gives you for eternity what you loved in this life. so, for example, someone who loves food (gluttony) goes to the level of gluttony in hell, where they get to eat (mud) for eternity. they get for eternity what they loved most (eating). and the thing is, they are HAPPY. the people in hell are happy about being there because they are getting what they love. since what they loved (food) is so much less than what they should have loved, they are in hell. i.e. even though they think they are happy, they are miserable in comparison to the ecstasy they would have felt having what was truly good. hell is where they are deprived of what is truly good for them. the punishment of the wicked, in other words, is their wickedness itself. they don't know they are being punished but just because they are missing out on such a greater good [being with God], they are punished. isn't that so coooooool??? Hell is made from lo-ove...:D
it makes so much sense too. God is an all-loving being. AND humans are so insignificant compared to Him. He would never care whether you committed adultery or had too much cake (it would'nt affect Him in any way). and He loves you no matter what you do (omni-benevolent). the thing is, in this life He presents you with all your choices, good or bad, and allows you to choose. plus He even helps you by pointing out which choices are good and which are bad. but He allows you to choose for yourself, and then you get for eternity the thing you chose, the thing you loved most. that is what heaven and hell is – a place of unbounded love. hell is just where you go when you love the wrong thing (or person). you love it, but you could've been SO MUCH happier if you had chosen what is truly good...
(*GOD!!! Allah just means God in Arabic...why do people insist on using the Arabic word, making it sound as if they are talking about a different God??)
there is this book: Dante's Divine Comedy. in it, Dante goes on a journey through Hell and Purgatory and Heaven and describes what each of them is like. the whole book is really cool, but he has this idea that hell and heaven and purgatory are all made by love. they are the place where God gives you for eternity what you loved in this life. so, for example, someone who loves food (gluttony) goes to the level of gluttony in hell, where they get to eat (mud) for eternity. they get for eternity what they loved most (eating). and the thing is, they are HAPPY. the people in hell are happy about being there because they are getting what they love. since what they loved (food) is so much less than what they should have loved, they are in hell. i.e. even though they think they are happy, they are miserable in comparison to the ecstasy they would have felt having what was truly good. hell is where they are deprived of what is truly good for them. the punishment of the wicked, in other words, is their wickedness itself. they don't know they are being punished but just because they are missing out on such a greater good [being with God], they are punished. isn't that so coooooool??? Hell is made from lo-ove...:D
it makes so much sense too. God is an all-loving being. AND humans are so insignificant compared to Him. He would never care whether you committed adultery or had too much cake (it would'nt affect Him in any way). and He loves you no matter what you do (omni-benevolent). the thing is, in this life He presents you with all your choices, good or bad, and allows you to choose. plus He even helps you by pointing out which choices are good and which are bad. but He allows you to choose for yourself, and then you get for eternity the thing you chose, the thing you loved most. that is what heaven and hell is – a place of unbounded love. hell is just where you go when you love the wrong thing (or person). you love it, but you could've been SO MUCH happier if you had chosen what is truly good...
posted by bita at 11:04 PM
6 Comments:
I have seen some muslim people, that although their language is not Arabic, but they tempt to use the word "Allah" while talking about God, even though the context is English or Persian or any other language that you could use the right of word to imply the meaning of GOD in that language.
Some people think when they use "Allah" instead of "God" or "Khodavand" it shows that : Islameshoon Ghaveetare!!
p.s. Amin and Bita, take care both of you, missin both of you.
amin: merci az commentet.
the problem with people calling God Allah is that they are giving Him a boundary by doing that. when you give somthing a name, you are saying that thing IS what you call it. e.g. a chair is called a chair because it IS a chair, you are called amin because you ARE amin. but at the same time, you are saying that thing IS NOT anything else. a chair is nothing other than a chair, you are no one other than amin.
so when you call God Allah, you are putting a boundary on Him, saying that He IS Allah and IS NOT anything other than Allah. but the thing is, He is also God, He is also Dios, He is also Khoda, He is also Shiva, Vishnu, etc. see, He is the God of everyone, the universal God. He is just manifested differently for different people. so that is why they call Him by different names (e.g. I think the hindu gods are the same God, but just manifeted in a different way to them, which is why they give Him multiple and different names).
your example of the 99 names is a good one. none of them are sufficient: you would never just say God is the Seer. you would say one of His names is that he is the Seer. the same thing is true of Allah (for those speaking Arabic, he is called Allah).
lastly, the reason your name doesn't change in different languages is because you have a boundary. you are amin, and no one other than amin, in whatever country you go to. but as i said, God is not like that - so by calling Him Allah you are limiting Him.
saeed: merci az commentet, and i completely agree!!
there is no plurality of "Allah" as there is with God. The deferred meaning of Allah includes the "oneness" of God. Which is someone "God" itself does not have.
I could call my pencil God. And I could have other pencils who are also Gods. But if I call my pencil by the arabic word, then there is no other one.
*which is something
anonymous: thank you for your comment.
1) "there is no plurality of "Allah" as there is with God. The deferred meaning of Allah includes the "oneness" of God. Which is someone "God" itself does not have."
unfortunately, i don't understand this: why do you think there is a plurality with 'God' - in English God means the same exact thing that Allah means in Arabic. the word Allah is a compound word composed of: 'al', meaning 'the', and 'ilah', meaning 'God'. i looked it up on dictionary.com and this is the definition of Allah: 'the Supreme Being; God.'
secondly, the word 'God' signifies the same thing that the word 'Allah' signifies, only in English. God also means a unitary all-powerful all-good entity that created the world, one who has no other like it, and who is unified in the most utmost way. again, i invite you to look the definition up.
2) "I could call my pencil God. And I could have other pencils who are also Gods. But if I call my pencil by the arabic word, then there is no other one."
i don't understand this either. how could you call your pencil God and have other pencils who are Gods? first, the word God implies that nothing like it exists, so you could not have more than one God. second, as i explained, a pencil is called a pencil because it is nothing else. do you mean that all things have the essence of God in them because He is their Creator?
i'm sorry, i can't really reply to this part of your argument because i don't really understand it. could you explain more?
amin: again, thank you for your comment.
1) "when you give somthing a name, you are saying that thing IS what you call it. e.g. a chair is called a chair because it IS a chair, you are called amin because you ARE amin." - this is not from hegel. this is common sense in my opinion. (is a chair not a chair? and isn't it called a chair because it is a chair?) but if you have an argument disproving it, i would love to hear it.
2) hegel was not the one who said God is dead, Nietzsche did. and Nietzsche said God is dead because people have killed him (that the concept of God has no use for people anymore, so they have gotten rid of it). and hegel bases his ideas on his understanding of history and how history has developed human consciousness. he says if you understand him, you have no choice but to agree with him. and he is correct, because what hegel is preaching is that equality/freedom/etc. are the concepts that people have been working towards for all of history, and these are the things one will come to realize at the end of history (and what he himself has already realized.). or do you disagree with freedom for all? equality for all? etc...
3)"it is our human/fallen nature that we make mistakes. And if we have to call on to our maker, we have to pick a name." i agree. i never said don't call God something. call God whatever you want, but when talking in a language, don't call Him something from a different language, because it makes it seem like you are talking about a different God (and that is not possible since there is only ONE God - or do you disagree with this?)
4) "Who cares if some people want to call god Allah." - the problem, as i said, is that by calling Him that they are binding/limiting Him to a name.
"I think it is a beautiful name." i agree, it is a beautiful ARABIC word for God, and i will for sure use it if i ever talk about God in arabic.
5)"why does it bother you that I or other people would call their maker Allah." - why does it bother you that it bothers me when people call Him allah?
a)because you feel that i'm being disrespectful to God? for the same reason, it bothers me when people call God Allah (being disrespecful to God).
b)because you feel that i'm being disrespectful to other people's faith? people's faith should not be bound to one person't opinion (i.e. they shouldn't care what I think).
6)"If he was yours alone then you can tell others 'excuse me, please dont call my maker allah, I dont like that name, please call him God or Dios'. Where is the logic in that?" if he was yours alone, or if He only belonged to the Arabic people, then you could say "we are calling Him Allah and that is it!" but He is the God of everybody (spanish, english, french, indian, etc...), He belongs to all, so one people should not claim Him by giving Him their own name.
7) "If I call god or khodavand Allah I am not trying to say I am a better muslim than others. No one is. They just prefer that name." amin, i didn't mean to offend you or say that you weren't a good muslim. i hope you didn't take it like that.
8) "There are no boundries for god, only in our incomplete knowledge do we feel the urge to put him in a boundry by nameing him." EXACTLY!!! so you agree that by naming Him you are putting Him in a boundary?
9) "BUT US NAMING HIM A NAME DOESN'T MEAN THAT HE IS NONEXISTANT," - nonexistant? when did i say that?
"IT MEANS THAT OUR INTELECT IS IN A BOUNDRY AND LIMITED." - yes, so when you know that your intellect in limited, why try to name God? naming Him implies that you think that you know God (because you only name a thing when you know what it is)(come on, you know this is true. just think about it for a second...)
10) one last thing: the Muslim God is the same God as the Jewish and the Christian one (Qu'ran embodies both the Torah and the Bible in it). God's name, if you give Him a name, isn't even Allah. Allah comes from the Hebrew word Elohim, meaning "the Lord." His name (in Hebrew), as it is said by Him in the Torah ( in Genesis), is Ywhw, meaning "He who IS" (since God is BEING in the fullest sense). But this name is so sacred that the israelites were not allowed to say it, except on special occasions (and even then, it was the priest who said it). even in the Torah and the Bible (and the Qu'ran), God's name is not used frequently. instead he is referred to as Elohim/Allah meaning the lord.
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