Islam for Idiots Chapter 4

ALL ABOUT ALLAH

• Muslim ideas of God are not affected by changes in social values or mores
• God is not personified into forms or shapes crated by the imagination of men and women.
• What we lack in artwork about God, we make up for in a compelling intellectual and spiritual ideology

GOD AND HOLLYWOOD

• Islam has a very definite conception of God and how to understand Him
• When Christians were defending the honor of their God, Muslims were more intersted in upholding the honor of a man who is considered to be one of the greatest prophets.
• Movies about prophets are considered blaspehmous by Muslims, who see any attempt to represent a prophet as wrong

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD

• some popular western culture promotes the idea that we are all gods inside our hearts or that god lives in us, and we can tap into his power like some sort of personal energy reservoir
• the Qur'an warned us long ago that the desire of Shaytan is to seperate us from God and what better way for him to succeed than to get all of us to call ourselves gods and godesses or to make up gods of our own

DOES GOD SHOW HIMSELF TO US

• Islam records only one incident in which a person came close to seeing God
• Moses wanted God to prove himself to him, so he appeared in physical form on a mountain and it was too powerful for Moses to see and he pased out

ISLAM IN GOD

• Allah is only one being without division, children or partners
• God is strong enough and capable enough to not need anyones help of to divide himself into parts to do different jobs
• "There is no God other than God"
• He is not the God of any chosen people nor can any racial or ethnic community lay claim to his exclusive attention
• the idea that God makes any kind of racial preferences is reprehensible in Islam

PAGAN ARAB BELIEFS BEFORE THE COMING OF ISLAM

• The prophet Muhammad was born in arabia in 570 c.e.
• the pagans venerated idols thinking they were convenient gods who would bring luck, safety, good business deals, and other bounties on a daily basis
• Muhammads first preachings in 610 c.e.
• declared that God is not remote and is not contained in a wood or stone carving

THE QUR'AN SPEAKS

• "Tell people that he is one God; Allah, the eternal absolute. He neither gives birth nor was He ever begotten, and there is nothing equal to Him."
• in the pagan world, magic, spirits, shamans, luck, totems, and idols were the defining characteristics of religion.

MAN AND GOD

• islam teaches that every god has to face god alone
• no one can look to another god or person to save himself or herself in this life or in the next
• the Qur'an is very clear about blame being lade squarely upon our own shoulders
• Shirk means to hold something else as equal to god...biggest sin

DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE IN ORIGINAL SIN?

• Islam considers jesus to be a prophet of God, born of the Virgin Mary as a special miracle from God
• Muslims do not take Jesus' birth as a sign of God hood or as a sing that jesus was the son of god.
• the Qur'an even denies that jesus was killed on a cross
• the Qur'an states only that God saved Jesus and took him to himself
• the Qur'an says Adam and Eve sinned but God forgave them when they asked for his mercy
• it is our cumulative faith and actions that determine our salvation
• it is no sign of love for a muslim that God would die for him or her

HOW CLOSE IS CLOSE

• We can build a personal relationship with Allah because He can hear all our thoughts and because he knows our feelings
• "Accept Allah into your hearts and be saved
• The word taqwa means consciousness or awareness of God in your life

ALLAH HAS MANY NAMES

• The Qur'an declares emphatically that God has no form we can comprehend and that He resembles nothing at all in creation
• Islam completely forbids making representations of God
• Instead of focusing on God's physical form, we look to his qualities
• these are called Allahs names and attributes
• we use adjectives to describe the nature of God, and through studying them and emmulating them we come to a closer understanding of who God is
• *Actively particpate in knowing the divine
• we can get a feel for the essence of Allah through the Ninety-Nine names of Allah
• then we dont have to worry about what he looks like
• Muhammad once said that whoever knows and lives by the 99 names of Allah will go to heaven

• he has no beginning or end
• he does not reveal himself
• no human eye is strong enough to behold his power
• he can do all that he wishes with no need of a helper
• he is not male or female
• Allah is not a remote God but rather He is active in human affairs and is testing us in this life and giving us the chance to choose to surrender to him