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Introduction |
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The Creator: It is only logical to believe that before anything was created there had to be a Creator. It is, also, only logical to believe that this Creator had to be an eternal being without beginning or end and that nothing could be like this Creator. It is this Unique Being Whom the Quran calls Allah the Lord, the Only Supreme Being worthy of worship. Allah the Almighty stated this about Himself: He is Allah than Whom there is La ilaha illa Huwa (none who has the right to be worshipped but He), the ALl-Knower, of the unseen and the seen (open). He is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. He is Allah than WHom there is La ilaha illa huwa (none who has the right to be worshipped but He), the King, the Holy, the One Free from all defects, the Giver of security, the Watcher over His creatures, the All Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Glory be to Allah! (High is He) above all that they associate as partners with Him. He is Allah the Creator, the Inventor of all things, the Bestower of forms. To Him belongs the Best Names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. And He is the All- Mighty and the All Wise. (Ch 59:22-24) When Allah the Most High decided to create the earth, sun, planets, stars, and the galaxies--- those that are known and those that are unknown to us-- He commanded them: "Be!" and they were. Almighty Allah said: Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, Be!" and it is! (Ch 36:82) As for the method of creation, it is unknown to us except what Allah revealed, which is that He created the heavens and the earth and the spaces in between in six days. Allah the Exalted declared: Allah it is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them in six Days. (Ch 32:4) These six days are calculated as Allah the Almighty's days. This means they are not like our days on earth, as we count the day according to the earth's rotation once around its axis and the year according to its orbit around the sun. Perhaps these six days are thousands of years, or even millions of centuries, by our calculation nowadays, or perhaps they are more or less than that. They might be something totally different by Allah's reckoning. Allah told us that He created the heavens, the earth, and everything that is between them in six days, the established Himself on the throne of the universe. Everything submitted to His will; everything was indebted to Him; everything prostrated and showed reverence to Almighty Allah. He controlled the working of everything and everything needed Him. He is the One Who needs nothing and no one, but everything was everyone needs Him. All was complete. Allah the Almighty's will had been accomplished. The universe was created and had prostrated to Him as a symbol of its needs and its desire for sustenance and in submission to His will.
The Symbol of Goodness Among the best and the most vunerable of Allah's creatures are the angels. they are of various orders, each with its own noble mission accomplished with immaculate perfection. Among the angels are those whose mission is to communicate with human beings. One of these conveys Allah's messages to humanity through His prophets, and that is Gabriel (Jibreel), the chief of angels in the heavens and the symbol of goodness. Allah the Almighty called him "the trustworthy": And truly, this (Quran) is a revelation from the Lord of the Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists), which the trustworthy Ruh (Gabriel) has brought down upon your heart (O Muhammad) that you may be one of the warners.
The Symbol of Evil Along with the angels, Allah has created the jinn. They are part of the Ghaib (the unseen) and have no visible or tangible bodies. this is the only similarity between them and the angels. The jinn and the angels are totally different even in the stuff they are made of, for Allah created the former from fire and the latter from light. The angels are Allah's soldiers, who are created to worship Him and to realize His Commands in the universe. They are pure and absolutely good. As for the jinn, they are assigned a certain nature; some of them are good, while others are corrupt. It was revealed in the Quran that a small group of jinn had listened to the Quran. Some of their words were revealed therein; There are among us some that are righteous, and some the contrary; we are groups each having a different way (religious sect etc). And of us some are Muslims (who have submitted to Allah after listening to this Quran) and of us some are Al Qaasitun (disbelievers, those who have deviated from the Right Path); and whosoever has embraced Islam (has become Muslim by submitting to Allah), then such have sought the right path." (Ch 72:11,14-15) We know that the jinn procreate for Allah the Almighty asked: Will you then take him (Iblis) and his offspring as protectors and helpers? (ch 18:50) One of the notorious names among the jinn is that of Iblis (Satan), who was standing with the angels when they received a command to prostrate to Adam. When Satan refused to prostrate, he became a symbol of evil in the universe. Allah the Almighty revealed: And remember when We said to the angels: "Prostrate to Adam." so they prostrated except Iblis. He was one of the jinn, he disobeyed the Command of his Lord. (Ch 18:50)
Allah's Prophets Allah's prophets are His messengers to humanity. Their essence is human, and they are the purest of human beings. Allah sent each prophet as a warner to his community, until the advent of the final prophet, Muhammad (pbuh), who came as a mercy to all of Allah's creatures. Allah the Almighty declared : We have sent you (O Muhammad) not but as a mercy for the Alamin (mankind, jinn and all that exists). (Ch 21:107) Indeed, if it had not been for Muhammad (pbuh), we would not have known the true stories of the prophets as they took place. This is because their stories were distorted and corrupted before Muhammad's (pbuh) mission. The resulting versions did not respect the dignity and infallibility of the prophets. For example, the corrupt books of the Jews narrate a story of a prophet who drank alcohol and commited adultery with his own daughter; of a prophet who sent the commander of his army to war in order to ensare the commander;s wife; of a prophet who worshipped idols after marrying a pretty young idol worshipper, they said he prefered to please her by worshipping her idol than to please his Creator. All the time you read these books you feel that youa re confronting a false, confused, and misguided mentality which lies about Allah and His prophets. If you leave the corrupt books of the Jews for those of the Christians, you will find a contrary attitude which is almost a reaction to the first. The Christians glorified their prophet Jesus (pbuh) to the degree that most of the sects call him the son of Allah. Allah is high above that! The true image of the prophets was lost by either degrading or over glorifying them. Were it not for the Quran, we would not have known their true nature. The prophets and messengers have different levels and degrees. Allah the Almighty stated: Those messengers! We preferred some to others; to some of them Allah spoke (directly); others he raised to degrees (of honor). (Ch 2:253) Despite the difference in degrees of prophets in the sight of Allah the Exalted, the Muslims are commanded to respect them all and not to discriminate among them. Allah the Exalted said: Each one of the believers believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books, and His Messengers. They say, "We make no distinction between one another of His Messengers." and they say, "We hear nd we obey." We seek Your forgiveness, our Lord and to You is the return of all." (Ch 2:285)
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