Blog by: Sadaf Ali

” The quarrel, I think, is not about the truth, but about its expressions, with each religion saying that my expression alone is true” 

Now, let us try to analyse what the truth really is; according to all the major religions.

The Qur’an says: “No son did Allah beget, Nor is there any god Along with Him: (if there were Many gods), behold, each god Would have taken away What he had created, And some would have Lorded it over others! Glory to Allah! (He is free) From the (sort of) things They attribute to Him!” [Surah Mu’minun 23:91]

Thus, the existence of one True, Unique, Supreme, Almighty God, is the only logical concept of God.

Islam means, peace acquired by submitting one’s will to The Almighty Allah…

According to us, the best definition of the Almighty Allah is:  “Say: He is Allah,
The One and Only. “Allah, the Eternal, the Absolute. “He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.”  [Surah Ikhlas 112:1-4]

Actually it is very easy to prove one thing that considering the Quran as a divine book, our deen ” Islam” & its followers known as “Muslims” was revealed divinely. I’ll tell you what I am trying to say. If we read the Quran, it’s there in chapter 3:19 (Surah Imran) which says that the only way of life accepted in the sight of Allah, is Islam. There are few more places like in verse 85 of the same chapter, again the word Islam is there…Similarly, the word Muslim exists in the Quran for the one who submits his will to Allah. It’s there in chapter 3:67, 5:111. 41:33 etc. and various other places…The word Muslim is there in the Quran; the Prophet (ﷺ)did not invent this term. In short, we call our deen Islam & ourselves Muslims because what we consider our divine scripture (The Holy Quran), gives us this information.

If we ask people of any other religion, what their deen/religion is: some will say judaism, some christianity, some hinduism etc. But consider asking them, why do they call their religion judaism or any other ” ism” ,  they will not have any answer; because the word judaism doesnt exist in their scripture; the word Christianity doesnt exist in the bible ;even the word hinduism or hindu doesnt exist in any of the vedas or upanishads or any hindu scripture which hindus consider to be of divine origin. If anyone knows any verse from their holy scriptures, regarding the origin of these terminology kindly send me the verses. I’ll clarify what the truth is.

Judaism

The Old testament, considered to be the word of God , sent to Prophet Moses(pbuh); let us examine some verses from that relating to the concept of God

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”
[Deuteronomy 6:4]

The following verses are from the Book of Isaiah:
  
(i) “I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.”
[Isaiah 43:11]
  
(ii) “I am Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me.”
[Isaiah 45:5]
  
(iii) “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me.”
[Isaiah 46:9]

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:”

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God.”
[Exodus 20:3-5]

A similar message is repeated in [Deuteronomy 5:7-9]

We see here that Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) emphasized on the worship of one God; never about a father, son & holy ghost. 

Considering Christianity: 

The Quran mentions:

They say: “The Most Merciful (Allah) has begotten a son!” Indeed you have put forth a most monstrous idea! It is as if the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin for what they say about the Most Merciful (Allah) having a son! For it is not befitting for the Most Merciful (Allah) to take a son. Surah Maryam, Chapter 19, Verses 88-92

One may ask, if both Muslims and Christians love and respect Jesus (peace be upon him), where exactly is the parting of ways? The major difference between Islam and Christianity is the Christians’ insistence on the supposed divinity of Christ (peace be upon him).

Let’s see what the scripture has to say: 

Bible

(i) “My Father is greater than I.”
[John 14:28]

(ii) “My Father is greater than all.”
[John 10:29]

(iii) “…I cast out devils by the Spirit of God….”
[Mathew 12:28]

(iv) “…I with the finger of God cast out devils….”
[Luke 11:20]

(v) “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”
[John 5:30]

(vi) ” The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

[Matthew 1:1]

Consider the following incident mentioned in the Bible:
“And behold, one came and said unto him, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’

And he said unto him, ‘Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.’ “
[Mathew 19:16-17]

Let’s see what the first commandment was:

” And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” [Mark 12:29,30]

Here, we see that Jesus (peace be upon him) always stressed on the existence of one God. & not on trinity…

Christians say that The father, the son & the holy ghost are not three, but one; which is quite absurd. They believe in a concept of   trinity”, which is nowhere to be seen in the bible.

The Quran mentions: 

O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not “Trinity” : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.

[Suran Nisa, 4:171]

Some Christians say that, like the water can exist in 3 forms, solid, liquid ad gas; similarly, “God” exists in 3 different forms. But this explanation is illogical. If you have studied science even till your 10th grade, you must know that the water, no matter in what state (solid, liquid or gas) has hydrogen and oxygen as its constituents. Its formula is H20. So whichever state water is in, it will compose of 2 molecules of hydrogen & 1 molecule of oxygen. Now, considering Jesus (peace be upon him), he said: 

Lu:24:39:Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Lu:24:40: And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
Lu:24:41: And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
Lu:24:42: And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
Lu:24:43: And he took it, and did eat before them.
Lu:24:44: And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

[Luke 24:39-44]

So, Jesus (peace be upon him), was not spirit like the holy ghost, he had flesh and was unlike the father and the holy ghost. Hence, all 3 cant be one !

Lastly,Hinduism

Some polytheists argue by saying that the existence of more than one God is not illogical. Let us point out to them that if there were more than one God, they would dispute with one another, each god trying to fulfil his will against the will of the other gods. This can be seen in the mythology of the polytheistic and pantheistic religions. If a ‘God’ is defeated or unable to defeat the others, he is surely not the one true God. Also popular among polytheistic religions is the idea of many Gods, each having different responsibilities. Each one would be responsible for a part of man’s existence e.g., a Sun-God, a Rain-God, etc. This indicates that one ‘God’ is incompetent of certain acts and moreover he is also ignorant of the other Gods’ powers, duties, functions and responsibilities. There cannot be an ignorant and incapable God. 

The moment you can compare any entity to God, whether it is a thousand times or a million, it fails the Qur’anic criterion, “There is none like unto Him”.

Let’s see what the Hindu scriptures have to say.

Brahma Sutra of Hinduism:
The Brahma Sutra of Hinduism is:

“Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan”

“There is only one God, not the second; not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”

BHAGAVAD GITA

The most popular amongst all the Hindu scriptures is the Bhagavad Gita.
Consider the following verse from the Gita:

“Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures.”
  [Bhagavad Gita 7:20] 

 The Gita states that people who are materialistic worship demigods i.e. ‘gods’ besides the True God.

UPANISHADS:

“Na casya kascij janita na cadhipah.”
“Of Him there are neither parents nor lord.”
  [Svetasvatara Upanishad 6:9]1

“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no likeness of Him.”
  [Svetasvatara Upanishad 4:19]2

1[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 745]
[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page 263.]

2[The Principal Upanishad by S. Radhakrishnan page 736 & 737]
[Sacred Books of the East, volume 15, ‘The Upanishads part II’ page no 253]

Vedas

Vedas are considered the most sacred of all the Hindu scriptures. There are four principal Vedas: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samveda and Atharvaveda

“na tasya pratima asti
“There is no image of Him.”
[Yajurveda 32:3] [Yajurveda by Devi Chand M.A. page 377]

Another beautiful attribute of God mentioned in the Rigveda Book II hymn 1 verse 3 is Vishnu. Vishnu means ‘The Sustainer’. Translated into Arabic it means Rabb. Again, Muslims can have no objection if Almighty God is referred to as Rabb or ‘Sustainer’ or Vishnu. But the popular image of Vishnu among Hindus, is that of a God who has four arms, with one of the right arms holding the Chakra, i.e. a discus and one of the left arms holding a ‘conch shell’, or riding a bird or reclining on a snake couch. Muslims can never accept any image of God. As mentioned earlier this also goes against Svetasvatara Upanishad Chapter 4 verse 19.

“Na tasya pratima asti”
“There is no likeness of Him”

[Atharveda Samhita vol 2 William Dwight Whitney page 910]

I hope this is sufficient to tell what the truth is & tell whether all the expressions given to the Almighty is correct or not, not just according to Islam but even according to other religions.

People , if they go back to their scripture, can know the real concept of God. Although there are many wrong concepts in other religions regarding somethings apart from Islam.

I would end this by quoting a verse from the Holy Quran regarding people who hear the truth and don’t come to it ” They are deaf, dumb and blind; and they return not (to the right path). (Surah Al-Baqara, 2:18)