Group #4 - Section 017.

Group #4 – Section 17.

Today we have discussed Arabic Philosophers,
Falsafah (Arabic falsafa from Greek philosophia) is the pursuit of philosophy in Islam. The Muslim delight in philosophy, especially in the early centuries, resides on the prevalent concept of divine creation; that is, God is the creator of all things, and that knowledge, ilm, leads to a deeper understanding of him and his works. Thus falsafah is, or was, a commitment to wisdom in which every science is necessarily involved, but falsafah, philosophy is predominant because it heads the rest.

Discussion Question:

It is said that Al-Ghazzali pushed his belief in Falsafah so far that he began doubting it. Do you believe that if you put too much time and energy into a belief, you can end up doubting it?

Islamic Questions and Answers,

Question: Can God do everything?
If the answer is YES, then:
Can God cry? Can God sleep? Can God die?? Can God be unjust? Can God throw me out of his domain? To Him belongs everything where will he throw me?...so as we can see there can be thousands of things that God “cannot” do.

If the answer is NO, then God cannot do many things, so He is not all powerful.

Islamic response to such questions/logics:
In the Quran, Allah NEVER says that he can do EVERYTHING. One has to be very careful about it. Allah picked each word of the Quran in such a way so that people cannot play with the words or the verses. So what does Allah say about his abilities?

[2.106] ….. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?
[3.29] …and Allah has power over all things.
[16.77] … surely Allah has power over all things.

And many more places, “Innallaha ala kulli shay in Kadir”, so notice Allah didn’t say that “Allah can do everything”, he says “Allah has power over all things.” There is a world of a difference between "Allah can do everything" and "Allah has power over everything". In fact Qur’an tells us:

[85.15] Lord of the Arsh, the Glorious,
[85.16] The great doer of what He will.

Whatever Allah “intends” or "wills", he can do but Allah only does godly things. He does not do ungodly things. So questions like “Can Allah sleep?” “Can Allah die” never even comes. Allah does ONLY the things that He intends to do.

Question: Can Allah make such a huge rock that he himself cannot move?

A huge misconception can make this answer hard. If you ask muslims “where is Allah?” It is more likely that they will say “Allah is everywhere”. That is NOT true. The idea of Allah being everywhere is the root idea of paganism. If Allah is everywhere, then he is in the river, in the idol, in the chair, in the table, so we can worship them. The Quran and the sunnah teaches us VERY clearly on this matter. In many places in the Quran we find Allah saying that things will go “up” to him.

[32.5] He regulates the affair FROM the heaven TO the earth; then shall it ASCEND (or go UP) to Him in a day the measure of which is a thousand years of what you count

[70.4] To Him ASCEND (or go UP) the angels and the Spirit in a day the measure of which is fifty thousand years.

If that was not clear enough, then in one hadith prophet Muhammad (PBUH) asked a slave girl, “Where is Allah?” the girl replied “Above the heavens”. He asked again, “Who am I” The girl replied, “messenger of Allah”. Then the prophet said that the girl has correct Islamic knowledge. So, Allah is NOT everywhere, he is above the heavens somewhere, BUT his knowledge is everywhere, He sees/hears/controls everything. He doesn’t have to come down to this earth to do anything. The bottom line is, Allah is NOT within his creation. So the question of “can Allah move a rock” doesn’t apply to Allah, because he is NOT in his creation. We have to be very careful about it.

Personal Note:

Religion is the reason for all violence.

Group Members:

* Teresa (ABSENT).

* Zach (PARTICIPATED).

* Hicham (Pronounced HE-Sham). - GROUP LEADER

* Matt (PARTICIPATED).

* William (PARTICIPATED).

* Jacob (ABSENT).