The Attributes of God in the Monotheistic Faiths of Judeo-Christian and Islamic Traditions.

Copyright © 2011 by Husein Khimjee, Ph.D..

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Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One:

About the existence of God.

Chapter Two:

The Attributes of God in the Judeo-Christian Traditions.

Chapter Three:

The Attributes of Allah (God) in the Islamic Tradition: The Asmaa al-Husna or The Most Beautiful Names.

Chapter Four:

The Status of Jesus in the Jewish Tradition.

Chapter Five:

The Status of Jesus (`Isa ibn Maryam—Jesus, Son of Mary) in the Islamic Tradition.⁹⁴

Conclusion

Select Bibliography

Preface

As a university lecturer teaching World Religions, among other religious courses, I have always been fascinated by the common theme that runs through all of the major faiths. There is no faith that I know that does not have teachings of ethics that includes compassion, love, and kindness towards all others. I call it in my introduction to the classes I teach as one Divine thread that runs through all the major faiths; whether the faith is a revealed faith like Judaism, Christianity and Islam or whether it is a faith that originated in Asia like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism and other faiths originating in that region.

I am particularly fascinated with the discussion of the monotheistic God in the three great monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three are put together as the Western Traditions. They are siblings, children of Abraham, who universally called mankind to worship only One God. In the Near East from where these three faiths originate, God has always been referred to with different names like Allah, or Al-ilah, Elah, YHVH and other names. The similarity of these three faiths is truly astounding; particularly when it comes to the discussion of God. One example of this is the similarity in the attributes of the God these three faiths worship.

The other reason for my writing this book is the misunderstanding of Islam portrayed in the media. I was astonished when I heard a lady speaking to a radio host saying that a Muslim God is other than the God that Jews and Christians worship; or also the incident when Pastor Terry Jones burned the Qur’an. My book therefore is to explain, through the attributes of God in all these three faiths, how similar these three faiths are. They worship the same God; some call Him Allah, others call him God, others call him YHVH, or Elah among other names.

One difficulty I encountered was how to explain one major theological difference between Christianity on one side and Judaism and Islam on the other. The difficulty was the status of Jesus. Jews and Muslims do not consider Jesus the Son of God. But while Islam puts Jesus in a very high pedestal as the Messiah, Judaism does not recognize Jesus as the Messiah because Jesus did not fulfill the promise of a Messiah. I therefore decided to include two last chapters in the book describing the status of Jesus in Judaism and Islam.

I must thank my Check In Coordinator, Mars Alma, for her encouragement to finish my manuscript in good time. This helped me greatly to plan not only finishing this work quickly but also to work on the other two books I am working on now.

I am very grateful to my wife and other family members for having put up with me while I was busy writing this book. My particular thanks also to my granddaughter Maryam who very cheerfully helped me type some of my manuscript.

Introduction

One meaning of the word God given in the dictionary is the Supreme Being considered with reference to a particular attribute: the God of Islam.¹ It can be argued, though, that this is not a totally accurate definition of God simply because God, while correctly stated in the Dictionary as the ‘Supreme Being’, is not restricted in His particular attribute to only the God of Islam.

God in Islam is the same God of Abraham Jews and Christians worship. Even beyond that, Islam refers to God as the Absolute Sovereign of the universe and the Creator of everything. In this sense, then, He is God of not only the Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam but also the God of the universe, lording over everything that is in the heavens and the earth, what is in them and what is between them. God of the universe is the Loving, Compassionate God who nourishes and sustains everything He created and creates. The laws of nature are in His command. He placed the laws so that mankind can explore, and exploit the world, for their progress.

The Arabic name for God is Allah. This word too, is not unique to Islam. It is simply an Arabic word used even in pre-Islamic Arabia. Any person familiar with the Middle East will tell you that people of all faiths in the Middle East refer to God as Allah. Some Bibles published in Arabic also use the word Allah referring to God. The uniqueness of the word Allah is explained by Muslim exegetes of the Qur’an. They tell us that the word Allah is derived from the Arabic verb alaha ( to worship). The noun Allah was originally al-Ilah; and takes a meaning of an Arabic participle al-Ma’aluhu (one who is worshipped) . . . Quite clearly it has become the proper name of Allah. It was commonly used in this meaning in Arabic long before the Qur’an was revealed… other divine names may be used as adjectives for this name; for example, the Beneficent, the Merciful Allah; also this name is used as subject of the verbs derived from other divine names; for example, Allah knew, Allah had mercy, Allah gave sustenance etc. But the word, Allah is never used as adjective to any other name, nor is the verb derived from it used to describe other names. It is a clear proof that it is the proper name of God." ²

This explains the absolute uniqueness of Allah not only in Islam but equally in all the three monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). He is described in a frequently recited chapter of the Qur’an as Ahad. Another Muslim scholar explains:

"The Qur’an presents its view of God not only in any clearly formulated theological statement or creed, but rather in direct and unambiguous declaration of faith in the one and only God, Creator and Sovereign Lord over all His creation. The following brief surah (chapter) known as Sincere Faith (Ikhlas) or Divine Oneness (Tawhid) is regarded by Muslims as the clearest explanation of faith.

"Say: God, He is One (ahad)

God is the Eternal Refuge (samad)

He neither begets, nor was He begotten

Nor is any one equal to Him." (Qur’an, 112: 1-4)³.

The first verse of the surah (chapter) above declares God’s absolute transcendence in the word ‘ahad’ which means one, not only in number but also in uniqueness. This idea is again affirmed in the final verse: "Nor is there any one (ahad) equal to Him." Here too the word ahad is used to express God’s absolute uniqueness and transcendence over His creation."⁴

This view of God is not different in Judaism as well. A 12th century well-known Jewish scholar, Maimonides, explained the Jewish belief of God like this: [God], the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species (which encompasses many individuals), nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, nor as a single simple object that is infinitely divisible. Rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity.⁵

There is also yearning in the human being to follow the most supreme authority, to follow God. The question is, though, how does he perceive God? A Christian Scholar tells us that man’s perceptions about God will also tell us about his true worldview. It will tell us about his concepts of what good and evil are to him. If we were then to assume that the community he belongs to has a similar worldview, our study could produce interesting conclusions. It will tell us what does the community stands for in their worldview.⁶ In a sense, then, it will tell us about the leadership and thinking of the scholars of that community. The leaders and the scholars are the central command system that influences the worldview of their community members. They are the gold of the community. The rest are the laymen. It was Chaucer who said: ‘If gold begins to rust, what shall the iron do?’ The God perceived by the leaders will be the God perceived by the community members in their worldview. The degree of what they consider ethical living, beneficial to all mankind, will depend on their perception of God the souls are yearning for. Their concept of what is evil and what is good, and as to whether there is any accounting for their deeds will depend on not only their perception of who God is, but also the attributes of God of their perception. Is God, in His essence, unknowable? Inconceivable? Monotheistic faiths of the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions do not have much difficulty in perceiving the only God of Abraham they worship. They are the children of Abraham, they are siblings, they worship the same God, yet they have differences.

The major difference that separates the Christian tradition with the Jewish and Islamic traditions is the status of Jesus in the Christian Tradition. Both, Muslims and Jewish reject any notion that God has a son. Islam, while categorically denying this notion, nevertheless, affirms equally strongly that Jesus was a very special Messenger of God, born of virgin Mary, and given special powers to give life to dead, to heal the sick and prophesy about the future events⁷ Muslims also categorically reject Jesus was crucified.

Muslims also believe that Jesus was raised