Power of Allah

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

This was posted in another thread, and I don’t want to side-track that discussion. Thing is, I am sure there are plenty of you who hold this belief (whether you say it or not) and this is probably one of your core beliefs that tell you that unless you are a muslim, you have no chance of ever getting into paradise.

However, where does it leave the power of Allah to be the omni-potent and decide what He wants? Why can’t Allah decide whether someone is going to paradise or hell, and we, the servants of Allah, have taken it upon ourselves to proclaim that everyone except us is going to hell?

2

Faisal, this is a very broad topic and I must say a very interesting one. For people like Mother Teressa(sp), Allah rewards them in this life. They are given fame, wealth, followers etc in this world.

Now your question, Can Allah change his mind? Sure HE can, however, do not forget Allah does not go back on his word either. If HE promises hell for certain action, hell it is. Fate of "kafirs" is stated very clearly in Quran.
I have a slightly different definition of Kafir. Kafir is not just a non mulim, kafir is one who has recieved Allah's message or Allah's message has been explained to him/her and he/she choses to reject it. Every other non-mulsim is a perspective Muslim.

3

Its not just believing in One God,its more than that. You have to believe in Prophet:saw: and the message of Quran. I can see where people had no interactions with Muslims or never wanted to know about Islam, however, after knowing about it and rejecting it, puts them in the category which is punishble by hell. That is how I understand it. How the message is conveyed to the perspective/non muslim is a whole other debate.

4

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
Lets try to get the discussion back on track. I agree to what you are saying. What I am saying is that, ok, so Allah has promised paradise to muslims who obey Allah's message. Fine, Allah will not go back on His word. But when it comes to those who sin or don't believe in the message, but do other good deeds, can Allah not change His mind? Because He is Omni-potent and Rehman and Raheem, and his intention is not to punish the human beings but to bless them with his Rehma'a. Is it out of bounds for Him? Does He even have any bounds?
[/QUOTE]

Faisal, Its not out of the question, but you keep forgetting that each and every one of us is given a lifetime to mend our ways. When you are called to the truth and the way of Allaha and chose to ignore it, why do you think that Allah will forgive them/us? In the end no one knows what is in store for us in the afterlife, all we can and should do is try to be better Muslims.

5

Faisa, I Agree.

Matty, my friend those people will be judged according to the messenger of their time.

6

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
And who will be the judge that Islam (the one preached by the Holy Prophet (saw) & not by Maulana Maududi) has reached them? You or me? Or Faisal Bhai?
[/QUOTE]

Ahmadjee bhaijaan, it is the duty of each and every muslim to do "dawa". As a matter of fact it is one of the five rights Quran has on each Muslim.

7

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Faisal: *
Great. So now what do you say to our musalman brothers who say "i do know that mother teresa is going to hell". I mean, "really?"
[/QUOTE]

I say, "My brother do you know if your next breath is gauranteed?". See what he says to that.

8

This is one great distinction of Islam that it does not monopolize salvation. Surah Baqarah & Al-Imran where Allah talks in great detail about Jews & Christians, numerous times Allah swt clarifies that his blessings are not subjected to one group of people.

[2:111] And they say. 'None shall ever enter Heaven unless he be a Jew or a Christian.' These are their vain desires. Say, 'Produce your proof, if you are truthful.'

[2:112] Nay, whosoever submits himself completely to Allah and he is the doer of good, shall have his reward from his Lord. No fear shall come on them nor shall they grieve.

[2:113] And the Jews say, 'The Christians stand on nothing' and the Christians say, 'The Jews stand on nothing;' while they both read the same book. Even thus said those, who had no knowledge, like what they say. But Allah shall judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that wherein they disagree.

[2:114] And who is more unjust than he who prohibits the name of Allah being glorified in Allah's temples and strives to ruin them? It was not proper for such men to enter therein except in fear. For them is disgrace in this world; and theirs shall be a great punishment in the next.

[2:115] To Allah belongs the East and the West; so whithersoever you turn, there will be the face of Allah. Surely, Allah is Bountiful, All-Knowing.

9

M, in the verses I quoted and the ones you did are totally in line with each other. Do you consider them contradicting?

I have met Christians who don't believe in him to be the son of God, I have also met Christians who don’t care if he was son of God or not, they are more interested in his message. To consider a billion or so Christians to believe in a monolithic set of beliefs is the same as those who believe that Islam is what is practiced in Pakistan or the Arabia of Saaud.

10

M,

The verse you quoted and the verses [3:19] & [5:3] also consider Islam to be the perfect religion of choice. Though, it does not claim Islam to be the only religion from Allah as you concluded.

I understand these verses addressed to those who after witnessing the signs of the Holy Prophet in his lifetime or afterwards and the argument of the truthfulness of Islam in general through the sublime & humble Muslims, still disbelieve out of their wicked desires and stubbornness (Of which only Allah swt can be the judge). If the verse is to be applied in general, like you did, than it doesn’t do justice to the person living in South Dakota whose knowledge of Islam spans from the fatwas of Bin Laden to the experts on O’Rielly factor.

Now, let us all know if you consider the verses I quoted in contradiction to the ones you posted and if you don’t than how do you understand the verse about Islam being the religion of choice?

11

And who will be the judge that Islam (the one preached by the Holy Prophet (saw) & not by Maulana Maududi) has reached them? You or me? Or Faisal Bhai?

12

One more thing M,

The primary audiance of the verses I quoted were the Christians & Jews who interacted with AnHazoor (saw) ... so how can you say they only address people before Islam?

13

Kaleem Bhai, I have been on the receiving end on Muslims doing Daawa & trust me it doesn't leave a very good impression of Islam on me. So, whose fault will it be if the person on the receiving end doesn't accept Islam? The person who poorly presented it or the one who brushed it off his shoulders? I don't think we have the power to decide.

14

well it is in quran that allah will NOT forgive those who died on the path other than that of monotheism. you can debate in phlisophical terms about the mercy of allah, but quran is the criteria that Allah has revealed to us and we CAN judge using quran because that is allah's kalam.

Verily, those who disbelieve, and hinder (men) from the Path of Allâh (i.e. Islâm); then die while they are disbelievers, Allâh will not forgive them. (Muhammad 47:34)

Verily, Allâh forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allâh in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin. (An-Nisa 4:48)

after this ayah is there any doubt that associating partners will NOT be forgiven, and that is a word of allah, so if we doubt that, we simply accuse allah of being stupid (naudubillah) because he cant make up his mind, some times he says he wont forgive polytheists, and then he says he might....

Verily! Allâh forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom he pleases sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allâh, has indeed strayed far away. (An-Nisa 4:116)

and secondly, we seem to have this feeling that if some one does good deeds by helping the needy or poor or whatever, he somehow 'deserves' jannah. but the point is that allah already has blessed us with so much blessings, such as life, ears, eyes, limbs, food, drinks, skin, shelter, comfort, and so on and on that our worships and charity even spanning our entire lives cant thank for those blessings let alone "earn" some thing to deserve anything in the here after.

15

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Kaleem: *

I say, "My brother do you know if your next breath is gauranteed?". See what he says to that.
[/QUOTE]

indeed the next breath is not guaranteed, but what is written in quran IS guaranteed and i just qouted from quran, that shirk will NOT be forgiven, so why such a big debate?

16

I think people are on the right track here.. Allah will not go back on what He promised in the Qur'an.. and here's what He's promised:

[2:62] Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.

[5:69] Surely those who believe and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve.

17

To the people who think believing in Prophet Muhammad is the ONLY way to salvation.. how different are you from other religions that want u to accept Christ as the only savior before u get the keys to heaven?

here's the verse in context:

[3:84] Say: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and what was given to Musa and Isa and to the prophets from their Lord; we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.

[3:85] And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers.

PakistaniAbroad: ALL prophets were sent to make humans "submit to Allah" .. from Ibrahim to Muhammad, everyone was preaching "Islam".

18

Well if you believe the Quran is the word of Allah :swt: then it could be argued he has already decided what he wants.

Not that Im condemning any individual to hell, its not my place to, but there certain beliefs that if a person holds, then Allah :swt: has declared their fate in the Quran.

19

Of course he can do anything he wants, theres no doubt about that.

But Faisal your question goes much deeper than that and questions some fundamentals of belief.

Do you think Allah :swt: will recant his promises made in the Quran?

Do you think he will forgive shirk?

20

^The Jews and Christians that can attain salvation will be the true followers of Moses :as: and Jesus :as:.

The Quran clearly warns the Jews and Christians.

“Surely, they have disbelieved who say: ‘Allaah is the Messiah ‘Eesa (Jesus)], son of Maryam (Mary).’ But the Messiah ‘Eesa (Jesus)] said: ‘O Children of Israel! Worship Allaah, my Lord and your Lord.’ Verily, whosoever sets up partners (in worship) with Allaah, then Allaah has forbidden Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the Zaalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers) there are no helpers” [al-Maa’idah 5:72]

“Surely, ** disbelievers** are those who said: ** ‘Allaah is the third of the three (in a Trinity).’ ** But there is no Ilaah (god) (none who has the right to be worshipped) but One Ilaah (God —Allaah). And if they cease not from what they say, verily, ** a painful torment will befall on the disbelievers among them**” [al-Maa’idah 5:73]

“** And the Jews say: ‘Uzair (Ezra) is the son of Allaah, and the Christians say: Messiah is the son of Allaah.** That is their saying with their mouths, resembling the saying of those who disbelieved aforetime.** Allaah’s Curse be on them** , how they are deluded away from the truth!” [al-Tawbah 9:30]

And the Quran clearly says that Islam is the only acceptable religion to Allah :swt:

** “And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers”** [Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]