Nothing is like the Creator:
Introducing Himself, the Creator says:
(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things). (Qur’an: Al-Shura:11).
Scholar Ibn al-Qayyim says:
The Quranic verse “There is nothing like Him” refers to the multitude of the Creator’s attributs.
The Creator also says:
No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware. (Al-An’am: 103)
The Quranic verse “No vision can encompass Him” is from the strongest evidence that the Creator sees while He cannot be seen.
And He says:
He is the One Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then established Himself on the Throne. He knows whatever goes into the earth and whatever comes out of it, and whatever descends from the sky and whatever ascends into it. And He is with you wherever you are. For Allah is All-Seeing of what you do.
The Quranic verse “And He is with you wherever you are” is one of the strongest pieces of evidence for the difference between the Creator from His creation. He did not create them in Himself, but rather He created them outside of Himself, then He differentiated them by Him being on His Throne.
He knows what they are upon. He sees them and surrounds them with knowledge, ability, will, hearing, and sight. This is the meaning of God being with them wherever they are.
When we contemplate this comparison in wording and meaning, and by reading the verse “The eyes do not perceive Him, and He perceives the eyes“, we find that He, Glory be to Him, is exalted by His greatness that eyes can not comprehend and surround Him. and because of His kindness, He is perceiving the eyes.
So, nothing is hidden from Him. He is great in His kindness, gentle in His greatness, lofty in His closeness, near in His lofty. Nothing is like Him, and He is all-hearing and all-seeing.
Higher value:
Today, voices are calling for the validity of all man-made religions, and adopting all human perceptions about the Creator of the universe.
Humans are competing today to prove that the Creator of all beings is not above His creation or to prove His incarnation in His creation.
Whoever wants to imagine that the Creator is a tree, then his perception is correct, and whoever wants to imagine the Creator is an insect, then he is correct. But the Creator is far above these human perceptions.
Scholar Sheikh Al-Islam says:
“Logic and reason indicate that God Almighty is above the world”.
Due to my interest in focusing on the concept of the absolute truth in my dialogues, which is the perception that corresponds to reality, a colleague of mine, who was a Hindu and then became Muslim, surprised me with information that I was ignorant of.
He said:
The concept of absolute truth for every Hindu, Buddhist and other pagan religion is the Creator of the universe Himself.
I was struck by this information, which is supported by the current reality of the followers of these religions or philosophies, who, as soon as they feel great fear, raise their hands unintentionally, resorting to the Power in Heaven to help them.
The Creator says:
He is the One Who enables you to travel through land and sea. And it so happens that you are on ships, sailing with a favourable wind, to the passengers’ delight. Suddenly, the ships are overcome by a gale wind and those on board are overwhelmed by waves from every side, and they assume they are doomed. They cry out to Allah ˹alone˺ in sincere devotion, “If You save us from this, we will certainly be grateful.” (Yunus:22)
The existence of a Supreme Value that carries qualities higher than human, which is the source of human existence, and will hold human beings accountable for their actions, is an inescapable fact even if all human beings deny it.
Dr. Abdelwahab Elmessiri says:
“The essence of faith is the extent to which one is prepared to be held accountable by a higher extrinsic value”.
Since our early childhood, we have been concerned with having a supreme leadership everywhere.
- The father leads the house.
- The principal leads the school.
- The captain leads the ship or the plane.
- The manager leads the work.
- In the shopping malls, we look for the official.
- On public roads, there is an organized leadership to which everyone turns when needed.
- There is no stage show or movie without a hero around whom the story revolves.
- There is no story or poetry without an axis around which the story revolves.
- We hear about the idol of the masses in international competitions in the fields of singing, cooking, and dancing, which are spread in television programs.
From this point of view, which supports the human need for a source higher than everyone else, Pharaoh also raised his voice while he was unjust to himself, saying: I am your supreme Lord.
With all that, we still hear voices calling for the denial or distortion of the fact that there is a Supreme Power above the universe, to which everyone turns.
Indeed, if we do not worship the true God (the Creator) we will end up worshiping others.
Worshiping the Creator, the true God, frees us from servitude to others, including our worship to desires.
Have you seen ˹O Prophet˺ those who have taken their own desires as their god? ˹And so˺ God left them to stray knowingly, sealed their hearing and hearts, and placed a cover on their sight. Who then can guide them after God? Will you ˹all˺ not then be mindful? (Jathiya:23)
Dr. Abdelwahab Elmessiri says:
“The Creator is the basic foundation of everything, the basic foundation of communication between people, to ensure that the truth is true, if God is forgotten, the foundation of the entire universe collapses”.
The absolute truth:
A Hindu myth (the blind and the elephant) which I had discussed with a colleague and the corresponding Buddhist myth (the blind and the statue), always inferred the validity of all religions and philosophies about the truth of their existence and the perceptions.
The human’s explicit aim is to avoid with all their might surrendering to the Creator and acknowledging His true attributes that He explained to them through revelation. They want to resist surrendering to the source of their existence and its superiority over them.
But does this myth really support the validity of all religions, or is it evidence of their invalidity?
let’s see.
It is said that six blind people heard that a large elephant would be brought to their town on the occasion of the annual celebration.
So the six went to the governor of the town and asked him to allow them to touch the elephant for the first time in their lives!!
They always hear about the elephant and how big it is, but they have never imagined what it looks like. The ruler did not mind at all, but he stipulated in return that each one of them describes the elephant in one sentence!!
On the celebration day, when town’s people were present, the six men surrounded the elephant and each of them began to touch it from where he was standing.
After they finished examining the elephant, each one described the elephant before the ruler and in the presence of a large crowd of the common people. The description came as follows:
- The first said: The elephant is just like a rope.
- The second said: It is just like a wall.
- The third said: It is a big dagger!
- The fourth said: It just a non-poisonous fat snake!!
- The fifth said: It is a hand fan made of leather!!
- The sixth said: It is a tree trunk!!
It is clear from these various answers that:
- The first said that the elephant was like a rope because he only touched the tail.
- The second said that the elephant is like a wall because he only touched the body.
- The third said that the elephant is like a dagger because he touched the tusk.
- The fourth said that the elephant is like a snake because he touched the hose.
- The fifth said that the elephant is like a fan because he touched one of the ears.
- The last one said that the elephant is like a tree trunk because he touched the foot.
From what I read and liked as a comment on this story by Dr. Haitham Talaat (1):
The six blinds used:
- Mind.
- Practical experience.
- Sense.
- Philosophy.
- Reason
The experience was deficient in the shortcomings of all these concepts.
We, the narrators of this story, realize that these blind people are wrong simply because we see the scene from the outside with a comprehensive view.
The difference between a correct comprehensive view and blind judgment is the same as the difference between reason, sense, philosophy, practical experience, and divine revelation.
Reason, sense, experience, process, and philosophy provide knowledge that may be useful, but is limited by the boundary of our abilities and capabilities.
While divine revelation judges the scene from outside it. It gives universal and comprehensive rulings.
The revelation tells us:
- The characteristics of the true source of existence.
- The purpose of our existence.
- The meaning of our existence.
- Beyond our existence.
While reason, sense, practical experience and philosophy will not give a single answer about the purpose of existence, nor the source of existence or value.
And if they tried to answer, the answer would have been like the answer of the blinds, far from reality.
Reason, practical experience, sense and philosophy can provide worldly answers to deficient worldly needs such as:
- The best food.
- The best drink.
- The best way to travel.
- The best solution to a mathematical equation.
- The best scientific guess for a quantum phenomenon.
But these answers remain the answers to the narrow material worldly space that surrounds us.
Even if reason, sense, experience, and philosophy provide answers about the purpose of existence, they will not be able to provide a correct definition of morality and pleasure, aesthetic values, or right and wrong.
There is no mathematical equation that symbolizes the meanings of betrayal or honesty.
Moral principles derive from instinct, consistent with a religious mandate, not from brain activity.
The valide revelation:
I have summarized in my dialogues and lectures the criteria for the validity of the correct divine revelation from the distorted by these points.
- The valid revelation does not ascribe to the Creator human or animal qualities.
- The valid revelation does not describe the Creator’s prophets as criminals, bandits and spoilers.
- The valid revelation is the constant that has not changed over the ages and there are no other copies of it.
- The valid revelation does not contradict human instinct.
- The valid revelation is consistent with modern science.
For example:
Only a hundred years ago, empirical science was far from the scientific facts in the Holy Qur’an, a great dimension.
While we find today that empirical science and the facts of the Noble Qur’an are getting closer and closer, even though the Qur’an is fixed and empirical science is constantly changing.
God Almighty says about Himself:
He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;And there is none like unto Him.
This Creator is the Creator of Buddha, Ram and Krishna, the Creator of the prophets Muhammad and Jesus Christ, may peace be upon them.
The correct religion is:
- Worship the Creator in His true attributes directly without a priest, saint, or prophet, including the Prophet of God, Muhammad, or any of his family’s members, or any other intermediary.
- Belief in His prophets and messengers from Adam to Muhammad, including Moses, and the Messiah whom the Creator created without a father just as Adam was created without a father or a mother.
- Belief in the Day of Judgment.
Stubbornness and arrogance:
The scholar Ibn Taymiyyah says:
The ignorance of man and his failure to accept the name of God, the Most High, and the exaltation of God’s authority over him is due to seven things:
- Fancy, i.e. following desires.
- Doubt.
- Conjecture.
- Habits.
- Corrupt purpose and corrupt intent.
- Blind followers.
- Inherited belief.
Among humans are those who deny the transcendence of the Creator and say:
There is nothing above the world at all, and there is nothing on the throne.
Some of them say:
The Creator is neither inside the world nor outside it. But whenever they want to worship the Creator, they say: He is everywhere til they declare His incarnation in every being – from beasts, humans, and others – and finally, they speak about His union with everything.
The scholar Ibn Taymiyyah explains the reason for this contradiction, saying:
The reason for that is that supplication and worship, intent, will, and orientation require an existent, unlike looking, searching, and speaking.
He also says:
Science, speech, research, and measurement, are related to existence. If the heart is not in worship, direction, and supplication, it is easy to ignore the attributes of the Creator and to have different perceptions about these attributes, or to deny the Creator’s existence at all. Unlike if the human is in a state of supplication and worship, he seeks an existing being Who possesses higher qualities than his own.
In any way, all these perceptions remain as the perceptions of the blind in the previous example.
The Creator, the Exalted, is the Most High, Who is above His creatures.
The scholar Sheikh of Islam mentioned the evidence of the Creator’s exaltation:
- This is something that is established in the instinct of the children of Adam, and it is known to them by necessity.
- Their recourse to their Lord when needs are only fulfilled by him, and that is in supplicating through worship and begging – towards the direction of elevation. Just as they are compelled to supplicate and question Him, they are compelled to direct their hearts to Himself, and not to any other direction.
- The inevitability of the Creator’s transcendence is agreed upon among sane people of sound instinct, and each of them informs about his nature without agreement with each other. But they may agree to deliberately lie, usually.
- If it is proven that the world is a sphere, then the Creator must be different from His creation, and the absolute transcendence is above the sphere, so the Creator must be above the creation.