@KT,
Ayaya!
I didn't mean to get into a philosophical discourse, haha.
I just like the Qur'an.
But since we're here, in your second link, you wrote:
The Qu’ran: also talks about time, in chapter 32 verse 5 it states that affairs reach/arrive to Allah in one day, to what humans would count as one thousand years. Allah cannot be transcendent if something has to arrive/reach to him (since that requires time) so Allah must exist inside of space-time this is the only way this verse can be explained. Furthermore, this leads to another problem since Allah is claimed to be infinite, how does something infinite exist inside of something finite, which was created by that infinite being? it is impossible.
Whereas Mufti Taqi says in
Ma'ariful Qur'an (a very handy manual I find
):
"A simple explanation of this is what appears in Bayan-ul-Qur'an, since this day will be horrendous, people will find it very long. Then, the length will be felt in terms of one's measure of faith and deeds [...] Tafsir Ruh-al-Maani reports several other explanations from the Ulama and Salafiya. But, all these are nothing but conjectures [...] therefore, the most sound approach in this matter is the same as was taken by the early elders of Islam [...] they had left the knowledge of this difference of 150 to Allah without explaining it on the basis of human whims..." (Vol. 7, page 68)
i.e. I'm pretty sure it would be referring to the Day of Judgment, and perhaps the matter 'ascending' to Him is more in terms of He'll judge then or something. Like an idiom as opposed to literal.
(Edit: That's a bad choice of words since everything in the Qur'an is supposed to be literal from a Muslim's POV, I mean more like...it's meant to show a point through an idiom as opposed to being, like... :/ I dunno, "literal". I can't explain it any better, I hope you know what I mean.) Soooo...yeah. Perhaps jumping the gun there a bit KT.
Allah would have had to exist for eternity, and since Allah is perfect - and by definition does not require addition therefore he must be a completed infinite, yet a completed infinity cannot exist. In mathematics and philosophy we find two concepts of infinity: potential infinity, which is the infinity of a process which never stops, and actual infinity which is supposed to be static and completed, so that it can be thought of as an object. Potential infinity can exist however actual (or completed) infinities do not exist. Moreover according to Aristotle, a completed infinity cannot exist even as an idea in the mind of a human.
No idea what that means, sorry. :/
It makes no sense at all, Allah swears on stars in an attempt to give himself validity why would Allah need to do this, why can’t Allah swear on himself? Why on something as trivial as a shooting star? i.e. a meteorite? All the things he supposedly created, why would he even need to take an oath in the first place?
Stars are an amazing phenomena, as GRB will hasten to tell you
Stars are also a well-known and observable phenomena, they're pretty, people like 'em, they're thought-provoking, and they're nice. Why not swear on them? :S
According to some scholars, He (or he) swears by stuff that's remarkable, e.g. night and day, the fig tree, etc. According to others He/he swore by them to exalt their status or something, or the divine wisdom that is in their existence. Presumably stars are important. And there are other views, seen
here (if you want to read all of that--I got bored halfway through and just skimmed, but it's quite interesting). Prof. Mir is really nice, I like what I've read of his stuff
I've also heard that swearing by stuff was, in Arabic poetry or something, supposed to indicate the greatness of the following passage, e.g. if I said to you: "I swear by this insignificant penny, KT, that I'm not lying!" as opposed to "I swear by all the treasures of the cave of Ali Baba that I'm not lying", obviously the latter makes more of an impression than the former.
And another explanation that has been given is that it's implied when He/he swears by creation, that He/he's swearing by the Lord of the creation, e.g. "By the sun!" is implying "By the Lord of the sun!"
Yet another explanation (there are a lot
) is that He/he takes oaths by great and magnificent things as a way of saying, "Lookit, these things are so marvellous and they're creation, imagine how completely awesome their Creator must be!"
And there are wayyy more, it's not like Islamic scholars haven't discussed this stuff in depth before...
And also, the Qur'an does have oaths upon God, e.g:
"But no, by your Lord, they will not [truly] believe until they make you, [O Muhammad], judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves and then find within themselves no discomfort from what you have judged and submit in [full, willing] submission." (Q. 4:65)
or:
"So by your Lord, We will surely question them all about what they used to do. (Q. 15:92-93)"
or there's one verse (that I'm too lazy to google), something like: "By the sky and He who fashioned it", i.e. He/he swears by both.
And I just looked at the verse I think you were referring to (Surah al-Waqiah, 75-77) and it says that it's a most "great" oath "if you but knew", so obviously the greatness of the stars has some relevance...
Okay I'm done talking about that now
4.) Allah does not mention North and South
Ummm....the Qur'an says Lord of the two Easts and the two Wests, not sure if that holds any significance in relation to your point. Not sure why it matters tbh. :/ You could look that up (the 2 E/W) thing in Maariful Qur'an if you're very curious.
It's a nice collection. I wish I owned it. :(
1.) Is Allah transcendent or temporal?
And I'm pretty sure the mutakallim argued for ages over this, pretty sure He's supposed to be atemporal and transcendent. Am too lazy to look up their exact words.
But it was an interesting read, thanks KT!
I hadn't known that Hume had said that. I should read Hume one of these days....or not
Oh and oops:
Predestination, Omniscience and Free Will
I thought this was pretty clear cut until I read exegesis on qadr, and the ahadith too just make matters more confusing :/
But I don't think this is a problem:
There are a number of problems with predestination in theology, Allah already knows everything since he is omniscient, then why did he for example test Abraham's faith? by asking Abraham to sacrifice his son according to Qur'an 37:102? It makes testing Abraham's faith completely nonsensical.
Perhaps as a means to grow as a person, or so that Abraham could 'perfect' his faith. Presumably the answer is in the purpose of anybody's life, i.e. why would God 'test' any of us if He knows what we're gonna do. Perhaps to make it evident, perhaps because His knowledge is outside of our will to do so...
In the above context, it would be impossible for Allah to be both merciful and just at the same time. If Allah is merciful towards Akmal then Akmal is not punished for his crime of stealing, if Allah is just then Akmal will be punished and most likely his family will starve to death. The above situation creates a paradox as mercy and justice as two distinct concepts, so when Allah applies both of these attributes to himself this leads to a logical contradiction.
Hehe love how you gave them Pakistani names!
Anyway, I'm pretty sure that the concept of mercy/justice in Islam would be that sins are against God, so if God decides to be merciful then He is also being just since He kinda embodies justice and it's a sin against His orders, so He can be forgiving while not being unjust. i.e. mercy isn't the opposite of justice....
Allah gives himself the attribute of infinite by claiming he is "Al-'Azim" in the Qu'ran
It says that al-Azim means "The Tremendous, the Magnificent". :/ Not sure how that makes Him "infinite" in a mathematical sense. Plus, it says "Ever living". I guess this is where knowing Arabic would be helpful
Sorry if any of the above doesn't make sense. I got kinda tired by the end of it, haha.
Topic: What book are you reading?