Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Sam Shamoun "The Incomplete Quran Strikes Again: A Showdown with Nimrod?"



In the Quran, the idea of tiredness is completely excluded from God's creative work 46:33. God's establishment over the throne symbolises His constant dominion upon creation. He has not relinquished its rule in favor of others nor has He made the whole of His creation or any part of it independent like a clock running by itself. He has instead kept in His own hands the functioning of the whole universe. The ending of these verses with 
"surely His is the creation and the command"
refer precisely to this; after creation comes the command, symbolized by the establishment on the throne
32:5"He manages and regulates every affair from the heavens to the earth. Then, it will go up to him, in one Day, the space whereof is a thousand years of your reckoning".
In fact the Quran is silent about a seventh day in the history of creation, where the Bible depicts God as seemingly collapsing on a throne following a tiresome task. Rather, God creates in six days only and then establishes Himself upon the throne of power, commanding and controlling all things.
Had His management abandoned the world of existence for one single moment, the organization of them all would have perished 22:65,35:41. 

This is the point driven through by Ibrahim in his discussion with the unnamed ruler of his nation (later Quran commentaries identify him with Namrud/Nimrod). What transpires from the portion of the debate quoted in the Quran is that the point of contention was not God's existence, rather His presence in man's life. His point of contention with Ibrahim was that his Sustainer is not concerned with all worldly matters, is mostly absent from man's life. Ibrahim refuted that point by reminding him of God's constant command of the natural laws upon which all life depends. He did so after the king's heedlessness to the first argument; God is the origin of the mechanism of life and death which all organisms are subject to. The ruler used ridicule to maintain his position, in the manner that the arrogant possessors of power often do. Instead of considering the deeper meaning of Ibrahim's argument, he alluded to the giving of life and death in an indirect manner, he also had the power to inflict death and give or allow life. This exposed the spiritual heedlessness of the king. Ibrahim then dumbfounded him with an argument he could not, even with his spiritual shallowness and corrupt belief in God, dismiss as he had previously done. 

The Quran, through the image of God establishing Himself on the Throne which means in pretty much all languages the king's dominion, is saying that Allah Himself is governing the whole of His creation and He has kept all the powers and the reins of government in His own hands and whatever is taking place in each and every part of the universe is happening with His command and permission
30:25"And one of His signs is that the heaven and the earth subsist by His command".
It refutes the idea that Allah had become unconcerned with man after creating him and let him alone to seek other supporters for help. Rather He has taken the responsibility of making arrangements for his guidance, protection and fulfillment of his needs. This is done by providing means by which both aspects of the human being can thrive; the spiritual, through the innate perception of higher truths 23:78,46:26,67:23,76:2 as well as sending divine guidance 2:38-9,7:35-6,20:123 and the physical through the continuous maintenance of the universe and its laws 35:41. There is a reason why the Quran, in its surgical precision, describes Allah with His attribute of infinite mercy, when it mentions His establishment over the throne that encompasses all of creation 
20:5"The Beneficent One/al Rahman, Who is established on the Throne". 
No word enshrines the concept of constant care of every aspect of the functioning of the universe, more that the superlative Qayyum which reoccurs in the Quran, and no verse comprehensively explains it like ayat al kursi does 2:255.


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