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How Is God Merciful ?
When we say Allah is merciful, what do we mean ? Mercy is a human attribute too. How do we prove Allah is merciful, and on what reasons we establish it ?
What are the examples of mercy of Allah ? Was Allah always merciful or became merciful only after creation of universe ? How did Allah display mercy before creating the life on earth ?
Please define this attribute of Allah properly.
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41 Replies
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How Is God Merciful ?
updated 3 years, 8 months ago
3 Members
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41
Replies
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Thanks Kamil, I will read it.
As a side note, Hamza has I think taken back his scientific miracles in Qur’an argument which he used to present earlier.
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I tried reading Hamza’s chapter 11 and found so many absurdities in it that I had to stop it midway. I request others to provide reasonable and better answers as I don’t want to spend further time on that book, specially :
“Even natural disasters and fatal illnesses are seen through the eyes
of hope, mercy and forgiveness. The Islamic perspective on illness is
that it is a form of purification, which facilitates eternal bliss in
paradise for the sick.”
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Or this one:
For example, the Prophet
Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم said that if a believer dies of the plague or a stomach
illness, they are considered a martyr, and all martyrs go to
paradise”
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I don’t about which scientific miracles you are talking about even after that I’ve nothing to do with that I’ve presented only his part of book.
I don’t think it’s absurdities what ever he saying is about islamic perspective you can read it futher to understand what he is trying to say.
Have a good day
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Thanks.. I don’t find his explanation good.. if others find it good, they can accept it.
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My basic question is the following:
Is Allah merciful with or without the creation of universe ? If universe wasn’t there, to whom Allah was merciful ?
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Is a gun deadly even when it hasn’t killed someone?
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If there is no one present to fire at , the gun isn’t deadly.
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No- the gun is still deadly 1 it has the capability to kill
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Capability to kill whom ?
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Capability to kill.
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kill whom ?
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The first people who made a gun did not need to kill someone to know it was deadly.
God is the creator because he had the ability to create eternally- same with mercy. An item does not become an attribute that is intrinsic to it alresdy
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If there was no one to kill, if the world is empty of any life, then the concept of deadly is invalid. It is only valid when there is someone to kill.
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The people who made the gun knew that it has the power to kill someone.. because they knew the characteristic of that someone. Can the gun kill a rock ? No.. it can only kill a living being.
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Another question would arise. Is the a Quran eternal. See- the attribute of Allah’s speech is eternal with him- a part of him. When the utterance appears it is a showing of that attribute.
The same way the ability of mercy is eternal. It’s emergence is not related to the actual ability in the sense that the emergence allows/creates/causes the ability/attribute
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I want to see an example of a mercy which doesn’t involve the creation of humans/animals/plants . Allah was merciful before it, but for whom ? How is mercy defined without the receiving party ?
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The speech doesn’t require another party. Mercy does require another party.
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The same way a gun is deadly- the concept doesn’t exist but the potential is still there
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Let me clarify ..
is gun deadly by itself, or is it in context of the receiving party ? If the receiving party is a human it is deadly. If the receiving party is a rock, it is not deadly.
The attribute “deadly” doesn’t make sense unless the existence of the receiving party and its characteristics are known.
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Usain Bolt is a runner .. it is an independent characteristic.. but Usain Bolt is the fastest runner .. it requires other people, who run slower than him .
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The dictionary definition of mercy :
“compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm.”
Can mercy make sense if there doesn’t exist that someone ?
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The fact that God always planned to create man means he was always merciful
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OK.. so if he didn’t create humans, he wouldn’t be merciful ? So, is Allah’s attribute dependent on his plan to create humans ? Without humans he can’t be merciful.
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Merciful means to be showing or exercising mercy .. mercy can’t be exercised or shown without the other party.
An entity can only be merciful if he has someone to show mercy to.
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‘Mercy cannot be exercised or shown without the other party’ but the ability still exists
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Mercy by definition requires another party.. if that party doesn’t exist, mercy doesn’t make any sense.
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Let me try and show it by another example..
Can I be a good father without any children ? Is being a good father characteristic dependent on presence of children ? If children don’t exist, can I be a good father ? Would you call me a good father if I don’t have any children ?
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The ability to be a good father existed within you before having children
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But you can’t call me a good father unless I am a good father, right ? I can be a “potential” good father.. but not a good father.. I will be a “future good father”.
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I have ability to be world champion .. but I am not a world champion unless I win the world cup. Being a world champion, depends on the existence of an event called world cup, and me winning it. Till then, I am a potential world champion… not a real world champion.
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You can compare human examples like this to God. > The mere fact that God always planned to or determined to create mankind, means that he was always merciful.
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Can’t
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There is nothing like “planned to be merciful”.. also, what you said clearly indicates that being merciful is dependent on his creation. If he didn’t create anyone, he wouldn’t be merciful. .
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Please do not think about it from a human perspective. The ability of mercy was always there. The same way the ability to speak the Quran was always there.
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Again, why do we not think it from a human perspective ? When we only know one perspective.. mercy is a purely human attribute.. which we attribute to the God. Now, when we attribute a human attribute to God, why can’t we define it in our way ?
Unless you mean a different definition of mercy, I think Allah depends on his creation for this attribute.
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We do not think of it from a human perspective because God is not human. The idea of mercy itself is one only known to us in a primitive sense. The characteristic of it eternally existing in ability form with God is also known. For a human being to become merciful or a father or a champion he must execute the relevant actions to do so. God does not require this upbringing/grooming/characterisation
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As I already stated, unless there exists someone to show mercy to, one can’t be merciful. Ability to be merciful later is a vague concept.
That’s why I say that writers of Qur’an (who were humans) didn’t think through these concepts properly.
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That is for humans- their characteristics are developed by actions. God is not like this
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Again, it is a cop-out.. something which we can explain about God.. we explain it.. otherwise we say God is different.
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