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The Universe Exist In The Being Of God, As The Being Of God Or Apart From It
Apart from the three possibilities mentioned above, l don’t see any other logical alternative. There is a fourth option which says the universe doesn’t exist at all but it contradicts itself when it seeks to establish the universe as the manifestation of the attributes of God ( It asserts and denies the manifestation )
The main problem with saying the universe exists outside the being of God is you limit the being of God by positing the existence of something not found in it. You also place the universe on the same ontological plane as God, ie you give the universe an attribute of God (existence/being)
The problem with saying the universe exists as the being of God is you deny the transcendence of God by limiting his being with the universe. You make him dependent on the universe, whereas he is far above the need of a universe. Another problem with this explanation is the knowledge of God becomes equivalent to the knowledge of the universe. This explanation validates shirk, since its it’s a form of clear pantheism. We have to look for another explanation.
The universe existing in the being of God (panentheism) is the most sensible explanation we can use to reconcile the transcendence of God with the immanence of God. The universe exists in the being of God but its essence separates it from God ( Mulla Sadra ). We need to distinguish being and essence from each other. This way the universe is a manifestation of God’s attributes but God is not limited to it. God’s knowledge contains infinite possibilities and he also happens to manifest himself to himself in totality, ie he doesn’t need the manifestation of the universe.
I know Javed Ghamidi Sahab ( who is philosophically trained ) disapproves of metaphysical speculation and he would also the reject the conclusion l have reached ( the one which appears to be the most sensible )
How do we we address the question l raised ? Are we supposed to hide the logical contradictions and believe in God irrationally, without reconciling the relation of God with the universe in a manner that’s consistent with REASONING and ISLAM ? If so , the Christians and Hindus should also be allowed to hold irrational beliefs but the Quran admonishes them to think and reason. I am looking forward to a response and a fruitful discussion.
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4 Replies
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The Universe Exist In The Being Of God, As The Being Of God Or Apart From It
updated 3 months ago
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Man has no means to know and determine the nature of God and whether the universe emanates from Him or not. God in the Quran told us that the universe is His creation and is a separate entity. The rest is speculation (Zann) and Zann works not against the reality told by God.
To believe this information, we need to believe in Quran first and this has its own arguments.
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Whilst l like speculative sufism and its impact on art, especially poetry. l have come to doubt Platonism and the validity of metaphysics as a field of philosophy but there’s great danger lurking ( or a great solution ) in the corner. I will take your approach to its utmost limit to get an interesting result.
Does religious language describe the world of experience , ie the reality we perceive ? Our minds and language work in such a way that it’s meaningful to fix truth values to scientific or mathematical statements only. For every other language game (discourse) , using the terminology of Wittgenstein, we can’t assign truth value to statements. This however doesn’t make the non logical-mathematical-scientific statements meaningless. For eg, “Mount Everest is beautiful” isn’t true or false, it’s a value judgment. In a similar manner, religious statements of every category are not true or false, whether it’s related to God, the afterlife or miracles. This doesn’t mean it’s not possible to actually believe in religious statements but our belief is not expressed cognitively ( as descriptive statements), it’s expressed as feelings, value judgments etc. The best example l can give is a person exclaiming ” God ! ” when he is close to drowning, here “God” doesn’t refer to some entity, it’s an EMOTIVE expression of the most desperate call for help. If we take this understanding of religious language ( non-cognitivism ) then the attributes of God replace the being of God in human language and it doesn’t even stop there. The attributes of God don’t inform us of God but of our relation to God, for eg The Most Merciful only acquires meaning when we see ourselves as sinners. Every attribute of God should be seen in a down to top manner, taking its meaning from human language and not even reaching the reality of God.
Do you agree with this hermeneutical approach to religious text, esp the Quran and its theological implications ?
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Great Answer Mr Irfan sb, anyone who will try to find the nature of God will go astray, since God swt has clearly said you can never know his nature, “there is none like unto Him” .
Anyone who will go after mutasabihaat will corrupt his beliefs.
our relationship with God should be only about Creator and His creation, which God directly talked and told us in the Quran. Anything else is your own opinion and it has nothing to do with Islam Mr Imran.
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We know we don’t know the reality of God and scope of His attributes. What we can know is that between God and us there is a common ground of nature, His nature on which he created our nature so that we can understand the idea of His attributes and the principles according to which His attributes work. Beyond this, the reality is incomprehensible to us.
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