Question Why is God not visible? Why does God not make an appearance before man? Answer The life of this world is a test for man. The Qur’an says that God created the heavens and the earth for the purpose of testing man. Hu’d 11:7 says: وَهُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَكَانَ […]
Archives for March 2001
The Prohibition of Inheriting Women & the Position of Slaves – Al-Nisaa 4:19
Question Surah Al-Nisaa 4:19 states “O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will.” As you pointed out, during the Prophet’s time, slavery was permitted under certain guidelines and could not be abolished because of its firm entrenchment in the society at that time. As such, “those whom your right hands […]
Regarding the Physical Attributes of God…
Question Where is God? What does God look like? Does God have a home? What is God’s gender? Is God a male or a female? Answer A close consideration of these questions shall show that all of them, in fact, relate to the physical attributes of God. As I have already clarified in one of […]
The Importance of ‘Tawheed’ – Oneness of God
Question Why does Islam stress so much on the belief in one God only? Answer The Islamic stress on the belief in one God only is because of the simple fact that there is absolutely no reason to believe in more gods than one. Belief in one God is a matter of necessity, as there […]
Are All Sins of Equal Weight?
Question A sister recently asked about what Islam’s position was on sin. In Christianity all sin is equal. What are the weights of sin in Islam? I know that shirk stands above everything else… Could you elaborate? Answer Not only according to the Qur’an, but also according to the Bible, it is quite obvious that […]
A Clarification on the Reliability of Hadith
Question In your section on “Sources of Islam” you stated that your position on hadith is that even the sahih canonical collections can contain flaws and errors because the compilation, no matter how scrupulous, was done by imperfect human beings. What is your opinion on the entirely separate body of Hadith, which the Shiites follow? […]
The Islamic Introduction to God
Question Does Islam only require from us to believe in ‘a’ god? Does it introduce us to the ‘nature’ of God? Answer Islam does not merely want us to believe in a deity. On the contrary, Islam gives us a detailed introduction to the God that it wants us to believe in. It would be […]
If a Person Kills Another for Blasphemy
Question What would be the punishment of a person, who has killed a person accused of insulting the Holy Prophet (saw)? Answer Even if it is accepted that the punishment for blasphemy is death, it remains obvious that the punishment is to be implemented by the state authorities. No individual has the right to implement any […]
Why Must I Believe in God?
َQuestion Even if God exists, why is it necessary to believe in Him? After all, we do not have to ‘believe in’ everything that exists. There may be a stone lying under a tree in the jungles of Africa, but we do not have to believe in it. Do we? What exactly is the meaning […]
Why Was There a Difference Between the Punishment of Adam (pbuh) & Iblees – Al-Baqarah 2: 34 – 37
Question I looked at your explanatory notes to Surah Al-Baqarah and in particular with regard to the angels and Iblees’ prostration to Adam. The analogy to the situation between the Prophet and the Israelites in his community makes sense. However, one thing remains unanswered in my query. When Iblees disobeys God, God immediately banishes him […]