Omnipresence of Allah
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According to the Qur'an, Allah is situated above the heavens, meaning that he is completely distinct from his creations
Translation Do ye feel secure that He Who is in heaven will not cause you to be swallowed up by the earth when it shakes (as in an earthquake)?
The phrase fil-samai ( ِ clearly indicates that Allah's location "is the heavens."
One could argue that Allah is still omnipresent in the sense that (according to the Qur'an) he is all knowing, but this would omniscience, not omnipresenceTranslation It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein. (Surat Qaf Ayah 16)
The above verse clearly specifies that it is referring to Allah's knowledge of all things and does not mean that Allah is physically so close to the individual. Regardless, even if we take the verse literally and assume Allah was so close, it does not state that he permeates through the individual. In this sense, he cannot be omnipresent. If this is the case, how can you consider Allah to be boundless/all-embracing? One of Allah's names in Islam is al-wasi (ع, yet he certainly shouldn't be considered as such.
I also know that the majority of you don't accept the ahadith, but there is one hadith in which Muhammad asks a slave girl the location of Allah (ayna Allah) and she replies stating that that Allah is above the sky (fee sama), to which Muhammad responds stating that she is a true believer. If Allah is to be taken as truly limitless and omnipresent, then why did Muhammad place such an emphasis on the "location" of Allah? I'm interested in your opinion in regards to this matter as well as any clarifications or corrections on any of my statements. -
Peace Jaskaran,
There's also 4126 For, unto God
belongs all that is in
the heavens and all
that is on earth; and,
indeed, God
encompasses
everything. (Asad)and there's 6512 which implies knowledge flows down from Allah while it is just mentioned that Allah's knowledge encompasses everything.
GOD is He who has
created seven
heavens, 18 and, like
them, of the earth.
Through all of them
flows down from on
high, unceasingly, His
will, 19 so
that you might come
to know that God has
the power to will
anything, and that
God encompasses all
things with His
knowledge.To my understanding so far, our perspective of physics distance and whatnot is taken into account in the Message delivered. So I am not surprised to see mentions of a throne or Allah in heaven. But then like the jugular verse and 4 126 and Allah being Ahad I can't help but to acknowledge Allah as the limitless being with no beginning or end. No center as that would be impossible as Allah has no lines to draw this in.
I understand as we exist in Allah's knowledge and awareness but we as humans have a tendency to look to the skies for answers. It's still mind bending for me to comprehend but at this point I think panentheism agrees with how Quran explains Allah and creation. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panentheism -
That is certainly quite an interesting perspective. I also espouse Panentheistic views, although I always thought that Islam did not support such views and would consider it to be shirk. If you adhere to a Panentheistic system of thought, then wouldn't that mean that you consider an individual's soul to be divine?
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I ve seen the argument made that if one believes there are any separate existence other than Allah that this is shirk. I understand it to be very difficult to grasp the complete oneness of Allah or at least to keep it in mind throughout daily activities. Maybe in traditional Islam sects panentheism is seen as shirk but for the most of what i gathered the Quran brought me an understanding of panentheism. Not that it validates the claim but islamic philosophers came to similar conclusions including ghazzali and ibn arabi (granted from what I read it was hard for me to follow at the time)
As for divinity of human souls, I don't know I see view points that each baby is born pure with the clean slate but I also see views of that prior to earthly existence their was a feud in heaven and we are now here to redeem ourselves (similar to Christian concept of original sin) I can't answer this at the moment. I just have gathered that creation as we know it is completely encompassed by Allah down to the vibrating elements that make up all so called physical matter. Peace -
In my view, God is indeed outside of all creation.
However, the Light of God is indeed present within the whole creation. It is hidden from us because of our lack of simplicity,innocence, and gentleness of heart.This avoids Panentheistic thoughts. Nothing is divine except the one God. Yet that does not stop Him truly embracing His own creation! If our logic cannot grasp our earthly life, how much less so the existence of God ...
Of course, God is one and indivisible according to our understanding. There are not two divinities, God and His Light. God and His Light are one. Then again, His Light is not like a light we see, a shining which leaves its sources and causes the source to be a little depleted. The sun shines, and loses some energy, and the light we see is not the actual sun, but its light. The Light of God 'shines' from God into our hearts but never leaves God, so to speak.
God's otherness and nearness are thereby defended!
Richard
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God is not omnipresent but his knowledge is
it means his knowledge is having a capability to exist every where at the same time but God lacks this ability is that you mean dear -
Peace,
I take it that the narrative means God is omnipresent as in able to control everything and aware of what happens everywhere at every moment. God is not a man but an invisible force in the Universe that you cannot see nor touch. Not even Moses could see God because one can simply not fathom Him as The Lord stands above creation and has no physical attributes, i.e unseen entity.
If this Spirit of God can appear at several locations at the same time is above my knowledge, but I would not be surprised if The Lord could. The Holy Spirit is only talked of in singular as far as I know but seems also to have the ability to share its power with those worthy such as Jesus, so it seems God leaves a portion of His might wherever He wills.
God can take direct control of things, the waters in front of Moses for example or flash flood that drowned Noah's contemporaries. And God controls unlimited entities at the same time as nothing is uncontrolled by Him.
God has devoted servants that also seem to stand above humans in terms of control that are called "malaik" in the Recitation and which are also invisibly moving on Earth unless they take human form as they seem to be able to and is the only expression to they take as not to spoil the test. Unless Arabic words are misunderstood they seem to be made of fire, which logically means they cannot live anywhere as they would require oxygen, but it could be that their spirit can be released from physical objects.
God bless you
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According to the Qur'an, Allah is situated above the heavens, meaning that he is completely distinct from his creations
Translation Do ye feel secure that He Who is in heaven will not cause you to be swallowed up by the earth when it shakes (as in an earthquake)?
The phrase fil-samai ( ِ clearly indicates that Allah's location "is the heavens."
One could argue that Allah is still omnipresent in the sense that (according to the Qur'an) he is all knowing, but this would omniscience, not omnipresenceTranslation It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein. (Surat Qaf Ayah 16)
The above verse clearly specifies that it is referring to Allah's knowledge of all things and does not mean that Allah is physically so close to the individual. Regardless, even if we take the verse literally and assume Allah was so close, it does not state that he permeates through the individual. In this sense, he cannot be omnipresent. If this is the case, how can you consider Allah to be boundless/all-embracing? One of Allah's names in Islam is al-wasi (ع, yet he certainly shouldn't be considered as such.
I also know that the majority of you don't accept the ahadith, but there is one hadith in which Muhammad asks a slave girl the location of Allah (ayna Allah) and she replies stating that that Allah is above the sky (fee sama), to which Muhammad responds stating that she is a true believer. If Allah is to be taken as truly limitless and omnipresent, then why did Muhammad place such an emphasis on the "location" of Allah? I'm interested in your opinion in regards to this matter as well as any clarifications or corrections on any of my statements.Peace
This word does not mean heavens only. It also means high/above. There are alternate translations e.g.
http//www.islamawakened.com/quran/67/16/default.htm
Ali Unal
"And yet, are you secure that He Who is above everything will not cause the earth to swallow you up then, when it is in a state of commotion?"
Shabbir Ahmed
"Can you ever feel secure that the High Sovereign will not cause the earth to swallow you up when it begins to quake? (Life of the world is too brief and unpredictable to postpone the good until tomorrow (6721), (6730), (8025))."Allah is not a material thing that can be placed at some location. Hope this helps.
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Indeed the Sustainer Lord of you people is Allah the Exalted Who had innovatively created the Skies and the Earth in a time duration of six days ;
Thereafter, He the Exalted ascended to the Supreme Sovereign Seat-Throne
He the Exalted causes the night to wrap-veil the Day; the Night seeks the day, seemingly incessantly incited.
And He the Exalted created the Sun, the Moon and the Stars as objects subjected to set discipline by His Command.
Unquestionably, the Primal Creation and the Command-Ordaining-organizing is the domain exclusive for Him the Exalted.
Allah the Exalted, the Sustainer Lord of the universes-all that exists is the Omnipresent, the Perpetual, the Absolute.