We are on Earth because of the sins we committed in our past lives...
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As Almighty God says in the Holy Quran, it is a complete and fully detailed book. Therefore, the details of why we are here must be found in the Quran as well. I have compiled the following information regarding this subject. I have not written everything below. Some of it which reflects my views is copied from others.
We have existed in another life form before we were brought to this Earth as humans. But we do not remember our previous existence right now but we will remember everything on the day of Judgement.
"From transforming your forms, and establishing you in what you
do not know. You have come to know about the first creation. If only you would
remember. " 5661-62"Most exalted is the One in whose hands is all sovereignty, and He
is capable of all things. The One who has created death and life, that He may test you,
which of you will do better works? He is the Noble, the Forgiving." 671-2No words in the Quran are placed in a coincidental manner and God is the Most precise in expressing and delivering truth. We cannot overlook the order in of the words used in the above verse "The One who created death and life.....". The placing of the word "death" before the word "life" indicates that we were put to death before we were brought to this life on Earth. Hence we must have been alive in another form before we came to this world as mankind.
Sometime, during our previous existence, at least a few billion years ago by how we count time, a feud arose in the Heavenly Society
"Say, "It is awesome news from which you turn away. I had no knowledge of the Highest Assembly as they quarreled."
One of the high-ranking creatures, Satan also known as Iblis or Lucifer, entertained supercilious thoughts that his God-given powers qualified him to be a god besides God. He thus challenged God's absolute authority. This challenge to God's absolute authority was not only blasphemous, it was also erroneous. Satan was ignorant of the fact that God alone possesses the ability to be a god, and that there is much more to godhood than he realized. It was the ego - arrogance augmented by ignorance. After Satan's blasphemy, a division occurred in the Heavenly Society. There were those who agreed with Satan (that he is capable of being a god). There were also those who were not sure, and then there were those who were under no doubt that God alone has the qualifications to be a god.
The dispute in the Heavenly Community as stated in 3869 proves that God's creatures possess the freedom of choice; they have minds of their own. The rebellion of a minuscule minority among God's creatures has served to emphasize the wonderful fact that God's creatures serve Him because they appreciate His infinite magnificence. Without the rebellion, we would have never known that freedom is God's gift to His creatures.
As a result, God gathered all those who sided with Satan and those who were had doubts and offered them a chance to repent and submit to His absolute authority
"We have offered the trust to the heavens and the earth, and the
mountains, but they refused to bear it, and were fearful of it. But
man accepted it; he was transgressing, ignorant." 3372While the vast majority of the guilty creatures took advantage of this opportunity to repent and return to upholding God's absolute authority, a minuscule minority failed to take advantage of this offer and arrogantly preferred to take the responsibility to find out for themselves if Satan could indeed be a god as he claimed. According to 3372, we (humans) are among them!
As a result, all God's creatures were classified into four categories
The Angels
Creatures who never questioned God's absolute authority were classified as angels; they knew that God alone possesses the ability and qualifications to be a god. (7431).The Animals
Although the angels suggested that the rebels and their leader should be exiled from God's kingdom (230), the Most Merciful willed to give the rebels a chance to denounce their crime, repent, and submit to His absolute authority (3372). They agreed to kill their egos, come to this world to perform a submissive role, as an expiation for their blasphemy. In return for their submissive role in this world, these creatures are redeemed back to God's eternal kingdom
And there is no creature on the earth or bird that flies with its wings except communities like you. We have not neglected in the Register a thing. Then unto their Lord they will be gathered. 638. The horse, the dog, the tree, the sun, the moon, the stars, as well as deformed and retarded children are among the intelligent creatures who denounced their crime and repented.Do you not realize that to God prostrates everyone in the heavens and the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the animals, and many people? Many others among the people are committed to doom...
The stars and the trees prostrate.The Humans
The hard-core rebels - humans and jinns - refused to denounce their crime, and opted for witnessing a demonstration of Satan's claim. These egotistic creatures who failed to submit to God's absolute authority, even when offered a chance to do so, were divided in half. The half that were less convinced of Satan's point of view became classified as humans. Although they harbored doubts about Satan's claim, they failed to make a firm stand regarding God's absolute authority. It is the ego that prevented these creatures from appreciating God's omnipotence, it is the ego that prevented them from submitting when such an opportunity was offered to them (3372), and it is the ego that stands between most of us and redemption to God's kingdom (2543). This is why "Kill your ego" is one of the first commandments in the Quran (254).The Jinns
The other half of the guilty creatures, those who leaned closer to Satan's point of view and exhibited the biggest egos, became classified as jinns. It was God's plan to assign one jinn to every human being from birth to death. The jinn companion represents Satan and constantly promotes his point of view (5023, 5027). Both the jinns and the humans are given a precious chance in this world to re-educate themselves, denounce their egoism, and redeem themselves by submitting to God's absolute authority. Whenever a human being is born, a jinn is born and is assigned to the new human. We learn from the Quran that the jinns are Satan's descendants (727, 1850). When a jinn being is born and assigned to a human being, the jinn remains a constant companion of the human until the human dies. Both humans and jinns are required to worship God alone (5156)."And your Lord said to the angels ?I am placing a successor on
the earth.? They said ?Will You place in it he who would make
corruption in it, and spill blood; while we praise by Your glory,
and exalt to You?? He said ?I know what you do not know.? 230The angels expected God to banish Satan and the creatures who did not uphold His absolute authority (230). But God is Most Merciful; He decided to give us a chance to denounce our mistake, and informed the angels that He knew what they did not know (230). God knew that some creatures deserved a chance to be redeemed.
God reminds us in the following verse that had it not been that the Most merciful gave us a second chance to redeem ourselves, none of us would have been purified and Satan would have led us all astray.
O you who believe, do not follow the footsteps of the devil. And
whoever follows the footsteps of the devil should know that he
advocates immorality and vice. And had it not been for the grace
of God upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have ever
been purified, but God purifies whom He wishes, and God is
Hearer, Knower. 2421God appointed Satan as an authority/representative (Khalifah) on Earth for those who worship Satan. Everyone can freely choose between God Almighty as our God or Satan as god. Satan is the god and Khalifah of the disbelievers. Most traditional Muslims believe that Adam was appointed khalifah however that can not be true for the following reasons
In 230 Angles knew whom God was talking about .They knew about the feud mentioned in 3867-69. Adam had not been created at this point. The angels did not know the characteristics of Adam. How did Angels know Adam as Khalifah was going to shed blood since he had not been created yet? Angels knew whom God was talking about and Angels were somehow asking God why him not them by claiming that they are glorifying and praising Him carrying out His commands/authority. Angels had some idea of what Satan is capable of. God gave Solomon certain power to rule over the world too?One can imagine what kind of powers God?s has given to Satan on earth to deceive his followers till Judgment Day. Did Angels know Adam was going to be thrown out of the Paradise and then needed guidance from God? Did Angels know Adam was going to have descendants at all?
Another, interesting point is that God says He is going to appoint this Khalifa on Earth but Adam was placed in Paradise! How is it possible that God say one thing and does something else? So Khalifa refers to Satan not Adam as most traditionalists claim.Feud in High Society refers to Iblis/Satan/Lucifer who get appointed as Khalifa on earth till the Judgment Day to take his followers to hell.
Why are people so against Satan being the Khalifa on Earth and want Adam to be the one shedding blood on earth?...Who inspires them that the cause of all wickedness is Adam?s fault and not Satan's?
Did I not covenant with you, O Children of Adam, that you shall not worship the devil? That he is your most ardent enemy?
And that you shall worship Me alone? This is the right path. He has misled multitudes of you. Did you not possess any understanding?
This is the Hell that was promised for you.Today you will burn in it, as a consequence of your disbelief. 3660-64God knew the majority will end up in Hell ?He allowed Satan to become god/leader of the disbelievers on earth to send them all to hell. He out of His Mercy gave us all another chance to choose between Him and Satan in order to redeem ourselves.
God teaches us that Satan doesn?t have power over God's true servants
"As for My servants, you have no power over them." Your Lord suffices as an advocate.
Satan has been given power to mislead those who worship him and Satan has power to cause pain and hardships.
3841-Remember our servant Job he called upon his Lord, "The devil has afflicted me with hardship and pain."
He said ?My Lord, respite me until the Day they are resurrected.?
He said ?You are given respite.?
?Until the Day of the time appointed.?
He said ?My Lord, for that by which You have caused me to be
misled, I will beautify for them what is on the earth, and I will
mislead them all.? ?Except Your servants from among them, the devoted ones.?
He said ?This shall be a straight path to Me.? ?For My servants, you shall have no authority over them, except
those who are misled and follow you.?
?And that Hell shall be their appointment, all of them.? 1536-43Satan, and his descendants (the devils), will also invite the human to commit all kinds of vice
The devil promises you poverty and orders you to immorality,
while God promises forgiveness from Him and grace. God is
Encompassing, Knowledgeable. 2268O you who believe, do not follow the footsteps of the devil. And
whoever follows the footsteps of the devil should know that he
advocates immorality and vice. And had it not been for the grace
of God upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have ever
been purified, but God purifies whom He wishes, and God is
Hearer, Knower. 2421Satan's ego and arrogance will ultimately invite humans to worship him (3660). Since the human being failed to uphold God's absolute authority in the previous life and was not sure that God alone can be a god, the human is brought to this life to witness for himself if Satan can really be a god, and also brought to this life in the hope of redeeming himself and returning to uphold God's absolute authority. All who will follow in Satan's footsteps and fail to worship God alone will be doomed while those who repent and follow God's commands and uphold God's absolute authority will be redeemed.
God's plan called for creating death (671-2), then bringing the humans and jinns into this world for the sole purpose of rectifying their mistake and for worshiping God alone.
"I have not created the jinns and the humans except to worship Me." 5156
Thus, all humans and Jinn start over without any biases, and exercise full freedom to uphold God's absolute authority or Satan's polytheistic theory. To make this crucial decision, every human being receives a message from God advocating His absolute authority. This is given to the human in the form of the Scripture which is sent with guidance and which charts the way to salvation. Whoever accepts the guidance and submits to God will then be redeemed into God's Kingdom. Those who refuse it will end up in hell
"We said, "Go down there from, all of you, then when guidance comes to you from Me, those who follow My guidance will have no fear, nor will they grieve.
"And for those who disbelieved and rejected our revelations, they will be the companions of the fire; therein they forever remain." 238-39
Our lives in this world is only a few decades. Why would God punish us for eternity if we did not have previous lives?
The human being will also receive a message from the devil pushing his polytheistic principles. To give us a headstart, the Most Merciful gathered all the human beings before Him, prior to sending us to this world, and we bore witness that He alone is our Lord and Master
"Your Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their backs, their descendants and had them bear witness over themselves, "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes. We bear witness." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were unaware of this." 7172
Do you remember bearing such testimony? The fact that none of us remembers means we had another life before we came to Earth. We will remember it on the day of Judgement. God mentions that we will remember our testimony on the day of Judgment and we will not able to refuse making it." Thus, you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, "We were unaware of this."After putting all who doubted and rejected God's absolute authority to death, their souls were placed in a depository. God then created the appropriate bodies to house the souls of jinns and humans during the test period on Earth. The first jinn body was made from fire, and Satan was assigned to that body
And the Jinn, We created him before that from the fire of the
fierce hot winds.
(1527).The first human body was created from earthly material and clay (1526), and God assigned the first human soul to that body. The divine plan called for the angels to serve the humans on earth - guard them, drive the wind and rain for them, distribute provisions, etc. This fact is stated in the Quran allegorically "Your Lord said to the angels, `Fall prostrate before Adam." Satan, due to his arrogance, naturally refused to have anything to do with serving the human race (234, 711, 1761, 1850, 20116).
While Adam's body remained on earth, the real person, the soul, was admitted into Heaven in the outermost universe. God gave Adam certain commandments, represented by the forbidden tree, and Satan was appointed as Adam's companion to deliver to Adam his satanic message. The rest is history.
Putting the jinns and the humans to the test stipulated that Satan shall reproduce whenever a human being is born. As mentioned above, every time a human being is born, a jinn being is born to serve as a constant companion of the human person. Every human being is subjected to the incessant persuasions of Satan's representative who lives in the same body from birth to death. Satan's representative tries to convince the human companion of Satan's point of view that God alone is not enough. On the Day of Judgment, the jinn companion serves as a witness against the human counterpart (4338; 5023, 5027). Many jinn companions are converted to God's point of view by the human companions.
The Original Sin
Contrary to common belief, the 'Original Sin' was not Adam's violation of God's law when he ate from the forbidden tree. The original sin was our failure to uphold God's absolute authority during the Great Feud.
If the human person convinces his or her jinn companion to denounce that original sin, and uphold God's absolute authority, both creatures are redeemed to God's eternal kingdom on the Day of Judgment. But if the jinn companion convinces the human being to uphold Satan's idolatrous views, then both creatures are exiled forever from God's kingdom.
To promote his point of view, Satan and his representatives advocate the idolization of such powerless creatures as Muhammad, Jesus, Mary, and the saints. Since we are here due to our polytheistic tendencies, most of us are easy prey for Satan.
The aim of Satan and his descendants is to spread animosity, hatred and violence between people, the result of which is the prevalence of hatred, vengeance, murders, misery and war throughout his dominion, all of which expose his incompetance as a god
?The devil promises you poverty and commands you to commit evil, while God promises you forgiveness from Him and grace.God is Immense, Knowledgeable.? 2268
?He promises them and entices them; but the devil does not promise them other than an illusion.? 4120
?The devil only wants to provoke enmity and hatred among you through intoxicants and gambling, and to repel you away from remembering God, and from the Salat, so will you thus refrain?? 591
On the other hand, the human beings who denounce Satan, uphold God's absolute authority, and refrain from idolizing powerless and dead creatures like Jesus and Muhammad, are restored to God's protection.
Because our life in this world is a series of tests designed to expose our polytheistic ideas, idol worship is the only unforgivable offense (448, 116). The world is divinely designed to manifest our decision to uphold either God's absolute authority, or Satan's idolatrous views (671-2). Only those who are totally certain about God's absolute authority are redeemed (2689).
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Salam,
Nice read. But...
...there are much more worse sins than polytheism, commited by people who are monotheists. What about them ?God decides which sins are worse than others not you and I. God has clearly mentioned in the Quran that He may forgive all sins except idolatry. That is the only unforgivable sin.
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Except for those who know what God really expects and that is association. God insists on association and the idolatry disease is an invention of Pagan minds.
Be safe
Amenuel -
Salaam...
Yes this Islamic view was originally proposed by Rashad Khalifa and propogated by his Submission group. The idea that there was a great war in heaven between the forces of Satan on one side and that of Archangel Michael on the other side has been popular since Biblical times (Revelation 127-13).
http//image.slidesharecdn.com/3-thegreatcontroversybegins-110908080255-phpapp02/95/the-great-controversy-begins-mavule-12-728.jpg?cb=1315476043
While this theory is popular, the reason I never got around to accepting it is this - I have never been able to fully understand how the sequence of events took place... assuming that we humans are those beings who lived in heaven and were kicked out and sent to Earth for our supporting of Satan.. Where does the story of Adam come about? I mean, when we already sided with Satan and are destined for this test on Earth, when did the whole fruit and tree story happen? 'Coz the Quran says Adam was sent from heaven to Earth after this fruit transgression. But then what about humans siding with Satan? What about Satan refusing to bow down to Adam, did that happen after the war or before? Why would that be happening if we are all destined to come to Earth for this test.... what was Adam doing in heaven if he already lost God's support by siding with Satan earlier on during the great war?
I don't see a clear sequence of events happening... its all vague and jumbled up.
http//whanethewhip.wdfiles.com/local--files/motivational%3Aif-heaven-is-so-great-why-was-there-a-war-there/if-heaven-is-so-great-why-was-there-a-war-there.jpg
Peace
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Salaam...
Yes this Islamic view was originally proposed by Rashad Khalifa and propogated by his Submission group. The idea that there was a great war in heaven between the forces of Satan on one side and that of Archangel Michael on the other side has been popular since Biblical times (Revelation 127-13).
http//image.slidesharecdn.com/3-thegreatcontroversybegins-110908080255-phpapp02/95/the-great-controversy-begins-mavule-12-728.jpg?cb=1315476043
While this theory is popular, the reason I never got around to accepting it is this - I have never been able to fully understand how the sequence of events took place... assuming that we humans are those beings who lived in heaven and were kicked out and sent to Earth for our supporting of Satan.. Where does the story of Adam come about? I mean, when we already sided with Satan and are destined for this test on Earth, when did the whole fruit and tree story happen? 'Coz the Quran says Adam was sent from heaven to Earth after this fruit transgression. But then what about humans siding with Satan? What about Satan refusing to bow down to Adam, did that happen after the war or before? Why would that be happening if we are all destined to come to Earth for this test.... what was Adam doing in heaven if he already lost God's support by siding with Satan earlier on during the great war?
I don't see a clear sequence of events happening... its all vague and jumbled up.
http//whanethewhip.wdfiles.com/local--files/motivational%3Aif-heaven-is-so-great-why-was-there-a-war-there/if-heaven-is-so-great-why-was-there-a-war-there.jpg
Peace
I do not know what percent of the Bible is corrupted and what is truly the word of God. So I will stick to the Quran. In this context, there is no mention of war or fight in the Quran. There is only the mention of a quarrel.