Sources of true information
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How does the intelligent creative force communicate knowledge about reality to us human beings?
Is it only through the books that we have come to label as the religious books?
Can there be other ways that teachings are relayed to us?
Why have the religious books gained such a strong position among all the wisdom available the world?
Is it because these books are easy to follow by sheeple and easy to misuse for power purposes by the clever ones?
If the quran is from Allah, does this rule out other teachings as false?
Even if the quran would be the only literal text sent down by Allah, does this rule out other teachings as true?
Aren't people able to get inspiration from Allah to see the truth, through themselves, or can guidance from Allah only come through a book?N.B. (this is bytheway not about hadith!, which is just a means for some clergy to stay in power, and for others to exhibit their perverted inner selves)
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If the quran is from Allah, does this rule out other teachings as false?
Even if the quran would be the only literal text sent down by Allah, does this rule out other teachings as true?
Aren't people able to get inspiration from Allah to see the truth, through themselves, or can guidance from Allah only come through a book?The Quran is from Allah, uncorrupted. It is the only entirely true source of information, as far as books go. All other teachings and books are at least false in part, or incomplete.
Allah can guide through His Book, or through inspiration. Remember Abraham, who Allah taught the correct deen without Abraham having any previous Book or any human to teach Him. This is the promise of Allah; that guidance and the Book communicate the same truth. -
My reading of why the Qur'an calls al Rasul khatam annabiyin is that it is precisely because the Qur?an came to set true from false. What passes the filter of the Qur'an is true, what it doesn't does not. So whatever we read from other sources we contrast it with Qur'an. Ir it teaches us and does us good and passes the Qur'an test well and good, it is from God in the sense that it is true wisdom, whether we know its source or we don't what doesn't pass the test we can read or draw from it whatever we want, but it is not from God in the sense that I say above. So we may read whatever we want, but in order to consider something as true or false or indifferent the Qur'an is the test.
Salaam
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The replies so far say basically the same thing, and this was what I had in mind aswell. I was basically thinking about this question, and pondering it, to see how accepted or common the idea was, about Allah communicating (in whatever way) to each and every common person who is open enough to it. I sense that there is alot of wisdom out there, which doesn't claim to be divinely inspired or isn't associated with religion, but nevertheless true to large extents. I'm talking about information about more spiritual/non-physical aspects of life. I also think that Allah can guide people to understanding, which they then may use to understand the quran more accurately. It is like, but also opposite to, when people learn hadith, and then interpret the quran from that... or perhaps when they start of with atheistic assumptions and then interpret the quran from that. Allah can show people certain workings of the worlds and life, and then let them gain a better understanding from that. I was basically wondering how accepted it was to think that Allah can indeed teach people truths through various means, like books, other that the typical religious books. This is of course not to say that other written works can even remotely be compared with the quran, but at least they can contain, to some extent, truths about reality that are otherwise not easily come by. Quran is unique.
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And how does this account for the multitude of interpretations within the Qur'an itself?
If the Qur'an is objective truth why is its understanding subjective within the human mind?
2+2=4 is objective. Any answer other than 4 is factually incorrect.
The Qur'an however allows for tons of interpretations and everyone who interprets it thinks their personal view is correct.
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There is a multitude of interpretations of the Quran because people speculate without being guided.
Those who are rightly guided all view things the same way, though they may be knowledgable in different aspects of the same truth, or have received different amounts of it. They are all, however, humble and honest with what they know and do not know.
What I am saying is that those who know what they are talking about in these matters are those who manage to rise above their own personal opinions of things and rather accept the truth that is. -
There is a multitude of interpretations of the Quran because people speculate without being guided.
How do you know you're rightly guided and others aren't? Why would you assume that you are correct?
Those who are rightly guided all view things the same way,
This sounds like BS. Find 100 members of this forum and you will find 100 different views on God and the Qur'an. If this is true this means that very few people are rightly guided.
though they may be knowledgable in different aspects of the same truth, or have received different amounts of it.
What does this even mean? If they view things in the same way how can one person be ignorant of an aspect of the same truth shared with another?
They are all, however, humble and honest with what they know and do not know.
What I am saying is that those who know what they are talking about in these matters are those who manage to rise above their own personal opinions of things and rather accept the truth that is.The truth that is changes everywhere you go and with everyone you speak to.
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I'll attempt to answer each question point by point from the atheist perspective >D
How does the intelligent creative force communicate knowledge about reality to us human beings?
I don't think an intelligent creative force communicates knowledge about reality because I don't think One exists. If this force did exist It is a very ineffective and unclear communicator who failed to send down an indistinguishably divine message each time.
Is it only through the books that we have come to label as the religious books?
Depends on what kind of knowledge you're speaking about. There are many religious and spiritual traditions outside of the Bible and the Qur'an that are practiced. If you want to speak only of the Abrahamic faiths you'll have to be more specific.
Can there be other ways that teachings are relayed to us?
If your God exists I'm sure there is. If you believe in God any coincidence can be God speaking to you. For example when I was a teenager before I found Islam I was pretty much a thug. One night I got into a bunch of cars on the way home to see if I could steal anything. All I ended up with was a cheap pair of sunglasses.
The following week before school in the morning I woke up and someone had cut open the top of my car (ragtop convertible) and opened my car door by reaching their hand inside and they stole my iPod that was inside and some money.
I thought that God had punished me for being a thief by visiting the same crime upon me tenfold. I literally thought that some sort of universal consciousness had orchestrated this event to literally teach me a lesson about good and evil.
I thought God was speaking to me and communicating knowledge to me. Now though I believe it was a random act of thievery. It doesn't mean that I don't have my own personal set of morals without God or that I don't think there are consequences for every action but I do not currently believe that my car getting broken into was a direct consequence of my own evil-doing.
Why have the religious books gained such a strong position among all the wisdom available the world?
Because psychologically religion offers people many comforts, strengths, answers, and explanations for things they understand and also things they hope for. Our brain is naturally receptive to religious beliefs and their psychological benefits like hope in an afterlife, consolation in the death of a family member, the idea of absolute justice, the idea that we have the power to influence the real world by beseeching a higher being, etc.
Is it because these books are easy to follow by sheeple and easy to misuse for power purposes by the clever ones?
Yes. It's indoctrination.
If the quran is from Allah, does this rule out other teachings as false?
Even if the quran would be the only literal text sent down by Allah, does this rule out other teachings as true?Yes. If the Qur'an is from Allah it makes every other religious belief that contradicts a single one of its tenets, inherently false. Faith in Christ can not lead to salvation if the Qur'an is true. Polytheism is a crime punishable by hellfire if Islam is true. Rejecting the Qur'an, its message, and its messenger is a grave sin iif the Qur'an is true.
Aren't people able to get inspiration from Allah to see the truth, through themselves, or can guidance from Allah only come through a book
Well let's say the Qur'an never was revealed to Muhammad and that Islam as we know it today never existed. Why in the world would anyone believe any of the tenets of Islam if the Qur'an never was revealed or never existed? If the Qur'an was never revealed in 7th century Arabia, would the people there suddenly all start believing in Islam and the prophets and angels and judgment day and not drinking and know about marriage rights and not eating pork, etc.?
If the Qur'an was never revealed in 7th century Arabia would a Christian have any reason to think that Jesus was not God but actually a prophet of God and that all the prophets of Biblical history were given the same message and that God is one and begets not nor is He begotten?
I mean if God is real He could simply beam the revelation into all our heads and babies would be born knowing the Qur'an in Arabic and we would all have the same true interpretation of it and it wouldn't even be a question because we would all have the same knowledge and the same understanding regardless of where we were born and what time period.
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Peace Zulf,
How does the intelligent creative force communicate knowledge about reality to us human beings?
Is it only through the books that we have come to label as the religious books?
Can there be other ways that teachings are relayed to us?
Why have the religious books gained such a strong position among all the wisdom available the world?
Is it because these books are easy to follow by sheeple and easy to misuse for power purposes by the clever ones?
If the quran is from Allah, does this rule out other teachings as false?
Even if the quran would be the only literal text sent down by Allah, does this rule out other teachings as true?
Aren't people able to get inspiration from Allah to see the truth, through themselves, or can guidance from Allah only come through a book?
N.B. (this is bytheway not about hadith!, which is just a means for some clergy to stay in power, and for others to exhibit their perverted inner selves)All truth is from the god and it doesn't matter who said it. The great reading is only truth as far as how one understands its examples. There are many people who don't understand the examples/allegories given in the great reading correctly and for them it would actually lead them astray and away from the truth. See 226