God jealous

[danigabriel]

Salam

I want some help from you about the tawrah insha. Deuteronomy 6:15 we find that god is jealous. The word of qanna' in hebrew is jealous, but the root word is more explanations then that i think. Anyway can you figure out how this is possible? What do you think about this because i just wounder if this could be meant something we dont understand from the side of god(quran 3:7)? we know little about god until youm el deen. Hope we do a good research insha! I will give you two websites for help;

http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/deu6.pdf

http://www.quranse.org/QueryEngine/index.php?Cmd=V&FromCmd=BS&b=Deu&c=6&v=15&QtID0=khalifa&BtID0=esv&BL=en

(you can click on the word qanna' and even see the root to qanna' witch is qana') similar words but the difference is adjective and verb.

[Zack]

Hello danigabriel,

Re jealous, I do not see any reason to doubt the translation of the Hebrew, it does not seem to be a word that is in dispute. The personal aspects, the anthropomorphisms, are something that are avoided within Islam in response to the incorrect views of the church. However the danger in this is making God into an impersonal spirit, a force that is irelavent.

God created man in His image according to the Torah. Different inherent attributes of man reflect the nature of God. That being God like a loving Father. The other is that his people (ummah) are like a bride to him. This where understanding God as a jealous God comes in. If I were to see some man  trying to steal my wife’s affections and seduce her, then my godly response would be one of jealousy, wrath and anger. This is actually central to the Shahadat. Why does God say "There are no god's but God?" Because His love, mercy and compassion is directed towards His people, and responds as if a husband could see his wife being seduced. This actually puts new importance on the Shahadat not simply as a confession for Kafir to enter the faith, but for those who are islam to always put God above all else. I think this terminology in regards to God is important, simply to understand the character of God.

[Saba]

Hmm very interesting response Zack!! there was always this thing in my mind that muslims sometimes do think of Allah (swt) as something away, separate and detached but throughout qur'an Allah (swt) has spoken about his mercy, forgiveness as if He really cares about us all....doesn't mean Allah won't test us, or send calamities etc - of course he will test and all and sometimes fiercly...but that doesn't mean we should lose our face every time we are tested. there is some good articles on this site about Allah (swt) mercy and love called generous and forgiving lord - http://quransmessage.com/articles/generous,%20forgiving%20lord%20FM3.htm ...even every sura starts with Bismillah iRAHMAN RAHEEM - most compassionate and merciful.... I like the understanding of we are created in his image ... we have love, so does he, we can get angry, so does he, we look for justice and he is the most just etc..so we must have attributes so that we can understand Allah (swt). thanks for sharing. Saba