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Offline Reader Questions

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A Very Perturbing Query - Will Allah Also Die? (Nauzbillah)
« on: April 27, 2013, 07:19:54 PM »
Salamun Alaykum Brother Joseph,

How are you? May Allah give you more & more strength to carry on the required service to bring the true picture of Islam in the light.

Brother as I was going through ayah 5/116

وَإِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَأَنتَ قُلْتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَٰهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ ۖ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ ۚ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ ۚ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلَا أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ

....faqad AAalimtahutaAAlamu ma fee NAFSEE wala aAAlamu ma FEENAFSIKA innaka anta AAallamu alghuyoob

From the qawl of Isa (Pbuh) in this ayah it appears Allah also bears nafs.
My biggest disturbance arise when I cross referrence it with ayahs 3/185, 21/35, 29/57 which declares


"Kullu nafsin tha-iqatu almawti.."

This apparently  implies that Nauzbillah even God will also die...(May Allah forgive me for writing this)

Please help me


Offline Joseph Islam

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Re: A Very Perturbing Query - Will Allah Also Die? (Nauzbillah)
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2013, 07:24:52 PM »
May peace be with you.

Please do not be perturbed dear brother. The Quran simply uses the language of the Arabs to provide guidance.

‘Nafs’ has a wide range of meanings depending on the context in which it is used.

Nafs also describes a sense of being and not simply the human soul. That is why at times, as you have correctly noted, the term is also used for God Himself (6:12; 6:54; 5:116).

For example, God is ever alive, self-subservient and can never diminish (2:255). However when Nafs is used in the context of human 'beings' then this lends to a specific scope of understanding. It refers to a specific creation, one created by God (4:1; 6:98; 91:7), on planet earth with limited knowledge (31:34), one prone to avarice (4:128), who will undergo trials (3:186) and inevitably, will all die (3:185; 29:57).

For example: 3:185 - 'All souls will taste death' is governed by the context which refers only to human souls that will be recompensed on the Day of Judgment and not God.

To understand 'kullu' (every) outside that specific context is wholly unwarranted.

If I have an unbalanced table of oranges and I say ‘All the oranges will fall’, this does not mean all the oranges outside the table will fall. I am only referring to the oranges on the table when I say ‘all’.

I hope that helps, God willing.
Joseph.
'During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act' 
George Orwell