So the 2013 charts of Google’s most popular searches in Australia are just in, with the top Google search at No. 1 being..
What is twerking?
(If You Don’t Know Do Not Search It!!)
shortly followed by…
Who is God?
Now on saying this, I don’t think you have to be a genius to figure out which of the two questions is more important to be asking Google. I mean one could potentially explain the reality of our existence or the other would potentially leave us scarred for the remainder of our existence. And look, I know that there is a lot of scepticism surrounding this issue and quite frankly, I don’t blame you. I mean the meaning of God has been thrown around so often we forgot what it means..
From some Zeus like man in the sky with a big beard..
to
Thor..
to
A half animal/half human creature..
to
Kanye West shamelessly producing a track titled..
“I am God” on his album YEEZUS..
to
Eminem then self-proclaiming himself as the..
“rap God”..
A new brand of clothing titled..
“I Am God”,
and
Who could forget…Justin Bieber and his believers.
…Voice-over…
“You affectionately refer to your fans as Beaners?”
Justin Bieber:
“No..Beliebers”.
And now I understand that most of this may be exaggerated, and many of these examples are mere semantics and plays on words that are probably being taken out of context – as let’s face it no body actually believes in Bieber and I highly doubt that Kanye West considers himself a God…
…Voice-over…
Kanye:
When someone comes up and says something like..
“I am a God”
Everybody says…
Who does he think he is?
I just told you who I thought I was…
A God.
…Voice-over…
And now..
Kanye West smashes his head into a street sign really..really hard.
( ( ( S M A S H ) ) )
…The Public…
Whoa..
Kanye..
Oh Kanye..
Kanye, are you okay?!
You okay?
TMZ:
Sounds like K’s got a new hit.
Kanye:
A God…
That’s Who I Think I am.
The Public:
Kanye..
Oh Kanye..
Kanye..are you okay?!
So with all these misconstrued definitions of God, the least I could do is help clear the water and help us finally find out..
Who Is God?
Well to begin, let’s start with the things we can all agree on. First and foremost, we’re here. We just began and we exist. And like all things that begin to exist, they require a cause. Things don’t just come out of nothing. And although at times we sometimes wish they would…
…Money Rain…
They don’t.
…Voice-over…
Muhammad Ali:
“If I told you that this glass sprang into existence, this glass made it self..
You’d say..
Muhammad Ali is crazy”.
So on saying that, knowing the cause of “us” is crucial to understanding who God is.
Although we are able to explain that we did have a beginning,
…Big Bang Beginning…
As many leading cosmologists have affirmed, we are still left unanswered as to what was the cause of our beginning.
(“We cannot run away from a cosmic beginning” Alexander Vilenkin)
(Beginning = Cause)
And before you lash out saying..
“Oh but we can’t see what happened before we began”…
or
“Oh you can’t prove there was a Creator”.
We say quite openly, neither can you..
“disprove a creator”.
And by observing the reality of our world and existence, its order, its structure and systems, I see no reason not to believe in a creator.
But then one may ask…
Where did this Creator come from?
What was the cause of Him?
And it would go on forever and ever, which would most probably lead to us never have been created.
So for God to exist, He must exist without a beginning, therefore not requiring a cause. Making Him eternal – He should also be transcendent from His creation and not bound by any of the realms He had created – whether it is..
(“There must be something preceding it that always existed” Abraham Varghese)
Time..
Space
or
Matter.
For instance, when Steve Jobs makes an iPhone he doesn’t become an iPhone.
He is separate.
And of course, we could also argue that He is One. This makes the most sense and it would also avoid any potential conflict between two disputing All Powerful Gods with conflicting interests.
(The One and Only)
But we still don’t know which God is He?
…Voice-over…
“Are you Zeus, Thor?
Are you Yahweh?”
(Yahweh when used in the Christian sense)
Well if you agree with everything I’ve said up until now, you will realise that each of these God’s don’t fit into our established criteria of who God is.
They are all created Beings, they are not eternal, they have not created anything, they are dependent, and they require sleep, rest, oxygen and food.
So who is the One and Only true God?
I present to you a God who is One and Only, eternal, exists without a beginning, who was uncreated, requiring no cause for Himself, yet being the Absolute cause and Creator of everything else.
Allah.
(as defined in Ch 112 Quran)
A simple definition of God that is logical and rational.
There is nothing like Him (Quran 42:11), no Man, no Creature, nothing imaginable. He is the One who is Perfect (The Flawless Quran 59:23) - although I don’t like using the word perfect, because our understanding of perfection would never encompass His true essence.
He is in control of everything, whereby nothing can harm us unless He wills it. (All Powerful All Determiner Quran 2:284)
He is the All Knowing (Quran 2:127), the All Hearing (Quran 2:127) and unlike our friend Kanye, He is the All Seeing (Quran 4:58).
Many of us would then argue that although these verses do provide a logical and sound concept of God, how do we know that these words are in deed the words of God.
Well first and foremost the Quran isn’t just any book. It was revealed over 1400 years ago, as direct revelation from God to the final prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and was sent as the most eloquent piece of literature to befall mankind, revealed at a time where poetry was rife and to a population housing the best of poets, only to leave them speechless and at a loss for words.
Ref: The Final Miracle - Nouman Ali Khan - NAK Collection
Now, what is important to note, is that the Quran, it doesn’t fit in any of the known classes of poetry, nor prose, rather it is a fusion of both, that even to this day shake the hearts of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
"Neither prose nor poetry, but a unique fusion of both” Arthur J Arberry - Oxford University Press 1998)
…Voice-over…
Ref: Koran by heart Documentary 2011
Kristina Nelson: Musicologist and Writer
“It’s almost trance like, you can hear it’s very euphonic, and there is a lot of internal rhyme and end rhyme, and the..the rhythm is not predictable. And it’s beautiful”.
Even to this day, the Quran remains incomparable and stuns humanity with its accurate references to science and history..
From accurate descriptions of the human embryo..
to
Historically accurate references to the different rulers in the different Egyptian dynasties.
…Watch…
TalkIslam - Embryo = Leech | Amazing Quran Miracle | #MindBlow
(“Pharaoh” From the 18th Dynasty and on during time of Moses/Musa.
“King” Before the 18th Dynasty during time of Joseph/Yusuf)
And no matter how many times people will try to discredit the Quran on its authenticity, it remains standing.
…Voice-over…
Richard Dawkins responds to the “salt and fresh water” barrier verse in the Quran.
“Will you please the very next science lesson, get some salt water, get some fresh water, and mix them and see what happens.”
*Clap, Clap*
The Quran says..
“Two seas”
(Surah Al-Furqan (The Criterian) 25:53)
not
“Two cups of water”.
And to those that doubt it is from God, the challenge is simple - bring forth something that can compare.
(“…then let them bring an announcement like it…” 2:34
“…bring ten forged chapters like this…” 11:13
“…bring a chapter like this…” 10:38)
And now although this challenge has been attempted multiple times throughout the past, History has witnessed that no man has been able to rival the Quran.
(If they could not [and it is obvious that they could not], then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evidential miracle" H.A.R Gibb, 1980 Islam: A Historial survey. Oxford University Press)
But does this challenge still apply today. Well we could surely put it to the test.
And who better to choose than – the self-proclaimed “Rap God”…
…Voice-over…
“You call yourself The Rap God.”
Eminem. Dubbed the best of his time, being incomparable with anyone in his league.
…Voice-over…
Eminem:
“The last thing the world needs is another me.”
Now if we compare the works of Allah with the works of Eminem, we are left with this..
( ( A N A L Y S E** T H A T T U N E ) )
**Bring Allah (swt) into the Picture, Make Dua, Search Rhyme, Be Ready to Be Offended By It, Read Rhymes, Make Dua.
This slickety, gibbedy, hibbedy hip hop…rappidy rap, Packing a Mac in the back of the Ac, pack backpack rap, yep, yackidy-yac-yac…
( ( A N A L Y S E** T H A T T U N E ) )
** “If you want to get rid of sin..
Stay away from dirty perverse things - they look attractive in the beginning. But they will destroy the way you perceive a spouse..”
The exact same time I attempt these lyrical acrobat stunts…
…Look content wise…I don’t know…. however we can’t deny that lyrically he is impressive, he has..
Rhythm..
Rhyme..
Style..
Alliteration
and
Assonance.
A short video online even indicates that in one of his songs he almost made every second, to third word rhyme.
But how does he compare with the Qurans smallest chapter of 3 verses - Surah Al Kauthar (The Abundance).
(Verily We have given to you the abundance.
So pray to your Lord and sacrifice.
Indeed your enemy is the one cut off.)
Chapter 108 Al Kauthar, Holy Quran
Now in just ten words, Allah is able to use over 30 linguistic and rhetorical devices including…
Emphasis,
Multiple Meaning,
Grammatical shift,
Word order and Arrangement,
Ellipsis,
Conceptual relatedness,
Intensification,
Choice of words,
Repetition,
Intimacy,
Exaggeration,
and
Prophesy, along with many, many more.
What’s also important to note is that the linguistic devices in the Quran, aren’t just thrown about randomly, for instance Allah would use palindromes (read the same back to front), strategically to describe the terms..
…Read…
Talk Islam - Post - Timeline Photo - Palindrome
“glorify your Lord”
Quran 74:3
and
“the orbiting” of planets.
Quran 36:40
As though both processes are occurring continuously, non-stop one after the other.
The shortest chapter in the Quran also contains a rhetorical device that no one can compete against nor replicate – prophesy.
At the end of the first verse, Allah promises Muhammad (pbuh) that he would be given abundant good… at a time when he was at one of the lowest points of his life, with a small amount of followers and low social status. He had even just lost his son and his enemies were taunting him with cut off lineage and progeny, yet Allah was promising him abundant good at this time.
(Verily We have given you the abundant good. - 108:1)
Such was the prophesy of the Quran – and we certainly indeed see its fulfilment today.
With the Quran being, the most recited, memorised and practiced book across the entire world with over 1.6 Billion followers today from all walks of life.
…Quran Recitations…
New York - United States
“Inna jaAAalnahu qur-ananAAarabiyyan…”
(Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Qur'an…)
…laAAallakum taAAqiloona
(…that you might understand.)
Surah Az-Zukhruf (The Ornaments of Gold) Quran 43:3
Maldives - Indian Ocean
and
Bangsamoro - Off the Philippines
“…qur-ananAAarabiyyan…”
(…an Arabic Qur'an…“)
Now I know many of you are probably thinking..
"Okay Cool Story Bro”..
but
What’s the purpose of the Quran?
Well the importance is, that it gives meaning to life..
(Meaning of Life =
Moral Code + Why We Are Here + Where We Go)
From our overall purpose of existence..
to
Why we’re here..
and
What happens once we die.
God teaches us is that each and every single one of us is being tested. We weren’t created for mere play, we were created with a purpose and that is to be obedient to God and His rules. Those who believe there is a reward and those that don’t and are arrogant there is a punishment.
(“He created death and life to test you as to who is best in deed”)
Quran 67:2
And look I apologies for trying to squeeze all this into one small video, but I’ve given you everything you need to know who God is, and why we are here.
So read.
