Ever wondered who God is? Don’t. Not anymore.
Go to the source and get the answer from God himself.
Don’t ask others who God is. Not Muslims and, certainly, not Non-Muslims.
No disrespect, folks: My beloved non-Muslim friends and brothers and sisters. It is an informed and fairly confident statement.
And a very, very considered, and respectful, one too.
And no disrespect to my Muslim brothers and sisters, either.
I know only too well how intricately my worldly success and other-worldly salvation is welded to both of you ladies and gentlemen, of the Muslim as well as non-Muslim persuasion.
But what I am saying is this: Instead of asking these folks – Muslims and non-Muslims – go and ask God Almighty directly who or even, as Pharaoh did, “what” he is.
You see, Non-Muslims, really, don’t know – and, in most cases it seems, don’t care.
Muslims, on the other hand, know a little bit, no matter how sketchy and confused they may be, but they won’t share.
So, between the two of them – those who Don’t Care and those who Won’t Share – the goose of the world is nicely cooked to a perfect juicy pink.
That is why I am saying, don’t ask people, instead, go to God directly and ask him.
You can do that by picking up a copy of the Qur’an today – and reading it.
That is all you need to do and you will get all the answers you were looking for.
About God – or just about anything else.
So, pick up a copy of the Qur’an and read it.
You can get yourself either a translation of the Qur’an in any language you know. Or you can take yourself to the one and only, original, Qur’an, which is in Arabic.
For, there is only one Qur’an. And it is in Arabic.
Arabic is the original language in which the Qur’an was sent down: from God in Heaven Above to Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, on Earth Below.
So, when you visit with the Qur’an and talk to it, this is what the Qur’an will tell you – about God. For, the one talking to you in and through the Qur’an is
God Almighty himself.
None other.
And he will tell you, God I mean – right at the outset – in the very first passage of the very first chapter, who he is: that he is God, the maker, master and owner of the worlds.
“Worlds” plural – with an “s” at the end – don’t forget that. For, that pretty much is all you need to know.
That he is the one who made the world and the one who owns and controls the world. The one whose writ and mandate runs the world – from the rising of the sun in the East to the fading and setting of your own breath in the privacy of your own bed, when you slide into blissful slumber every night, after a hard day’s labor.
And it is, therefore, he whose will, commands and directives must prevail in the way human beings manage their affairs, small and big, in the world.
That is what God Almighty himself will tell you in the Qur’an about who he really is.
That he is the Master of the Worlds – Rabbul 'Aalameen.
Learn that expression well. And carry it with you wherever you go. I mean in your physical, psychological, social, political, cultural, epochal traversing of time and space, throughout your life.
Hold on to God’s own words Rabbul 'Aalameen, for, you will need those words to remind you, every step of your uncertain journey through life, who he is and who you really are.
He is the master. And you, with all your pretensions, are nothing but a slave: his slave.
His and no one else’s.
But he is the master of not this or that little domain, but of all the worlds – plural with an “s” – which means every conceivable world of every kind that may exist anywhere, at any time, in any form.
Now, what you have in your hands is a miracle – a genuine wonder without parallel.
And that is what a miracle really is: an event whose probability of occurrence is so small as to be almost non-existent.
Odds defy its existence.
I don’t mean the entire Qur’an, which of course is a Miracle Par Excellence from beginning to end. I mean just that one divine expression: Rabbul 'Aalameen.
You get it, of course? Right? How can anyone possibly miss it?
To think and talk about the “World” – in singular – is challenge enough to our cramped, narrow, insular mind – even today, in spite of all our education and sophistication and scientific and cultural advancement.
But to talk about Worlds – plural with an “s” at the end – is nothing short of a miracle, wouldn’t you say?
For anyone, anywhere, at any time.
And then to think and talk about Worlds in plural, not today or yesterday, but all of 1400 years ago? As they say, Come on, give me a break!
And that too, not in famous centers of civilization, learning and culture like Greece, Rome, China, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia and India, but in the barren sands and rocks of Arabia?
How is something like that even conceivable?
But that is exactly what happened, right? For, it was precisely then – 14 centuries ago – and in that place – in Makkah, Arabia – that the Qur’an came down.
So, the expression you hold in your hands today – Rabbul 'Aalameen – is from then. And it is from there.
But, wait, don’t go away yet. For, we have more where this thing came from.
Now, the man out of whose mouth this miraculous expression – Rabbul 'Aalameen –emanated, his name was not Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Copernicus, Einstein or Carl Sagan, but Muhammad – Sallallahu Alaihi wa Wasallam – a man whom the Qur’an itself refers to as “The Unlettered Prophet.”
Annabiyyil Ummiyyi!
So, you are telling me: “An Unlettered Man, in an unsophisticated place like Arabia, in the middle of the Seventh Century from Christ, uttered these earth-shaking expressions “The Worlds” and “Master of the Worlds”?
You must be joking!
How is it possible? What “Worlds” could he conceivably be thinking about?
Unless, of course, it was God that was speaking, and not this Unlettered Man, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
For, it must be obvious to anyone that there is no earthly way that the words of the Qur’an could be the words of this Unlettered Man, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam.
Absolutely, positively not! The odds are too overwhelmingly against such an outcome.
Such a profound and earth-shattering Revolution in human thought, speech and reality-consciousness, coming out of the mind and mouth of a simple human being like that?
Not possible! Simply speaking, it is off of all possible probability charts!
And, then, not only that: Do you know that the Qur’an uses that Most Revolutionary Expression, Al 'Aalameen, the Worlds, not once or twice or 10 times, but a soul-stirring 73 times, no less?
Do you know that?
You don’t? You didn’t know that? Well, what can I say?
Non-Muslims don’t care, Muslims don’t share. So, the fate of world is in a pretty precarious place.
I can only quote God in the Qur’an:
Yaa Hasratan 'Alal 'Ibaad!
That is what God himself says in the Qur’an!
Yaa Hasratan 'Alal 'Ibaad!
Paraphrase:
“How pitiable are human beings! How utterly sad and sorry their life!”
And then there is even more!
God Almighty, in the Qur’an, calls himself Rabbul 'Aalameen, not once or twice – or even 10 times – but no less than 42 times.
That doesn’t mean anything to you?
All I can say is: Yaa Hasratan 'Alal 'Ibaad!
Non-Muslims don’t care, Muslims don’t share. So, humanity hurtles down the path of loss and despair.
Qur’an again:
Wal 'Asr! Innal Insaana La Fee Khusr!
Paraphrase:
“Judged by the testimony of Time, the Human Being is in a State of Loss.”
That is why I say: Don’t ask the Muslims. And don’t ask the Non-Muslims. But, instead, go directly to the Qur’an, and ask God Almighty himself who he really is!
And he will tell you who he is:
Rabbul 'Aalameen!
Maker, Master and Owner of All the Multiple Worlds!
That is who he really is!
Isn’t this alone reason enough for everyone everywhere to check out the Qur’an and see who really God is?
END
(Dr. Pasha)
