WHO IS GOD?
ALLAH, JESUS OR EMINEM...
Okay, 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?
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 would potentially explain the reality of our existence and the other would potentially
leave us scarred for the remainder of our existence.
And look, I know that there is a lot of skepticism surrounding this issue and quite frankly I
don't blame you.
I mean the meaning of God has been thrown around so often that we forgot 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 yes who could forget Justin Bieber and his believers.
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...
When someone comes up and says something like "I am a God", everybody says who does he think
he is.
I just told you what I thought I was -- A God.
Kanye West smashes into a pole.
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...
they don't.
"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, as many leading cosmologists
have affirmed, we are still left unanswered as to what was the cause of our beginning.
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, 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 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 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.
But we still don't know which God is He?
"Are you Zeus, Thor?"
Well if you agree with everything I've said up until now, you will realize 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?
Hmmm....
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.
A simple definition of God that is logical and rational.
There is nothing like him, no man, no creature, nothing imaginable.
He is the One who is perfect - although I don't like using the word perfect, as our
understanding of perfection would never encompass His true essence.
He is in control of everything, whereby nothing can benefit nor harm us unless he wills it.
He is the All knowing, the All hearing and unlike our friend Kanye, He is the All seeing.
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 1400 years ago, as direct revelation from God to the final prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) 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.
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 is a fusion of both, that even to this day shakes
the hearts of Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
"It's almost trance like, you can hear it's very euphonic, there is a lot of internal
rhyme and end rhyme, and 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.
And no matter how many times people will try to discredit the Quran on its authenticity,
it remains standing.
"Will you please the very next science lesson, get some salt water, get some fresh water,
mix them and see what happens."
*Clap, Clap*.
The Quran says "two seas" not "two cups of water".
And to those that doubt it is from God, the challenge is simple - bring forth something
that can compare.
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
But does this challenge still apply.
Well we could surely put it to the test.
And who better to choose than-- the self proclaimed "Rap God"...
Eminem.
Dubbed the best of his time, being incomparable with anyone in his league.
Now if we compare the works of Allah with the works of Eminem, we are left with this.
"This slickety, gibbedy, hibbedy hip hop...rappidy rap, Packing a Mac in the back of the Ac,
pack backpack rap, yep, yackidy-yac-yac.
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.
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,
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, strategically to describe
the terms "glorify your Lord" and "the orbiting" of planets.
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 (peace be upon him) 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 a cut off lineage and
progeny, yet Allah was promising him abundant good at this time.
Such was the prophesy of the Quran -- and we certainly indeed see its fulfillment today.
With the Quran being the most recited, memorized and practiced book across the entire world
with over 1.6 Billion followers today from all walks of life.
Now I know many of your probably thinking, "Okay Cool Story Bro", but what's the purpose
of the Quran?
Well the importance is, that it gives meaning to life, from our overall purpose of existence,
to why we're here, to what happens when 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 that believe there is a reward and those that don't and are arrogant there is a punishment.
And look I apologies for trying to squeeze all this in to one short video, but I've given
you everything you need to find out who God is, and why we're here.
So read.