Islam, probably the most misunderstood religion in the world, is among the hot reading topics for people all over the world. Questions and Answers about Islam Vol. 1 and 2 have been prepared to provide first-hand information from one of the most leading Islamic scholars of our time. In this book, Fethullah Gülen, sensitive to the real questions people have - the questions given rise to by the modern age - has tried, through patient argument, to answer people's doubts and questions.
Who Created God?
People with no inner spiritual life sometimes ask: If God created everything, who created God? The Prophet said that some people would ask this very question: "A day will certainly come when some people will sit with their legs crossed and ask: 'If God created everything, who created God?'"[1]
At best, the question is based on perceived "cause and effect" relationships. Everything can be thought of as an effect and attributed to a prior cause that, in turn, is attributed to a prior cause, and so on. However, we must remember that cause is only a hypothesis, for it has no objective existence. All that objectively exists is a particular sequence of circumstances that is often (but not always) repeated. If such a hypothesis is applied to existence, we cannot find a creator of the first cause, because each creator must have had a prior creator. The end result is a never-ending chain of creators.[2]
The Creator must be Self-Subsistent and One, without like or equal. If any created being "causes" anything, that capacity was created within that being, for only the Creator is Self-Existent and Self-Subsistent. Only the Creator truly creates and determines possible causes and effects for His creation. Therefore, we speak of God as the Sustainer, who holds and gives life to all of His Creation. All causes begin in Him, and all effects end in Him. In truth, created things are "0"s that will never add up to anything, unless God bestows real value or existence by placing a positive "1" before the "0".
In the sphere of existence, what we call causes and effects have no direct or independent influence. We may have to use such words to understand how a part of creation is made intelligible to us and available for our use. But even this confirms our dependence upon God and our answerability before Him. God does not need causes and effects to create; rather, we need them to understand what He has created.
[1] Bukhari, I'tisam, 3.
[2] The futile notion of a never-ending chain of creators was one of the arguments used by Muslim theologians to explain the necessity of believing in God.
Topics Covered in Volume 1 of the book are as follows:
- Does God Exist?
- Who Created God?
- Who is God? Why Can't We See Him?
- Why did God Create the Universe?
- Since God Knows What We Will Do, Why Does He Send Us Here?
- The Qur'an Says: There is No Compulsion in Religion (2:256)
- What Does This Mean?
- What is the Point of Worship, and Why Does it Have to Be Done in a Certain Way?
- What is the Primordial Covenant?(Qalu Bala)
- What Does the Islamic Concept of Fitra (Primordial Nature) Mean?
- What is Guidance, and Can We Guide Others?
- What is the Purpose of Spiritual Tension?
- Will Religion, Supposedly Developed by "Primitive" People to Explain the Unknown, Eventually Become Unnecessary?
- Submission, Sense, and Reason
- Can Islam Solve Every Problem?
- Why does Islam Allow Slavery?
- Did Prophet Muhammad Write the Qur'an?
- Why Was the Qur'an Revealed Over A Period of 23 Years?
- Why Does the Qur'an Open With Iqra' (Recite, Read)?
- Why Does the Qur'an Not Discuss Scientific Issues That Concern Us Today?
- When Modern Science Agrees With the Qur'an
- What is the Role of Prophethood and of Prophets?
- How Many Prophets Were There? Were They All From Arabia?
- Was Muhammad's Mission Limited and Temporary?
- Why Was the Prophet Polygamous?
- What Satan is and Why He Was Created?
- What About Involuntary Thoughts and Fancies?
- How to Keep Free of Satanic Suggestions?
- Why Does Satan Insist on His Unbelief?
- Can We Choose Our Actions?
- What Happens to People Born and Living in Non-Islamic Countries?
- Why Are There Fortunate and Unfortunate People?
- Why Are Some People Created "More Equal" Than Others?
- Are the Manner And Time of Death Predetermined?
- Why Are Whole Nations no Longer Punished?
- What is Death?
- What About the Angel of Death?
- What Do We Feel At the Time of Death?
- Should We Fear Death?
- The Happens to the Spirit in the Intermediate World?
- Why Does One Creature's Life Depend on the Death of Another?
- Can Our Intention Save Us?
- What is the Sunna's Role Today?
- Why is Atheism So Widespread?
- What is Jihad?
- Are Muslims Guilty of Imperialism?
- Is Reincarnation Compatible With Islam?