What is the Quranic perspective about the People of the Book?

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The Quran, like many other eloquent speeches, have organized its words on the basis of their audience’s needs. In this connection, the personality, conducts, belief etc. of the audience have been taken into consideration.

The Holy Quran has addressed the People of the Book in the same manner. Hence, the verses regarding them have different literatures depending on the type of the audience and the occasion in which the verses have been revealed.

Now, in order for us to draw out a general rule from those verses, we must examine all the verses. The details and conclusions can be read in the detailed answer

What is the meaning of God’s devising?

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[dropcap]I[/dropcap]mam Rida (AS) was asked about the attribution of deceit and ridicule to Allah, which the Quran has mentioned, his excellency replied: “Allah Almighty neither ridicules nor deceives or devises against anyone; what He does is requite ridicule, devising and deceit.”[1]

Therefore, Allah devises against those who devise against Him, and this is nothing but a proportionate retribution of their own act. This devising has different degrees that one should never feel secure from[2], the reason being that the self is very deceitful.

For example, when performing certain religious acts, one might become proud of himself and see himself as better and higher than others, and wants to use these acts to attract others and hunt them. By this, he thinks he has deceived Allah, while Allah lets him do what he wants and doesn’t get in the way using different causes and doesn’t wake him from his sleep of ignorance. In reality, what has happened is that Allah has retaliated for this individual’s devising with His (God’s) own devising. This makes Allah’s devising a good one, because it is the retribution for devising, while man’s devising is the opposite and is rooted in his wretchedness.

So, it is actually one’s own devising that is hitting him, and this is what is meant by the devising of Allah.

Some sages, have drawn an analogy between Allah’s acts in response to man and the sun; the sun shines on everyone the same, but if an object obstructs the sunlight, a shadow will be made. Now if this object is straight or crooked, the resulting shadow will be the same. One’s ego is like a dark object that stands in the way of the light of Allah and causes darkness (such as chastisement, etc.). But if there is no egoism, it means that there will be no object in the way of the light and Allah’s light and mercy will encompass the individual. This is how Allah is with His pure servants and Satan has nothing to do with them. The more complex and complicated the hypocrite and deceitful person acts in his devising, the more Allah’s devising will be complicated (the same way it goes for the shadow; the more crooked the object, the more crooked the shadow), and as was said, it is the person who is the cause and no other, the same way the cause for the shadow was the object and not the sun, and of course, this is if there is a sun; if there was no sun, there would be no light and no darkness at all.

whats the five qualities of the Imam according to Quranic ayahs?

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[dropcap]S[/dropcap]ubsequent to mentioning the story of rescuing Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Lut and granting Ibrahim (as) righteous children,[1] the Quran reflects on the imamah and leadership of this great Prophet and a number of values, plans and qualities pertaining to this divine position: “And we made them leaders, guiding (mankind) by our command, and we inspired in them the doing of good deeds, performing salat, and the giving of zakat and of us (alone) they were worshippers.”[2]

The above ayah indicates that the five qualities of the imam are as follows:

1. Calling the people to God.

2. Aspiring to do good and righteous deeds.

3. Upholding the ritual of prayer (salat).

4. Giving of zakat (charity).

5. Only worshipping Allah.

Precisely speaking, imamah is the manifestation and fulfillment of all divine plans, in other words, it is the implementation of takwini (generative) and tashri’i (legislative) guidance, which can be portrayed as the sun, that cultivates each and every living creature with its light.

The first quality of the imam is that: he guides the people to our noble cause (یهدون بامرنا), not only does he direct them to the right path; he actually walks those worthy through the path all the way to the final destination.[3]

The second, third and fourth endowment and quality of the imam is that we inspired in them the doing of good, performance of prayer and giving of zakat (و اوحینا الیهم فعل الخیرات و اقام الصلوة و ایتاء الزکاة).

This type of revelation can be a matter of tashri’i revelation, meaning that we included a variety of good deeds, the act of prayer and zakat in their religious doctrine, or it can be a matter of takwini revelation, indicating that we granted them the tawfiq (i.e., the opportunity), ability and strength to perform such things.

And in the fifth and last phrase, the Quran reflects on their obedience, saying: And of us (alone) they were worshippers (و کانوا لنا عابدین).[4]

Additionally, the expression (کانوا), that which implies continuance and persistence on this particular matter, suggests that they were pious and righteous believers prior to becoming prophets or imams and that it was for this very dedication to the divine that prepared them for new blessings from God.[5]
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[1] Anbiya’:71 and 72.

[2] “و جعلناهم ائمة یهدون بامرنا و اوصینا الیهم فعل الخیرات و اقام الصلوة و ایتاء الزکوة و کانوا لنا عابدین” Anbiya’:73.

[3] Makarem Shirazi, Naser, Tafsir Nemouneh, vol. 13, pg. 455, with some alteration.

[4] Ibid, pg. 456, with slight alteration.

[5] For further reading, see: Tafsir Nemouneh, vol. 13, pp. 451-157; Pasdare Eslam‌ Magazine, no. 298, Sept. 2006, pg. 10, article on the imams and leaders of guidance.

Is Imam Ali capable of reviving the dead?

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[dropcap]D[/dropcap]Asserting that someone can independently do so without God’s assistance is in absolute contradiction with tawhid af’ali (oneness in action), for death and life is solely in God’s hand.

However, if one were to carry out this act with God’s consent, it would then be considered probable and possible.

As stated in the Quran, God mentions Jesus (A.S.) saying: “I can make see thee who has been born blind and I can cure leprosy and with God’s will, revive the dead.”

In keeping with the above, not a single Muslim should doubt the occurrence of such a matter.

And since the Prophet of Islam, being the seal of Prophets, consists of a higher position and closer stance to Allah in relation to other Prophets including Prophet Jesus and in light of the Quran stating that Ali is the Prophet’s nafs (self), why would it seem improbable for the Prophet (sa) and Ali (as) to do what Prophet Jesus (as) did?

What is the definition of “Muslim” according to the Quran?

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[dropcap]A[/dropcap]ccording to the Quran a Muslim is one who has absolutely surrendered to Allah and his commands and believes in pure Tawhid (the oneness of God) that isn’t tainted with any Shirk and this is why the Almighty has introduced Prophet Abraham as a true Muslim in the Quran.

According to the Quran the true religion is Islam (surrender) (ان الدین عندالله الاسلام) and therefore all who have accepted religions of their time and have obeyed it’s commands are considered Muslims.

All of those who embraced the holy religion of their time are called Muslims by the Quran, meaning that Jews and Christians were Muslims until they had to change to the new religion which was Islam, because they had surrendered to Allah and if they were named Christians and Jews it was only because their prophets were different not that they had not surrendered to Allah.

It is obvious that today the term Muslim is used only for those who embrace the religion of Prophet Mohammad, because they have shown their surrender to Allah through believing in Islam and obeying his commands. According to this definition today people of other religions are not considered Muslims because they have actually rejected surrendering to Allah through turning away from the new religion (Islam) that was sent down for them and they are no longer considered Muslims.

It must be noted that a true Muslim is one who not only believes in Islam but actually practices it in his life. So not only should Muslims submit to the one God and believe in the prophets but they should also act according to Islam’s social teachings like respecting other people’s rights in society and it’s teachings that relate to one’s personal life like fasting and praying. In the Quran a true Muslim is (usually) referred to by the term “Mu’min”.

Can God bring into existence a stone so large that he himself is not able to lift?

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[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of the attributes of God is his unlimited and boundless power and omnipotence. This question has been asked and answered in fields such as philosophy and scholastic theology. It has also been explained multiple times in the Holy Quran. Yet, this belief in the unlimited power of God has brought up, since ancient times, certain issues and questions. One of these, is this very same question which is being asked now. This question has been asked in different forms and arrangements; yet the essence of the question still remains the same and probes the mystery of absolute divine power.

In order to answer this question, we must first explore the various types of impossibilities. Impossibilities, from one angle, can be divided into two sections. These are: 1. Logical impossibilities, and 2. Regular impossibilities.

Then, logical impossibilities are themselves divided into 2 sections, which are: A- Things impossible in their essence: These are matters which are impossible in their essence, without having to even come into existence in order to show their impossibility, for example, the co-existence of two contradictions. B- Things which aren’t impossible in their essence, but their coming about necessitates something which is impossible in its essence (impossibilities in occurrence). For example, the existence of an effect without having a cause.

Ordinary impossibilities are matters, which are impossible according to natural laws, but they are not impossible logically. For example, the miraculous changing of a staff into a serpent or the curing of the sick without medicine, or various other miracles. None of these are impossible logically, but it is our ignorance about their causes which makes us count them as practical impossibilities.

The power of God, as well as the power which people possess, is related to all things which are possible, while impossibilities are essentially outside of this circle of possibility. Therefore, in answering this question of whether God can create such a rock, which he cannot lift, it must be said that however great someone’s power may be, whether it is a lot or a little, and whether it is finite or infinite, it is a matter which relates to the world of possibilities (regular impossibilities being part of them) and not to impossibilities (the logical impossibilities).

Here, it may be said that if this is the case, then the power of God has become limited or finite and cannot be considered as infinite and limitless. In answering this question, we must keep in mind that God not being able to do an impossibility (in essence or in occurence) does not count as bringing any sort of limitation on the threshold of divine power. This is because these sorts of actions are in essence impossible to enact and don’t bear the potential to come into being. To summarize, these are things which are self limiting, in and of themselves; they are beyond being able to be done or not; power to do them or not isn’t even applicable to them and this is because of the deficiency they have in their own essences.

Imam Ali (a) was asked a similar question when someone said: “Can your God put the whole world into an egg, without making the world smaller or making the egg larger?” Imam (a) answered: “Weakness or inability are not characteristics which can be attributed to God, but what you have asked is something which is not possible to come into existence (it does not have the possibility of existence).”