5.22 Mercy of Allah

8/6/2019 5.22 Mercy of Allah

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TheSwod o I ntelecB ook - 5

Mecy o Allah sw.t

Mohammed Fareeduddin Siddique

Book Number: 5

Document number: 5.22

Dated Updated: 28th May 2004.


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[ of s.w.t]Mercy Allah ________________________________________________________________________

Page 2 of 8______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________DISCLAIMER: This document in not intended to hurt any sects religious, emotional feelings. Any thing that is written by a human being is susceptible to errors (like the presentday Bible). If there is any truth in this paper, then it is from Allh [ ] forgive me for my human / typo errors. I] ], the typo errors (if any) are from myself, Allhcan be contacted at mailto:[email protected]. I will be happy to clarify any doubts from my Christian friends in particular and all others in general. Fareed Siddique

Mr. Know-it-all now has a question to God even. The term Mercy of God Almighty is grosslymisunderstood to be Mercy even if you commit a heinous crime. Our questioner asks us howmerciful Allah s.w.t is. One thing to note here is Allah s.w.t being merciful does not impliesthat he has lack of wisdom or lack of judgment.

Mr. Know-it-all has summarized his questions thus:

He has prescribed mercy for himself [6:12], yet he does not guide some, even though hecould [6:35, 14:4].

The basic theme ofMr. Know-it-all question is that at one place, the Qur'an says:

He [Allah] has inscribed [prescribed] for himself (the rule of) mercy.

According to Mr. Know-it-all, if God really is as merciful as the Qur'an says then He shouldhave guided all of mankind to the right path and thereby allowed them the everlasting bliss ofthe life of Paradise. But, the Qur'an says that this is not the case. It says that even thoughAllah could have guided all of mankind to the path of His liking, but He still did it not:

... If it were Allah's will, He could gather them together unto true guidance. ...

Instead, the Qur'an says that, rather than guiding all of mankind to the right path, He guidedwhom He pleased and the rest He led astray, as is clear from one of the verses of the Qur'anwhich reads as:

Allah leads astray whom he pleases, and he guides whom He pleases, ...

Mr. Know-it-all writes:

If it is Allah's will that some perish, if it is his will that some are not guided as 6:35 clearlysays, how can ayah 12 of the same Sura be true, that He has prescribed mercy for Himself?Is it merciful to lead astray...?

In the article that follows, I shall try to briefly present my point of view regarding the versesand the concepts that Mr. Know-it-all seems to have misunderstood, because of which hebelieves that the referred verses contradict each other.

Every Surah of Quran [Spare 1] starts with the words In the name of Allah the most mercifulthe Most beneficent Let us list out all the verses in question before we proceed ahead.

006.012: Say: "To whom belongeth all that is in the heavens and on earth?" Say:"To Allah.He hath inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy. That He will gather you together for the Dayof Judgment, there is no doubt whatever. It is they who have lost their own souls, that will notbelieve.

006.035: If their spurning is hard on thy mind, yet if thou wert able to seek a tunnel in theground or a ladder to the skies and bring them a sign,- (what good?). If it were Allah's will, Hecould gather them together unto true guidance: so be not thou amongst those who are

swayed by ignorance (and impatience)!


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014.003: Those who love the life of this world more than the Hereafter, who hinder (men)from the Path of Allah and seek therein something crooked: they are astray by a longdistance. 004 We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own)people, in order to make (things) clear to them. Now Allah leaves straying those whom Hepleases and guides whom He pleases: and He is Exalted in power, full of Wisdom.

The basic questions are from two surahs of Quran Al Ana am 06 and Surah Ibrahim 014These are the three verses on the basis of which Mr. Know-it-all has pointed out the saidcontradiction in the Qur'an. These three verses, as is quite obvious, deal with two separatephenomena. One is the obvious corollary of Allah's Mercy (the first verse), and the other isthe wisdom behind the Allah's law regarding guidance of the human soul in the life of thisworld (the second and the third verse). Now, obviously, being merciful does not automaticallyimply lack of wisdom. What it does imply is that the wisdom should not negate mercy in

anyway. As shall be seen in the following paragraphs, the two [i.e. wisdom and mercy] gohand in hand, and are in no way mutually exclusive or contradictory.

Allahs s.w.t Mercy as said by the Qur'an:

The Qur'an says that God is Most Merciful. He is Rahmaanand Raheem. Rahmaanmeansthat the extent of His Mercy is beyond our comprehension. He is infinitely Merciful. WhileRaheem means that this level of His Mercy extends forever, it shall never reduce.

According to the Qur'an, some of the signs of God's Mercy are that:

His Providence and His blessings in the life of this world are not limited to those who submit

to His commands. He is the Provider for everyone, whether a person is faithful to Him orwhether he rejects His call.

He does not punish the sinners for their sins immediately He gives them respite and time tocorrect their behavior;

When a sinner turns to Him and asks His forgiveness with an honest heart and a sincereresolve to correction, He not only forgives his sins but also converts his bad deeds into goodones.

When a person calls Him with a sincere and an honest heart and asks for His guidance, He

opens the doors of His guidance for such a person.

He does not put a man in such a situation where he is forced to lose his faith in Him;

He does not hold man responsible for something that is against the commands of Allah, ifman is forced to do such evil by external conditions [Like in Abu Gharib prisons].

He does not hold man responsible for something that is against the commands of Allah, ifsuch evil is done in ignorance.

He sent His prophets and messengers for man's guidance to the path of His liking.

He rewards man for his intention of doing good, even though man is not able to carry out hisintention.


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I am sure if a person looks at and around himself, he shall find innumerable items that are asign of God's infinite Mercy. If our eyes see and our ears hear and our touch feels, and ourtongue tastes and our hearts beat, it is only because of His infinite Mercy. He has providedeverything that was not only essential for our subsistence on this earth but also that whichmakes our stay on the earth comfortable and enjoyable. He has filled the heart of parentswith the love that a child needs. He has provided water with the quality to quench the thirst ofa dry mouth. And He has bestowed trees with the cool shadow to provide the wayfarer arespite from the burning sun. He has given us our senses, He has bestowed on us thefaculty of reason and, most of all, He has given us this life; A life which we never want to letgo.

The Qur'an also tells us that one of the obvious corollaries of God's Mercy is justice. Thus,the Day of Judgment; the day on which good and evil shall be separated and shall be given

their respective rewards; according to the Qur'an is an essential requirement of God's infiniteMercy.

The Law of Guidance of the Human Soul:

The first part of the law of guidance of the human soul pertains to the freedom of choice thatGod has given man in a particular sphere. The Qur'an tells us that the life of this world is atest. Man is given this life and is bestowed with all the good things in life not because heearned these good things, but to be tested as to how he uses these things. The good timesand the bad times in this life are generally distributed among individuals not as a reward or apunishment for their deeds, but to test them regarding whether they are thankful when given

good times and whether they remain steadfast in the way of their Lord, when given badtimes. The Qur'an tells us that for the purpose of this test man was given freedom to choosein a particular sphere -- especially the sphere in which he was being tested. Thus, man may,if he chooses, turn away from the right path or he may submit to its demands. God Himselfgave man this freedom.

If God had so wanted, He could have made all men follow the right path. But that wouldeffectively have meant that man was not given any freedom to choose. And without thisfreedom the human soul could not have been tested. In such a case, all men would havebeen good, not by choice but by default. Reward or punishment would then have becomemeaningless. Thus, even though God could have guided all men to the right path, He did it

not, so that man could be tested effectively and so that his good and bad deeds be trulycalled his own and so that he be rewarded for opting for the good and punished for opting forthe evil. This is exactly what the following verse means:

Had God pleased, He would have guided them all [to the right path].... (Al-An`aam 6: 35)

The second part of the law of guidance of the human soul is that God opens His doors forguidance only to those who prove themselves deserving of this favor. If man honestlysearches for the truth, God shall guide Him to the right path. But if man is wary of the truth,God shall only increase his hatred for the good. This law of guidance of the human soul hasbeen explained by Dr. Khalid Zaheer, in one of his articles titled "The Qur'anic Law of

Guidance", in the following words:


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According to the details available in the Qur'an on the nature of the law, each individual whohas been put through the test of this worldly life has been provided with adequate abilities todistinguish right from wrong, truth from untruth. However, since the this-worldly part of man'slife was meant to be only a trial in God Almighty's plan to decide as to who from amongst thehuman beings are going to be found deserving the privilege of entry into al-Jannah and whoare not, wrong and untruth were allowed to be shrouded under tempting, attractiveappearances.

Thus, to tell a lie in many worldly situations accompanies some immediate material gains,while to tell a truth, it requires the truthful to make sacrifices in doing so. However, those whoare declining to follow the right behavior for worldly gains have been provided with enoughabilities to know from within their souls that what they are doing is in fact hideous. Therefore,an individual's act of lying, for example, may bring some immediate worldly benefits for him

on the one hand, but would also be accompanied by a feeling of guilt in his conscience onthe other. This voice of the conscience continues to condemn if the individual continues todefy its verdicts, although each subsequent stroke of conscience-pricking if ignored is likelyto be less pronounced than the earlier ones.

In other words, the facility of self-correction from within is not available to individualsunconditionally and endlessly. If the voice of the conscience is valued by the individualthrough his positive responses to its calls, it grows in strength. If it is ignored, it gets weakeruntil such time that it finally disappears into extinction.

Likewise, if an individual demonstrates his willingness to respond to the calls of his

conscience, no matter what the consequences, and as a result even when he commits acrime against its verdict, he earnestly regrets and corrects himself, this inner facility not onlysurvives but grows from strength to strength. For such people the path of truth andrighteousness is not only familiar but extremely pleasing. Thus, whenever the ultimate truthin the form of the message of a prophet of Allah approaches them, they find no hesitation inrecognizing and acknowledging it. They, in fact, find it so familiar that they do not notice anyvariance between their inner conscience and the contents of the message. Accordingly, themessage appears to them most convincing and appealing.

Thus when Allah's message is presented before individuals, their responses are in directcorrelation with the state of their conscience. There are some who give an immediately

positive response. Such are the people who had preserved the sanctity of their conscienceby always respecting the truth and nobility. Since they were always accustomed toacknowledging and respecting the truth, when the clearest manifestation of truth is presentedto them, it is no wonder that they unhesitatingly incline towards it. It is an inviolable law whichis enforced through subtle manipulations in the human feelings ultimately affecting thebehavioral pattern of individuals.

The application of the positive aspect of the law in an individual not only helps him inrealizing the veracity of the truth, it furthermore leads him to the higher levels of achievementof it. Thus their life in this world is a spiritual journey made easier (tayseer) enabling them to

be taken from the darkness of relative untruth towards the ever-brightening light of truth.But for those who have been consistently ignoring the truth in its different manifestations,they do not get the privilege of welcoming the message of Allah, the highest level of truth. It


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is as if when a student fails at a lower grade examination, he cannot be expected to make itto success at a higher one. They are not only deprived of acknowledging the truth, but arefurthermore allowed to plunge into the ever-deepening darkness of ignorance (imhaal).

However, it seems that not every one belongs to the category of people who possess thehighest level of nobility of heart. There are many others who despite having duly respectedverdicts of their conscience on many occasions, did show a tendency of going on the wrongside as well to fall into the trap of doing acts that were not acceptable to the conscience.Thus their inner souls are not as unmistakably clean as of those belonging to the firstcategory. At the time when they are confronted with the message of truth, they are not asimmediately clear about its veracity as is the case of those belonging to the first category.They might, therefore, hesitate, to begin with, in accepting it, even to the extent of apparentlydenying it.

However, on later reconsideration, they realize that their earlier decision was incorrect. Thusthey too ultimately get the privilege of acknowledging and valuing the truth. The Qur'an says," And there are others who have confessed their faults. They mixed good works with othersthat are evil. It may be that Allah will turn to them with compassion. Surely Allah is MostForgiving, Merciful.(9:102)

As for those who have lost the true sifting ability of their souls as a consequence of theirpersistently wrong behavior, since their inner realization has perished, they do not findthemselves able to appreciate the purity of the message that comes from Allah. The Qur'anmentions the description of a group of such people belonging to the tribe of Quraish thus:

"So comply not with the wishes of those who reject (the Truth). They wish that you shouldcompromise so that they may also compromise. Do not pay heed to any mean swearer,backbiter, one who goes about slandering, forbidder of good, transgressor, sinful, crude, andabove all mean and infamous. Only because he possesses riches and children. When Oursigns are recited before him, he says 'Tales of the ancient.'"(68:8-15)

On another occasion it is mentioned thus: "Ah the woe that day for those who deny, who callthe day of judgement a lie! None denies it but the wicked, the transgressor. When Ourrevelations are recited before him, he says: 'Fables of long ago.' No. In fact what they havebeen doing has rusted their hearts." (83:10-14) Even if people belonging to this category

apparently accept the truth, it is only for worldly benefits and not for genuine consideration ofacknowledging the voice of the truth. The Qur'an says, "When the hypocrites come to you,they say, 'We confirm that you are the messenger of Allah.' Allah indeed knows you are Hismessenger. Allah bears witness that hypocrites are indeed liars. They have made their oathsa shield, thus they obstruct others from the way of Allah. It is certainly evil what they do. Thatis because they came to believe, and then disbelievd, so their hearts were sealed and nowthey do not understand." (63:1-3)

Those who deny the message of the prophets, they still get the opportunity from God toconsider accepting it for a while. On persistent denial, however, the inner conscience beginsto lose its God-given ability and when their intransigence goes beyond a certain divinely

established limit, the inner damage is rendered irreparable. It is an inflexible aspect of thelaw of guidance in the case of such people that, as the Qur'an informs us, Allah seals theirhearts, their ears and their eyes, such that they do not get any further opportunity from Him


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of acknowledging the truth. All attempts to bring them close to faith fail, because the innerability that could enable them to acquire it has disappeared for ever. As a consequence theQur'an informs us that Allah has, "... raised a barrier in front of them and a barrier behindthem, and have covered them over so that they are not able to see (the truth). Whether youwarn them or do not warn them, it is all the same; they will not believe."(36:9-10) They aredescribed by the Qur'an as worse than beasts (7:179, 25:44, and 8:22) since they haveallowed themselves to remain deaf, dumb and blind to the ultimate truth despite beingblessed with such faculties which, if they were properly used, could have lead them toappreciating it.

This is the basic outline of the law of guidance of the human soul. God gives guidance toman or leads him astray on the basis of this law. No one, even if he be a prophet of God, caninfluence Him in the implementation of this law. This is exactly what the verses, like the third

cited verse (Ibra'heem 14: 4) mean.

In the particular environment in which the Qur'an was revealed there were at least twogroups who believed that they were the chosen one's of God. One were the Bani-Israil -- theJews -- and the other were the leaders of Quraish. Both these classes of people tried toconvince their followers by saying that if Mohammad (pbuh)'s message was really a blessingof God, and then no one could have surpassed them in accepting it.

If God had chosen them to be the leaders over others during the past many centuries, thenhow anyone could; especially the poor and the homeless; surpass them in this case. It isprimarily as a reply to such idiosyncrasies of the two groups that the Qur'an has stressed that

no one has a monopoly over God's guidance. God guides and leads people astray,according to His own laws, and in the implementation of His laws, no one can have anyinfluence on Him. He cannot, in anyway be bound by the likings of others. He is completelyfree in this implementation and does exactly how He pleases. It is to signify this fact thatthese verses in a number of instances are followed by the following attributes of God:

Waasiànd àleem, (as in A'l Imraan 3: 73) meaning "Liberal" or "One whose mercy is notlimited" or "Munificent" and "All Knowing" or "Omniscient"

zul-fadhl al-àzeem, (as in A'l Imraan 3: 74) meaning "One with infinite or abounding grace";

àleem and Hakeem, (as in Al-Insaan 76: 30) meaning "All Knowing" or "Omniscient" and "AllWise"; and

àzeez and Hakeem, (as in Ibra'heem 14: 4) meaning "Mighty" and "All Wise".

The first set of attributes at the end of such a verse signifies that God's mercy is not limited toa particular people [as the Jews and the leaders of the Quraish would like it to be]. He is AllKnowing, He guides whom He, according to His absolute Knowledge, knows to be deservingof this favor. The second attribute at the end of such a verse signifies the same meaning as"Waasi`". The third set of attributes at the end of such verses signifies that God knows who isdeserving of His favors and that all His laws and decisions are based on infinite wisdom.

While the fourth set of attributes at the end of such verses signifies that God is absolutelyindependent of any influence in the implementation of His laws. He is the Mighty. And all Hislaws and decisions are based on infinite wisdom.


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Page 8 of 8______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________DISCLAIMER: This document in not intended to hurt any sects religious, emotional feelings. Any thing that is written by a human being is susceptible to errors (like the presentday Bible). If there is any truth in this paper, then it is from Allh [ ] forgive me for my human / typo errors. I] ], the typo errors (if any) are from myself, Allhcan be contacted at mailto:author@fareedsiddiquecomI will be happy to clarify any doubts from my Christian friends in particular and all others in general Fareed Siddique

In the light of the explanation given above, we can say that the contradiction pointed out byMr. Know-it-all is actually based on an incorrect understanding of the cited verses. Becausethese verses relate to separate phenomena, therefore there does not arise the question ofany contradiction(s) whatsoever ourMr. Know-it-all has posed.

When we know well that God Almighty Is the most merciful, why you Mr. Know-it-all and yourfellow Christians do not revert to Allah s.w.t as good Muslims?O my Learned Christian readers and Mr. Know-it-all, do you really want shirk of Saul ofTarsus in your lives? Would you take man-made lies instead of truth in your lives? Do youhave any sense of reason? Do they have any thinking-heads? Does God stop you fromthinking reasonably? Or would you like to regret in the hereafter.

They will say, "If only we had really listened and used our intellect, we would not have been

Companions of the Blaze." (Noble Quran, Surat al-Mulk: 10) or would the followers of St.Paul like to regret!

O Mr. Know-it-all!Respond to your Lord before a Day comes from Allah [],which cannot be turned back. On that Day you will have no hiding-place and no means ofdenial. (Noble Quran, Surat ash-Shura: 47)

I invite you, O my Christian readers, to use your intellect and be a true believer, a truthfulsubmitter to your God Allah ]. May Allah] [] bestow upon you his mercyand help you understand the fallacies of the Christian Pauline religion of Saul ofTarus...Ameen, ya Rabbiziljalaal.

Allah [] makes it very evident for you "W e shall show them Our signs on thehorizons and within themselves until it will become clear to them that it is the Truth. Does itnot suffice that your Lord is Witness over all things?" The noble Qur'an, Fussilat (41):53.

"Verily! this Qur'an guides to that which is most upright, and gives glad tidings to thebelievers who work deeds of righteousness that theirs will be a great reward" The nobleQur'an, Al-Isra (17):9Sadakhallah alazeem.

Color codes in this document: Red italicsare the words of the present day bible KJV / RSV.

Blue italicsare the Holy verses of Quran Al-Kareem, Translations by Yousuf Ali / M. Pickthal.Normal blacks are my words, bolded emphases are added from my side. In this paper I amreferring the name of the Author of the Anti-Muslim web sites as Mr. Know-it-all for the solepurpose of ease of my readers understanding.

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5.22 Mercy of Allah