"I Cannot Envisage A Frightening God"

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 11 May 2024 "People are also free to leave their religion, and many do, but there is really no escape from their reckoning with Allah on the Day of Judgment. " "Hell is inevitable for the rebellious rejecters of Allah's Deen." When Allah is projected as Rahim in the Quran, having the love of 70 mothers in its (not his/her) heart, does it stand to reason that the same compassionate Allah will roast you in hellfire if you decide to defy it? This is vindictive and typical of humans who're innately vengeful and congenitally retaliatory. Isn't it blasphemous even to think of this villainous and venomous facet of Allah? Semitic religions, esp. Islam, have stretched their respective gods to paradoxical extremes; capable of extreme love and also capable of extreme and earth-shattering wrath. This is human imposition. Sigmund Freud believed that Fear and Sex are the two primordial instincts in all humans. Humans have always been guided by these two basic instincts which went into the concoction of all faiths and gods. All religions condemn sex and instil fear into the hearts of their followers. When Allah is Nirguna (beyond attributes) and Niraakaar (formless), how can it be angry with those who deny and defy it? Rumi said in one of last couplets written in Tazaki, "Jasid Figyar Esta Bin Za' Def Kada Nif Ena Mehaf" (I cannot envisage a frightening god however hard you may try to convince). In fact, it's an attempt to convince the gullible that god will throw them into hellfire. It may be your imagination. God, if at all it does exist, is not as sadistic as humans are and because humans are sadistic, they project god as a sadistic being. All said and done, let me quote my favourite Ayan Hirsi Ali, "Who doesn't exist, can be projected in myriad ways." Since god doesn't exist, you can call him the most compassionate and also full of ire. "Jiski Zaat Se Main Inkaar Karta Raha/ Woh Raheem Ho Ya Beraham Mujhe Kya" (Whose existence I always denied/ Whether he is merciful or ruthless why should I care?). Lastly, it's really a matter of pity that humans, right from the beginning, have wasted so much time and energy on deciding and decoding the attributes of something or someone that still remains and will continue to remain in the domain of wild imaginations and speculations. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/envisage-frightening-god/d/132297 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism