Dr. Warren Larson Lecture: Folk Islam on God
Dr. Warren Larson delivered a lecture on Folk Islam on God during a CIU course. Here, Larson presents the Folk Islamic views of God, with elevated characteristics found among Folk Islam on God’s character and how Jesus fulfilled these attributes, too.
Here starts the auto-generated transcription of Dr. Warren Larson Lecture: Folk Islam on God.
In lecture 15, we start, the second, major unit, and it has to do with beings. And, we’re gonna be using the Quran again some, maybe more in the beginning, but we’re not gonna use it all the time. It is good to, keep in mind though, isn’t it, that, you know, that, the Quran lends itself to the course, to the spirit world of Islam. It’s not just orthodox Islam that the Quran is good for. It is, useful for this course as well.
And so I will be using the Quran some as we go along. And, it will seem like we are repeating some things. There are there is some repetition here, but I think that’s, that’s good and, we I think the difference is that we’re going to be going into more depth on some of these issues On this lecture, lecture 15, we begin with the the the main area of spirits, which is, of course, a being, and, we start with God. That’s that’s makes sense, doesn’t it? Now we’ve talked about God before, haven’t we?
And, let me just, briefly talk about his 99 names. That, of course, there you have seen before, I think, in previous, lectures, the 99 names of God, which, hangs on the wall of many Muslim homes, and I have seen even on Christian in Christian homes, admittedly, the ones I saw it in were not didn’t seem to be genuinely born again or, so on. I I don’t know what the purpose was. But, Allah, they’re right in the middle in, then the 99 names of God. Now, these 99 names are are are basically, you know, they’re for the most part, I think they’re good names.
We can’t, dispute that. But interestingly enough, 40 of the names have to do with his power, and that tells you quite a bit right there, doesn’t it? Forty of those 99 names seem to deal with his power. 5 have to do with, he the fact that he is creator, which, you know, this is true in Christianity too. God is creator.
He is, he is powerful. 6 or 7 of them have to do with his unity, his absolute being, and let’s not forget that quite a few of them have to do with his mercy and his generosity. In other words, you know, he is merciful and compassionate, and that comes from the same root, Rahim or Rahman, which is pretty good name names for God. But interestingly enough, one of his names is all loving. And, some people who claim to be authorities on Islam deny this.
At least you’ll hear people speaking about the fact or that what they think is a fact that God is not at all loving in Islam and, but but but one of those 99 names is Al Vadud. Verse 11 chapter 11 and verse 90, for example, says, but ask forgiveness of your lord and turn unto him in repentance: for my Lord is indeed full of mercy and lovingkindness, and that’s the word al wadu. There is another reference too we could refer to, but that’s enough. He is avenging, and there are 5, that have to do with that. We will look we’ve already looked a little bit at at some of them, I think, if I’m not mistaken, but not sure.
But, in any event, 5 of them have to do with you could a loose translation would be avenging. We have to be careful, though, if we say that, that proves that, you know, God in Islam is, menacing and out to get us, because we do remember that some of the names of God in the Bible reveal his judgment as well. For example, that God is in a is a, he is a fire, all consuming fire or stuff like that. So in other words, let’s be careful, how we and and interestingly enough too, one of them is al kadus, holiness, 59 and verse 23, but it is not a very important issue, in other words, in the Quran, when we in other words, holiness in the Quran is not a big deal like it is in the Bible. Remember, you’ve got books like Leviticus who are, full of that concept, and and one of the only one of the 99 names of god is Al Caduce, holiness, holy.
Powerful, we’ve talked about, before that, al Qahar 13 and 16. Read that before, perhaps, but just at the end of the verse, it’s a long, long verse, it says the one supreme and irresistible, Al Qahar, and that is the one we’ve said before that is sometimes used to harm others. Irresistible. Or, yeah, a destroyer is sometimes used in a in a in a bad sense to cause harm to others. Now some of the names, and we’ll go over these quickly, we won’t spend a whole lot of time in them, are very, very good names.
And this chart, I couldn’t, put it up on the PowerPoint because of copyright, laws. But the point of the chart is, in these 99 names of God, that Jesus fulfills every one of those 99 names, and I have chosen just a few of them to illustrate what it means. Ar Rahman, the one who shows mercy, in the Quran, every surah, every chapter in the Quran except one begins with this Bismid Al Amaun Raheem, in the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, the one who shows mercy. And, Jesus. Of him, it is said in Hebrews 217 that, he had to be made like his brothers in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God.
Ar Rahim, the one who is compassionate, again, remember Matthew 9:36 where Jesus looked at the crowds. They were harassed and helpless, and he was moved with compassion. Would that we, when we look at Muslims today, in all of their conflicts, confusion, we would be moved with compassion as well. They’re often in an uproar. Conditions are chaotic.
Rage is just under the surface, and it explodes. What are we going to think? I mean, how are we going to respond? Well, how does God think about them? He, of course, is angry with sin every day.
He’s angry with the violence and, and so on, but he’s also Jesus looks at them and realizes that they are harassed and helpless. Think of the fact that, I think 60% of the world’s poor are Muslim, and most of the mus the refugees in the world are are Muslim. You think these refugee camps, whether you’re in the Sudan or, Palestinians or, refugees from Afghanistan, wherever you go, refugee camps, and now from Syria flocking into Turkey and Lebanon and Jordan. They’re Muslim, and so would that God would, touch us too. Al Qaduz, we’ve already talked about that.
Jesus, of him it was said, you we know, we believe and know that you are the holy one of God. You you do remember that, in the Quran Jesus is spoken of as a holy child, but Mohammed is not. Of course, it said this is said too of Yahya, John the Baptist, but it’s not said of Mohammed. So he is he is, here’s another one too. It’s, I should back up a bit.
It is, Salam, the peace, You know, God that’s one of his names and and, of course, Muslims say that is so common and it’s a good greeting, but there is no peace, is there, to the wicked? The way of peace, they have not known. The only one that can bring peace to this troubled world is the prince of peace, and so we preach him. That’s the gospel. It says that, God reconciled all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross, Colossians 1 19 or 20, whatever translation you use.
Al elim, the omniscient one, is another one. And the Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Isn’t it great to be on the side of, the Christ in whom are hidden all the wisdom the, treasures of wisdom and knowledge? We won’t talk about all of them. Number 29 is Al Agal, the just and righteous one.
You disown the holy and righteous one and ask the murderer be released to you. This is what, the, the bible tells us. And, Al Halim, That’s a good name for God, the meek and lowly one in Surah 222225. And of Jesus, it says in Philippians, who had been in the very nature of God, thought it not possible to be equal with God, but made himself nothing, taking on the nature of a servant being made in the likeness of a man. He was humble.
Let us be the same. And, Al Wadud, we’ve already talked about that one, but Christ, God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Al Haqq, number 51, the true and genuine one. Haqq is a good name. It’s a very common name too in the Muslim world.
They, you know, Zia ul Haqq, who was the general and self appointed president in Pakistan in 19, I guess, 70 9, I guess, he came into power, took over. He promised to stay there on in the job for 11 days. He stayed for 11 years until he was killed mysteriously on August 17th, my birthday, 1988. Well, Al Haqq, the true and genuine one, and Jesus, of course, said I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father.
You know, Al Haqq, he is the one, and that’s a great verse to use for Muslims because Jesus is the only way. There is no other way, but through Christ. Lots of names, Al Majid 65, it’s not bold in there, but this is the grand and glorious one and notice that often Muslims, when they refer to the Quran, it’s, Majid al Quran, the glorious Quran. Really, there’s only one who’s glorious, and that’s Jesus. Remember, he said, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Alwad Wawhid is, the one that Muslims use for the oneness, uniqueness of God, and of Jesus, it said the unique and holy one, he said I, the Father, I, and the Father are 1. We believe in the oneness of God. Lots of other names too. Number 83 is Arauf, the kind and friendly one. You know, these names are great names.
I have a book. It’s called the 99 names of, Allah by, David Bentley. Great book, to use, give to Muslims, and also possibly to, if they’re willing to do it, to sit down with them and, talk to them about this subject we’re on right now, and how Jesus, fulfills this, the Bible says about Jesus. Muslims, you know, they they respect him and they love him, but he’s a shadow in a sense. They don’t know all of his majesty and glory and so, we have a message to give to them with understanding.
Here’s another one, Anur, he’s the light. God is the light, and, it comes right out of the Quran, Surah 24 verse 35, and Jesus said I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness. What a great verse. Those 7 declarations of Christ in the Quran, the light of the world, the bread of life, and so on are great themes to, for Muslims.
So those are the names of God and, let’s think for just a little while here, of how Muslims, how they use the name of God in Folk Islam, you know, admittedly, those mighty, majestic names of God are high and lofty. But what do folk Muslims do? They take that high and lofty name of God and they bring it down and use it in a talisman and here is a talisman from the Muslim book of the names of Allah, translation, in the name of Allah the Merciful, the Compassionate. You see, that’s what every, Surah in the Quran begins with except one. Truly, thou wilt preserve the one who carries this writing of mine from the evil of all that might harm him.
See? This is an amulet. Thou wilt appoint over him its angels and servants and assistants who are entrusted with its service and guard him by day and by night. Muhammad is the apostle of Allah, and those with him are stronger than the unbelievers. Among them are merciful ones whom we see bowing and kneeling, seeking kindness from Allah and favor, their marks are on their faces, the effect of prostration, and that is their likeness in the Pentateuch in the gospel.
Now pious Muslims are always recognized, aren’t they, by the mark in their foreheads? And because their head, you know, touches the ground and years after year after year touching the ground, there is that callus. And so they, point to that as a sign of piety and of saying many prayers and so on. And they look at us and they wonder now do these people pray. And so, yes, we do pray, but we need to be able to demonstrate that to Muslims as we talked about in previous lectures of praying for them in their presence, for their needs, for their blessing, and for grace, and for peace, because without the peace of Christ there is no peace.
Now, the sovereignty of God is, that’s where we’re on right now. This is page 13 of your class notes if you’re following along there. He is merciful and compassionate, but as we’ve seen before in Islam, he misleads those he wants to, guides whom he wants to, and there are so many verses, like that. He created evil, and you get that out of Surah 113 and verse 2, those two last chapters in the Quran, by the way, 113 and 114, were, actually revealed when a curse had been put on Muhammad. Maybe we’ll talk about that later.
I’m not sure. But there are other verses too that are relevant. All all other beings act within his limits. Let’s see. I I went too far here.
And, 57 verse 3 is one that I was no. I’m sorry. 50 in verse 16. This is a favorite verse with Sufis. Sufis, you know, are different.
They’re warmer toward God and, more, they talk about God loving them and us loving God, but but but here’s a verse that they love, I’m not so sure that it’s all that comforting. It says 50 and verse 16, it said, it is we who created man. Okay? And we know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.
And then it goes on to say that, behold, we, 2 guardian angels appointed to learn his doings, to, to note them in one sitting on the right and one on the left. So in one sense, it’s, it starts out, you know, we we we know what dark suggestions are in his soul. This sounds to me like a sinful nature, doesn’t it? And, it talks about the the Sufis say, you know, we’re closer than his juggler vein, they love that verse, they love that verse, But, on the other hand, if if if God is you know, he’s got his angels there to watch every step, he knows, every misdeed we do, it would seem to put you on edge and make you worried, which Muslims are, are certainly worried. It keeps God as as as they’re certainly worried.
Now we’ve talked about this before too. One of God’s names, You Halim, O gentle one or merciful one around a woman’s neck, is it makes sense because women need comfort of a name like that and, let’s keep that in mind. So here’s a question. How does God’s image in the Bible differ from the Sufi idea? How does God’s image in the Bible differ from the Sufi idea?
Now this might seem like a question out of the blue, So let me tell you a little bit, about it. We don’t have time and we’re not sitting face to face so we can’t discuss it here, really in in active interaction, but it’s a good thing to think about. I think the difference one of the differences I see it, and I’m not an expert in Sufism, but I have seen Sufis and I’ve met Sufis and I’ve studied about Sufis some. But I think, one of the differences is something that we’ve mentioned before, and it is this. Sufis, admittedly, and rightly so, talk about how much they love God.
Oh, I love God. I love God. And it’s good that they love God. They keep looking inside to see how much they love God and whether their motives are pure and, really their love is sincere. This is good.
But you know what? When I think of of my concept of God and my love for God, it’s not so much my love for God that counts, but it’s his love, his, unconditional love for me that is so strong because my love for him is not as consistent as it should be and it’s not the most important thing. Now another question is how is God’s power portrayed in Christianity? Well, it is true in Christianity, in the Bible. I mean, God is all powerful.
We know this. But what’s the difference? The difference is, I think, that, his power is undergirded by his love and by his justice and so that is the bottom line. It’s not, that that his power is this white hot, awesome power. We we know that God is all powerful.
He’s omnipotent, but, in in Christianity his power is undergirded and controlled by his character of justice and love and so I think, I think that’s that’s the main difference. And, as we as we think of the difference in Islam, here’s a, a little chart that I’ve used between, you know, comparing God in Islam and God in the Bible. In the Bible, you know that his words and deeds are one of seeking people out, working with them patiently, and demonstrating some of the things that we’ve just said a, a minute ago, about, how he loves he loves people unconditionally and works with them patiently. You know, think of the the people in in the Bible, Abraham and Jacob and Isaac and and Joseph and all of those people, and some who were not as honorable as Joseph, but he he works with them. His deeds and and words, in the in the Bible are distinct from the Quran.
In the Quran, you really don’t know that much about God, other than that he doesn’t love the righteous I’m sorry, he doesn’t love the unrighteous. And, but I think when you compare the 2, God in Islam, his words and deeds, and God in Islam in the Quran, in the bible verses the Quran, there is a big difference and that’s why I’ve, you know, big circles here and a little bit of overlap. But I think, we’re talking about the same one and so, we can, we can fall back on that, but we have to remember the, vast differences between God in the Bible and God in the Quran, but at least it’s a place to start, isn’t it? It’s a place to start, and so we we do want to build, I think, from the Quran. If we have to, we can build somewhat of a foundation, build there from from the person of God, but then we wanna go on and talk to Muslims about who God really is.