It is He who shows you the lightning, inspiring fear and hope;
He builds up the clouds heavy with rain;
the thunder sounds His praises, as do the angels in awe of Him;
He sends thunderbolts to strike whoever He will.
Yet still they dispute about God– He has mighty plans.
Sura 13:12, 13
Thus we have the title of this sura. Of course, it starts with the usual:
In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy
The verses cited above are part of Muhammad’s appeal to acknowledge the One True God, but in doing so he uses a common approach by religious apologists (an apologist does not ‘apologize’ for his religion, it means he explains and justifies it). “God raised up the heavens with no visible support!” “He has subjected the sun and the moon each to pursue its course for an appointed time.” “It is He who spread out the earth, placed firm mountains and rivers on it, and made two of every kind of fruit.” “God knows what every female bears and how much their wombs shrink or swell– everything has its measure with Him.” The apostle Paul in the Bible makes a similar plea: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20)
Michelangelo: Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Plants, c. 1511
(Why is God on the left mooning us?)
This reasoning is termed ‘natural theology.’ The basic idea is that nature reveals that there is a god. This is ‘general revelation.’ Then there is ‘special revelation’ in which God reveals the specifics to certain people. Muhammad believes his recitations are part of God’s special revelation; for Christians it would be the Bible, particularly the teachings of and about Jesus recorded in the Bible. There is an obvious problem with natural theology. Every time we examine a natural process we find natural reasons for it, not supernatural ones. Primitive man saw the lightning and heard the thunder and assumed the gods were angry. Sometimes they even hit someone with their lightning bolts! Muhammad seems to buy into this concept. But of course we learned that lightning is the product of a buildup of static electricity within storm clouds. You can imitate the effect by shuffling your feet across a carpet in the winter and then touching someone with a spark. You are a god! Primitive man felt the earth tremble and assumed it was the god who supported the earth (Atlas?) moving around. Later we learned about the movement of tectonic plates that make up the earth’s crust. Floods were commonly attributed to the action of angry gods; one such story made it into the Bible. In reality if you build your home on a flood plain the odds are that eventually your home is going to be swept away by a flood. In the Gospels of the New Testament people were said to be possessed by demons, evil spirits, but if you read the accounts closely it sounds like they are describing seizures (see Mark 9:17-22) or mental illness (see Mark 5:1-5). It makes sense that the ancients interpreted this as demon possession: one moment a person seems normal and the next they are writhing on the ground, grinding their teeth and even foaming at the mouth. A demon must have entered him! Or look at this person’s wild erratic behavior: a demon! Eventually we overcame such primitive thinking and realized that these are manifestations of problems inside our brains, and they are treatable with medications and other therapies.
So, the track record for finding supernatural causes for such things is not very good. Still, apologists try. “Look at the universe! How could something come from nothing?!” Of course, the existence of God is taken for granted and no explanation is offered. God is said to be eternal, but then they deny that the universe could be eternal. (E.g., the multiverse concept suggests that our visible universe is just part of a bigger more complex and possibly eternal universe. We don’t know what existed before the poorly-named ‘Big Bang.’) Supposing the existence of an eternal and unlimited god is a form of ‘special pleading’ in which you make exceptions for your pet theory. And arguing that God must exist because we don’t have all the answers (yet) is a very poor form of reasoning.
Another problem is that ‘natural theology’ does not point you to any specific god or gods. Was it the God of the Bible? Allah? Was it the pantheon of Hindu gods? Cthulhu? The creator god could have inscribed his (or her) name on the surface of the moon so we would know who to credit, but he/she did not. So, we have to rely on those who claim to be speaking for God. And there has been no shortage of people making that claim over the millennia of human history! It’s interesting how easily we dismiss ancient Sumerian religion, and Egyptian religion, and the Greek/Roman religion, and Native American religion, because we ‘know’ those were all wrong, but we cling to our current religion because we ‘know’ it is the true one. Time will tell how much staying power today’s religions have compared to the ancient ones. The onslaught of time has not been kind to all the religions that went before.
Olympus by Luigi Sabatelli. Fresco, 1819-25.
Will today’s religions eventually go the way of Greek mythology?
It seems that people must have questioned Muhammad about his authority to speak for God:
“The disbelievers say, ‘Why has no miracle been sent down to him from his Lord?’ But you are only there to give warning: [earlier] communities each had their guide.” (13:7)
It seems reasonable to me that people should ask Muhammad, “Why should we believe you without some sign from God?” People asked Jesus the same thing:
The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He *said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” (Mark 8:11, 12)
(Note: the later Gospels Matthew and Luke filled this in some more, saying that people would be given ‘the sign of Jonah,’ a veiled reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection as proof. I suspect that was added by the disciples later, to show that there was ‘proof.’ The Gospel of John gets around this altogether by portraying all of Jesus’ miracles as signs that he was from God.)
So, both Muhammad and Jesus assert that no miraculous signs were needed or would be offered. One can look at the natural world and see that there is a God. And one can look at the revelations already given to know which god and what he wants of us. In essence, the messages of Jesus and Muhammad were very similar: you’ve been told what is right to do; now you need to repent and obey it! No more proof needed!
Isaiah’s vision of Jesus riding a donkey and Muhammad riding a camel (Isaiah 21:7?)
18th century. Tehran, Iran, Parliamentary Library
Were they really two birds of a feather?
Later in the sura he returns to this question: “The disbelievers say, ‘Why has no miracle been sent down to him from his Lord?’” (13:27) Muhammad then explains that God lets people choose their courses. Some will want to do what is right and good, others will not. In a sense, I agree with Muhammad in this regard: God should allow people to follow their own path, and then be judged by their choices. Where I disagree with Muhammad (and most other religions) is their insistence that to be right one has to follow the rules set out by him (or other religious leaders). It is not just about doing what is good and right; it is about following certain specific and often arbitrary rules. Like not eating pork. With all the problems in the world God is concerned about your protein sources? Likewise with designated fasts or prayer times. Shouldn’t that be up to the individual’s conscience? If you are praying or fasting because it has been assigned to you, what credit is that to you? Yet religions are full of such rules. (To use a Christian example, some churches teach that you have to partake of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday and only on Sunday, and you even have to share from one cup, none of those little cups in a tray! Baptism is another rite in which there are many and varied rules to follow, depending on your denomination.)
So, what happens to those who follow the right path, and those who do not?
Here is a picture of the Garden that those mindful of God have been promised: flowing streams and perpetual food and shade. This is the reward that awaits those who are mindful of God; the disbelievers’ reward is the Fire. (13:35)
If you lived in an arid area with sparse food and water this Garden would sound quite lovely. Kind of reminds me of the book of Revelation in the Bible, where the author describes to his impoverished readers walls made out of gems and streets of gold. People want what they don’t have in this life. And of course for those who stray: fire! Probably the most painful punishment people could think of, which is why both Muhammad and Jesus used this imagery. I think there is a difference though: Muhammad portrayed the sinful as living forever in fire and Jesus taught destruction by fire. (I know some will disagree with me, but I will be discussing this in Bible post #62.)
Islamic and Christian depictions of Paradise
Muhammad goes on to imply that the Jews and Christians were given ‘Scripture’ by God: “Those to whom We [God and His angels] sent the Scripture rejoice in what has been revealed to you [Prophet].” (13:36) And why the Qur’an? “So We have sent down the Qur’an to give judgement in the Arabic language.” (13:37) So, it seems that Muhammad recognizes that Jews, Christians and the Muslims are all, essentially, working off the same book. He thinks that the Jews and Christians have introduced some errors along the way, but they are all worshipping the same God. So why all the fighting? For 1300 years and counting. These groups should be sitting down together and discussing what they learn from their Scriptures about God and about life and about how we should behave in this world and how we should treat one another. Do you really think God’s plan was for us to fight and kill each other over our interpretations of these Scriptures? I find this aspect of the world very frustrating: using religion as an excuse to harm others. Really?!
In closing let me quote from verse 42: “…the overall scheme belongs to God: He knows what each soul does.” So why are we judging each other? Let God do it. He knows better. And I will use that as a hook to point you to Bible post #61, in which I explore what the Bible says about judging us on what we do, not on what we say or believe.
(scroll down to make comments and ask questions)
Thinking exercises:
1. How do you personally decide which religious authority to believe and obey? How do you know they are speaking (or have spoken) from God?
2. Why do you think there have been and continue to be so many religion-based conflicts and wars? Do you think God approves of such fighting among those who claim to love Him?
3. What is one thing you would like to see in Paradise? What punishment would you suggest for those in Hell? (if you believe in Hell)