God: From Seeking God to Faith in God
The Relationship between God and His Creatures in the Koran
The Holy Koran mentions different forms of relationships between God and the universe. We can categorize them into ten groups:
1-Surrounding: The Koran believes that God surrounds and dominates everything, material or abstract.
و کان الله بکل شی محيطا
"And God encompasses everything."(Women, 4:126)
God dominates and surrounds everything, both in knowledge and in existence, like the human soul which controls its entire actions.
2-Establishing: The universe has its strength and foundation from God. God has established the universe, like man's existence is founded upon his soul.
الله لا اله الا هو الحی القيوم
"God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting."
(The Cow, 2:255)
3-Accompaniment: God is with all creatures. This does not mean physically near; it is a relationship of soul with physique, far beyond time and place.
و هو معکم اينما کنتم
"He is with you, wherever you are." (Ta Ha, 20:111)
4-Creation and Production: Various verses in the Koran refer to this form of relation:
لا اله هو خالق کل شی فاعبدوه
"That then is God your Lord; there is no God but He, the creator of everything. So serve Him." (The Cattle, 6:102)
5-Absolute Possession: Here, possession does not mean conventional or credit-based ownership; we are referring to true possession. God's possession of creatures refers to the facts that God gave them their existence. It is similar to the relationship between the intellect and its creations.
6-Protection: This is one of the most important issues in theology, for normally people think that God has created everything and then left them on their own, whereas God is always protective of the universe and everything in it.
ان ربی علی کل شی حفيظ
"Verily, my Creator and Nurturer is the Protector over all things."
(Hood, 11:57)
"I believe God is the protector and keeper of laws," Einstein has said.
As we know, laws have no observable reality in the world; there is order and harmony in the external world, and from that laws are abstracted. It is God's will that makes events continue in a fixed, orderly fashion.
7-Creation and Nurture: Over 1000 verses in the Koran emphasize this form of relationship.
و هو رب کل شی
"And He is the Creator-Nurturer of everything." (The Cattle, 6:64)
According to this relationship, the creator – or nurturer – constantly dominates and takes care of its creations.
8-Worship: Everything worships God.
ان کل من فی السموات و الارض الا اتی الرحمن عبدا
"Nothing is there in the heavens and earth but it comes to the All-merciful as a servant. " (Mary, 19:93)
Here, worship means complete submission of all creatures to God's will.
9-Divinity: God is the absolute dominant upon all levels and basics of the universe.
فسبحان الذی بيده ملکوت کل شی و اليه ترجعون
"So glory be to Him, in whose hand is the dominion of everything, and unto whom you shall be returned." (Ya Sin, 36:83)
Here, "malakoot" in this verse refers to the supernatural picture of all things, for the human "ego" has two faces:
a)The observable, created face
b)The supernatural face
This face of the universe describes the relationship between divine absolute ownership and the supernatural face, nullifying the thoughts of some philosophers who believe that God has no control or dominance over the fundamentals of the universe.
10-Light: As the Holy Koran says:
الله نور السموات و الارض
"God is the light of the heavens and the earth."(Light, 24:35)
This verse explains both the existence of God and God's dominance and control over the whole universe. God exists in the universe, illuminating it without becoming connected or united with it, just like light which penetrates into transparent things without becoming part of them.
