God in relation to humanity

17th July 2020

Zulfiqar then explains the transcendence of God in relation to humanity (page 69) but he then goes on to talk about ‘the transcendence of God’.

I will quote the whole paragraph;

“The Islamic concept of God is also logical, rational and comprehensible

and yet, at the same time, mysterious. God, who is ontologically the absolute

other and the ineffable transcendent, is functionally also the closest to man.

The polar dimensions and tendencies are all united and diffused in Him as He

is the Creator of these dimensions. He is the Inward and the Outward at the

same time. ‘All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifieth Allah; and He

is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth;

He quickeneth and He giveth death; and He is able to do all things. He is the

First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward; and He is Knower of all

things’ (LVII.1–3). His ineffability is so awe-inspiring that it prods man to a

sense of Divine sublimity, while His immanence prompts man to recognize

His absolute love, mercy, kindness and a sense of utter dependence upon

Him. The believer lives his/her life, vacillating between these two states of

fear and hope: the fear of falling from God’s grace and the hope that the Lord

loves him so much that He will never let him down. In short, God is the focal

point of man’s quests that engages the totality of a believer’s being. ” page 61 Zulfiqar

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