"To God belongs the East and the West. Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God. God is All-Encompassing, Knowing."
Quran, 2:115
This is a brief passage, but one which obviously speaks volumes - and certainly more than my minuscule brain can do justice. I selected it for a couple reasons. First off, because, if you're completely unfamiliar with the Quran, it gives you a glimpse into how it is structured. Anything associated with God would be capitalized. Thus, it's not the face of God, but rather the Face of God. All-Encompassing and Knowing are also capitalized, but in this case also because they are two of the 99 Names of God. The use of the word Face can be jarring when you first start reading the Quran simply because one of the central tenets is that God has no physical form, is not a man or a woman, and thus would not have a face. That said, the term "the Face of God" is used a fair bit in the Quran, and it simply means the presence of God as compared to an actual physical face. Similarly, there are references to the Throne of God, although that's simply metaphoric. As Nasr reminds us in the Study Quran, "All-Encompassing (wasi) can also mean 'unstinting' or 'generous.'" Finally, it is believed that this verse was created in relation to the decision to change the qiblah, that is the direction of prayer, from Jerusalem to Mecca. Hence, if you're worried about it, don't, because, "Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God." As we've discussed, one of the features on the Muslim Pro app will use GPS to tell you the direction of the qiblah, but people still fret over getting it right. One way to read this passage is that you can't get it wrong.
Quran, 2:115
This is a brief passage, but one which obviously speaks volumes - and certainly more than my minuscule brain can do justice. I selected it for a couple reasons. First off, because, if you're completely unfamiliar with the Quran, it gives you a glimpse into how it is structured. Anything associated with God would be capitalized. Thus, it's not the face of God, but rather the Face of God. All-Encompassing and Knowing are also capitalized, but in this case also because they are two of the 99 Names of God. The use of the word Face can be jarring when you first start reading the Quran simply because one of the central tenets is that God has no physical form, is not a man or a woman, and thus would not have a face. That said, the term "the Face of God" is used a fair bit in the Quran, and it simply means the presence of God as compared to an actual physical face. Similarly, there are references to the Throne of God, although that's simply metaphoric. As Nasr reminds us in the Study Quran, "All-Encompassing (wasi) can also mean 'unstinting' or 'generous.'" Finally, it is believed that this verse was created in relation to the decision to change the qiblah, that is the direction of prayer, from Jerusalem to Mecca. Hence, if you're worried about it, don't, because, "Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of God." As we've discussed, one of the features on the Muslim Pro app will use GPS to tell you the direction of the qiblah, but people still fret over getting it right. One way to read this passage is that you can't get it wrong.
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