"Those who bear the Throne and those who dwell nigh unto it hymn the praise of their Lord and believe in Him and seek forgiveness for those who believe: 'Our Lord, Thou dost encompass all things in Mercy and Knowledge. Forgive those who repent and follow Thy way, and shield them from the punishment of Hellfire."
Quran 40:7
This ayah (the more appropriate term for a verse in the Quran, with ayat being the plural) is drawn from surah 40, sometimes rendered as "The Forgiver." I chose it today because it gets at one of the things that I find interesting, and with which I struggle: the balancing act between a powerful God and a merciful God. One of the complexities of monotheism is the similar balancing act between God the powerful judge and God the merciful forgiver. As I've often opined, this is why polytheism is actually much easier to wrap your head around than monotheism, and why the ancient Hebrews truly began a revolution, on many levels, all those centuries ago when they decided that there was actually only one God. The verse starts off with one of those painfully anthropomorphic descriptions of angels carrying a throne for God, which works metaphorically but shouldn't be taken literally (at least in Islam). No matter how you read it, metaphorically or literally, it speaks to power. Truthfully, that God doesn't interest me; we already devote way too much time in this world bowing to power, and it pains me to consider that we'd be devoting so much of that life adhering to rules so that we can do the same thing in the next world. With that in mind, the line that I'm drawn to is: "Our Lord, Thou does encompass all things in Mercy and Knowledge." As Nasr reminds us in the commentary, "Some understand the structure of this sentence to indicate that God's Mercy precedes or outstrips His Knowledge." (SQ p. 1140) We've discussed previously how sometimes, when discussing the creation of human beings, the passage is translated as God created humans to worship Him and sometimes it's translated as God created humans so that He can be known. Not surprisingly, the latter is what resonates with me. If God is ultimately Good, then He would create humans to share that Goodness, and I would think that Mercy would play a role in the same logic. We don't need more slavish devotion to power, in this world or the next, but admonitions to mercy seem like a requirement.
Quran 40:7
This ayah (the more appropriate term for a verse in the Quran, with ayat being the plural) is drawn from surah 40, sometimes rendered as "The Forgiver." I chose it today because it gets at one of the things that I find interesting, and with which I struggle: the balancing act between a powerful God and a merciful God. One of the complexities of monotheism is the similar balancing act between God the powerful judge and God the merciful forgiver. As I've often opined, this is why polytheism is actually much easier to wrap your head around than monotheism, and why the ancient Hebrews truly began a revolution, on many levels, all those centuries ago when they decided that there was actually only one God. The verse starts off with one of those painfully anthropomorphic descriptions of angels carrying a throne for God, which works metaphorically but shouldn't be taken literally (at least in Islam). No matter how you read it, metaphorically or literally, it speaks to power. Truthfully, that God doesn't interest me; we already devote way too much time in this world bowing to power, and it pains me to consider that we'd be devoting so much of that life adhering to rules so that we can do the same thing in the next world. With that in mind, the line that I'm drawn to is: "Our Lord, Thou does encompass all things in Mercy and Knowledge." As Nasr reminds us in the commentary, "Some understand the structure of this sentence to indicate that God's Mercy precedes or outstrips His Knowledge." (SQ p. 1140) We've discussed previously how sometimes, when discussing the creation of human beings, the passage is translated as God created humans to worship Him and sometimes it's translated as God created humans so that He can be known. Not surprisingly, the latter is what resonates with me. If God is ultimately Good, then He would create humans to share that Goodness, and I would think that Mercy would play a role in the same logic. We don't need more slavish devotion to power, in this world or the next, but admonitions to mercy seem like a requirement.
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