The God in Islam and Other Religions: The Curious Case of ‘Omni’
Theism, Gnosticism, and atheism
From the days that I could remember, my religiously conditioned mind used to pray:
‘Oh, Allah! make me, my parents, and my family enter in heaven….’
At teenage, I realized that this heaven is only for some of ‘Us’ and most ‘Others’ are cursed and doomed for hell.
God (Allah) says in Quran, chapter 5: verses 41, 51, 57, and 58 that not to befriend Jews, Christians, and Non-believers (Kafirs). Befriending them will make the believer’s minds adulterated. Similarly, in chapter-4:verses 116–121, chapter-2:verse 144 discusses the same aspect. In Quran, chapters that speak of other things than this ‘Us vs. Them’ binary are less. Most of the Quran’s chapters deal with this idea. Influenced by Quran and Hadith, my religious mind became a zone of hatred and bigotry at teenage.
So, what kind of God creates division and teaches us to hate each other? When he claims himself omnipotent, why can’t he make the ‘others’ become Muslims and reach heaven rather than being cursed and destined for hell?
College and the seeds of doubt
During my college days, I was allotted a room with a Muslim student who was mostly a day scholar. His presence in my room was rare, and others around my room were all sport’s quota students who concentrated on sports.
I fell in love with my present life partner, and my father’s only condition was to excel in my studies for the marriage to happen. I had to concentrate on my studies, giving up my below-average career in sports which meant that I should limit my time in sports and the sports circle of the college. At first, it was fine being alone in my room, but later it started making me disturbed. Loneliness was hard to deal with, so; I had to find another room amongst the academic circle of the college. I found this with my friend in chemistry.
I shifted to his room. He was a Hindu by birth who belonged to the scheduled caste category. When I moved to his room without asking him or the hostel staff, neither did he go to them complaining, nor did he rebel against the idea. He welcomed me with his open arms, and from that day on; we used to go to sleep and wake up in the same bed.
God’s commandments in the Quran about the ‘Us vs. Them’ binary started disturbing me this time, instilling doubts about the God that would curse and burn my close friend in hell for his religion and not seeing the human being he was. I told him about this problem of mine, to which he said,
‘My religion also has similar aspects in it, but the irony is my community who are by birth Hindus are shunned and looked down on in our religion as outcasts. We have no right over the Gods that we pray to as we are outcasts. We were not allowed to enter temples. After we fought for our rights, they allowed us to enter temples, but still, they treated us as lepers. We are not allowed to be priests or take up any religion-related jobs. My friend, I don’t believe in such a God or Gods. You are my brother and will always remain one as long as you consider me as yours also.’
I smiled, with my eyes getting filled with tears. I removed the tears with my hand as I had not wanted my friend to see it and asked,
‘The words you speak are so wise. How did you gain such knowledge?’
He smiled and said,
‘When your classmates tease you for your color, your family lives in abject poverty, and when you see even the God that we pray showing untouchability to us from temples, what else can I deduce from it? Although I am not a fan of Communism, my family supports the local communist party because of Marx’s ideas. We are all humans first, and humans last. Why should we see each other’s religion?’
My religious worldview shook that day. I could not grasp the idea of Allah (Islamic God), who gets angry at people for not worshipping him. I despised the picture of my friend (brother from another mother) being cursed and thrown to hell.
A decade down the line, I have met many people like my roommate, whom I have come to love like my family. Many incidents proved the kind of human beings that they are. The idea of all of them being cursed and doomed to hell is indigestible.
Equally absurd is the notion of Thangals/Syeds and Islamic clerics going to heaven. Thangals or Syeds are said to be direct descendants of Prophet Muhammed. Along with Islamic clerics, they use religion as a tool to fill their pockets by infusing superstitions, bigotry, and hatred between communities. But they will go to heaven.
Islam’s monotheism
While I struggled with my career (I am still working), my mind haunted me with questions about the injustice of Islamic God. When I asked Islamic clerics such questions, they looked at me irritated and accused me of Shirk (indulging in acts of worship of gods other than Allah). They called me a Kafir and asked me to study carefully before making judgments. The funny thing was I wasn’t even making conclusions; I was trying to clear the doubts in my mind. Anyways, studying is what I did.
After studying the English translations of the Quran not with a believer’s biased mind but with a rational mind, the concept of God to me seemed like an irate, patriarchal, and self-centered man, which confused me. God shouldn’t have let the Yemen war happen if he was omnipotent because both the conquered (Yemen) and the conquerors (Saudi Arabia, Iran, and UAE) are Islamic countries.
The war in Yemen is a direct hit on Islamic God’s (Allah’s) omnipotent claim because he couldn’t even stop his followers from killing others among his followers. Quran in chapter 112:verses 2 and 5 says God is not dependent on anyone, and there is none equal to him. Chapter 2:verse 107 says that everything belongs to God, and there is no guardian but Allah (God). Yet, God failed to save the people of Yemen and has made them one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world.
The omnipotent God didn’t come to save the people of the Muslim majority Syria when Russia, Iran, the USA, and others destroyed it. He didn’t rescue the innocent children and women of the Muslim majority Iraq when the USA ravaged it.
The Islamic clerics and Syeds often get quizzed by these questions by Muslims. They respond to them using Quran and Hadith. In the Quran, chapter 2 (Verses 153–157), believers are asked to be patient because Allah will give heaven only to those who forbear.
Hadith book, Riyad-ul-Swaliheen, in chapter 3 (number 31 and 33), asks believers to follow the example of prophet Muhammad in forbearance. Conning the believers about some afterlife that one has no proof of and teaching them patience with an Arab chieftain as an example who took nine wives, the youngest being nine years old in the 21st century, seems archaic. What happened to the omnipotent God?
Every chapter of the Quran starts with the saying,
‘In the name of most gracious and most merciful Allah.’
After starting every chapter like this, the Quran throws hatred at Jews the most, followed by polytheists (Mushriks), Christians, and all non-believers (Kafirs)[chapter 5:verses 80–82]. The larger category of Kafirs includes all non-Muslims and people who question Islam or doubt Quran’s infallibility [chapter 2:verses 83–93]. Then it asks believers to believe in Allah without even the slightest doubt by instilling fear [chapter 3:verse 61, chapter 4: verses 162-170]. Isn’t this gaslighting?
All this points to the tone of a cunning dictator.
Allah is said to be omniscient (Aleem) and omnibenevolent (Rahman and Raheem). At the same time, he is angry at his creations for not worshipping him. Allah also says that he has nothing to lose if his creations don’t worship him. There are 99 names for Allah, including the almighty (Al-Azeez) and the supreme (Al-Muthakkabir). The above aspects are incoherent and self-contradictory.
An omnipotent god lashing out at his creations for not worshipping him seems absurd. Rewarding with heaven and punishing others with hell based on an egoistic basis is not befitting for an omniscient and omnibenevolent God.
Allah (the Islamic God) thus doesn’t seem like a God to me.
Christianity’s theism
In Bible, God is omnipotent who created the Universe in seven days (Book of Genesis, Chapter 1 and 2) which makes him omnipotent. Quran puts out the same view about creation.
Bible’s God shares the same attitude and anger of Quran’s God. He destroys the people of sodom for same-sex attraction. Book of Genesis, Chapter-19, portrays gay men as sex maniacs who rape good-looking men. But this God doesn’t stop Lot’s daughters from having sex with their drunk father. In religion, incest is more severe than homosexuality. Why didn’t God that destroyed an entire place for being gay, couldn’t stop the incestual rape of his prophet?
Either, Bible’s God is not omnibenevolent, or he is not omnipotent and omniscient.
Quran’s God has the same attitude towards gays and lesbians (Chapter 11: Verses 77–82). Allah destroys Lot’s people for the same reason as Bible, but the incest episode is not there in Quran.
For Bible and Quran, all humans came from Adam and Eve. God created Eve from Adam’s ribs, and she is responsible for man’s expulsion from heaven [(Quran- chapter 2: verses 31–39) (Bible- Book of Genesis-chapter 3)].
The concept of Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib is an attempt to remove women’s individuality that is not dependent on men. Scientifically, this is an absurd notion. By mentioning this in the initial pages of both the books, they establish the patriarchal hold on women and society. They do this by first taking away a woman’s being and then portraying her as a weakling who falls quickly into Satan’s traps.
God is always a man. In Bible, he is the father of Jesus. The Quran says that he is above gender and humanly aspects of son and father (chapter 112:verse 3). But, Allah’s pronouns in Quran are Hua (‘he’) and never Hia (‘she’) or a gender-neutral pronoun.
All prophets mentioned in Quran and Bible are men. This male-dominated narrative of the Quran and Bible shows that God is a patriarchal egoistic man. It is either this or both Islam and Christianity are made by patriarchal men for their gains.
Hinduism’s Gnosticism
Krishna is the incarnation of God Vishnu and is the mastermind behind the war between two families- Kauravas and Pandavas. Arjuna- Krishna’s favorite among the Pandavas- becomes depressed about the battle he will fight, thinking about the bloodshed that it will cause. He wishes not to go to war with his family-Kauravas. Bhagavad Gita is Krishna’s advice or attempts to convince Arjuna to fight the war. In the end, Krishna is victorious in convincing Arjuna, and the battle takes place; this is the story behind Gita.
The concept of God in the Gita is more intelligent than Bible or Quran. The God of Gita is omnipresent hence, present in all of us. Becoming a yogi makes us realize that divine part in us (Atman or soul) and our salvation lies in becoming part of the universal divinity (Ishwara or Bhagavan). Gita’s Gnosticism defeats the absurdity of God’s omnipotence and establishes it in perfect harmony with God’s omniscience and omnibenevolence.
Mahatma Gandhi had called Gita the most remarkable book he had read and even called it as ‘eternal mother.’ Gandhi’s high appreciation lies in Gita’s philosophical intelligence; this is how Gita cons its intelligent readers while it baffles average minds.
Gita gives the caste system a new name — Varna and argues that it is not based on birth but by worth based on one’s Guna (character) and Karma (conduct). Ambedkar calls out this as an old vine in a new bottle in his book Annihilation of caste. He says that the varna system is the same as the caste system, and one’s worth is measured by one’s birth. In support of his claims, he asks why can’t a Dalit’s (untouchable’s) son learn Smritis and Shrutis (religious texts of Hinduism) and become the priest of a temple if Varna is different from caste. He says that Dalits were not allowed to study in school and take metal pots for drinking water!
He cites numerous examples where this varna system resulted in Dalits being treated like lepers and doomed with cleaning toilets and sewage tanks, which continues today in India. Savarna’s (upper caste) attitude towards others has not changed much since Ambedkar’s Annihilation of caste.
Ambedkar was against all organized religious scriptures, including Hindu scriptures such as Gita. Gita upholds the Vedas, Shrutis, and Smritis, which were the basis of the caste system. Gita, chapter 18:verse 40 says that the duties of four castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras) are by inborn qualities. In verse 42, Krishna underscores the belief in Vedas as imperative for salvation. In verse 44, he says that the destiny of Shudras and women is to serve the other three castes, and then only can they obtain salvation.
Brahmins are placed on top of this caste system and hence the most powerful by birth. A brahmin’s duty is to take care of religious matters and other knowledge-related aspects of society, but he can become a king or warrior. He can become a merchant or farmer according to his wish. But none of the Shudra, women, Outcasts (Avarnas), and Dalits can become any of these even if they dedicate their whole life to become one. According to Manusmriti, if they even try to do any of the aspects of the Savarnas, they deserve severe punishment.
The argument of the Gita, along with other Smritis and Shrutis in this regard, is that Shudras, women, Avarnas, and Dalits are doomed to be born in their respective castes as a punishment for their previous birth sins. This idea is an unscientific claim based on mere speculation. By upholding the Varna system and other shastras as sacrosanct, Krishna indirectly supports the atrocities and injustice done to Shudras, women, Avarnas, and Dalits.
The idea of divinity in Smritis and Shrutis proves that the God or gods of Hinduism are patriarchal Savarna men or the masterminds behind the books. They use them for their gains. They are not omnibenevolent, and if they are omniscient, they would have scientifically proved the Atman (soul) and samsara (rebirth) concepts crucial to the Hindu religion.
Conclusion
Ambedkar in Buddha and his Dhamma talks about Buddha’s style of disproving the concept of God, which influenced me to rethink theism. I used to think that communalism, casteism, and bigotry are because of the followers’ ignorance about their religion. This idea is what many religious people who claim to be religious pluralists say not to hurt their faith and other faiths. But, after learning organized religions such as Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism, religious pluralism seems to be a mask that hides inner bigotry, toxic masculinity, and religiosity.
The realization about religions made me think that religions are the problem with society. But Buddha’s take is that belief in God is the real problem, not the concept of religion. Ambedkar says that belief in an entity whose presence is not proven scientifically and based on speculation is the problem. The belief in the entity’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence is a disaster threat. The extremism and terrorism events based on religions that happen today seem to prove Buddha’s and Ambedkar’s hypothesis. The roads to atheism and agnosticism seem plausible solutions.
