Is God male?

[non-duality]

Hello!

I have asked this question in the Christian side already. My way of thinking is as follows. I would like to know, how Muslims think about this.

God is the creator of the universe. Also if we know nowadays that there was the big bang. We know now that every 10th sun has planets. We know that there are about 100 000 000 suns in our galaxy and that there are billions of billions more galaxies. There must be other intelligent life in the universe. And our God is also their God. But who says all of them have also two sex? Once the ancient Greeks said: “And if we would be cows, we would imagine our Gods as cows.” It’s because we cannot imagine something formless we put on the formless a form. But the formless can take any form. So we limit God in our minds. How do we feel if we call God our holy Mother?
It’s o.k. if we limit the unlimited, because we have a limited mind. But at least we should be aware that we made this limit. The limit in this example is to put only male aspects on the divinity.

What would you say?

Greetings by Martin

 

[john313]

Peace,
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9966
This is taken from another thread that was directed towards those who think of God as a man. it should answer this thread well.

The problem is that you believe God is anthropomorphic. You believe God is an old bearded man, a Zeus, up in the sky, in the clouds...

We believe God is "wheresoever you turn".


The problem is with your perception of God. You do not comprehend God with comprehension due unto Him.

God is the Mind, the Consciousness of the Universe. The Universe is the construct of the Divine Mind within itself. You cannot SEE God, just as a thought cannot see the Mind that thinks it and called it into being.

Can a Mind manifest its TOTALITY within one single thought? This would be impossible, as the Mind cannot create Itself within Itself. What is created within the Mind is THOUGHT and THOUGHT is ILLUSION. That is, when you think and envision something it is "Real" but it is ONLY "real" within the context of the fact that it was created by THAT which is REAL. You can close your eyes and think about a beautiful green pasture with sheep grazing on it... Those sheep exist only within your mind. Now can any one of those sheep ever BE you? No, of course not.

We are thoughts within the Mind of God, but we are not the Thinker and NO thought could ever be the Thinker Himself.

Man is not God. Man is nothing, just as ALL things are truly Nothing. Nothing exists ONLY God. The Universe is the construct of God's Mind and we are thoughts within it. i do not say of my thoughts in my mind that they are me, but neither is there separation between me and them or between them and each other. They simple are not the Reality, i am the Reality. So in relation to God, WE are not the Reality, God is the Reality. We are nothing but thoughts within the construct of God's Universal Mind, sitting here discussing things with other thoughts. We are not little "particles" of God, as though God is some mass that can be divided or added together. There is NOTHING, ONLY God.

wa salaam

 

[non-duality]

Thank you!


This was the best answer so far to my question! I grew up in Christian faith. But had my first doubts at 12 years. When I was adult I left the church. I also wouldn’t assign human qualities to the extrahuman. I agree with your statement, the world is God’s thought, and we are deceived, if we take it as real. If God would forget it, it’s gone. Just I believe, we also can come to know the truth. To wake up from the illusion. The Christians have the trinity of father, son and holy spirit. I would extend it to the giver, the receiver and the gift. By that it is less personal. Also the Muslim kind of trinity: the love, the lover and the beloved, has no personal component.
As you can hear on the name I choose “non-duality” you know that I also believe all is God. I believe there is no second power. No counter-power. The world is a manifestation of God. God is omniscient. So there can be no “apart from God”, it is just in our illusion.

Now I am interested what you see as the Goal.

My believe is: God hasn't given us a goal. We have the power to create and the free will. Free will includes to find our own goal. But as all rivers flow into the sea and join on the way more and more other rivers, all souls will finally merge into God. Some take longer, some less long. But finally each soul will find it’s own way to become one with God again. This is just a question of awareness, because in reality we were never separate.

How do you think?


And by the way: I’m also vegetarian. (Vegan would be better but it’s to difficult for me)

 

[croak]

Also the Muslim kind of trinity: the love, the lover and the beloved, has no personal component.

Muslims do not believe in any form of Trinity except one: God, God, God.

 

[john313]

Now I am interested what you see as the Goal.

My believe is: God hasn't given us a goal. We have the power to create and the free will. Free will includes to find our own goal. But as all rivers flow into the sea and join on the way more and more other rivers, all souls will finally merge into God. Some take longer, some less long. But finally each soul will find it’s own way to become one with God again. This is just a question of awareness, because in reality we were never separate.

How do you think?


And by the way: I’m also vegetarian. (Vegan would be better but it’s to difficult for me)

Salaam
sorry it took so long to get back to you, i have been out of town.
There are 3 types of worshippers; those who worship because they are scared of the hellfire, those who worship because they want to get to paradise, and those who worship because they love Allah. Some argue that we need some of all 3 types. I think we should worship Allah because of love. If we truly love Allah and devote our lives to striving for good deeds in Hu's name, then we have no reason to fear the hellfire or to wonder if we will make it to paradise. If we truly love Allah, then we will not do anything that might send us to the hellfire or might jeopardize our trip to paradise.
i hear a lot of people talking about how we need to fear Allah. i completely disagree. those who think we need to fear Allah should love Allah more, then they would see there is no reason to fear. When i was a child, the only time i feared my parents was when i was doing something wrong. The same goes for Allah. Those who have reason to fear Allah know they are doing something wrong.
Now that i have rambled, i think the goal is paradise. we need to focus on our love and praise for Allah to get to the goal, not focus on the goal itself. we need to help our fellow humans when they are in need of food, money, protection from the oppressor..... By helping others in need we are truly praising and showing love for Allah. we are all part of Allah.
That is great you are vegetarian. what part of vegan do you think would be too hard? i used to think it would be hard, but it is easy once the transition is made. being vegan is great for the body, mind, and soul. Since everything is part of Allah, the animals are too. i would not want to see my sister or mother or daughter trapped in a cage, pumped full of hormones to make their bodies think they are always pregnant, and milked for another species that does not even need this milk to survive. Once we realize we are part of Allah, we see how mistreatment of animals for unnecessary pleasures is not how we should use our dominion over the animals.

wa salaam

 

[non-duality]

Hello Rearing-Arabian

Of course “God, God, God” is not a trinity. “God the love, God the lover and God the beloved” is still one God. It’s just three qualities. It’s not a trinity of God but trinity of God’s qualities. God is always just one because God includes all. There is nothing outside of God. God is the one without a second. But how many times we are deceived and believe there is something existing that is not God! At least nothing can remain, that is not God.

We need limited pictures of the unlimited to imagine the unlimited with our limited minds. We limit God by giving God a name saying: God has this name but not that. We limit God by our imagination that God has likes and dislikes. We limit God by putting qualities on God. The Christian religion for example limits God by putting a form on God.

As white colour includes all colours, and on a white paper you can draw freely with all colours, just the quality less can have all qualities. Just the nameless can have all names. Just the formless can have all forms.

If God includes everything it also means, an eternal separation of God is impossible. Because no matter if we are far from God or close to God, there is still separation. That means God and something else. And that would not be one.

To put a limit on God doesn’t mean, God has this limit. It’s just a limit in our minds.
God is all. God is one. All is one. All are one. We just haven't realized that so far.

Greetings be Martin

 

[non-duality]

Hello John!

You say:

“When i was a child, the only time i feared my parents was when i was doing something wrong. The same goes for Allah. Those who have reason to fear Allah know they are doing something wrong.”

That is when you take God like parents.

When you take God as a friend. You don’t even have to fear God when you do something wrong.

When you take God as a lover, you will always love God.

We also can take God as a child, because children still have good qualities that we adults have already lost.

Just if we find God in ourselves, we will have found God as the indweller of every being. And then only we will see God everywhere.

 

[roli]

Is God male,it would seem this question has it's origins from a purely humanistic perspective, thinking somehow God is as we are in human form and existence, (flesh and bone and that somehow there is an answer to the gender exclusivity of God.
Although some sects teach God is flesh and blood and simply quoted as saying,"as man is so God once was and as God is so man can and will become" end quote.
We will always debate, speculate agree,disagree argue, reason etc. on such frivolous topics, but how futile is all this, what purpose does it serve to know if God is or is not male or female. The question should be, am I right before God if I die?
If he is not male ,is he female or is he somethingelse,is he both, is he whatever you want him to be, or is he Spirit like the bible teaches, not man or woman
It really sounds intellectually stimulating maybe even humorous and beneficial to discuss such topics,but in actuality it will prove to be purposeless.
We inturn begin to bring God down to our playing level which may turn out to be a grave injustice to His sovereignty, We are not as some may tend to believe talking about something naturally understandablable and within our human comprehension, but a supernatural supreme being who thinks acts and feels like a human,but is spirit
Could it be that God may intrinsically have the attributes and characteristics that pertain to both genders not exclusive to a particular one, it is also evident throughout the word of God and Koran that God displays all the emotions, feelings,expressions and mindsets that we have, both male and female (eg laughter,anger,sadness, compassion ,love,
We should not limit God by exclusivity to anything we can imagine int his universe be it intellectually ,conceptually or rationalistically as we do each other, by doing so we demean God's position That may be the worst mistake we make, I chose to walk lightly on that ground, thank you

 

[Ghostdog]

Very interesting point and a one well put............. as the institutes grow bigger and the learned debates grow longer, purely an intelectual resource and master of complication. for the human mind.
How can our little minds have any idea of what God is. Its just a name to name the unamable,like all other important words such as Beauty, Truth, Love, Peace and Joy.
All are just words in your head, its a bit like trying to explain the taste of strawberries when you have never tasted anything sweet.
In my limited experience it has began to appear that the less you hold onto ideas of such mysterious things the more you can begin to sense them.
Be still and know i am God....an interesting quote from the bible. and one rarely truly understood. I have began to understand that i do not understand and I can never understand with such limited things as words (internaly and externaly).

 

[tuga]

Salaamu Alyckum
Hasbi Allah Wanima Alwakieel.Swbhan Allah Ama yasifoun.
You should know that there is nothing like God ,he is perfect , one and he is the great creator .
look to your creation to know about your creator .