BELIEF IN GOD UNIVERSAL

by Ahmad Deedat

What is His Name?
By Ahmed Deedat

Holy Qur'aan 17:110

CHAPTER ONE

BELIEF IN GOD UNIVERSAL

WHAT IS HIS NAME?

    At the end of my public talk on the subject - "MUHUMMED (p.b.u.h) the Natural Successor to CHRIST (p.b.u.h.) at question time, a Christian Missionary posed the question: "What is His Name?" Meaning thereby as to the name of God. I stood up to answer. But before I opened my mouth, he spoke into the mike, provided for questioning, that he would answer his own question. I said, "You posed the question so the obligation is on me to reply to your question". He said, "Yes, but I will answer the question." (Laughter in the audience). He was actually begging for an opportunity to be heard. Where else on earth would he get such a large audience, and that at the Muslim's expense, to preach. I said, "Carry on!" (Give him enough rope to hang himself). After some rambling, he concluded that the name of God was "JESUS CHRIST!"
    It was not the time, at that meeting; nor is it expedient here to discuss the subject fully - "IS JESUS GOD?" It is enough, for the moment, to say that in the language of Moses, lesus and Muhummed (Peace be upon them all) the name of God Almighty is ALLAH! Proof will be provided in Chapter 4.
    Belief in God is ingrained in the nature of man. As long as man existed on earth, the knowledge of God Almighty also co-existed. As Professor Max Fuller in his Hibbert Lectures said:

"RELIGION IS NOT A NEW INVENTION. IT IS, IF NOT AS OLD AS THE WORLD, AT LEAST AS OLD AS THE WORLD WE KNOW. THERE NEVER WAS A FALSE GOD NOR WAS THERE EVER A FALSE RELIGION, UNLESS YOU CALL A CHILD A FALSE MAN. ALL RELIGION, SO FAR AS I KNOW THEM, HAD THE SAME PURPOSE. ALL WERE LINKS IN A CHAIN WHICH CONNECTS HEAVEN AND EARTH, AND WHICH HELD, AND ALWAYS WAS HELD, BY ONE AND THE SAME HAND."

This is truly a very charitable attitude; truly Islamic.
Allah subha nahu wa ta-aala (God Almighty) tells us in the Holy Qur'aan:

Sura Fatir 35:24

Sura Ra'd 13:7

GOD NOT PARTIAL

If God Almighty is not partial to His creatures with regard to material blessings like - fresh-air, rain, sun- shine etc., why should He be partial in regard to His spiritual blessings (The Guidance of God)? He has not been partial! There is no nation or language group on earth who does not know God by some name. This knowledge was given by the Creator Himself through the lips of His chosen messengers. The names of a very few of these messengers we know, the rest have been lost or clouded in superstition.
Though all theology (knowledge of God) originated with God, mankind played fast and loose with those pure and holy concepts, adding frills and adornments where no embellishments was needed - it despoiled the language. In the words of Mrs. Ellen G. White, a "prophetess" of the 7th Day Adventist Movement, in her Bible Commentary it is said:
"LEARNED MEN HAD IN SOME INSTANCES CHANGED THE WORDS, THINKING THAT THEY WERE MAKING IT PLAIN, WHEN IN REALITY THEY WERE MYSTIFYING THAT WHICH WAS PLAIN."
In the Religious Annals of the world, the Jewish and Christian Scriptures called the Holy Bible abound with graphic examples of portraying God after man's own pattern:

IMPERFECT DESCRIPTIONS OF GOD

LIKE A MAN
(Genesis 11:5)
"And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded."

MOSES SEES GOD'S BACK PARTS?
(Exodus 33:23)
"And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."

WRESTLES WITH JACOB
(Genesis 32:28)
"And He (God) said, thy name shall be called no more lacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and has prevailed."

LIKE ONE DRUNK
(Psalm 78:65)
"Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine."

REGRETS MAKING MAN
(Genesis 6:6)
"And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."

SMELLS SWEET FLAVOUR
(Genesis 8:21)
"And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart..."

A CROUCHING LION
(Numbers 24:9)
"He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up?"

DEVOURING FIRE
(Exodus 24:17)
"And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."

RESTED AND REFRESHED
(Exodus 31:17)
" ... in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested AND WAS REFRESHED."

Out of the encyclopaedia of 73 Books of the Roman Catholics and 66 Books of the Protestants called the "BIBLE", endless number of quotations can be culled to fill a book larger than this publication to illustrate man's various imperfect descriptions of God. The above examples will suffice, I hope.

In the realm of the spirit, no nation has had as much opportunities as the children of Israel. And despite repeated warnings to the effect that:'THY GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD, HE SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GOD BEFORE HIM, NOT EVEN OF THE LIKENESS OF THE THINGS ON EARTH, OR IN THE HEAVENS ABOVE, OR IN THE WATERS BENEATH THE SEA ... (Exodus 20:3-5), they took the golden calf for worship, and again and again reverted into idolatry. Nor is the bulk of Christendom any freer from this taint. Visit St. Paul's Cathedral in London, or St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome and you will have very little to distinguish them from the Tempte of Somnath in India. It is a question of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.3 You do not really have to go to England or Italy to verify my statement. Why not an inspection in loco to an Anglican or a Roman Catholic Cathedral in your own home town!