In Islam a slave of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala is somebody who has surrendered his being to God. Like fully 100%.
Christian and Muslims perspective of God
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In Islam a slave of Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala is somebody who has surrendered his being to God. Like fully 100%.
Are you an atheist?
Muslims do not believe that God Almighty is a curly white haired grandfather typer person sitting in the clouds like the Christian do. Muslims fear and revere Him. As He has created everything including us, we believe that we can best understand Him if we adopt a master/slave relationship, which is true as he has moulded us out of clay. This submissiveness is voluntary because you can choose not to worship Him as He has given us free will.
GodIsAll
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I am not an atheist by any means.
I am trying to understand all perspectives respectfully. My point may be possibly in the translation of the word "slave". You mention that this choice to do serve God wholly is a voluntary decision. I concur. "Slavery" is most often perceived as a forced issue to which the slave has no choice.
Anyway...it is a moot point. Doing God's will in every moment is what matters most.
I have to agree with you that I am not a big fan of the "Old Man in the Sky" perception either. Then again, with Him, all is possible. Our Creator could choose to be seen in this manner if He so willed. I don't know, I am but a human.
I am trying to understand all perspectives respectfully. My point may be possibly in the translation of the word "slave". You mention that this choice to do serve God wholly is a voluntary decision. I concur. "Slavery" is most often perceived as a forced issue to which the slave has no choice.
Anyway...it is a moot point. Doing God's will in every moment is what matters most.
I have to agree with you that I am not a big fan of the "Old Man in the Sky" perception either. Then again, with Him, all is possible. Our Creator could choose to be seen in this manner if He so willed. I don't know, I am but a human.
Hulk
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I find it interesting that some people have a problem with the term "slave" being used. If the word was substituted as "servant" I'm sure more people would be more "open" to it. Perhaps it is our ego that bothers us, giving us the impression that we could never "stoop that low" to the point of our very existence being the property of another. I believe if people understood more about who they are and who God is, they would certainly realise that indeed they are nothing without God. We are totally dependent upon God. We are not self-sustaining. We need to breathe, eat, go to the toilet, these are things that are most obvious to us that we are self-sustaining. Then there are the needs that we don't even realise we need; our bodily function which we have no control of yet work as intended. Our liver, heart, blood, etc.
Many of us take these things for granted but if we were to reflect upon them it is clear that without God we are nothing. Yet, somehow we have an issue with being a slave of God? Are we so foolishly arrogant that we don't think we are that low enough that we could belong to God? Reflect on how dependent on God and then think of how we as His creation return His favours.
Many of us take these things for granted but if we were to reflect upon them it is clear that without God we are nothing. Yet, somehow we have an issue with being a slave of God? Are we so foolishly arrogant that we don't think we are that low enough that we could belong to God? Reflect on how dependent on God and then think of how we as His creation return His favours.
Dr. Andrew Newberg at the University of Pennysylvania did a study with a mixed group in which he asked everyone to draw their conception of The Deity. He found that the two groups likeliest to make a picture of an old man sitting on a cloud or something of that sort were children and adult atheists. Grown-up believers tended to make crude abstract art which resembled nothing in particular. Images of imagelessness. (It reminds me of that quotation in the opening of "The Screwtape Letters", that Dionysius the Elder said way back in the fifth century before the common era that only fools suppose spirits to actually be winged men.) I keep telling myself that the suspicion creeping up on me more and more as time goes by--that antireligion and antitheism are caused by immaturity--is the product of weariness or stereotype, but the evidence of my experience just keeps mounting up and it disturbs me. When was the last time you ever heard anyone not tell you that they stopped believing before they were, say, in their mid-twenties or so--assuming that they believed to begin with? Whereas people turn to religion at any age but are infamous for doing so when they get older. I'm trying to fight it, but I'm not succeeding.
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G'day Eric
It is Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala Himself who calls the believers His slaves. Throughout the Holy Qur'an He addresses the believers and His messengers and prophets as slaves. One example is
Muhsin Khan
How bad is thatfor which they have sold their ownselves, that they should disbelieve in thatwhich Allah has revealed (the Quran), grudging that Allah should reveal of HisGrace unto whom He will of His slaves. So they have drawn on themselves wrathupon wrath. And for the disbelievers, there is disgracing torment. 2:90
جوري
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I think I actually know where the Christians get their 'children of God' perspective from.
As there's indeed a hadith that states:
( كلكم عيال الله وأحبكم إلى الله أنفعكم لعياله
many will misconstrue عيال to denote 'children' where in fact it means dependents. People don't know the etymology of the word many times and they'll misunderstand and this is in the original tongue so it is natural Christians will evolve the words to mean whatever they want it to when they're not even working with the original tongue of Isa :saws: which is Aramaic.
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Greetings Mr Eric H and peace be with u too.
I find it unnecessary to add to it especially to point out that it is to "willingly" be a slave. As if the power is in our hands whether we want to submit to the will of God or not. While we do have free choice, the correct choice is clear.
To someone whose worldview is limited to this world then the term slave would certainly be uncomfortable to him. If we are to think about it, we are all "slaves" to something. Think about those people who talk about "freedom". The "freedom" to do whatever they want.
What it really means is to have the "freedom" to be a "slave" to their own "desires". One only needs to look at what is in "trend" to understand that this is not true "freedom". So people will always be a slave, the question is do you want to be a slave to your own desires or a slave to God? The better choice is obvious.
One who has submitted himself to God would then be able to free himself from being the slave of his lower desires(through striving). That is then true freedom.
If someone I talk to doesn't understand it then I will try to explain it to them the best I can do with my own shallow understanding InshaAllah..
ardianto
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In Indonesia, Muslims do not call themselves as "budak Allah" that literally means "slave of Allah", but "hamba Allah". There is difference between "budak" and "hamba". "Budak" is someone who is forced to serve and oppressed by his master. While "hamba" is someone who serve his master but not under oppression by his master.
I'm not native English speaker, but I think maybe "servant of Allah" is more accurate to describe relationship between Allah and His creation.
I'm not native English speaker, but I think maybe "servant of Allah" is more accurate to describe relationship between Allah and His creation.
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Hulk
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Sorry Mr GodIsAll I missed your post. I was saying in general and not referring to you specifically but I'm sure you got that 
Yes Mr Eric H you're right.
I find that interesting Br Ardianto as I understand that in another language "Budak" can mean "Child". From that, I recall reading somewhere about how the word translated as "Son" in the Bible(referring to Jesus pbuh) has also been translated as "servant" and sometimes "child" in other instances.
In terms of whether "slave" or "servant" is more accurate, I leave it to the knowlegable ones. What I am sure of is Abdullah
Yes Mr Eric H you're right.
I find that interesting Br Ardianto as I understand that in another language "Budak" can mean "Child". From that, I recall reading somewhere about how the word translated as "Son" in the Bible(referring to Jesus pbuh) has also been translated as "servant" and sometimes "child" in other instances.
In terms of whether "slave" or "servant" is more accurate, I leave it to the knowlegable ones. What I am sure of is Abdullah
ardianto
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That's in Malaysian Melayu. But in Bahasa Indonesia, "budak" means "slave" in slavery.
Muslim sister.
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Bism Allah AlRahman AlRaheem.
Nevertheless, we believe that Allah is more merciful to His servants/slaves/creatures than a mother is o her child. Lets not forget that, it's the very reason why we submitt to His will, its because of that Love, its what captivates us in submission, serving, and surrendering to Him, Ameen
Nevertheless, we believe that Allah is more merciful to His servants/slaves/creatures than a mother is o her child. Lets not forget that, it's the very reason why we submitt to His will, its because of that Love, its what captivates us in submission, serving, and surrendering to Him, Ameen
A Christian understanding of God from the IV century, belonging to the Saint Gregory of Nyssa (one of the only three Christian saints which were given the name of the "theologian"):
God always was and is and will be, or rather always “is,” for “was” and “will be” belong to our divided time and transitory nature; but he is always “he who is,” and he gave himself this name when he consulted with Moses on the mountain. For holding everything together in himself, he possesses being, neither beginning nor ending. He is like a kind of boundless and limitless sea of being, surpassing all thought and time and nature. He is only sketched by the mind, and this in a very indistinct and mediocre way, not from things pertaining to himself but from things around him. Impressions are gathered from here and there into one particular representation of the truth, which flees before it is grasped and escapes before it is understood. It illumines the directive faculty in us, when indeed we have been purified, and its appearance is like a swift bolt of lightning that does not remain. It seems to me that insofar as it is graspable, the divine draws [us] toward itself, for what is completely ungraspable is unhoped for and unsought. Yet one wonders at the ungraspable, and one desires more intensely the object of wonder, and being desired it purifies, and purifying it makes deiform, and with those who have become such he converses as with those close to him,—I speak with vehement boldness—God is united with gods, and he is thus known, perhaps as much as he already knows those who are known to him. (38.7)
It was the Word of God himself, the one who is before the ages, the invisible, the ungraspable, the incorporeal, the Principle from the Principle, the light from the light, the source of life and immortality, the imprint of the archetypal beauty, the immutable seal, the undistorted image, the definition and explanation of the Father. He approaches his own image and bears flesh because of my flesh and mingles himself with a rational soul because of my soul, purifying like by like. And in all things he becomes a human being, except sin. He was conceived by the Virgin, who was purified beforehand in both soul and flesh by the Spirit, for it was necessary that procreation be honored and that virginity be honored more. He comes forth, God with what he has assumed, one from two opposites, flesh and spirit, the one deifying and the other deified. O new mixture! O the paradoxical blending! He who is comes into being, and the uncreated is created, and the uncontained is contained, through the intervention of the rational soul, which mediates between the divinity and the coarseness of flesh. The one who enriches becomes poor; he is made poor in my flesh, that I might be enriched through his divinity. The full one empties himself; for he empties himself of his own glory for a short time, that I may participate in his fullness. What is the wealth of his goodness? What is this mystery concerning me? I participated in the [divine] image, and I did not keep it; he participates in my flesh both to save the image and to make the flesh immortal. He shares with us a second communion, much more paradoxical than the first; then he gave us a share in what is superior, now he shares in what is inferior. This is more godlike than the first; this, to those who can understand, is more exalted. (38.13)
(Oration 38)
God always was and is and will be, or rather always “is,” for “was” and “will be” belong to our divided time and transitory nature; but he is always “he who is,” and he gave himself this name when he consulted with Moses on the mountain. For holding everything together in himself, he possesses being, neither beginning nor ending. He is like a kind of boundless and limitless sea of being, surpassing all thought and time and nature. He is only sketched by the mind, and this in a very indistinct and mediocre way, not from things pertaining to himself but from things around him. Impressions are gathered from here and there into one particular representation of the truth, which flees before it is grasped and escapes before it is understood. It illumines the directive faculty in us, when indeed we have been purified, and its appearance is like a swift bolt of lightning that does not remain. It seems to me that insofar as it is graspable, the divine draws [us] toward itself, for what is completely ungraspable is unhoped for and unsought. Yet one wonders at the ungraspable, and one desires more intensely the object of wonder, and being desired it purifies, and purifying it makes deiform, and with those who have become such he converses as with those close to him,—I speak with vehement boldness—God is united with gods, and he is thus known, perhaps as much as he already knows those who are known to him. (38.7)
It was the Word of God himself, the one who is before the ages, the invisible, the ungraspable, the incorporeal, the Principle from the Principle, the light from the light, the source of life and immortality, the imprint of the archetypal beauty, the immutable seal, the undistorted image, the definition and explanation of the Father. He approaches his own image and bears flesh because of my flesh and mingles himself with a rational soul because of my soul, purifying like by like. And in all things he becomes a human being, except sin. He was conceived by the Virgin, who was purified beforehand in both soul and flesh by the Spirit, for it was necessary that procreation be honored and that virginity be honored more. He comes forth, God with what he has assumed, one from two opposites, flesh and spirit, the one deifying and the other deified. O new mixture! O the paradoxical blending! He who is comes into being, and the uncreated is created, and the uncontained is contained, through the intervention of the rational soul, which mediates between the divinity and the coarseness of flesh. The one who enriches becomes poor; he is made poor in my flesh, that I might be enriched through his divinity. The full one empties himself; for he empties himself of his own glory for a short time, that I may participate in his fullness. What is the wealth of his goodness? What is this mystery concerning me? I participated in the [divine] image, and I did not keep it; he participates in my flesh both to save the image and to make the flesh immortal. He shares with us a second communion, much more paradoxical than the first; then he gave us a share in what is superior, now he shares in what is inferior. This is more godlike than the first; this, to those who can understand, is more exalted. (38.13)
(Oration 38)
Hulk
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You are not afraid of God?
You don't seem to understand the Islamic concept of man's relationship to God. We do have the will to either believe or disbelieve in His existences and we are free to accept or reject the guidance that He provides in revelations through His prophets and messengers including Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them). We were not created without the will to either obey or disobey and to either submit to His will or to remain obstinately defiant. The concept of servant of Allah is one of willing and not coerced service to Him and to our fellow human brothers and sisters. I remind you of the example of humility and servitude that Jesus provided in washing the disciples feet. I also remind you of Matthew 7:21 where Jesus is quoted as having said, {“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.} The basic premise of Islam is to have proper beliefs about God and to follow the example of Muhammad (saaws) who conveyed God's will for how people should live their lives.
Our relation to Allah is a balanced one of hope in His mercy and fear of His wrath. Christians are quick to deny they fall under the judgment of God because they have accepted Jesus as both the Son of God and God Incarnate and the rely upon the sacrifice they believe he made on the cross for their salvation. Christians have the concept of having been saved without the possibility that they will be subject to punishment in Hell despite how they might have lived their lives. I remind you that 113 of the 114 surahs of the Qur'an begin with bismillah ir'Rahmani ir'Raheem which has been translated as Most Gracious, Most Merciful and the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy. The forgiveness and mercy of God for the believer is a recurring theme of the Qur'an, but so also the punishment of the rejectors of faith in Hell. No Muslim pretends to know his fate on Judgment Day for he does not know the sincerity and purity of his own heart and he does not know the state of his faith upon his death.