Part 4: The Will of Allah "The Only Freedom" - Who Allah Is to the Islamist

Allah is the Islamic name for God and regarding epistemology is of Hebrew origin; Moslems are monotheistic. Before the time of Mohammed, because they were in contact with both Jews and Christians, Arabs were already monotheistic. The notion of Allah in Arabic theology is substantially the same as for the Christian and the Jew, but without the Trinity, which is positively excluded in the Koran. Traditional Catholics would not actually say substantial for the Holy Trinity is the part of the very essence of God. Religious historians tend to use this term, so we are including it in this chapter as a general definition.

Even though Allah is an Arabic term, all Moslems, whatever their ethnic heritage use this name for the one God. [Op. cit. prev. - Oussani and Belloc, pp. 9-10.]

Allah is the source of all good and evil, which he creates. The piety of the faithful believers and the evil deeds of sinners are but visible signs of his wish to either reward or punish. Merit results from his bestowal of grace and sin results from his rejection. To the Moslem, Allah creates man's every action, not the individual person. Declaring his glory in this manner is the sole reason for the universe and for mankind,

The perfection of Allah's will is to be found in the Kuran [Koran]. The Moslem does not equate this knowledge of the will of God as being the same as God revealing Himself, which is one of the main distinctions between Christians and Moslems. The Moslem considers the reception of revelation by man from God to compromise the transcendence of God. Thus, he does not recognize or believe that God, who does not compromise himself, does not reveal himself as did God to Adam and Eve, for instance, walking among them. For the Moslem the entire world must by in submission to Allah or in a state of Islam [surrender] to actually be itself. Now this surrender is indifferent to God according the Islamic view; it is up to man to surrender himself to the will of Allah, simply because he was made for this. In fact, Mohammed preached that all men are "born true Muslims." And that those who profess Islam are "the best of peoples". What about the rest? They are here to serve man's needs. While nature is subject to man, man is the slave of God, Allah, who is the master.

In the Islamic system of belief predestination plays a powerful and prominent role. This provides a window for those of us in the West who do not have the Muslim mentality through which to catch a glimpse of the nature of Jihad itself.

There is unexplained contradiction in Islam: Allah creates evil and evil men to be evil, but there is no reason given why this should be so. Our Catholic faith, a revelation by God, not only of His will but of Himself clearly teaches us that man is created with free will by the Triune God, and it is this free will that is important in salvation.

The severity of Islamic predestination by God results in what Trifkovic calls a "cruel fatalism". [Op. cit. prev. - Sword of the Prophet, Regina Orthodox Press, 2002, p. 66.]

During the period of the 8th to 10th centuries there was a dissenting sect of Islamists, the Mutazilas who did not accept this predestination for they said it was unjust of Allah, but the strict interpretation of predestination triumphed and is regarded today as mainstream Moslem belief. To the Moslem, man is but a conduit for the will of God and thus freedom is not a concept that has meaning to the Islamic mind. Accordingly man cannot improve himself even with the grace of God. This severity of predestination belief is so all encompassing that it includes prayer, which for the Moslem is not for communicating or knowing God but only to pay a debt. [Ibid. p. 67.] Ultimately, for the Moslem, no man has a personality in the categorical singular; he exists only to submit to Allah in hopes that he will be rewarded.  Islam without any nuance rejects completely the Christian tenet revealed by God Himself, "he who obeys My commandments, loves Me." The Koran teaches the opposite: Say, if you love Allah, follow me, and then Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. [Op. cit. p. 68]

This results in a love of self, not an authentic love of God above self, for the love of Allah is but to receive something, not because God is all good and worthy of all love in of Himself. Job would be a source of confoundment to the Muslim.

The Koran also defines Allah's love as a mere endorsement of the virtuous ones, not a true affection, that real affection we have in Jesus Christ because of His immense, personal love for all men, including sinners on whom He wants to bestow His infinite Mercy, if they but will come to Him.

Of course, this again poses an inexplicable contradiction in Isamist terms: for if man has no free will, but exists to be a conduit for the will of God, how can he, in fact, be a sinner, requiring His mercy? To the Eastern mind, the Arab mind, inculcated with this idea of Allah, this does not seem to be a problem. This is what I largely meant when earlier I said there is no reasoning with the Jihadist, reasoning as we, in the West, imbued with the natural law and reason conjoined together within our very nature as individual persons, grasp and apply. To the true believing Moslem freedom, ordered liberty as we know it and uphold it as necessary for man to serve God as He wants to be served, is almost unfathomable. I have always been puzzled about those practicing Moslems who are US citizens, referring to themselves as "moderates" - whether or not if they really mean freedom like you and I do. Anyway, because freedom as an aspect of man's dignity is abhorrent to the Moslem mind this may partly explain why the collusion between the Left in the West and the Jihadists is so prevalent.




                                             

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