Son:              Dad, Imam Ghazali had said that if one knows one’s self then one knows that one do not exist.

Dad:               Son, that was what he said. To me, all creations, intangible or not, is just like an animation movie on one compact disc (cd) in God’s possession and He may have aplenty to choose from if He wants to. Hence He had commanded to the effect:

They will dwell therein (Hell) for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: for thy Lord is the (sure) Accomplisher of what He planneth.[1]

And those who are blessed shall be in the Garden: they will dwell therein for all the time that the heavens and the earth endure, except as thy Lord willeth: a gift without break.[2]

O ye who believe! if any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him,? lowly with the Believers, mighty against the rejecters, fighting in the Way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the Grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth: and Allah encompasseth all and He knoweth all things.[3]

Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth? If He so will, He can remove you and put (in your place) a new Creation? [4]

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Son: Dad, with all the calamity throughout the world and victims reaching to hundreds of thousands, some are reconsidering the Benevolence of God. What have you to say, Dad?

Dad: Son, as I said earlier, all creations, intangible or not, is just like an animation movie on one compact disc (cd) in God’s possession and He has, I believe, a plenty of them. When you watch a movie on a cd, whatsoever happening is in the movie on the aforesaid cd, so Son, what is the big deal?

Say: Then Allah’s is the conclusive argument; so if He please, He would certainly guide you all.[5]

Son: But why is it an animation movie?

Dad: Son, the cd is, in the view of the inner eyes, is His Essence and so is the movie. Thus it is His Essence in animation. Hence He commanded to the effect:

I am The Manifest and The Hidden.[6]

What is the life of this world but play and amusement?[7]

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Son: Dad, must we accept Predestination without question?

Dad: Son, we have to accept Predestination without question for the following reasons:

1.   It is the 6th tenet of Islamic Faith as taught by God to our Beloved Prophet Muhammad [pbuh] through Angel Gabriel.[8] Once it became an Islamic tenet divinely created, it cannot be changed. Such being the case, every Muslim have to accept it without much ado.

2.   By accepting Predestination, we also accept that God is All-Wise because He had promulgated that nothing is amissed in His Divine Plan including in our Predestination.

Nothing have We omitted from the Book, and they (all) shall be gathered to their Lord in the end. [9]

3.   Unless we accept His Predestination, He will not increase our knowledge since we doubt His Greatness.

Allah is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom. [10]

And We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in vain.[11]

We created not the heavens and the earth and all between them but for just ends.[12]

His are the most exalted attributes in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.[13]

Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves.[14]

Never be then of those who doubt. [15]

Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, and those are the ones endued with understanding. [16]

Say: “Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition.” [17]

Allah will rise up, to (suitable) ranks (and degrees), those of you who believe and who have been granted Knowledge. [18]

A parable, if you are a trainee in an Architect Firm but you expressed your doubt at the Architect’s ability, it goes without saying that he will never teach you anything.

4.   Without predestination, our features such our nose, ears, mouth, eyes and others as well as our voices, hearing, sight, smell and others may move all over our body. Such being the case, we may wake up one morning and found our mouth at the place of our nose, our eyes at the place of our ears. To aggravate this situation, our voice is at the place of the one of the eyes hence we have to speak through our eye; our smell is at the other eye hence we have to use it for smelling; our hearing is at our nose hence we have to use our nose to hear and our sight is at our ear so we have to see through our ear.

Can you imagine son, the chaos it can cause if there is no predestination?

Son:              Yes, dad.

Dad:              So son, be thankful and not ungrateful  to The Almighty for Predestination.

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Son: Dad, is it true that God did not sleep?

Dad: Son, if He is asleep even for a single moment, the whole existence and its system will be in topsy turvy.

Son: Why, Dad?

Dad: Because His Essence is The manifest and The Hidden of all creations including space and time. Hence He commanded to the effect:

Allah! there is no Allah but He?the living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize him nor sleep.[19]

[1] Hud (11):107- Note the phrase “except as thy Lord willeth”. The idea of a cd came from here.

[2] Hud (11):108 – – Note the phrase “except as thy Lord willeth”. The idea of a cd came from here.

[3] Al Baqarah (2):54

[4] Ibrahim (14):19-20; Muhammad (47):38; An Nisa(4):133.

[5] Al An’aam (6):149

[6] Al Hadid (57):3

[7] Al An’aam (6):32

[8] Terjemahan Sahih  Muslim Bk. 1, 5 (1994).

[9] Al An’aam (6):38

[10] Al Fath (48):4.

[11] Shad (38):27

[12] Al Ahqaf(46):3

[13] Ar Rum (30):27

[14] Ar R’ad (13):11

[15] Al An’aam  (6):114.

[16] Az Zumar (39):18

[17] Az Zumar (39):9; Al Ankabut (29):43.

[18] Al Mujadilah (58):11.

[19] Al Baqarah (2):255