April 2009

The God (Allah) that Mohammad introduces in Qur'an although His essence is beyond our intellect and perception (Sobhan allah) but His actions, characters and attributes are described clearly and repeatedly. These attributes which are called "99 Most Beautiful Names of God" are very helpful for getting familiar to Him. Qura'n teaches us that: "we all will eventually return toward God", and for getting close to Him we have to imitate His characters. We will explain some of these Most Beautiful names of God
Q 7:180 - "To God belongs the Most Beautiful Names, invoke Him by them".The total number of Allah's names and attributes in Qur'an are plenty. However, in Hadeeth (sayings of the prophet Mohammad), 99 names and attributes have been mentioned

Rahmân(All Beneficent), Rahîm(Most Merciful) - Both are derived from the root "r-h-m" which has the following classical Arabic connotations

to have tenderness, gentleness, kindness
to love, to have mercy, to have pity
to show favor and goodness, to have all that is required for beneficence
The root r-h-m also indicates womb, meaning that which provide protection and nourishment and that from which all of us are brought into being

In the Dictionary of the Holy Qur'ân, Abdul Omar quotes from classical resources that

Rahmân is an active participle noun of the measure fa'lân which conveys the idea of fullness and extensiveness and indicates the greatest preponderance of the quality of love and mercy which comprehends the entire universe without regard to our effort or asking, even before we are born. The creation of the sun, the moon, air and water, etc are all there because of this attribute.... the term Rahmân circumscribes the quality of abounding Grace inherent in and inseparable from the Almighty. This name is only used for God

Rahîm is in the measure of fa'îl and denotes the idea of constant repetition and giving of a liberal reward to those who deserve it and seek it. The Manifestation of this attribute is in response to and is a result of the action of the human being. That is, Rahîm indicates that which is extremely and continuously loving and merciful, and who is the dispenser of grace and love as a result of our deeds and supplications, and the One in whom the attribute is constantly and [endlessly] repeated. Rahim could also be used for others who have mercy
Another word that is derived from r-h-m is womb (rahem) which as we know does provide, nurture, protect and take care of the embryo and fetus. It is so beautiful to think of God as a kind mother of all creation

Quran's vision about cosmos and cosmogony

Q 29:19 - "Have you not seen how God originated(Badi') the creation, then repeats it? This is easy for God to do
Q 59:24 - "He is the one God, the Creator, the Initiator, the Designer. To Him belongs most beautiful names. ......"e
When All Mighty God decided to create the Universe said: Be and it was (Quran 2:117). He Initiated - originated the creation from "no thing"; Big Bang and it was all "energy" and a lots of "heat". Gradually the heat diminished and smallest particles of matter (and anti-matter?) formed (sub-atomic particles). With further cooling, larger particles and first " atom " with atomic weight of one (hydrogen) appeared and then heavier atoms and later combination of atoms (molecule), inorganic molecules and organic ones. First because of heat everything was in "gas - steam" shape, then some of them cooled off to the liquids and later solids

But that was not the end of creation. Allah- the all beneficent (Rahmon) had idea of creating "human being" to succeed him on earth! With the help of "Spirit" organic mollecules became alive, able to metabolize, self-reproduce and multiply. So first viruses then bacterias, mono-cellular organisms and multi-cellular ones are produced. Some life forms were able to use sun's light energy for their metabolism (vegetations), animal kingdom came later which some of them consume vegetation (herbivorous) and some eat each other (carnivorous). Finally by grace of Allah (Rahim) human being was developed with "human spirit" which makes him different from others. He can grow spiritually by the grace of God, behave according to God's commandments, enjoy life and co-create all that he can imagine and expect, but how!!?c

Human Development

Human development is achieved by the effect of 3 following factors

I- Genetic factors - Parents' characteristics are transferred to the offspring via genes or better phrased DNA (DeoxyriboNucleic Acid). Germ cells from father and mother each have one strand of DNA (Haploid) but fertilized egg becomes double-stranded (Diploid) and continue to be diploid after dividing. Usually one of paired genes is active and expressive(Dominant) and the other one is passive or sleep (recessive). As we will explain below the second and third factor are able to change the genetic make up of cells later during the life experience. These changes will also be transferred to the next generation

II- Mind - After development of Nervous System, environmental stimuli are received by sensory receptors (of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin) and transferred to Central Nervous System (CNS) . These information is evaluated, interpreted and perceived as thoughts, images and belief by the mind and stored as the memory. Mind activities are the most important factor in regard to individual's development

III- Spirit - According to Qur'an (32:9) following the CNS development ( 2nd Trimester) fetus is ready to have his Essence by receiving a piece of God's Spirit. This stream of positive energy is always flowing into everyone's CNS and is called "soul", "psych", "essence", "inner-self", etc. It causes CNS to excrete many neuro-peptides and hormones which affect all the cells in the body harmonizing their functions and ensuing positive feelings of joy, peace, prosperity and success. Negative thoughts, imaginations and perceptions of mind could block this positive energy, therefore it is said that " God special Mercy (rahim) is for pious and faithfuls. Human spirit brings about one's growth, development and progress in several manners
A- Self consciousness- when we are awake we are aware of our thoughts and our deeds
B- Recognition (of good & bad) - While positive thinking facilitates the positive effect of spiritual energy, negative thinking blocks that effect. Consequently we feel positive emotions like joy, peace and prosperity or negative ones like sadness, anger and powerlessness. Our conscience recognizes positive (good) from negative (bad) by evaluating our emotions
C- Choice, intention and decision - After recognizing positive thinking from negative, we can choose and with intention decide which one of those two is to be continued, because our conscious mind could be busy only with one thought we can think either positive or negative, and not the both. But our perception, thinking etc... is the function of conscious mind (which is only 5-10% of the whole mind) and is affected strongly by the un-conscious mind ( which contains past experiences and also is under genetic influence), so changing our thinking pattern (our habitual belief) is not easy and needs a very strong intention and a lot of will power. Fortunately, divine gift of positive spiritual power is always with us helping to feel well and do progress, but also we are given the gift of "freedom" to choose negative thoughts (Satanic temptations) and go astray or select positive thinking (God's commandments) and progress
D- Mind activities - Thinking, imagining and perception not only regulate and harmonize the physiological activities of the organism but also gradually change the genetic structures of cells (Epigenetics by Dr. Lipton), these changes will be transferred to next generation as their initial genetic make up. It is believed that mental (mind + spirit) activities do somehow inter-communicate with the "Spirit" and other people's spirit
E- Co-creation - Our mind is able to "dream"- conceiving images and thoughts without any apparent previous experience. These dreams if persisted and believed in may manifest! Best creations in art, music, literature and science are invented in this way. Some "Mystics", "Sages" and "Masters" through the meditation and concentration seems to be able to connect to the Spirit (world conscience) and find out many miraculous informations! This phenomenon usually cause them joy, awe, ecstasy and bliss or makes them scared, dazzled benumbed and motionless.