Lesson video

Hello there, scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marks and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

And today, we're going to be learning all about Muslim beliefs, about the nature of Allah.

So we're going to get quite philosophical and theological.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain what Muslims believe about the nature of Allah and some different Muslim perspectives on this.

So let's start with our key words then.

Adalat, justice of Allah from Al-Adl, The Just.

Beneficent, Allah as all loving, generous, and kind and one of Allah's 99 names.

Immanent.

Allah is present and active in the world.

Omnipotent, Allah is all-powerful.

Transcendent Allah is above, beyond, and independent of the world.

So look out for those in today's lesson.

Today's lesson will have three sections.

And those sections are Allah is omnipotent, transcendent, and immanent.

The beneficence, mercy, and fairness of Allah.

And understanding immanence and transcendence.

So let's start with our first section then.

Allah is omnipotent, transcendent and immanent.

Meryem, Ahmed, Noor, and Nadia are Muslims and they're going to describe to us what they think Allah is like.

Meryem says, "Allah is all-powerful and almighty.

He's the creator of the universe and all life." Ahmed says, "Allah knows everything and will judge us on our actions on earth." Noor says, "Allah is kind and good.

He is the guide for all my actions in life." And Nadia says, "Allah is with me each day and knows my worries and fears.

Allah supports me." So all four of those have told us different things about what they think Allah is like.

I wonder how many of those things are gonna come up in our lesson today.

Well, one really important belief that Muslims have about God is that God is omnipotent.

And this word could be broken down into omni and potent.

And that prefix, omni means all.

So we also have words like omniscient means all knowing or omnipresent, which means everywhere.

So omni means all whenever you see that in a word like this.

And then potent is Latin for being powerful or able.

So if you have a very potent medicine, it's a very strong, so we can see from this that omnipotent means all-powerful.

So to describe God as omnipotent means that Allah is all-powerful.

But what does that mean? Well, many Muslims believe that Allah is all-powerful and Sunni Muslims mostly believe that nothing happens without the will of Allah.

And all-powerful is one of the 99 names of Allah so we know this is a really important belief within Islam.

Well, let's look to a source of authority that can help us understand this then.

So in the Quran, which is a really important source of authority to use when we're talking about Muslim beliefs, it says in Surah 46.

"Do they not realise that God who created the heavens and the earth was never tied by creating them is able to revive the dead? Yes, indeed, he is capable of everything." So have a look at that and think about how that could link to the idea of God being all-powerful.

Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, here we have the word "created" and "reviving the dead." So something about being all-powerful to create life and also bring life back to those who've died.

And then this phrase at the end, capable of everything.

So all-powerful.

We've got God has created the universe and can bring the dead back to life.

Allah has the power to do anything.

So how can this belief that Allah is omnipotent linked to other beliefs in his Islam then? So we've got the idea of Tawhid.

That links to there being only one God and the oneness unity of God and that there's nothing comparable to God.

So only Allah is omnipotent.

There's no other omnipotent beings, it's only Allah.

We have the Allah has the power to raise the dead.

So that's gonna link to beliefs about the afterlife because only Allah has the power to do that thing that no human could ever do.

Allah has the power to perform miracles.

So we see different miracles, particularly with the stories of different prophets in the Quran but also the revelation of the Koran itself is seen as a miracle that could only be done through the power of Allah.

And for many Muslims, nothing happens without Allah's will on earth.

So it is what God wills is what happens and there's no other power competing with that.

And it's down to God's power that these things are happening and it's only what God wills is happening on earth.

Let's do a quick check.

What term means the belief that Allah is all-powerful? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see you done in a moment.

Well done.

Yes, it's omnipotent.

So we have that omni there, which means all and potent mean able or power.

So at the beginning of the lesson, Meyrem told us that she believes that God is all-powerful and almighty and created the entire universe as part of her faith as a Muslim.

And now she's started to think a little bit more about the nature of Allah.

So let's imagine that Meyrem is sat in a classroom like you might be now.

And she starts to travel up and look down at herself in the classroom in her chair, and then she's outside her classroom and then she's outside the school and then she keeps going up, up, up into the atmosphere.

Then she can see the whole earth as if she's a astronaut in space and she keeps going.

At what point would Meyrem say she might have reached God? Would she have reached God? Would there be something beyond the universe that she would say she's reached God? What about if we flip it the other way and Meyrem starts to travel back down to earth and she's back in her school and back to her classroom and back in her chair and then she sees her arm and she goes into the skin and she sees in as if she's in the science lab looking through a microscope.

She could see right down to her cells and the atoms that make it up.

Would she say then that she's reached God? What's God at either of those extremes or not? What do you think? Pause the video and have a think about that.

You could talk to the person next you or talk to me.

Well, the question of where exactly God is has been discussed by philosophers for centuries.

It's not just Meyrem thinking about this and us today.

This is a big question within the philosophy of religion.

Where is God if people believe there's a God? And this question is addressed within Islamic philosophy as well, which we're going to think about together now.

For many Muslims, Allah is both immanent and transcendent.

And those two things relate to what we were just thinking about as to where God might be.

And the word transcendent and immanent both come from Latin so we could break them down to kinda understand them a bit more.

So transcendent, you might know the prefix trans meaning across.

So we have things like transfer or transmit that show something across.

And then scendent comes from scandere, which is a word that means to climb.

So you might know ascending, descending.

And so the word transcendent means to transcend across meaning above and beyond this universe.

So Allah is above and beyond the universe and isn't sort of confined within the universe.

And then we have immanent.

And the in prefix means im.

So you might know it from implant, impale.

So something very close and tactile.

And manent comes from manere, meaning to stay or remain.

So you've got remain permanent.

So staying on and staying close.

So can you see the two different sides we have here? Transcendent being about being above and beyond and being across something and immanent being very close, sort of almost touching and very near.

the transcendence of Allah means that Allah is above and beyond the universe.

The immanence of Allah means that Allah is present in the universe and working within it.

So we have that outside and beyond.

And then within the universe, these two sort of sides, when we're thinking about the nature of Allah.

In Islam, Allah is both beyond and within the universe.

Now how exactly Allah can be both at the same time has been debated by Muslim philosophers for centuries.

Like I said, there's been discussions about this for a long, long time.

But all Muslims do believe that Allah is omnipotent.

So Allah can actually do the logically impossible.

So even if we say, "Oh, it's impossible to be outside and inside the universe at the same time," well actually, nothing is beyond what Allah can do.

And sometimes, it might be beyond what we can understand.

But there are different ways that Muslims have understood this question of immanence and transcendence of Allah.

And of course, where we're going to look to to try and understand those beliefs? Well, we're gonna go to a source of authority, one of them being the Quran.

And within the Quran we have got passages which could support both the transcendence and immanence of Allah.

Let's have a look.

So from Surah seven, "Your Lord is God.

He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established himself on the throne." And then in Surah 50, "We created the human being and we know what his soul whispers to him and we are nearer to him than his jugular vein," which is here.

So let's have a look at these together and see if we can link it to the idea of transcendence and immanence.

Pause the video and have a think.

You could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, I've noticed in the first passage, we've got established himself on the throne.

And this is after the creation of the heavens and the earth.

So for Allah to create the universe, the heavens and the earth for Allah to create everything but be not comparable and sort of separate from it.

Allah must be transcendent as the creator of something.

If I make something, I'm not then contained in the thing I made because I'm bigger and greater than it.

So for Muslims, Allah created the universe so must be bigger and greater than it.

And then we have this phrase established itself on the throne.

Now that could therefore mean that this is above and beyond perhaps watching over the heavens and the earth.

Now that phrase established itself on the throne has been debated by Muslim philosophers too, but it does give that impression that Allah is outside and beyond the creation that Allah has made.

And in the second one we have this phrase, "His soul whispers to him." So that kind of intimate knowledge of a human, even the things I might not say to another living person, Allah is gonna know that, that I'm saying in my own heart and in my own soul.

Now doesn't that make you think of it being close and that idea of immanence? And then this phrase, "We are nearer to him than his jugular vein." Now your jugular vein runs down in your neck, somewhere around here, and it's an absolute life force for you, isn't it? It's a really, really crucial vein that pumps blood up to your brain.

So being closer than that to a human, that implies some kind of immanence, doesn't it? So we've got here the phrase established itself on the throne shows transcendence.

Being on a throne above creation shows Allah is outside the world.

And then we've got a phrase, "soul whispers" and "closer than," and that shows immanence being closer than an important vein shows Allah is close to creation.

So now Aisha and Jacob are gonna discuss how this idea of Allah's immanence and transcendence could influence a Muslim.

Alex says, "Believing that Allah is transcendent could influence a Muslim to worship Allah more.

It might encourage them to believe that Allah is omnipotent and greater than the universe our luck created.

So the idea of being bigger than the thing that you make." Izzy says, "Believing that Allah is immanent could influence Muslim to feel comforted during hard times.

They might feel Allah is close to them and cares for them even when they feel very alone.

Allah is omniscient and will know everything they're going through." So we have that word omni there again, omniscient being all-knowledge.

So Allah knows because Allah is here within the universe with those that he has created.

So let's do another check.

What term means the belief that Allah is close to people and present and active in the world? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, that was immanent because we have that prefix im meaning on and very close.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned.

For each quote in the table below, choose one belief about alert it could support and give a reason why.

Use the beliefs, omnipotent, transcendent, and immanent.

And the quotes are, "We are nearer to him than his jugular vein." "He is capable of everything." "Established himself on the throne." So we've had these three quotes in the lessons so far.

Which belief could it support out of omnipotent, transcendent, immanent, and why? I've given the suggested phrases, this supports a belief that and then this supports it because.

And there's one each and there's one belief each that you can fit into there.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

We're really getting quite philosophical here today.

So I asked you to look at the quotes that we've looked at in the lesson so far that are in the table below and say which belief that quote could support out of immanent, omnipotent, and transcendent.

And then why does it support it? And your answer might look something like this.

We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.

This supports a belief that Allah is immanent.

This supports it because immanence means within the universe and close to humans.

He is capable of everything.

This supports a belief that Allah is omnipotent.

This supports it because omnipotence means being all-powerful and capable of anything.

Established himself on the throne.

This supports a belief that Allah is transcendent.

This supports it because transcendence means being above and beyond the universe like on a throne above creation.

So well done.

So onto our second section then, the beneficence, mercy and fairness of Allah.

Muslims believe that Allah is beneficent and we can understand what this word means by breaking it down into its two stems. Bene coming from good.

So if you think of the word benefit, benevolent, they are positive good things aren't they? So we know bene means good.

And ficent comes from facere, meaning to do so.

For example, a factory or facility.

These are to do with like actions.

So we can see from this that the idea of God being beneficent is that God does good.

So by saying that Allah is beneficent, it means that Allah is all loving, showing mercy, compassion, and kindness to people.

So that idea of being good and loving is what we refer to when we say that Allah is beneficent.

So what are some of the sources that might support this then? Well, the 99 names of Allah can help Muslims understand these beliefs about Allah's nature.

So we've got Ar-Rahman, the most merciful, Al-Wadud, most loving, and I'll add Al-Adl, the just.

So each of these can link to the idea that Allah is beneficent.

But could you say that they link to one another aside from the fact that they are connected to the nature of God? In what way might they link with each other? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me? Well, we could argue that because Allah is all-loving, Muslims hope that Allah will be both merciful and just.

So yes, we might deserve certain punishment for our deeds, but we also hope that by God being loving, we'll be forgiven for some of those things.

So we can't fully understand the nature of God with one name, which is why we have the 99 names to help us understand the different aspects of who God is.

And the idea of God's beneficence is a bit like that.

There's different aspects to that that we can try and understand.

Adalat is one of the five roots of Usul ad-Din in Shia Islam and it means the justice of God.

And we just saw the name Al-Adl there.

In Arabic, we can look at the root of a word to understand more about what it means.

So adalat comes from the root adl meaning just.

So we've said here, the 99 names of Allah, we have got the just.

So this is therefore gonna link to the fairness of Allah.

Sunni Muslims also believes that God is just, it's just not one of the six articles of faith.

So it is a belief that Suuni Muslims have, it's just not stated in those kind of six key beliefs that are often used in Sunni Islam.

Let's do a quick check.

Muslims believe that Allah is forgiving and kind.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see if you've done in a moment.

That is true.

Well done.

Why? Well, a belief in Allah's beneficence means that Muslims believe Allah will be kind, merciful, and forgiving to people.

A belief in Allah's, beneficence, mercy and fairness can influence a Muslim's life in many ways and we can look to some Muslim practises to understand how.

So we can often when we're thinking about influence or importance of a belief, we can look at the practises and the actions that Muslims might do based on these beliefs to help us see their importance and influence.

So for example, Muslims might take part in daily prayers and in those prayers they'll be asking Allah for help because they believe that of his mercy, kindness and fairness, he will want to help them.

Muslims may also find that fasting helps them to be kinder to others who have less and they want to understand more how to be kind and compassionate and merciful to others just as Allah is with them.

Also, a charity tax that's paid by Muslims can help Muslims to be more generous and increase their generosity to others, helping them to create a fairer world through donating some of their money and also showing that mercy and compassion to others and showing something of that beneficence that they have from Allah.

And then we have the idea of actually helping other people who are facing injustice and hard times.

So maybe even going somewhere but people are struggling and physically helping them.

That can be influenced by belief that God is merciful, caring and loving from Allah's beneficence.

To then influence a Muslim to want to do that too.

So let's see how Noor is influenced by belief in Allah's beneficence.

Alex asks, "How does a belief in Allah's beneficence influence you, Noor?" Noor says, "A belief in Allah's beneficence means I trust that Allah wants the best for me.

Allah's love for humans meant that we have had revelations like the Koran to show us how to live well and how to get to paradise in the afterlife.

So I read the Quran to be able to do this." So here we've got a belief and a thought of this trust in Allah because Allah is beneficent.

Also actions that Noor might do which are influenced by that belief in beneficence.

For example, reading the Quran to be able to know how to get to paradise to be back with Allah.

And Ahmed's gonna tell us how a belief in Allah's mercy influences him.

So Izzy asks, "How does a belief in Allah's mercy influence you, Ahmed?" Ahmed says, "A belief in Allah's mercy means that I'm hopeful that I'll be forgiven for any wrongdoings that I do.

I also want to show mercy to others and be kind.

I try to be kind to other students in my class because of the example of Allah's kindness to me." So here, we've got some thoughts that are influenced for Ahmed by the idea of Allah's mercy, that he is hopeful that he'll be shown mercy for any wrongdoings he does, but also some actions here where he tries to be kind to other people because of that kindness and mercy that Allah has shown him.

And finally, here we've got Meryem, who is influenced By Allah's fairness.

So Alex is going to ask her, "How does the belief in Allah's fairness influence you, Meryem?" And she says, "A belief in Allah's justice and fairness means that when I look at things happening in the world that don't seem fair, I know that Allah will make sure people are rewarded and punished for what's happening fairly.

This means I'm comforted when I watch news stories which can be upsetting." So Meryem here has got some beliefs and thoughts that are influenced by Allah's fairness.

Here, she's got the idea that when she watches the news and she's upset, she can feel comforted.

And also, she can trust that people will be judged fairly by God and either rewarded or punished for the actions that they're doing.

So Noor and Ahmed there showed us that there's often more than one way that beliefs can influence believers.

The difference it can make in their life for their thoughts, beliefs, and actions.

One way that a belief in Allah's beneficent, oh no.

So let's give one way that a belief in Allah's beneficence might influence a Muslim.

Let's think of this together, we could say it will encourage Muslims to give money to the charity tax because if Allah has done good for them and is good in nature, then they want to be good and sharing their wealth with others.

For example, through giving money to the charity tax.

So over to you then.

Give one way that a belief in Allah's beneficence might influence a Muslim.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well done.

We could have here having more compassion for those with less through fasting.

Well done.

Other possible answers could have been feeling comforted and helping others.

So time for another practise task to see what we've done then.

You are going to explain two ways a belief in the beneficence of Allah will influence Muslims. And this means we need to give two different ways, but because it's an explained question, we need to develop it somehow with an example, an explanation.

We might use a phrase like this means that or this is because.

So the way you're going to do this is give a point, which is a way a belief in the beneficence of Allah will influence Muslims. And then develop it.

Explain how and why this could impact their life.

Secondly, you're going to give another way that a belief in the beneficence of Allah influences Muslims and then develop that again by explaining how and why this could impact their life.

And remember it could be beliefs, thoughts or actions, and you do not need to give the source of authority in this type of question, what's important as you explain that influence.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Some really good thinking there.

So I asked you to explain two ways a belief in the beneficence of Allah will influence a Muslim and your response might be similar to this.

A belief in the beneficence of Allah may influence a Muslim through a Muslim wanting to be kinder and more loving to others.

This means that by fasting each year, Muslims may have more empathy and understanding for those who have less to and drink in the world.

So my first point here, I've said what the influence is to be kind and more loving to others and then I've developed it.

You can see that phrase, this means that with my explanation as to how that happens.

Second point, a belief in the beneficence of Allah may also influence a Muslim through feeling hopeful and comforted about life after death.

This means that by believing that Allah is merciful and good, they'll be forgiven for some wrong actions and will be able to go to paradise after death.

So again, I've given my influence which is feeling hopeful and comforted.

So it can be a thought, doesn't have to be an action.

And then I've explained it by saying how and why that matters to Muslims. So while done for your work then.

So onto our third section then.

Understanding immanence and transcendence.

So that question we asked earlier in the lesson of exactly where God is, is a really important one in philosophy and theology.

If God is transcendent up and above and beyond the universe, when it poses a question of, well how can God know what is happening to humans on earth? How can God help and support humans? Surely, their really important beliefs within religion about God.

But if God is immanent, so in the universe and within it, then how can God be limited by that universe? And is God then changed by what humans do and think and say.

So there is an issue with saying that God is both if it is limited in this way.

In Islamic philosophy and theology, this question has also been asked and it's been around for hundreds of years, this question around God's transcendence and immanence.

And if God is both, what's that relationship? It is one more important than the other.

So there are different views in Islam on others' immanence and transcendence and whether one is more important than the other.

There's obviously evidence in the Quran that we saw earlier for both these views that God is immanent and transcendent, but perhaps one is more emphasised than the other by some ways of thinking in Islam.

So most Sunni Muslims believe that Allah's transcendence is most important.

So the idea that Allah is a kind of outside and beyond time and space and the universe.

Some Sufi Sunni Muslims believe that Allah's immanence is most important and that kind of closeness and that intimacy that God is there with us.

Remember that quote about knowing what the soul is whispering being very, very close to us in creation.

So if we look at the idea of most Sunni Muslims saying that transcendence is most important, that can kind of really link to God being omnipotent beyond and greater than creation, bigger and greater than the thing that God has created, outside of space, outside of time, and beyond everything that we know of in terms of this universe.

And that could show that God's power is not limited and God's knowledge is not limited.

But when we have this idea of God being immanent and within us and close to us, that can help us understand how God can know us so well and know what we need and know what we want and help us and have compassion with us and understanding for us and also to be able to help us here in this universe.

Let's do a quick check.

All Muslims agree on Allah's immanence and transcendence.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false, but why? Well, it's false because there's different views on Allah's immanence and transcendence.

Many Sunni Muslims do emphasise Allah's transcendence while some Sufi Sunni Muslims emphasise Allah's immanence.

But we really do have both there as part of the nature of Allah in Islam.

And it can be down to which one is emphasised more.

Meyrem and Nadia, who's the Sufi Muslim, are going to explain what they think is more important.

Allah's immanence or Allah transcendence.

So Nadia, who is a Sufi Muslim, she says, "I think a belief in the immanence of Allah is more important.

I know that Allah is close to me at all times and knows me better than anyone and this is a great comfort to me." And Meyrem says, "A belief in the transcendence of Allah is more important.

Allah is greater and bigger than the universe and that is I worship Allah." Which argument could be the most convincing? Why? Pause the video, have a reread of them.

You could talk to the person next to or talk to me.

Which one is more convincing? Time for another check.

Which group of Muslims may emphasise Allah's immanence? Which group was it? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That's right.

We said it was Sufi Sunni Muslims might emphasise Allah's immanence.

So time for another practise task to see what we've learned then.

Here is a full evaluation question about Allah's, immanence and transcendence.

So we have a statement here from us then the transcendence of Allah is more important than the immanence of Allah.

Evaluate this statement.

What you are going to do is plan a point in support of this statement and plan a point in support of a different view.

So you don't have to write them out fully.

You're just going to plan the point that you could make in support and the point for a different point of view.

You're going to give a point and a reason for each.

In your answer, you should give reasoned arguments in support of the statement and you should give reasoned arguments in support of a different view.

So you might like to use this table for your plans here.

Here's the statement from a Muslim.

"The transcendence of Allah is more important than the immanence of Allah." Evaluate this statement.

And I've given you some starting phrases here.

For a Muslim, the transcendence of Allah may be more important than the immanence of Allah because and this is because.

And for a point of view, which is different for a Muslim, the immanence of Allah may be more important than the transcendence of Allah because, and this is because.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

You're being very philosophical there.

So for a Muslim, the transcendence of Allah is more important than the immanence of Allah.

Evaluate this statement.

And I asked you to plan a point for and a point which could support a different point of view.

And I gave you some starters to get you going.

Let's see what we could have written.

It might look something like this.

For the statement, "For a Muslim, the transcendence of Allah may be more important than the immanence of Allah because Allah is omnipotent and greater than creation.

This is because this means that Allah's power is not limited and Allah can't be part of creation.

There is nothing like Allah, nothing in creation is like God.

So God can't be in that creation." And what about the point that supports a different point of view.

"For a Muslim, the immanence of Allah may be more important than the transcendence of Allah because Allah is close to humans and active in the world.

And this is because Allah knows humans well and what they need and can help them." Remember that was the view that our Sufi Sunni then held.

And so I wonder which one you think makes the stronger argument if you were to start to evaluate this and come towards a conclusion on this statement.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today about the nature of Allah.

Muslims believe that Allah is omnipotent, beneficent, merciful, loving, fair, and just.

Beliefs about the nature of Allah will influence Muslims in many different ways.

The Quran states that Allah is both transcendent and immanent.

And there are different understandings of Allah's immanence and transcendence in Islam.

So well done for that today.

There was some really good hard thinking going on and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye.