An Investigation on God Concept of the Koranic Texts of Early Mecca Period

Apply

An Investigation on God Concept of the Koranic Texts of Early Mecca Period

Journal Title: Eskiyeni - Year 2019, Vol 7, Issue 38

Abstract

Throughout history, people and societies have envisioned God in different ways, and they relate to him in accordance with this form of imagination. Sometimes they have compared God to themselves or to other creatures, and sometimes they have isolate it from all things. This paper aims to find out what kind of a God imagination is exhibited in the Mekkî passages that descended in the early years of Muhammad's prophethood.For this purpose, 20 Mekkî Surahs were selected and subjected to a chronological analysis. In the surahsdealt with by the method of content analysis, it was determined which names were most frequently raised by God, and from this point on, it was determined how the Qur’an wanted to construct a God imagination. The analyzes show that the Qur’an wanted to build a vision of God through the name Lord, especially during the period of Mecca. Summary: Throughout history, people and societies have envisioned God in different ways, and have formed different kinds of relations with it, depending on the form of imagination. People have sometimes resembled God to themselves or to other creatures and sometimes they have have isolated from everything. In addition to these two imaginations, Ibn Arabi speaks of another imagination: Both an immanent and transcendent God. There are both religious and social consequences of God's immanent and transcendent imagination. The vision of God, which is immanent, brings God from the sky to the earth and likens it to objects. As a result of this analogy, while God is losing His holiness, objects are sanctified and replaced. Probably the source of paganism is based on this procedure. Thereactions to this imagination lead people to another extreme this time. This endpoint is its abstraction from the world. This leads to another problem. Humans have difficulty accessing the isolated God and think about mediators in order to achieve this and sanctify intermediaries. According to Ibn Arabi, the ideal image of God is to think of him as both immanent and transcendental. In this understanding, God is not known by his essence, but by his attributes he is similar to creatures. This understanding opens up the best way to establish a right relationship with God. Because, this imagination eliminates the potential drawbacks of other imaginations by constructing both a distant and close God imagination. This article aims to find out what kind of a God imagination is exhibited in the passages of the Meccan surahsthat descended in the early years of Muhammad’s prophethood.For this purpose, 20 Meccansurahs were selected and subjected to a chronological analysis. In the surahs dealt with by the method of content analysis, it was determined which names were most frequently raised by God, and from this point on, it was determined how the Qur’an wanted to construct a God imagination. Other verses and data are also included in the Qur’an from time to time to support or clarify these analyzes and interpretations. In doing so, a holistic approach is taken into consideration. In this study, it is not aimed to descend to the sources of exegesis and to work on the subject of commentary. Rather, it is aimed to look at the Qur’an with a social scientific view and to determine what kind of God imagination the Qur’an has put forward. The study should be read and evaluated within these limitations. The results of the analysis show that the Qur’an wanted to build a vision of God through the name Lord, especially during the period of Mecca. To understand why this is so, it would be meaningful to study their God conception. The Arabs were not alien to the idea of God, but they perceived him as a very far away and abstract God. The Qur'an has chosen the word Lord to change this idea. The Lord is a word that comes from the same background as the word education, and it means that it is like a trainer, a master and a manager. The name of the Lord expresses a reaction to the distant and abstract God understanding of the Meccan pagans. This gives the message that God is close to man. In addition, this name provides an analogy to people. How in the society, the smallest unit from the family and tribe to the city and the state until a manager and moderator, the universe must have a manager! The analysis shows that the Lord has appeared with four faces of God. First, the Lord speaks to us as a God of Mercy. His blessings are shown by reminding him of his blessing. Second, God is also a God of Wrath. This adjective seems contradictory to the first, but it is another face. While God gives his right to the just who is righteous in justice, he also shows the face of wrath to the unjust. The rewarding God and the Judgmental God are a continuation of the previous ones. God has promised to reward those who receive gratitude for his opportunities, and that he will judge the people to find justice and justice. If we make an evaluation in terms of ideal-typical God imaginations, we can say that the Qur’anic messages of the Qur’an want to place the idea of a trancendent and immanent God. Allah is transcendent in nature and cannot be defined, but he is a God who is known in terms of his attributes, who introduces himself and is close to us. This sense of closeness is clearly expressed in the following verse: “We created man and we know all that His own self has given him. Because we are closer to him than his jugular vein.” (Qaf 50/16) It is possible to talk about many forms of immanent understanding of God. In the eastern mystical doctrines, God is the spirit of the universe, and objects are only symbolically showing God. In pagan cultures, God is portrayed as a concrete sculpture or idol and these objects are positioned as mediators. Islam has struggled with the second understanding. But in Qur’anic commentary, there are views close to the first understanding. Some statements in the Qur'an were used by the Sufis to support it. For example, the following verse is shown: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.” (Light 24/35) Our findings provide not only a way to understand the divine message, but also provide clues as to what kind of a God vision is to be taught in education. Today, with the effect of modern scientific understanding, God is wanted to be expelled from the earth again. Both deism and agnosticism cut God's relationship with the earth and the people, and offer other saints or sacred intermediaries to people who want to reach it. It is vital that a righteous concept of God be taught to save people from these false gods and mediators and to place a belief in pure monotheism.

Authors and Affiliations

Kadir Canatan

Keywords

EP ID EP488846
DOI -
Views 85
Downloads 0