65 Cosmology
There are four teachings in the Quran that tell us how Muslims view God and the world. As with Judaism and Christianity, this section on cosmology includes theology: the study of the nature of God.
The first and most important principle is the Oneness of God. Seeing God as unique implies other qualities. God is:
- Eternal
- Not created
- All-knowing
- All-powerful
- Creator of all the universe and humanity
- Transcendent: He is larger than creation
We have already seen these qualities in other Abrahamic religions. But Islam goes further, saying that it is impossible for any other being to be divine like God. In this aspect, Islamic faith is different from Christianity, which considers Jesus to be both 100% God and 100% man.
Valuing anything over God is the primary fault of humanity. That can include one’s family, money, possessions, career, etc. Shirk means to associate any thing or person with God. For this reason, although Muhammad is regarded with great devotion and Muslims attempt to live their life in his example, he is never seen as more than a human. This would be shirk.
Since God created the world, it reveals His signs. The whole world or cosmos shows us what God is. At the same time, God is ultimately unknowable since He is all-knowing. Humans cannot have the same knowledge as God.
Creation also includes supernatural beings. These are beings who are beyond the human realm, but they are capable of leading humans to God (angels) or away from God (Satan and demons). Angels are made of light, as we saw with Muhammad’s first revelation. Satan was cast out of heaven by God after he refused to honor Adam, God’s creation. In addition to these obviously positive and negative beings, the jinn are invisible beings who possess people such as poets, inspiring their poetry. They are above humans, but not by much, and they too can be converted to Islam.
Some of the earliest revelations of the Quran predict a Day of Judgment. Humans will understand that it is the Day of Judgment when the whole world changes dramatically. This is described in the Quran: “When the sun shall be darkened, when the stars shall be thrown down, when the mountains shall be set moving…when the seas shall be set boiling.” (Quran 81:1; Denny 2006, 100).
At the day of judgment, all humanity, dead and alive, will come individually to God the judge. No one can intercede on behalf of another person. A record of his or her deeds is handed to the person. If it is given into the left hand, the person goes to hell; if it is given into the right hand, the person enters paradise. Until this day of judgment, all the dead are simply resting in their graves. After the day of judgment, all humanity will be either in hell or heaven.
Related to the idea of the day of judgment is the belief in predestination. If God is all knowing, then He must know who will enter heaven and who will enter hell on the day of judgment. At the same time, humans are believed to have free will. For example, they can choose to submit to or resist the will of God. Muslims have different opinions on this point, but as with other monotheistic religions, the basic tension is over the all-knowing characteristic of God and human free will.
These four principles of Islam: the oneness of God, the existence of supernatural beings, the belief in a Day of Judgment with the two destinations of heaven and hell, and finally the idea of predestination all tell us something about the Islamic view of cosmology and its theology.
