Through Force or Faith? — Page 223
Chapter 5 — Faith and Reason: Islamic Perspective 223 … Surely Allah has the power to do all that He wills ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:110). Here, God does not say He can do everything and anything, because by the use of such words, some people begin to raise absurd objections. For example some people ask ‘Is God capable of dying?’ or ‘Is God capable of creating another God like Himself ?’ All these things are repulsive and undesirable. A higher and per- fect being would not do such abhorrent and unwholesome acts. Anyway, to solve the objections of such people, Quran did not say that God is capable of every action, instead it says, ٍ ٌإِن َّ الل َّ عَلَى كُل ِّ شَيْء قَدِير That God is capable of doing what He wills. By virtue of God being perfect, He only wills what is perfect. Such an absurd inten- tion cannot be attributed to God that He should destroy Himself or create another one like Himself. Moreover, the degree of emphasis on the attribute of God being Wise, as is stressed in the Holy Quran, perhaps has no match in any other book. It says: ٌبٰتِك ْتَمِكْحُا ٗهُتٰيٰا َّمُث ْتَلِّصُف ْنِم ْنُدَّل ٍمْيِكَح ٍرْيِبَخ … This is a Book, whose verses are fortified and made flaw- less and free from imperfection and then they have been expounded in detail. It is from One Wise, and All-Aware ( S u rah H u d, 11:2). There are about a hundred places where the attribute of God being Wise is mentioned in the Holy Quran, out of which we mention a few.