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Indeed We have shown him [mankind] the way, no matter whether he is grateful or ungrateful. (Q76:3)
إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا
The reference in the previous Chapter to the verse, He whom GOD misguides, you will not find for him a way (Q4:143), represents a major stumbling block for those who try to place man’s moral accountability in a Qur’anic framework. A casual first reading of this verse, and others like it, suggests that GOD deliberately picks out certain individuals and leads them to destruction. Such an interpretation, however, contradicts many more passages like these:
Verily AL-LAH does not do any wrong to humankind, but humans, rather, wrong themselves. (Q10:44)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَظْلِمُ النَّاسَ شَيْئًا وَلَكِنَّ النَّاسَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ
GOD yearns to make things clear for you and guide you to the ways of those before you and relent to you. And GOD is Knowing, Wise. / AL-LAH is yearning to relent to you, while those who follow their desires want you to go terribly off course. / GOD yearns to lighten things for you, as mankind was created weak. (Q4:26-28)
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ وَيَهْدِيَكُمْ سُنَنَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَيُرِيدُ الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الشَّهَوَاتِ أَنْ تَمِيلُوا مَيْلاً عَظِيمًا
يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُخَفِّفَ عَنْكُمْ وَخُلِقَ الإِنسَانُ ضَعِيفًا
A newcomer to GOD, if there is such a creature, might well be excused for asking, ‘So which description is correct? Is GOD the Ever-Caring, Compassionate Deity Who comprehends all our highest ideals, or is He an All-Powerful Dictator Who consigns whom He wills to Hell? To answer this type of question, we need to step back and remind ourselves of some basic concepts that were mentioned earlier.
All verbal descriptions of GOD, including those in the Qur’an, are ultimately mere expedients or concessions to the limitations of the human mind. This is why subhanal-Lah is not only an incantation or mantra but a constant reminder of what should form the basis of any true theology – that GOD is inconceivable in His Absolute Unicity, and hence transcendently and forever beyond our mental reach. All descriptions of Who He is and what He does are figurative, not literal, for Nothing is like Him (Q42:11). Because of the natural deficiencies in our understanding, we usually refer to Him one aspect at a time. Like the blind men groping around an elephant, each one touching a different part of the animal – the trunk, a tusk, a leg, a side, the tail – we are fundamentally and inevitably off the mark. The Qur’an reminds us of that, and nonetheless encourages us to keep trying until we die, for to deliberately give up on GOD is worse than death.
Not only is all language woefully inadequate to approach Him, we should keep in mind that our language is more or less appropriate for Him at various levels of abstraction and respect. AL-LAH Himself refers to this multi-dimensionality of the language He uses:
Verily AL-LAH does not disdain to make comparisons to a mosquito, let alone to what is higher. (Q2:26)
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلاً مَا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا
Light has its levels – Light upon Light! (24:35) – and darkness does too:
Darknesses in parts above each other (Q24:40)
ظُلُمَاتٌ بَعْضُهَا فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ
The many levels of light and the various degrees of darkness are not features of a multiplicity within GOD but rather reflect the plurality of our perspectives in approaching or turning away from the Divine. Another passage portrays this multi-dimensionality in astounding fashion:
Is one who follows what AL-LAH is pleased with like the one who earns the wrath of GOD and whose abode is Hell? How wretched is that destination! / They are varying degrees with GOD. And GOD is Seeing what they do. (Q3:162-163)
أَفَمَنْ اتَّبَعَ رِضْوَانَ اللَّهِ كَمَنْ بَاءَ بِسَخَطٍ مِنْ اللَّهِ وَمَأْوَاهُ جَهَنَّمُ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ
هُمْ دَرَجَاتٌ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ
The Arabic text here – They are varying degrees with GOD – equates the plurality of attitudes or behaviours people have regarding GOD, or even their identities, to grades in His presence. Their divisions with Him (translated by some as in His sight) are like the gradations of colour in the rainbow, varying according to the angle at which the one white light passing through them is refracted.
The Light of GOD undergoes a similar refraction in our discussion of Him. In Himself, He is most ‘like’ white light, pure and undifferentiated by any medium or material. GOD’s Light as seen by the angels would be very close to white, i.e. minimally distorted, as well, given their spiritual proximity, obedience, and lack of imagination. And the more angelic we are, the closer the ‘match’ between His One Will and our multi-coloured wills, and the truer our judgement to His Judgement, the more likely it is that His Light will be seen as Guidance.
The GOD You Already Know 