Lesson video

Hi there, my young scholars of religion.

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

Today we're going to be doing all about Muslim beliefs to do with Allah's nature.

We're going to get quite philosophical and theological while we're doing it.

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

So, by the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain what Muslims believe about Tawhid and the nature of Allah.

So, let's start with our key terms then.

Beneficent.

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

"Allah is present and active in the world." Omnipotent "Allah is all powerful." Tawhid, the, "oneness in reference to God, the basic Muslim belief in the oneness of Allah." And transcendent.

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

So, look out for those in today's lesson.

So, this lesson today is going to have three sections.

"Tawhid and the oneness of Allah", "Allah is omnipotent, transcendent and immanent", and "The beneficence, mercy and fairness of Allah." So, let's start with our first section, "Tawhid and the oneness of Allah." So, let's think about Tawhid.

"How many phrases can you think of in the English language that used the term one?" Pause the video and have a think.

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

Well done.

I wonder how many of these you have.

We've got, the one and only, I found the one, I feel at one again, One of a kind, One in a million, the number one.

What can these all show us about the term one then? Is it just that there's only one thing, or there's something about that oneness? These terms seem to show us that one can mean so much more than just a number.

It can mean feeling at one, or complete, or united.

So, this idea of the oneness of God can be so much more than just there being only one God.

The term Tawhid comes from Arabic, and it has these root letters, wa, ha, and da.

So, this forms the root of many words related to one and oneness.

And you might know somebody called Wahid or Wahida.

So tawhid, and we can see the letters here, the number one in Arabic is actually wahid.

So, we can see it's something to do with oneness.

And one of the 99 Names of Allah is al-Wahid, the absolute one.

Tawhid then, is a belief in the oneness and uniqueness of God.

So, a belief in Tawhid, means that Islam is a monotheistic religion and the term monotheistic comes from Greek.

So, we've talked about an Arabic word, and now we're gonna talk about a Greek word, and we've got mono and theistic.

Mono comes from monos, it means single.

So, for example, you might know the word monologue or monorail, and theistic comes from theos, which means God.

So, it's to do with the belief in god or gods, e.

g.

, theists believing God or theology, which is the degree that I studied.

So, a monotheist is someone who believes in only one God.

So, Islam is an Abrahamic faith, and if you know about the story of Ibrahim in these different faiths, and in Islam he believed in only one God, and refused to worship any other.

And the word Allah is an Arabic term for God.

And most Muslims believe this is the same God of Judaism and Christianity, that same God of Abraham or Ibrahim.

And that idea that there's only one God, and monotheism is tawhid.

So, let's think about some beliefs connected to this then in Islam.

We've got, "There's no other thing that compares to God, God is complete and not made of different parts, God is all powerful, created the universe, humans can know more about God through revelations to messengers, and God alone is deserving of worship and adoration".

So, let's outline three beliefs about tawhid.

Which of these could be used for this question? If you had that as a question, which three of these statements could you use? Muslims believe that Allah is the same God as the Abrahamic God.

Muslims believe there's only one God.

A belief in tawhid heed means that Islam is polytheistic.

A belief in heed means that nothing compares to God.

Three of these you could use for that question.

Pause the video and find them, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, it was A, B and D.

A belief in tawhid means Islam is monotheistic, and not polytheistic.

Well done.

So, we can look to different sources of authority to understand this a bit more, and understand the importance of this belief that God is one, tawhid, and one source of authority is the Shahada.

And it's a statement of faith in Islam, and it's one of the five pillars.

So, it's one of those important Muslim practises, and it goes like this.

"There's no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God." And so the beginning part of this, can you see how that might particularly support belief in tawhid? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

Particularly that beginning bit, "There is no God but God", there is only that one God, there's no other God that could be worshipped.

And then that God has sent revelations and messages to us as humans, and one of those was through the message that was given to the prophet Mohammed.

We've got here, "There's no other God but God", and "Humans can know about God through the revelations to the prophet Mohammed." Another important source of authority for Muslims, is going to be the Qur'an as the ultimate source of authority.

So, we can look to that to try and understand a bit more about tawhid as an important Muslim belief then.

"Are the messengers responsible for anything but clear communication?" "To every community we sent a messenger to, 'worship God and avoid idolatry'".

And this is in Surah 16.

So, what can this show us about tawhid? How can this quotation support a belief in tawhid? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

We've got here, that every prophet was sent a message to give to people, that clear communication.

As messengers that message to worship God, and avoid idolatry.

So, idolatry is when you create an idol, or you create, it might be a statue, or it could be a thing that you're worshipping in place of God, if you think about when you idolise something.

So, this idea of avoiding worshipping idols, and only worshipping God, there's only one God, Tawhid.

So, let's do a quick check.

Which source of authority said worship God, and avoid idolatry? Which source that we just looked at was that? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done.

It was in the Qur'an and it was Surah 16, well done.

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

Here's a question on Muslim beliefs about tawhid.

You're going to explain two Muslim beliefs about tawhid, and you're going to use this table to do this, and you're gonna develop the points in the table.

There's a point, a belief in tawhid means there's only one God, you're going to develop it.

The second point, a belief in tawhid means that God is complete, and then you're going to develop it.

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

Well done.

So, I asked you to develop these two points explaining what a Muslim belief in tawhid is.

And you could have said, "A belief in tawhid means there's only one God", "This means that there are no other gods, and false gods should not be worshipped ." "A belief in tawhid means that God is complete, and has not begotten anyone.

This means God never had separate parts or persons like a child on earth".

Well done.

So, now let's think about our second section.

"Allah is omnipotent, transcendent and immanent." Meryem, Ahmed, Noor, and Nadia are all Muslims and they're describing what Allah is like.

Meryem says, "Allah is all powerful and almighty.

He is 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 all kind and good.

He's 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, in here we got lots of different ideas about what God is like in Islam.

Let's unpack some of those a bit more together now.

So, Muslims believe that God is omnipotent.

So, let's see if we can understand what this word means.

So, omni- is a Latin prefix, so a stem of a word which means, all.

So, you might have heard it with omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, omni-benevolent.

The word omni at the start means all.

And potent is a Latin word for being powerful, or able to do something.

So, if something's very potent, it's very strong.

So, omnipotent therefore means all powerful.

To describe God as omnipotent means Allah is all powerful.

There's nothing that God cannot do.

And many Muslims believe that God is all powerful.

Sunni Muslims particularly believe that nothing happens without it being Allah's will.

It's quite an important element within the Sunni articles of faith, that nothing happens outside of God's will, and it's only if God is willing that things happen.

All powerful is one of the 99 Names of Allah, Al Qadir.

So, let's look at another source of authority to understand this a bit more.

In the Koran in Surah 46 it says, "Do they not realise that God, who created the heavens and the earth, was never tired by creating them, is able to revive the dead? Yes indeed, He is capable of everything." So, how can this quotation support a belief that Allah is omnipotent then? If you remember what omnipotent means, how does this quote support that belief? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

We've got this idea of God creating the universe, gotta be pretty powerful to do that.

Being able to bring people back from the dead, so, that is something that God is not limited to being able to do.

God can do that which is impossible, and actually capable of everything.

That sort of sums up what omnipotent is, isn't it? God's created the universe, could bring the dead back to life, and has the power to do anything and even says it was never tired by it.

So, it doesn't even wear God out to do this, because God is all powerful.

Let's do a quick check.

What term means the belief that Allah is all powerful? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, omnipotent.

So, if that's the idea of Allah being omnipotent, let's try and understand what it means for God to be transcendent and immanent then.

And Meyrem is Muslim and she's thinking about this, and she's thinking about the nature of Allah.

Imagine Meyrem, who is perhaps sat in a classroom like you may be now, travels up into the atmosphere and beyond, and doesn't stop.

So, she travels up, up, up, up above the classroom, up above the school, up into the sky, and she keeps going.

When might she say she's actually reached God? Would it be past the earth into the atmosphere, past the stars, the edge of the known universe? Is that where Meyrem might reach God? Well let's bring it back the other way then.

What if Meyrem then travels back down, onto Earth, into the classroom, where she sat and then into her own arm, and she starts looking here and she could see inside her skin, and all the way into her veins, and into the cells that make up her blood.

Would she say that she's found God there? Where would she say that she's seen God, if at all? Well that question of where exactly God is, has been discussed by philosophers for centuries.

It's been discussed for centuries in Islamic philosophy, and in other philosophy too.

Where is God, if we say there is a God, where is this God exactly? And the idea of transcendence and immanence helps us understand this.

For many Muslims, Allah is both immanent and transcendent, and these words come from Latin and we can use that Latin to understand what the terms mean.

So, trans- means going across.

If you think of transfer, transmit, transport, something about a distance, and -cendent is to do with climbing, or ascending, or descending.

So, transcendent is, travelling across and up.

And then immanent, if you think of the words like implant or impale, Im- means something very close, meaning, on.

So, something that is immanent is very close to us.

'Cause manere- means to stay, for example, remain or permanent.

So, staying on.

So, here we got this idea of transcending, so moving up and then we've got an idea of staying on.

So, could you think about how those two terms might relate to ideas about God, particularly if you think of Meyrem who was travelling up and then coming back down? Well the transcendence of Allah, means that Allah is above and beyond the universe.

So, when we had Meyrem there travelling up and outside and beyond the universe, that is where Muslims may believe that Allah is above and beyond the universe that God has created.

If I bake a cake, I'm not in that cake am I? Because I've created the cake, I'm bigger than it, I'm greater than it.

And Allah is greater and bigger than the universe.

So, it must be outside and beyond it.

But also, Muslims believe that the immanence of Allah, means that Allah is present within the universe and working within it and here, and close to us within that universe that Allah has created.

So, we have these two ideas about the nature of Allah.

So, Muslims believe that, Allah is both beyond and within the universe.

Now, those two things might seem to contradict each other.

So, how exactly can God be both those things? And we have the same discussion within other religious philosophies as well.

But within Muslim philosophy, this has been debated for centuries, and different people have come up with different resolutions to this.

But all Muslims believe that allows omnipotent anyway, so could do the logically impossible.

Doesn't make sense to us, but God can do it because God is beyond what we can think, 'cause God is omnipotent.

So, why might Muslims have this view that God is both transcendent and immanent then? Well again, we're gonna look to the Qur'an as the ultimate source of authority, that revelation to humans about what the nature of God is like.

And in Surah 7 we have this, "Your Lord is God, He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established himself on the throne." And then secondly, in Surah 50, "We created the human being, and we know what his soul whispers to him.

We are nearer to him than his jugular vein." And here's your jugular vein here.

So, how could these two verses support beliefs that either God is transcendent or immanent? Have a look through them.

One of them seems to support more the idea of transcendence, the other one supports more the idea of immanence, which is which and why? Pause the video and have a think, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well, I would say the top one, Surah 7 seems to link to the idea of transcendence.

'Cause if God has created the universe, and then establishes himself on a throne, almost like looking down at the universe that's been created, that's showing the transcendence of Allah.

Whereas in Surah 50 where it says, "We created human beings and we know what his soul whispers to him", and some other translations of that even say they know the dark secrets his soul whispers to him.

So, it's the things you might not even say out loud.

God knows things that we say to ourselves.

Closer than your jugular vein, which is down here, which is an essential vein we have with our blood pumping up to our brain, that seems to show immanence, doesn't it? We've got the phrase, "established on a throne", seems to show transcendence, being on a throne above creation shows Allah is outside of the world, and we've got the phrase, "soul whispers" and "closer than" shows immanence.

Being closer than an important vein shows that Allah is close to creation.

So, I said to you that this has been debated and discussed in Islamic philosophy and theology over the centuries.

And so, different schools have thought within Islam have resolved this in different ways, how God can both be transcendent and immanent.

So, here I've got Nadia and Meryem who are both Muslims, both Sunni Muslims, but Nadia belongs to a group known as Sufi Muslims, and they're gonna explain which they think is more important, Allah's immanence or Allah's transcendence.

And Nadia says, "I think a belief in immanence of Allah is more important.

I know that Allah is close to me at all times, and knows me better than anyone.

This is a great comfort to me." So, for Nadia, as a Sufi Muslim, that closeness is very important.

The idea that God is there, and knows her well, and is there, is a comfort to her.

And Meryem says, "I think a belief in the transcendence of Allah is more important.

Allah is greater and bigger than the universe and that is why I worship Allah." This idea of being Allah being bigger than the universe that God created.

Which one of those do you think could be the most convincing, and why? Which of those is the most convincing argument? Pause the video and have a think, and you could talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, as I've said, this has been debated for centuries in Muslim philosophy.

So, you may not have solved it today.

So, time for another check then.

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

Well done, it was immanent.

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

For each quote in the table below, you're going to choose one belief about God that it could support, and give a reason why.

You're going to use the beliefs omnipotent, transcendent, and immanent.

So, there's one for each of those quotes that you can use, and you're going to give a reason why.

Your quotes are, "We are nearer to him than his jugular vein", "He is capable of everything", and, "Established himself on the throne".

So, which belief does it support and why? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well done, some really good thinking there.

So, I asked you for each quote to say, which belief it could support about God and why.

And your quotes were, "We are nearer to him than his jugular vein", it supports a belief that Allah is immanent and it supports it because, immanence means that within the universe and close to humans.

And the second quote, "He is capable of anything".

This could support a belief that Allah is omnipotent, it supports it because, omnipotence means being all powerful and capable of anything.

And, "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 for your hard work there.

So, onto our third section then, "The beneficence, mercy and fairness of Allah." So, Muslims believe that Allah is beneficent.

So, again, we're gonna break this word down to understand what it means.

So, beneficent has bene- at the beginning, which means good.

So, it could be like benefit or benevolent.

So, this idea of something good.

and -ficent comes from facere- meaning to do, so you could link that to words like factory or facility, places where things happen and things are done.

So, this would mean something to do with doing good.

So, Allah is beneficent, which means Allah is all loving, showing mercy, compassion and kindness to people, doing good.

Now the 99 Names of Allah help a Muslim understand beliefs about Allah's nature.

Muslims believe that we cannot completely understand God's nature, because our limited human minds cannot fully understand this complete, total Allah known through tawhid, we cannot know him in totality.

But the 99 Names of Allah can help Muslims understand these different characteristics that Allah has.

So, for example, we've got Ar-Rahman, which means the most merciful.

Al-Wadud, the most loving, and Al-Adl, the just.

So, these all linked to the idea of beneficence, of Allah doing good things.

So, how could all these three names link with each other? Then we've got the most merciful, the most loving, and the most just.

Can you put a sentence together using all three, explaining how they link? Pause the video and have a go, and we'll see what you've got in a moment.

Well, we could say that because Allah is loving, Muslims hope Allah will be merciful whilst being just, well done.

Adalat is one of the five roots of Usad ad-Din in Shia Islam.

It means the justice of God.

Now, Sunni Muslims also believe that God is just, and Al-Adl is one of the 99 names that Sunni Muslims also agree with.

But it's particularly important within those five roots of Usul ad-Din in Shia Islam, meaning the justice of God.

In Arabic we can look to that root of the word to understand more of what it means.

So, Adalat has that root word, adl, meaning just.

Al-Adl, the just, is one of the 99 Names of Allah.

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

Is this true or false? Muslims belief that Allah is forgiving and kind.

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

Well done, it is true, but why? Well, because a belief in Allah's beneficence, means that Muslims believe that Allah will be kind, merciful and forgiving to people.

Well done.

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

We've looked at all these different aspects of Allah's nature together today.

And for each of these aspects you are going to explain what it means, and you're going to explain what omnipotent, immanent, transcendent, beneficent, merciful, and fair and just means then.

So, pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

Lots of good thinking there.

So, your response may look something like this.

"Allah is omnipotent.

This means that Allah had the power to create the universe and humans.

Allah is immanent.

This means that Allah is close to humans and can comfort them.

Allah is transcendent.

This means that Allah can have knowledge of the past and the future.

Allah is beneficent.

This means that Allah is good and kind, and wants the best for all humans.

Allah is merciful.

This means that Muslims hope that Allah will be merciful on the day of judgement.

Allah is fair and just, adalat.

This means that Muslims can trust Allah even when things seem unfair or unjust in life." Well done.

So, let's summarise everything we've learned today then.

Allah's nature.

"Tawhid is a belief in the oneness and uniqueness of God.

Beliefs about tawhid are supported by various sources, including the Qur'an and the Shahada.

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

The Qur'an 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 your hard work today my young philosophers, and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye.