Q:Asalamualaikum,

I had a question regarding your 04/23/2010 Friday English speech… this question is not only to better my own understanding but to elaborate further on a specific topic to rid any confusion that was caused or chaos it may have created in the minds of especially those who are not fully educated on the 12 commandments.  1st commandment-“You shall have no other gods before Me” and you also quoted it and said that God says that he is a jealous God? can you please elaborate on this to further clarify so that we can better understand the relationship between the 12 commandments and Islam.  Why does God say he is a jealous God? Maybe the God and Goddesses are jealous but Allah is in no need of anything or anyone nor is he is need of our worship and is definitely free from jealousy? please explainThanks

Time: Saturday April 24, 2010 at 10:48 pm

A: ?????? ?????? ????? ???? ???????

The aspect of ‘Jealousy’ was quoted by a member from our audience. We had merely quoted it and elaborated upon its content. It was originally derived from the following quote:

‘Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; Thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; And showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments’

Muslim take on this given phrase: Allah being Jealous refers to Allah not wanting a partner to Himself. Jealously in human terms refers to one person not wanting to enjoy what the other possesses. In terms of Allah, it refers to Allah having a Hatred for a person who ascribes partners to Him. It is amongst the greatest of sins in Islam. His Jealousy is not for the benefit of Himself, it is for the benefit of humanity with a repulsion towards them ascribing partners with Him.

There is a word in Arabic called Ghayrah. This word functions to describe the type of feeling that a person has when someone uses his/her thing without consent, stares at his/her spouse, etc. Likewise, Allah having Ghayrah refers to the repulsion He has towards that human that would chose to hurt themselves by wrongful actions of worship. Allah being the Creator of His servants wants His servants to worship Him in the rightful manner.

I agree, the word ‘Jealousy’ being used could sound poor in word usage, however, i am glad we could clarify the matter, for this word would be used on a comparative level repeatedly as we journey through other religious principles proving all types of differences as well as similarities.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.