God's Kingdom
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The kingdom of God isn't just about heaven, or a place, or the future. It's here and everywhere, right now. When we hear the word “kingdom,” we imagine an area of land or territory controlled by a royal official. And while this was certainly part of the ancient imagination that gave birth to the idea of “the kingdom of God,” it cannot fully encompass it. The kingdom is not a place, really. God’s kingdom is when God alone rules and laws and when God’s wills for the world are fully present. The kingdom is here and everywhere.
[The New Testament, Luke 20-21] Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
There are two essential conditions to enter God’s Kingdom. God’s Kingdom comes to life when people of faith turn to GOD in a firm repentance (1) — this is like being born again — and follow His commandments (2).
1) Firm Repentence
[The Final Testament 66:8]: O you who believe, you shall repent to GOD a firm repentance. Your Lord will then remit your sins and admit you into gardens with flowing streams. On that day, GOD will not disappoint the prophet and those who believed with him. Their light will radiate in front of them and to their right. They will say, “Our Lord, perfect our light for us, and forgive us; You are Omnipotent.”
[The New Testament, Mark 1:15] “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
[The Final Testament 11:52] “O my people, seek forgiveness from your Lord, then repent to Him. He will then shower you with provisions from the sky, and augment your strength. Do not turn back into transgressors.”
[The Final Testament 28:67] As for those who repent, believe, and lead a righteous life, they will end up with the winners.
[The New Testament, John 3:3-5] Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
2) Following the Law
"How can I enter God's Kingdom?" Jesus's Answer: Follow the Commandments
[The New Testament, Matthew:16-17] Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
(Editor’s note: “To attain mercy” refers to entering God’s Kingdom in The Final Testament. )
[The Final Testament 6:155] This too is a blessed scripture that we have revealed; you shall follow it and lead a righteous life, that you may attain mercy.
[The Final Testament 7:204] When the Quran is recited, you shall listen to it and take heed, that you may attain mercy.
Formula for Success
[24:56] You shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and obey the messenger, that you may attain mercy.
[The New Testament, Matthew 5:17-20] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of God brings in its wake dramatic reversals. The poor are made rich. The hungry are fed. The weak are most powerful.
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We are in this world because we committed a horrendous crime, and this life is our chance to redeem ourselves, denounce our crime, and rejoin God’s kingdom.
It all began a few billion years ago when “a feud arose in the Heavenly Society” (38:69). One of the high-ranking creatures, Satan, entertained supercilious thoughts that his God-given powers qualified him to be a god besides God. He thus challenged God’s absolute authority. Not only was Satan’s idea blasphemous, it was wrong—only God, and no one else, possesses the qualifications and ability to be a god. Consequent to Satan’s blasphemy, a division occurred in the Heavenly Society, and all constituents of God’s kingdom became classified into four categories:
1. Angels: Creatures who upheld God’s absolute authority.
2. Animals: Creatures who rebelled but then accepted God’s invitation to repent.
3. Jinns: Creatures who agreed with Satan; that he is capable of being a “god.”
4. Humans: Creatures who did not make up their minds; they failed to make a firm stand with God’s absolute authority.
The Most Merciful
The angels expected God to banish the creatures who did not uphold His absolute authority (2:30). But God is Most Merciful; He decided to give us a chance to denounce our mistake, and informed the angels that He knew what they did not know (2:30). God knew that some creatures deserved a chance to be redeemed.
If you claim the ability to fly a plane, the best way to test your claim is to give you a plane and ask you to fly it. This is precisely what God decided to do in response to Satan’s claim. God created seven vast universes, then informed the angels that He was appointing Satan as a god on the tiny mote called “Earth” (2:30). The Quranic accounts related to appointing Satan as a temporary “god” (36:60) confirm the previous scripture.
You, Lucifer, said in your heart:
“I will scale the heavens.
Above the stars of God.
I will set up my throne.
I will take my seat
on the Mount of Congregation,
in the recesses of the North.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will be like the Most High!”
[Isaiah 14:13-15]
The devil then took Jesus up a very high mountain and displayed before him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, promising: “All these will I bestow on you if you prostrate yourself in homage before me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! Scripture has it: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God; Him ALONE shall you adore.’ ”
[Matthew 4:8-10] & [Luke 4:5-8]
God’s plan called for creating death (67:1-2), then bringing the humans and jinns into this world. Thus, they start over without any biases, and exercise full freedom to uphold God’s absolute authority or Satan’s polytheistic theory. To make this crucial decision, every human being receives a message from God advocating His absolute authority, as well as a message from Satan pushing his polytheistic principles.
To give us a headstart, the Most Merciful gathered all the human beings before Him, prior to sending us to this world, and we bore witness that He alone is our Lord and Master (7:172). Thus, upholding God’s absolute authority is a natural instinct that is an integral part of every human being.
After putting the rebels to death, the souls of humans and jinns were placed in a special depository. God then created the appropriate bodies to house the souls of jinns and humans during the test period. The first jinn body was made from fire, and Satan was assigned to that body (15:27). The first human body was created from earthly material, clay (15:26), and God assigned the first human soul to that body. The divine plan called for the angels to serve the humans on earth—guard them, drive the wind and rain for them, distribute provisions, etc. This fact is stated in the Quran allegorically: “Your Lord said to the angels, ‘Fall prostrate before Adam.’ ” Satan of course refused to have anything to do with serving the human race (2:34, 7:11, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116).
While Adam’s body remained on earth, the real person, the soul, was admitted into Heaven in the outermost universe. God gave Adam certain commandments, represented by the forbidden tree, and Satan was appointed as Adam’s companion to deliver to Adam his satanic message. The rest is history.
Every time a human being is born, a human person is assigned to the new baby from the depository of souls. God assigns the souls in accordance with His knowledge (28:68). Every soul deserves to be assigned to a certain body, and live under certain circumstances. God alone knows which souls are good and which souls are evil. Our children are assigned to our homes in accordance with God’s plan.
An independent jinn soul is also assigned to the new human being to represent Satan’s point of view. While the physical body of any jinn is reproduced from the parent jinns, the jinn soul is that of an independent individual. Jinns are descendants of Satan (7:27, 18:50). The assigned jinn remains with the human being from birth to death, and serves as the main witness on the Day of Judgment (50:23). A continuous debate takes place in our heads between the human soul and the jinn soul until both of them are convinced of one point of view.
The Original Sin
Contrary to common belief, the “Original Sin” was not Adam’s violation of God’s law when he ate from the forbidden tree. The original sin was our failure to uphold God’s absolute authority during the Great Feud. If the human person convinces his or her jinn companion to denounce that original sin, and uphold God’s absolute authority, both creatures are redeemed to God’s eternal kingdom on the Day of Judgment. But if the jinn companion convinces the human being to uphold Satan’s idolatrous views, then both creatures are exiled forever from God’s kingdom.
To promote his point of view, Satan and his representatives advocate the idolization of such powerless creatures as Muhammad, Jesus, Mary, and the saints. Since we are here due to our polytheistic tendencies, most of us are easy prey for Satan.
Satan’s incompetence as a “god” has already been proven by the prevalence of chaos, disease, accidents, misery, and war throughout his dominion (36:66). On the other hand, the human beings who denounce Satan, uphold God’s absolute authority, and refrain from idolizing powerless and dead creatures like Jesus and Muhammad, are restored to God’s protection—they enjoy a perfect life here in this world and forever.
Because our life in this world is a series of tests designed to expose our polytheistic ideas, idol worship is the only unforgivable offense (4:48, 4:116). The world is divinely designed to manifest our decision to uphold either God’s absolute authority, or Satan’s idolatrous views (67:1-2). The day and the night change constantly to test our willingness to uphold God’s laws by observing the Dawn Prayer and fasting during the hottest and longest days. Only those who are totally certain about God’s absolute authority are redeemed (26:89).
We learn from Verse 39:67 that God’s greatness is far beyond human comprehension— the verse states that all seven universes are “folded within God’s hand.”
Supported by the Quran’s formidable mathematical code, we are taught that our universe is the smallest and innermost of seven universes (41:12, 55:33, 67:5, & 72:8-12). Meanwhile, our scientific advances have shown us that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light years across, and that our universe contains a billion such galaxies and a billion trillion stars, plus countless decillions of heavenly bodies. Our universe is estimated to span distances in excess of 20,000,000,000 light years.
Count the Stars!
If we take only a quintillion [1,000,000,000,000,000,000] of the stars and simply count them [from 0 to quintillion] one count per second, day and night, this will take 32 billion years (more than the age of the universe). That is how long it will take to just “count” them; but God “created” them. Such is the greatness of God.
We can appreciate the vastness of our universe if we imagine going on a space odyssey. When we leave the planet Earth towards the sun, at the speed of light, we reach the sun after 93,000,000 miles and 8 minutes. It will take us more than 50,000 years at the speed of light to exit our galaxy. From the outer limit of the Milky Way, our planet Earth is invisible. Not even the most powerful telescope can detect our tiny “Earth.”
We have to spend more than 2,000,000 years at the speed of light to reach our next-door galaxy. At least 10,000,000,000 years, at the speed of light, must be spent to reach the outer limit of our universe. From the outer limit of our universe, even the Milky Way is like a speck of dust in a large room.
The second universe surrounds our universe. The third universe is larger than the second, and so on. More accurately, our universe should be considered the seventh universe, surrounded by the sixth universe, which is surrounded by the fifth universe, and so on. Can you imagine the vastness of the first, outermost universe? No number exists to describe the circumference of the first universe. This incomprehensible vastness is “within the fist of God’s hand.” From the outer limit of the outermost universe, where is the planet Earth? How significant is it? On the infinitesimal mote called Earth, such minuscule creatures as Mary, Jesus, and Muhammad lived. Yet, some people set up these powerless humans as gods!
God’s greatness is represented not only by the fact that He holds the seven universes in His hand, but also by the fact that He fully controls every atom, even subatomic components, everywhere in the greater universe (6:59, 10:61, & 34:3).
In God’s kingdom, certain creatures are necessarily given the powers needed to perform their duties. Satan believed that his God-given powers qualified him to function as an independent god. As evidenced by the prevalence of misery, disease, accidents, and war in his dominion, we now know that Satan is incompetent.
The Quran clearly states that Satan was an angel, by virtue of the immense powers and rank bestowed upon him. This is why he is addressed as an angel (2:34, 7:11, 15:29, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116, 38:71) prior to his fall. By definition, a jinn is a fallen angel (18:50). Satan’s rebellion teaches us that the angels were created with minds of their own, and absolute freedom of choice (2:34).
Most people are outraged upon hearing this question. “What do you mean, ‘Who is your god?’ ” they ask. “My god is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” And most of these people will be shocked to find out that their proclamation that their god is the Creator of the heavens and the earth is no more than lip service, and that they are in fact destined for Hell (12:106).
Your god is whoever or whatever occupies your mind most of the time.
Your god can be your children (7:190), your spouse (9:24), your business (18:35), or your ego (25:43). This is why we note that one of the most important and most repeated commandments in the Quran is:
O you who believe, you shall remember God frequently; glorify Him day and night.
[33:41]
To put this commandment into practice, we must establish certain habits whereby we guarantee that God occupies our minds more than anything else. The Quran helps us establish such soul saving habits:
1. The Contact Prayers (Salat): those who observe the 5 daily prayers come a long way towards commemorating God a significant proportion of their waking hours. Salat helps us remember God not only during the few minutes of prayer, but also throughout the times of anticipation. At 11:00 AM, one may look at his or her watch to see if the noon prayer is due yet. This act causes one to think about God, and one is credited accordingly (20:14).
2. Commemorate God before eating: Verse 6:121 enjoins us to mention God’s name before we eat: “You shall not eat from that upon which God’s name has not been mentioned.”
3. God Willing (IN SHAA ALLAH): “You shall not say, ‘I will do this or that tomorrow,’ without saying, ‘God willing’ (IN SHAA ALLAH). If you forget to do this, then apologize and say, ‘May my Lord guide me to do better next time.’ ” [18:24]. This is a direct commandment that we must carry out, no matter who we are talking with.
4. God’s Gift (MAA SHAA ALLAH): To invoke God’s protection for our beloved objects—our children, our cars, our homes, etc.—we are enjoined in 18:39 to say “MAA SHAA ALLAH” (This is God’s gift).
5. Glorify God day and night: When we eat anything, we shouldn’t be like animals; we must reflect on God’s creation of the food we are eating—the flavor, our enjoyment due to the senses God has given us, the perfect packaging of the banana or the orange, the varieties of sea foods created by God, etc.—and glorify Him as we enjoy His provisions. When we see a beautiful flower, or animal, or sunsets, we must glorify God. We must seize every possible opportunity to remember and glorify God, so that God may be our God.
6. First Utterance: Make it a habit to say: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. There is no other god besides God,” the moment you wake up every morning. If you establish this good habit, this is what you will utter when you are resurrected.
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