Does God have time in Islamic teaching?

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My question is, can God change His mind in Islamic belief? Does He have succession? Does one thing occur in Gods perspective before another? Can God change His opinion, or anything else regarding Himself for that matter? Does God see me typing a “y” then see me typing a “t”?
 
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cute2904:
Well Jimmy, any thing is possible for God… 🙂
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This is an important question. It is a question about the nature of Allah.

Is Allah a part of time? Does He see things in the way that I see things, one after the other? The question is, is there a past and a future to Allah?
 
I hope you get some responses from Muslims, but I doubt that the responses will be satisfactory for a discussion of the question. It seems that Muslims are not willing to discuss the nature of God (Allah) other than to repeat what is said in the Quran.

And yet, there is a whole thread discussing the Trinity–which involves the nature of God. How strange is that?

I have wanted to see if Islam even considers the distinction between matter and spirit. Or if it has a conception of spirit, and if so, how it is defined: i.e. not spread out in time or space. Possessing mind and will. But I’ve never seen a satisfactory reply.

Apparently the Quran speaks of God in anthropomorphic terms. Obviously, if Allah is composed of matter, he is subject to the limitations of matter. But from what I have been able to fathom, Muslims will say that the Quran is both literal, and not to be taken in the same sense as we might humanly use the words.

So is Allah spirit or matter? Does he exist in a sequential time, or in eternity?

I’m not hopeful for an answer. You will rather, see lots of Quran quotes.
 
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JimG:
I hope you get some responses from Muslims, but I doubt that the responses will be satisfactory for a discussion of the question. It seems that Muslims are not willing to discuss the nature of God (Allah) other than to repeat what is said in the Quran.
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Jim you make it sound as if were supposed to quote you something else to explain our doctrine. Obviously we choose to believe in God the way God has revealed about Himself in the Quran.
And yet, there is a whole thread discussing the Trinity–which involves the nature of God. How strange is that?
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Actually there was a thread started about the Nature of God by de maria. But if you want me to narrate and describe how Islam teaches to believe in God, i would be more than happy to start a dialogue on that.
I have wanted to see if Islam even considers the distinction between matter and spirit. Or if it has a conception of spirit, and if so, how it is defined: i.e. not spread out in time or space. Possessing mind and will. But I’ve never seen a satisfactory reply.
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If what you mean by spirit is the soul, yes ofcourse we believe in the soul. We believe our souls were created before our existence on earth, and that they will abide forever in the hereafter either in heaven or hellfire depending on ones belief. To be honest i am not fluent with the details of how the soul works as it involves deep understanding of the revealed texts, but if you wish to learn more about the islamic perspective of the soul we can start a thread about that too.
Apparently the Quran speaks of God in anthropomorphic terms.
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No the quran doesnt speak about God in an anthropomorphic manner, the QUran says 'There is nothing similar to Him…" . But again, we can go further in discussing the quranic verses that speeak of God’s attributes on a dedicated thread.
Obviously, if Allah is composed of matter, he is subject to the limitations of matter.
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I dont know where you got this understanding but Islam doesnt talk about what sort of matter God is made of, nor would we dare to. God is Living, God is infinite in all aspects, not created, and His essence cannot be pictured or compared to creation.
But from what I have been able to fathom, Muslims will say that the Quran is both literal, and not to be taken in the same sense as we might humanly use the words.
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I dont understand what you are trying to say here.
So is Allah spirit or matter? Does he exist in a sequential time, or in eternity?
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Spirit and matter signify created things. You cannot attribute such terms in describing the essence of God. God is not encompassed by time, God created time and time affects his creation. God Has no beginning and is eternally existing.
 
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JimG:
I hope you get some responses from Muslims, but I doubt that the responses will be satisfactory for a discussion of the question. It seems that Muslims are not willing to discuss the nature of God (Allah) other than to repeat what is said in the Quran.

And yet, there is a whole thread discussing the Trinity–which involves the nature of God. How strange is that?
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apparently you haven’t seen this thread:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=69141
 
Hashi Al-Eritre:
If what you mean by spirit is the soul, yes ofcourse we believe in the soul. We believe our souls were created before our existence on earth, and that they will abide forever in the hereafter either in heaven or hellfire depending on ones belief.
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Well, the soul is at least a starting point. (I did not realize that Muslims believe in the pre-existence of human souls.)

Catholics believe that the soul is spirit–that is, not material. That is why it survives death.

But we also believe that God is spirit. That is why we can say that we are made in the image of God.

God is not nothing. He must be something. We say that he is infinite spirit.

God cannot be made of matter. Matter (and energy) has parts, and has its parts spread out in space and in time. Because it has parts, it can come apart. So being made of matter involves limitations, and God has no limitations.

Spirit, on the other hand, has no parts, does not occupy space or time, has no past or future.

Spirit does have intelligence and free will. In God, these faculties are infinite. When God knows or acts, he knows or acts with infinite knowledge or power.

When God creates, he uses no pre-existing material.

Since God is not spread out in time, for Him there is no before or after, only now. Which was Jimmy’s original question:

In Islamic belief, does God have succession in time? For him, is there a before and after? Can he change his mind due to changing circumstances?
 
Hashi Al-Eritre:
God is not encompassed by time, God created time and time affects his creation. God Has no beginning and is eternally existing.
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Can you please expand on this, it is what I started the thread for. Does Allah see things in succession; one after the other?
 
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jimmy:
Can you please expand on this, it is what I started the thread for. Does Allah see things in succession; one after the other?
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Im not sure i understand the question. And ofcourse if your questions are too deep and complicated, i cant answer because theres only so much we know about God in the Quran and Prophetic sayings. But whatever the question is, we maintain God’s infinite ability and knowledge and that His true essence cannot be phathomed by the human mind. Rather, much of what has been revealed about God is confined to what will aid us to worship Him as opposed to the intricasies of God’s actual nature.

First of all, how God sees is perfect and free of any sort of deficiency. It is not like how we see. God can see the past, present, future, He sees through everything and anything, His seeing is not limited, He sees everything all at once. His seeing isnt restricted by time or space.

I hope that has helped answer ur question.
 
Allah is God.Allah is One. No beginning, no end. Beyond any human conception. Beyond our understanding of matter, time or space. Beyond our human ideas of time. Allah is the God of Abraham. Allah is Beneificent. Allah is Merciful.Allah is the Master of the Day of Requital.Allah is whom all serve and all beseech for help. Allah is the God of the Jews and the Father in Christianity. The One Jesus calls One.
 
Hi Jimmy,
“If you want to see what I mean, this link offers an explaination of time and eternity from one of the great Catholic apologetists of history.”–Jimmy

St. Augusitine’s “Confessions” is not “Nilis Obstat”. It is not official church doctrine. So, it is just the opinion of one man. Nobody knows what time is except Allah (God).–nicolo
 
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nico1089:
Hi Jimmy,
“If you want to see what I mean, this link offers an explaination of time and eternity from one of the great Catholic apologetists of history.”–Jimmy

St. Augusitine’s “Confessions” is not “Nilis Obstat”. It is not official church doctrine. So, it is just the opinion of one man. Nobody knows what time is except Allah (God).–nicolo
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It does not need a nihil obstat to be an official teaching. It is explicitly stated in the bible.

No one has claimed to know what time is. I would agree that God is the only one that knows what time is. What Augustine says is the official teaching.
 
Hi Jimmy, I was under the impression that “Nihils Obstat” was a requirement to be official teaching, that is “free from doctrinal error” and “Imprimatur” to be “officially sanction and approved”. If this has changed recently I was unaware. The works of St. John of the Cross is marked as such, as are some of Thomas Merton’s works. That is why I trust them, they have ungone thorough examination. Yet my copy of “Confessions”–St Augustine, does not have this. Has the work been modified and republish as Nihil Obstat? --nicolo
 
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nico1089:
Hi Jimmy, I was under the impression that “Nihils Obstat” was a requirement to be official teaching, that is “free from doctrinal error” and “Imprimatur” to be “officially sanction and approved”. If this has changed recently I was unaware. The works of St. John of the Cross is marked as such, as are some of Thomas Merton’s works. That is why I trust them, they have ungone thorough examination. Yet my copy of “Confessions”–St Augustine, does not have this. Has the work been modified and republish as Nihil Obstat? --nicolo
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I don’t think any of the Church Fathers writings have nihil obstats, but their teachings are the official teachings of the Church. Augustine was a bishop himself, so he did not need the sign of a bishop to show aproval from the Church since he could give it his own nihil obstat.
 
Hi Jimmy,
“I don’t think any of the Church Fathers writings have nihil obstats, but their teachings are the official teachings of the Church. Augustine was a bishop himself, so he did not need the sign of a bishop to show aproval from the Church since he could give it his own nihil obstat.”–Jimmy

This is by no means meant to dicredit Augustine, but just being a bishop doesn’t mean is isn’t fallable (look at some of the bishops of today).“Confessions” is just that, a life story and not doctrine. You also say that the writings of the Church Fathers are official. Does that mean everything in the Philokalia is doctrine? I don’t think so. It’s great reading and contains lots of truth but is not all accepted by the church, unless of course you are refering to the church that you’re link goes to. Is that the church you are talking about? It seems pretty interesting. thanks, nicolo
 
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nico1089:
Hi Jimmy,
“I don’t think any of the Church Fathers writings have nihil obstats, but their teachings are the official teachings of the Church. Augustine was a bishop himself, so he did not need the sign of a bishop to show aproval from the Church since he could give it his own nihil obstat.”–Jimmy

This is by no means meant to dicredit Augustine, but just being a bishop doesn’t mean is isn’t fallable (look at some of the bishops of today).“Confessions” is just that, a life story and not doctrine. You also say that the writings of the Church Fathers are official. Does that mean everything in the Philokalia is doctrine? I don’t think so. It’s great reading and contains lots of truth but is not all accepted by the church, unless of course you are refering to the church that you’re link goes to. Is that the church you are talking about? It seems pretty interesting. thanks, nicolo
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The Confessions is both a conversion story and doctrine. The last four books are doctrinal. Augustine was a bishop that held apostolicc succession. Although his writings aren’t inerant, they are authoritative. Augustine was just one example that could have been used though. Anselm discusses it in his Monologion. John Chrysostom mentions it in one of his homilies on the Gospel according to John, I can’t recall which. Aquinas discusses it in his Summa Theologica. It is seen in John8 and in Exodus.

There are probably several other authors that have talked about it, but these are the few that I have read. The point is that it is the official teaching of the Catholic Church that God is seperate from time. God is eternity and there is no such thing as one thing being after another in reference to God. Here is the Catholic Encyclopedia article on Eternity.

newadvent.org/cathen/05551b.htm

Here is what the Catholic Encyclopedia says about time.

newadvent.org/cathen/14726a.htm

Regarding the philokalia, I am not saying that Augustines writings are inerrant. But they are authoritative and they express the Catholic teaching.
 
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