hi

with priceless help of my Master, i would like to tell you about what each of us were given from birth.

we are given 3 bodies:

1-The physical body that belongs to this world, the zahiri world.
2-The soul that leaves our physical body when we sleep (also when we faint and die); this is the body we see in our dreams.
3-The spirit that was blown by Allah.

i think it is not necessary to talk about physical body.

the second one that mentioned above is soul. it is generally named 'ego'

91 / ASH – SHAMS - 7:Ve nefsin ve mâ sevvâhâ.
I swear, that soul (ego) was given the proportion and order (at 7 steps).
91 / ASH – SHAMS - 8: Fe elhemehâ fucûrehâ ve takvâhâ.
And to that (soul (ego)) is inspired the TAQWA (piety) (of Allah) and the FUJJUR (what Satan says);
91 / ASH – SHAMS - 9:Kad efleha men zekkâhâ.
The one who purifies his soul (ego) attains salvation (enters Paradise).

there are 19 vices within the heart of soul. therefor the heart of the soul is 100% of darkness. we need to purify our egos. the third body (the Spirit) we have was blown by Allah Almighty. Spirit belongs to Allah.

We were created equally. Our spirit’s heart is 100% full of virtues. It has an identitiy that fullfils all of Allah’s orders and abstains from doing what He prohibited. Our souls is 100% full of vices. It has been created with a characteristic that refuses all of Allah’s orders and fulfills what Allah prohibited.

we are also given free will to chose between. i believe if we were not able to chose, if we were not given free will then there wouldnot be hell or heaven.

imo, when a person purifies his soul, the heart of his soul gains the same virtues that Spirit has. Spirit naturally has it because it already belongs to Allah. Spirit is simply perfection. i believe that's the Image of Allah. so human beings need to purify their egos to turn those 19 vices into virtues that Spirit of Allah has.

Amazing the similarities which exist between faiths/beliefs.

I would express the three as; physical body, selfaware consciousness/intelligence, and soul or holy spirit gifted to us by god.

We must make conscious choices with our intellect, and have been given the free will to do so.

We have a propensity towards "sin," and thus god has given us clear instructions which divide our actions between those which are sinful and those which are not.

Our goal should be to follow the guidance of our spirit to do god's will (in the christian case, jesus provides practical examples of how to do this. I do not know enough about Islam to comment on the Prophet's role )

This sounds to me very much like what you are saying.

and i would call it father ,mother ,and son which the holy spirit gives me form not to get to tech you know

that chamber of marrige is just around the corner

That is very interesting. Couple of times when i fainted i experienced dreams in same manner like when i am asleep. Maybe this "dream plane" is the spiritual realm. In all three cases, when you die, when you faint and when you sleep, you lose consciousness. If the soul temporarily leaves the body in these situations then... soul generates consciousness??



Yup. People all around the world came to same conclusions. Most if not all religions, in their true essence, lead to same teachings. The Soul and it's re-union with "God" when the body dies. There must be something to it!

What an interesting topic .

I have had a few OBE experiences myself .. I think soul and conciousness are linked . But somehow the soul is superior , abiding by higher laws .. and thus not under our ( even concious ) control .

Sama

I think so , too .

What generates consciousness, that is the question.

Then again, getting back to the title of this topic, what exactly is the image of God?

When God says, I created mankind in my image, what exactly does he mean by that?

i am afraid only ordinary people lose concious. in Islam (according to Qur'an) there are 7 levels and 4 surrenders. people who complete the whole process of these stages do close their eyes but they donot lose conscious. there are also people who can be in two places at the same time. that is called Tayyi Mekaan.

god meant that we are of him/it in the spiritual sense. everything is god in different forms of consciousness here on earth but eventually become part of god on a higher level in the next realm of "being".

your soul and spirit look exactly like you. spirit is belong to Allah. it is Allahs' Spirit that looks like you. in fact you look like it but you know what i mean..
soul has a heart fulfilled with vices which is dark. spirit, since it is Allahs', is perfect, its heart is fulfilled with virtues, complete light.
when heart of soul being purified those vices turn into virtues as Spirits' that is the highest level in Islam, when heart of soul 100% of light -same as Spirits'

From doing a lot of soul-searching and research from the bible I believe God created our original parents Adam and Eve looking just like God and the angels. Notice in Genesis He uses "Image and likeness"...two which I believe mean in physical appearance and also in spiritual as well. And he also says "US"...Like him and his angels were in a council and God says "Let us create man in our image and likeness" which has to mean that not only do we look like God in physical appearance but we also have his spirit. But God's body radiants so much light humans cannot look upon it, and it is also beautiful without blemish, but I believe he has a face, with features, arms, legs, muscles, etc...But his body may or may not be physical and tangible. I guess we'll figure that out when we get there.

That explains why I'm thinner in my dreams.

i disagree with you.
everything is not God. everything was created BY God. everything ends, God doesnot.

Thats a nice theory: god and his angels. The way i was taught is that this particular pluralism shows henotheism, meaning many gods but one rules all. In this case YHWH, warrior god, rules all others!

The quote "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." is been taken from the epic of atrahasis where the gods create man to reduce their workload!

I personally don't agree with the idea that we are the image of God either in spirit or in physical body. God is pure Spirit but I see the passage concerning this issue in a different light. We are the imagers of God not the image of God.

In other words, this passage is directly related to our purpose on this earth. We are the caretakers. As such our purpose is like the purpose of God, we are administrators of what he has given us.

That is what the image of God really means.

Let us suppose, that one of these days we find intelligent Extra-terrestrial life. These beings that we will meet will have different bodies to us, they will have intelligence like us and they will in all respects be different and at the same time be similar to us in all ways. Will these beings also be created in the image of God?

While I agree with most of your post, your interpretation of Adam and Eve needs to be worked on. They weren't exactly like the angels. They weren't even immortal, which is the essential seperator between spiritual beings and human beings.

Actually that is not true.

Hemotheism cannot be applied to Hebrew theology, since hemotheism determines that all the Gods in the Council are essentially equal and that there is simply one who rules all the others because he managed to take over the council. It also states that at any time, another member of that council can take over if he manages to displace the Head of the council.

In the Case of the Hebrew Divine Council, Yahweh cannot be displaced and he is also the creator of all the other Gods. He doesn't rule by majority decree but by divine decree, that of being supreme in all respects, forever. The other Gods are not on his level at all.

Quite a different situation, if one can see what these two ideas actually mean. One leads to polytheism, the other,leads to Monotheism. The Worship of the Supreme God, Creator of all things.

but when everything ends does it not return to god?

What are you talking about? if your quoting from the Surah i've not seen these translations before?

I think what he is trying to say is how can God return to God? If God is "in" flowers for example. When the flower dies, that would mean God died along with it. I think from the Islamic view words are taken for face value when compared to the metaphors of Christianity. That, of course, assuming some of the sayings are metaphors.

I meant they were like in the angels in appearance in having humanoid characteristics. Adam and Eve were God's first physical/perfected creations. God and the angels are beings made of energy that I do believe look like humans but with no flesh. Maybe I should of been more specific....

This sounds exactly like the the Hitteon religion as they say we have three bodies; the soul, the spirit and the physical body.
I once belonged to that faith after I dropped out of the Xian faith because unlike the Xian faith the Hitteons say all religions sprang from them as Hitteon splinter groups and their religion is the oldest established religion on earth gong back more than five thousand years ago.

I believed in it for many years until I came to the conclusion all religions were false.

And the Hitteons condemn no one nor say anyone is against the creator god. In fact they teach that everything under God is perfect.

And like the Muslims they have Arabic names they take on after you join their faith and even their priesthoods take on Arabic names.

you mean you couldnot find the same translations of ayat called Ash-Shams?

yes, i agree with that.

creation is art of God. but it is not God itself. i mean, you may draw a picture and it would be your art but your art would never be enough to be you. you may draw hundreds of them but you'd still be the one who's behind.

i believe in Oneness of God. creation is multiple, who knows how many creatures are there? but who created them is one. so, for me to say everything is God is to have many Gods. i deny that.
also, i do believe we are here to reach God. if everything was God, then all humanity would be there without any aim at all. we die and reach God but to do that while we were alive is worthy according to Islamic teachings. as prophet said it once "Die before death" well could be bad translation but it is an invitation to die before death arrives.
i would also start to question why we think some actions are criminal some are not. if everything was God, then people would play God and kill (or do whatever they want to do).
idea offers "no authority to judge" them. well, in many ways, everything being God itself makes no sense to me.

hey how u all doin, i jus wana say how suprised i am at how some of u people think, i respect them but its jus not the words of wise men. i say this because some u say wat u heard or read but not something that has proof supporting it. with that bieng said the meaning of image of God... read very carefuly... wat is God and wat does he represent? God is all that is good, pure and perfect...and when we r born, hav we any sins? hav we don wrong? we r born sin free, we r created pure and we r (continued)

that makes sense too. i don't have certain knowledge about the Image of God yet. i don't know if it was said in QUr'an or not. i just try to connect the dots. so it is my personal point of view that Image of God mentioned because of Spirit of Allah. i don't really defend personal point of view.

according to Qur'an there is no creature greater than human, because only human is given the Spirit. i don't doubt it. i believe there is life in other planets. billions of galaxies...how couldn't it be? but what we call aliens are just human like us. is that what you mean by extra terrestrial? or do you mean like golden skinned lion man?

we r created perfect in the likeness of God! do not take everything literally, no one can truly have Gods image. God is infinite and has no boundries. no prophet or anyone else has Gods image, its impossible. we begin to understand and use freewill, we become infected wid sins and go astray. if we died straight after we were born...would we go to heaven or hell? thats wat created in Gods image means, not that God has a body or is a man, or that we resemble God, u must'nt read evrything literally (metaphor)

wow
your first post, hi

when we were born we were neutral i believe. because we had lack of knowledge about this world and we didnot have freewill while being babies. i believe therefor when a baby dies he enters heaven.

Welcome to the forum

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying? What sort of proof are you expecting? From what seems the majourity of posts here, there are quotes from religious texts, and elaboration on what others have read about the image of God. The image of God is open to interpretation because of the lovely multiple religious/beliefs we have. In my opinion anyway. I think what ties all religions together though, is the loving, pure, and perfect good that God represents.

So God couldnt create nicer creatures than humans?? umm the world is full of ugly humans...so if this is so..and we are in his image...God must be one ugly creature

would you believe the seas and skies and the very earth that you walk on or the word of man?

Explain what you mean a lil more

human is nice, human is beautiful.
hate, jealousy, gossip, cruelty...ect are ugly and whoever holds those shallow feelings within his heart appears to be ugly. there is no way not to reflect what's inside.

i did not regard any of the texts as false, if u question any religion for proof they would turn to their scripures but the question of where is the proof of ur scriptures divinity or its validity then no religion can provide that proof. thats what i mean by proof, something that has to be acknowledged by evryone. e.g do u know of any human in existence thats above evry1else hu has Godlike features? None of us have even seen God but we see humans, none with divine images..it all comes down2belief and trust

Im going to be straight with you...when I dated a guy he had to have a good personality but DAMN he had to look good too...I dont see the point in dating just anyone all because they have a nice personality and to hell with their looks

There are ugly people with ugly personalities ..and there are those that MAKE themselves look ugly...letting themselves go is one !!

beckys mom, that was a horrible thing to say...may be u can say that cuz u look good but the fact u cant look beyond the phyisicality of a human is sad. im sure there are ppl much prettier than u, if they mocked u how would u feel? the true beauty of a person lies within and anyone hu judges others by their appearances truly have no respect or decency...understand your neighbour, jus because he sells meat and you jewellery, doesnt make u any greater than he is......

I dont think - ohh look at me aint I the pretty one..NO..FYI I take care of my appearance and there is NOTHING wrong with putting some effort into how you like to look...after all God gave me this body and its up to me to take care of it..is that such a crime?? I believe there is NO excuse to be unclean and make yourself look bad...soap and water don't cost much and taking care of yourself isnt that much more...being presentable is best at all times...if you don't give a toss then dont complain when you cant get a date or even if you go for that interview and you look rough as houses...its all up to you...

My man is like me average..he doesnt over do it..he hates mens face creams ect...but he shaves each day, keeps his hair neat and tidy and when he is out he dresses ok too..presentable <--thats good enough for me....he is also beefy but I love a man with weight on his bones...I don't think much for skinny people..for it don't look healthy...I myself am no longer a skinny person...I eat wel but I wouldnt starve myself to be skin and bone

You think I am awful for how honest I am...thats your problem...at least im honest ...if my partner was dry had no wit and couldn't smile to save himself...I would toss him away like an old rag...remember I said BOTH beauty inside and out work


I don't mock people...if I feel they look rough I keep it to myself...besides pretty people don't mock me...but oif they did, I'd soon have something to say LMAO..for I do have a sis that over dresses and bleaches her hair out of her head...she looks fake and not at all natural...the Pamela Anderson wannabes make me sick, in fact I think they need serious help...looking natural IMO is always best..so when my sister looks down her nose at me because I dont look as fake as her, I laugh and pity her...always have

Humans, just like us?

If there are ET's in the universe, which there most certainly are, they will probably not look like humans at all. They may not even have legs or heads or mouths. The point is that they may look like a shark or an octopus for all we know. They will also be created in the image of God, because all created, intelligent beings according to most people are created as such.

God does not have arms or legs, he doesn't even have to look human to be God. The human shape is not necessarily the God Shape. If we look at the other spiritual beings who inhabit heaven with God, we will also find that the Seraphim for example, are serpent-like in appearance.

ok becky, i really dont care how u look or ur boyfriend does, or how u look after urself ok?! u have just contradicted urself on many levels! i wud have qoted but im on d psp right now, you have jus portrayed urself as a person hu wud leave their husband if his face got burnt! half the planets people r poor and cant find water to drink let alone bathe in it! if a non-poor person is unclean and impure then its them not u! u write as if evrywhre u go ppl r unclean and they always be around u! they maybe not

they may not be the cleanest on the outside but i now see i can say the same bout ur inside... go ahead, reply to this wid something like u dnt judge or hate... bcuz a word of wisdom is greater than a thousand words uttered by a fool... average? u wouldnt know average if it hit u on the head each day of the week...i do feel sorri for u...

91. Surah Ash-Shams, it has no relvance to your post?


1. And by the sun and its brightness;

2. And by the moon as it follows it (the sun);

3. And by the day as it shows up (the sun's) brightness;

4. And by the night as it conceals it (the sun);

5. And by the heaven and Him Who built it;

6. And by the earth and Him Who spread it,

7. And by Nafs (Adam or a person or a soul, etc.), and Him Who perfected him in proportion;

8. Then He showed him what is wrong for him and what is right for him;

9. Indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself (i.e. obeys and performs all that Allâh ordered, by following the true Faith of Islâmic Monotheism and by doing righteous good deeds).

10. And indeed he fails who corrupts his ownself (i.e. disobeys what Allâh has ordered by rejecting the true Faith of Islâmic Monotheism or by following polytheism, etc. or by doing every kind of evil wicked deeds).

11. Thamûd (people) denied (their Prophet) through their transgression (by rejecting the true Faith of Islâmic Monotheism, and by following polytheism, and by committing every kind of sin).

12. When the most wicked man among them went forth (to kill the she-camel).

13. But the Messenger of Allâh [Sâlih (Saleh)] said to them: "Be cautious! Fear the evil end. That is the she-camel of Allâh! (Do not harm it) and bar it not from having its drink!"

14. Then they denied him and they killed it. So their Lord destroyed them because of their sin, and made them equal in destruction (i.e. all grades of people, rich and poor, strong and weak, etc.)!

15. And He (Allâh) feared not the consequences thereof.

imo this way of thinking can not help anyone. i do believe God is able to do anything it wants. can do anything but it doesnot, it doesnot give the proof openly. instead it gives the proof to one who's searching for it. there are people who works on Qur'an ayat by ayat with numbers of words...ect well many ways they use and they always come up with amazing stuff. for them there are hundreds of proofs.

that's how this world is. we need to work and give some effort to have things. both material and spiritual. probably noone will come over and give you the proof. noone did it for me. i asked for it. i did research and i still do. i believe we are alone for that matter cos we have free will.

ps: Prophets did show miracles. but they never claimed they did it themselves. i mean, it is something like (being) telephone! when you speak on the phone you know it is not the machine that talks. it is someone who talks through the machine. people who has skills are like Gods' telephone. appears like they are doing it but none of them could even take a step without power of the Creator. one of the signs of Dooms day is Dajjal. he is a man who has amazing skills. it was said he would even raise dead. but at the same time he would claim he is God. in other words this Godlike acts work two ways. either they are men of God or satanic people who could do that kind of stuff. only satanic ones would say "i did it!"

ok, but this is another issue. you're talking about your mate. however i refuse to date people, i can still understand your point. if i was supposed to choose someone among 3 billion people of course i would look for certain skills. physical appeariance is very important too. considering that one person would be "the one" for me.

we are different though. i would prefer to marry with someone who has those skills. when i am married i would never look at anyone as the way i look at my mate. i actually find it very tiring.

well, if you really mean what i get from this i must admit you touch so deep.

my answer would be YES, i would believe. seas, skies and earth never lie. men could lie. yet there are honest men with right knowledge.

have you ever heard about this Prophet who could speak and understand language of birds? there are many more who could speak with animals though. one of them was mentioned in Qur'an.

hi again,

i posted these 3. there are notes that translater made. some are actually very wrong. on 7th, the verse use the word nafs. nafs isnot physical body. in Qur'an when it was said Adam it usually points physical body. when its said nafs it is about ego. these 3 verses about purifying the ego. whoever purifies his ego/nafs he enters heaven.



please share if you disagree or if you want to ask anything.


bless you

Which one?

hi my friend

these are the related verses i know:



21:79 To Sulaiman We inspired the (right) understanding of the matter: to each (of them) We gave Judgment and Knowledge; it was Our power that made the hills and the birds celebrate Our praises, with Dawud: it was We Who did (all these things).

27:16 And Sulaiman was Dawud's heir. He said: "O ye people! we have been taught the speech of birds, and on us has been bestowed (a little) of all things: this is indeed Grace manifest (from Allah.)"

27:17 And before Sulaiman were marshalled his hosts, of Jinns and men and birds, and they were all kept in order and ranks.

27:20 And he took a muster of the Birds; and he said: "Why is it I see not the Hoopoe? Or is he among the absentees?