Do the Abrahamic god need/want/demand worship from humans?

[Alla Prima]

Your hatred of Islam is blatant and boring.

Well you must enjoy bordom then because you just keep on reading my comments.

 

[.lava]

Thanks for replying to the OP, .lava.

Since Zindagee Rahmaan didn't answer my reply yet, I thought I put my question to you (considering you're both Muslims).

If Allah doesn't need or desire worship, then why do the Qur'an have this verse?

your welcome gnostic

original text does not use the word "worship".

This verse seemed to me, indicate he "want" or "need" humans to worship him, doesn't it?

The other thing is that Yusuf Ali's translation of the same verse, is sightly different.

First of, which translation has the correct context?

their translations are not good. in that verse the exact word used in Arabic is "abd". i assure you it does not mean worship but i do not know how to explain abd or abid to you. Ali's translation is closer though.

The Palmers and Rodwell's translations are more similar to the Pickthall's translation.

for a few times i said before. there is no correct translations on line. there is only one website i know which i have no doubt, it is flawless but i am not sure if verses were translated in English. i am afraid, not yet.

Because to "serve" and to "worship" doesn't necessarily mean the same thing.

in general the word worship is used for idols.

If "serve" is the correct translation or context, then my other question is:

Why would a god require "services" of mankind, if he actually don't need humans?

being servant requires loving and serving for goodness of other people. i mean, serving people is equal serving Allah as loving people equal loving Allah.

It sort of contradictory to say God don't need humans, and yet at the same time, say he want people to either "worship" or "serve" him.

it is because if they do not they would not experience continous internal peace and continous happiness. people are rewarded by continous peace and happiness (i do not mean pleasure by happiness btw) for serving God and humanity. basicly we are demanded to be happy and happier instead of pleasure/pain dilemma.


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[gnostic]

being servant requires loving and serving for goodness of other people. i mean, serving people is equal serving Allah as loving people equal loving Allah.

But love and serving are, again, 2 different words.

To me, a servant is nothing more than a slave. And a slave don't serve with love, but survival and through oppression. The master can be good or oppressive, and the master can tell slaves to do this or that, willingly, or force them to their bidding unwillingly. And a slave who do not the master's bidding, get punish, is still seen as oppression to me.

The image of people being servants (or slaves) which the Muslims frequently used is never favorable or positive image.

 

[Zindagee Rahmaan]

plus

equals...........contradiction!
?

Okay JMorris! I am understanding your confusion as ‘contradiction’. Your parents provide you good education; they required you to study for good grades. Why? Are they required you to study for them, or they required you to study for your own self to be independed in future? God Almighty wishes us to be succeeded in hereafter that’s why He required us to worship Him.

Here point may rise for why didn’t God make us free of His worship if He doesn’t need? For the answer we have to realize the truth. What is Truth? God exists! I’ve no concern with your believe in God existence because OP is one level up from God’s existence, after believing God existence we may raise points for why God need us to worship Him? Right!

Truth is God exists! Who is God? Our creator! Why He has created us? To worship Him alone! I’ve underlined this word ‘alone’. God required us to worship Him ALONE because many of us may not go astray to worship other than God. So what if other than God? Because we then driving us away from truth. To remind us to our souls that God exitsts and why we are to be created, we have to worship God. Not For God, but for our own souls we need a God to worship Him.

Let me explain one more thing: HUMAN IS SELFISH FOR THE SAKE OF GOD.

Let suppose, you design a robot, you programmed it. Surely you would have a purpose to design it. You wish it to work just for you or to follow your instruction as you command to it. You should have a RIGHT on it to follow you. So, why Human is selfish for the sake of God if He has designed us to worship Him alone. That’s what I said that we have to admit the truth first as we are from God and God is our creator. Then we should proceed for questions at OP.

I’m sorry for you should make up your mind for God existence first then these OP questions must be discussed.

This all concludes that God required us to worship Him.
Why?
To be succeeded in Hereafter.
So does it mean strength of God depends upon number of worshiper?
Surely not! God is our creator! He has right on us. But it doesn’t mean that God will lose His strength if we will not worship Him, He has power of all things, today He creates us, tomorrow He may create another nation and those will not question to God for why they are required to worship Him alone.

 

[Zindagee Rahmaan]

This seem to indicate otherwise. The verse seemed to indicate that he "want" worship.
.

Okay! If you think so I do agree with you let suppose. So, if He created you and He wants you to be worship Him, why should yo then not do for He has right over you as a creator?

You have mention several times that God is a creator, and that humans were created. And if he created humans to worship him, then he also "need" worship.

The word ‘need’ is misused for God, because God has power of all things. Today He creates you to worship Him, tomorrow He may create another nation and they will worship Him alone without any questioning to God. That’s why I mentioned again and again that we must have to admit this first for we are created and God is our creator. So, what is problem if He required 5 times worship in a day? Should we not do it for God’s sake if He did bless on us to create us? Hm?

 

[JMorris]

Okay JMorris! I am understanding your confusion as ‘contradiction’. Your parents provide you good education; they required you to study for good grades. Why? Are they required you to study for them, or they required you to study for your own self to be independed in future? God Almighty wishes us to be succeeded in hereafter that’s why He required us to worship Him.

Here point may rise for why didn’t God make us free of His worship if He doesn’t need? For the answer we have to realize the truth. What is Truth? God exists! I’ve no concern with your believe in God existence because OP is one level up from God’s existence, after believing God existence we may raise points for why God need us to worship Him? Right!

Truth is God exists! Who is God? Our creator! Why He has created us? To worship Him alone! I’ve underlined this word ‘alone’. God required us to worship Him ALONE because many of us may not go astray to worship other than God. So what if other than God? Because we then driving us away from truth. To remind us to our souls that God exitsts and why we are to be created, we have to worship God. Not For God, but for our own souls we need a God to worship Him.

Let me explain one more thing: HUMAN IS SELFISH FOR THE SAKE OF GOD.

Let suppose, you design a robot, you programmed it. Surely you would have a purpose to design it. You wish it to work just for you or to follow your instruction as you command to it. You should have a RIGHT on it to follow you. So, why Human is selfish for the sake of God if He has designed us to worship Him alone. That’s what I said that we have to admit the truth first as we are from God and God is our creator. Then we should proceed for questions at OP.

I’m sorry for you should make up your mind for God existence first then these OP questions must be discussed.

This all concludes that God required us to worship Him.
Why?
To be succeeded in Hereafter.
So does it mean strength of God depends upon number of worshiper?
Surely not! God is our creator! He has right on us. But it doesn’t mean that God will lose His strength if we will not worship Him, He has power of all things, today He creates us, tomorrow He may create another nation and those will not question to God for why they are required to worship Him alone.

nonsense.

if god dosent need worship, then why would he make it a requirement in order to "succeed in the hereafter"? why not make the requirement to simply "be a good person"? he is god after all, he can make any requirement he wants.

god either

needs worship
or
dosent need it, but makes it a requirement because he is jealous, vain, and narcissistic
or
dosent need it, and dosent require it, which means there is no punishment for not worshiping him
or
god dosent exist, which is my answer.

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

God needs nothing whatever from us!

His desires for us are for OUR benefit, not His!

And scripture states explicitly that the first two priorities for humans are: 1) acceptance of what He has revealed to us via His Divine Messengers (faith) and 2) obedience to His commands (works), and that neither of these is acceptable without the other.

Best regards,

Bruce

 

[Alla Prima]

God needs nothing whatever from us!

Except:

1) acceptance of what He has revealed to us via His Divine Messengers (faith)

and

2) obedience to His commands (works)

 

[.lava]

But love and serving are, again, 2 different words.

To me, a servant is nothing more than a slave. And a slave don't serve with love, but survival and through oppression. The master can be good or oppressive, and the master can tell slaves to do this or that, willingly, or force them to their bidding unwillingly. And a slave who do not the master's bidding, get punish, is still seen as oppression to me.

The image of people being servants (or slaves) which the Muslims frequently used is never favorable or positive image.

i am sorry, but i sincerely doubt you could make healthy judgement as an out side observer. servant and slave are almost opposites. servants are volunteers and happy to serve; slave are forced to serve and they are not free. as my master says there is nothing if there is no love. we are commanded to love and we also know we can not fake it. there is a obvious difference between showing your teeth and real smile. of course, serving others requires love for people.

non-Muslims say many things about Islam but what they know about what we live is so tiny. it is really surprising. i know Muslims who feel sad in case they were not given duty (duty like cooking for old man who has no relative, cleaning his house...etc.) when we serve people, when we help people unconditionally, we are given happiness and peace in return. nothing i know could be compared to peace and happiness that comes from within. when that feelings come from within, even if people treat you bad it does not make you upset. it is like having fountain of peace within you and you do not depend on what people would say or do to be happy or not. therefor servants are free. reward of servants are directly from Allah. slaves on the other hand would suffer for doing things they may not want to be doing. because they are not volunteer, they are forced to do. servants would not suffer, they would be happy to help, happy to be useful humanbeing in society...etc.


.

 

[Alla Prima]

i am sorry, but i sincerely doubt you could make healthy judgement as an out side observer. servant and slave are almost opposites. servants are volunteers and happy to serve; slave are forced to serve and they are not free. as my master says there is nothing if there is no love. we are commanded to love and we also know we can not fake it. there is a obvious difference between showing your teeth and real smile. of course, serving others requires love for people.

non-Muslims say many things about Islam but what they know about what we live is so tiny. it is really surprising. i know Muslims who feel sad in case they were not given duty (duty like cooking for old man who has no relative, cleaning his house...etc.) when we serve people, when we help people unconditionally, we are given happiness and peace in return. nothing i know could be compared to peace and happiness that comes from within. when that feelings come from within, even if people treat you bad it does not make you upset. it is like having fountain of peace within you and you do not depend on what people would say or do to be happy or not. therefor servants are free. reward of servants are directly from Allah. slaves on the other hand would suffer for doing things they may not want to be doing. because they are not volunteer, they are forced to do. servants would not suffer, they would be happy to help, happy to be useful humanbeing in society...etc.

Just curious, do you serve others of differing religions than yourselves or just Muslims? Do you serve non believers or those who have rejected Islam?

 

[.lava]

Just curious, do you serve others of differing religions than yourselves or just Muslims? Do you serve non believers or those who have rejected Islam?

if someone on the street asks for my help, would i say "hey! wait a minute, are you a Muslim?" perhabs he says yes then i should ask for proof then we maybe go to mosque together and he performs his salaat right before my eyes...but that is not enough, he should go fasting for a day or two then maybe i would be convinced he is a Muslim then i would help him.:areyoucra

lol

human is human. they are all created by Allah. serving human is serving Allah. loving human is equal loving Allah as i said earlier.



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[DavyCrocket2003]

Here's my response to the OP:
God want's us to obey him, worship, etc... only because it is in our best interests. He loves us and wants us to be successful. He loves us and wants us to return to his presence. Therefore, he wants us to keep his commandments. Keeping God's commandments will bring us happiness and peace. Eventually it will allow us to return to God's presence and receive eternal life. God, being a kind and loving father, wants this for us. That is why he requires our obedience. (Not to mention, we all agreed to do his will in the preexistence ) I'm not trying to prove this view to others, just state it for people in case they're interested.

 

[Alla Prima]

if someone on the street asks for my help, would i say "hey! wait a minute, are you a Muslim?" perhabs he says yes then i should ask for proof then we maybe go to mosque together and he performs his salaat right before my eyes...but that is not enough, he should go fasting for a day or two then maybe i would be convinced he is a Muslim then i would help him.:areyoucra

lol

human is human. they are all created by Allah. serving human is serving Allah. loving human is equal loving Allah as i said earlier.



.

Of course you'd help someone who asked for help on the street. So would I and I'm sure most here would also. That wasn't really my question. When Muslims give a portion of their earnings to charity (Zakat) who gets it? Where does the money go? Who too?

 

[.lava]

Of course you'd help someone who asked for help on the street. So would I and I'm sure most here would also. That wasn't really my question. When Muslims give a portion of their earnings to charity (Zakat) who gets it? Where does the money go? Who too?

zakat is not charity. it is up to the individual. noone tells us who to give our zakat. so it goes to any person one gives.


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[Alla Prima]

zakat is not charity. it is up to the individual. noone tells us who to give our zakat. so it goes to any person one gives.


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Again you have not answered my question.

 

[rojse]

Again you have not answered my question.

How does this not answer your question?

zakat is not charity. it is up to the individual. noone tells us who to give our zakat. so it goes to any person one gives.

It is quite clear from this post that the individual giving zakat decides where the money goes to.

 

[Comicaze247]

Think about it. If not one single person in the world believed in a certain invisible being, that being wouldn't exist, now would they?

 

[gnostic]

Here's my response to the OP:
God want's us to obey him, worship, etc... only because it is in our best interests. He loves us and wants us to be successful. He loves us and wants us to return to his presence. Therefore, he wants us to keep his commandments. Keeping God's commandments will bring us happiness and peace.

And if was perfectly happy or content not to worship god, or that I do worship god(s), but not him (following another religion)?

If I did the later, I would have already broken 2 of 10 commandments. Will he destroy my peace and happiness because I worship others?

 

[Alla Prima]

How does this not answer your question?

By not saying WHERE the money goes. Duh.

It is quite clear from this post that the individual giving zakat decides where the money goes to.

 

[Sunstone]

It's inconceivable that deity would want to be worshiped. People want to worship deity. They project their desire onto deity and claim deity wants to be worshiped.