Monday 

Five Aspects of God

It seemed to me that if there was one thing that might comfort my audience of non-believers, it was finding a way that might open their minds to a way of relating to an all-Merciful  God. But if the word 'God' is a problem, you have to start there.

Let me begin with the words muslims use to begin things, with the Name of the One God, All-Merciful and All-Compassionate.

Now, most of you probably know the name that muslims use for God, Allah, and many no doubt think that it's the name of some heathen idol. But Allah is just an Arabic word that means the One and Only God, and Arab Christians also worship Allah - it's their language too.

Rumi tells a story of some beggars fighting over how to spend some money. The first was a Persian who said "I want some Angur", the second an Arab saying "No! I want 'Inab", and the third was a Turk, who insisted that they spend the money on "Uzum". They all could have been satisfied so easily if they'd known that each man wanted grapes, but each only knew the word in his own language.

So, even if you don't like to use the word God, we may yet find a common language. As a muslim I say "La ilaha illa Allah": "There is no god - if not the One God".