Saturday, May 14, 2016

Is there Allah Akbar in the Bible?


Now, Akbar does not mean "great". It is an elative, which means either comparative or superlative, depending on syntactic context. "akbar al-[+plural noun]" would mean "is greatEST of", but "akbar [Arabic word for than]" would be is "is greatER than".

Now, in fact, there are some places where the Bible does say God is greater than ... :

I) OT:

Job 33:12
Now this is the thing in which thou art not justified: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.

II) NT:

1) 1 John 3:20
For if our heart reprehend us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

2) 1 John 5:9
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified of his Son.

3) Luke 7:28
For I say to you: Amongst those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he.

That God is greater than oneself, is obvious. No big deal. That God is greater than man might want to be stressed to a man who is suffering too much, as Job, and who is forgetting Whom he's talking to. That God is greater than one's heart is what people tend to forget, if not actually told. However, Elihu was the one saying this. And when God spoke himself, later in Job, well ... no .... Actually Elihu was not one of the three bad friends.

A certain other books only has "God is greater", and that does not tell us as much as the Bible does! And since it has a Fifth Sura which does not testify of God's Son, it is a testimony of man, not of God, which is greater than that of man.

And certain people say that what difference is there which religion you belong to. But Christ said there is: But he that is the lesser in the kingdom of God, is greater than he.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris V
Eve of Pentecost
14.V.2016

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This is one of the best explanation I have read so far. Further more and after a second thought, I would rather say : It is a stunning one !
Thank you Hans !

Hans Georg Lundahl said...

It can be added, the one in Job, was not Job's own words, but Eliu's.

And God was finally displeased with Eliu.