Make No Graven Images of God
By Hammad El-Ameen
When I was a child growing up in my parent’s home, I was made to go to church on a regular basis. My mother was a Sunday School teacher and my father was the Chairman of the Deacon’s Board. My mother and I were always at the church for Sunday School and my father came later for the afternoon services. Once inside the church there was a large picture of a caucasian man with long blond hair, blue eyes, and a beard. I was always told that this man was Jesus, God’s son. Some deacons and Sunday school teachers told me that this man was God. Depending on who I asked, determined what answer I would get.
When I began to learn about Islam, I was told that no one has ever seen God. I was also told that there is evidence in the Bible that tells Christians not to make graven images of God. This was hard for me to believe because I trusted my teachers at the church and thought that they would not do anything that was against the commandments of God. I was told to look in Exdous 20:4 -5 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
In these verses it clearly states that we should not make graven images of worship. This means pictures, statues, or anything that the human being manufactures.
Why do Christians go against the commandment of God when it clearly states in the Bible that making graven images are wrong? Do they want the world to believe that God is white? After all, if you tell me that Jesus is white and that he’s the son of God, then the son must look like his father. Children do resemble their parents. It also makes caucasian people act superficial in believing that they are better than people of color because God is portrayed in a white image. Portraying God as white is one of the greatest forms of racism. It would be the same if God was portrayed as a black man or a Hispanic man ect.... Portraying God in the human form and as a white man has divided the races in Christianity. At 11:00am on Sunday is the most segregated time in America. Blacks and whites do not worship together.
The religion of Islam teaches that no one has ever seen God. God is neither white nor black. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is reported to have said; the best among you is he who is most righteous.
ALLAH! There is no God but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, the Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep. All things in heaven and earth are His.
Who could intercede in his presence without His permission? He knows what appears in front of and behind His creatures. Nor can they encompass any knowledge of Him except what he wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them, for He is the Highest and Most Exalted.
Qur'an 2:255
