God and His Creation Plan

Hence, it is not the case that only the followers of Islam will be granted salvation and Paradise. The Quran states: The believers, the Jews, the Christians, and the Sabaeans—all those who believe in God and the Last Day and do good deeds—will be rewarded by their Lord; they shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Quran 2:62) Why does everyone talk about fearing God? W e do love God. He is our supreme benefactor, the most gracious and the most merciful. Piety in human beings is a manifestation of the love they have for God. Having fear of God is not in the same sense as having fear of a ferocious animal. Rather, fear of God is positive fear and can be understood in the context of obedience to God. While God is compassionate and benevolent toward human beings, He is also very just. Thus, fear of God is a result of the realization that God has the ability of punishing wrongdoers for their evil deeds. God is allknowing and nothing is, or can be, hidden from Him. A person who has fear of God constantly lives with the sense of being accountable to Him. Even if his fellow human beings do not have the power to implicate him for his wrongful actions, a person who has fear of God knows that in the Hereafter he will surely be answerable to the Almighty for his actions, big or small. It is this that causes a believer to naturally fear God, a concept which serves as a source of reform in his life. How do we understand God’s omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience? G od is omnipresent on the basis of His knowledge of things. It does not mean that God is physically present everywhere but that nothing escapes his knowledge. This also explains his omniscience. His being omnipotent means that he has set the laws of nature and without any exception, every human being is bound by it. No one can eliminate or alter these laws, we can only discover them and work according to the principles God has set for this world. His being omnipotent also implies that it is only He who can truly reward, punish or forgive us for our actions. Will all Muslims eventually go to Paradise, even if they temporarily have to go to Hell?