Where Is Allah
Belief in Allah is a rational, emotional, psychological, social, political and linguistic necessity. You may wonder why it is also a linguistic necessity and you have the right in doing so.
Here, we come to the language and ask, which of them come first meanings or words? Or do the words come first then meanings?
It is taken for granted that unless the meaning is very clear in our minds, it is impossible to create the word. In other words, if the meaning is not clear in the mind, we will find no word for it in the language. Therefore, if the meaning precedes the word what can we say concerning the modern meanings which were not existent before that such as for example the terminology of new inventions.
The linguistic assemblies state that we should create a word for this new term because it is a modern thing such as radio, TV, missile, refrigerator, spaceship, and helicopter etc. These names accrued from a precedent and particular meanings for them in the mind.
In the light of what is mentioned above, it is impossible that the concept of ‘divinity’ is a non-existent concept which has no words. If it is believed what non-existent things cannot reach the degree of having words and if the words cannot precede the meanings, then the spread of such words in the language, culture and civilization of the people is considered to be a clear-cut proof on their existence. On the top of these concepts comes the concept of divinity.
Thus, we can deduce that the meaning of belief in the existence of Allah precede the language and the words. Its existence in the human languages, in the anthropological studies, and through history, is a decisive proof that his meaning has an existence in the human thought however numerous its names, forms, or patterns.
If one contemplates this question, he will find that there is a harmony and cohesion in the essence of the words to such an extent that they have no contradiction altogether. For example, the word of ‘disbelief’ (kufr) may connote the meaning of ‘belief’ (Iman), for the word Kufr, in essence, means covering. So, the word indicates that there was something existent then it was covered. In other words, covering is something temporary in respect of the existent thing. For this reason, the scholars interpreted the phrase ‘they have disbelieved’ (Kafaru) in the glorious Ayah that it is a condition for something which was existent. In the light of the previous mentioned, we can say that disbelief is something temporary to the belief3