1 00:00:28,000 --> 00:00:30,520 How did this universe come into Existence? 2 00:00:31,500 --> 00:00:33,320 why did it come into existence? 3 00:00:34,210 --> 00:00:35,790 Would it ever come to an end? 4 00:00:36,500 --> 00:00:39,050 Very deep philosophical questions 5 00:00:39,051 --> 00:00:42,200 that pervade the deepest recesses of human consciousness 6 00:00:42,300 --> 00:00:45,010 For most the simple answer was ‘God’ 7 00:00:46,030 --> 00:00:48,400 but that engendered other unanswered Questions 8 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:52,060 such as ‘who is the supreme being God? 9 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:55,670 What is he like?what does he expect of us? 10 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:03,240 This reflected a real and innate belief in God by human beings 11 00:01:03,700 --> 00:01:07,550 and their need to worship Him.Consequently 12 00:01:07,616 --> 00:01:10,030 human beings turned to the worship of god 13 00:01:10,230 --> 00:01:12,100 but each in their own way 14 00:01:18,500 --> 00:01:23,490 Oblations offered to stones,humans prostrating to animals. 15 00:01:23,690 --> 00:01:25,830 gods fighting and killing each other. 16 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,990 Other gods taking sides to some people against others. 17 00:01:30,190 --> 00:01:33,200 Some believe in monotheism whereas others 18 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:37,150 call for Trinity.others think that all this is nonsense 19 00:01:37,300 --> 00:01:39,850 and there is nothing there to be Worshipped . 20 00:01:40,050 --> 00:01:44,480 amongst all this looms one Question.Where is the truth? 21 00:01:46,100 --> 00:01:48,990 We are in a Buddhist temple now where the faithful 22 00:01:49,050 --> 00:01:53,850 will offer their prayers standing in front of some of these statues of Buddha 23 00:01:53,852 --> 00:01:58,550 they will pray they of these will prostrate and seek forgiveness and repent 24 00:02:18,500 --> 00:02:22,240 Here also the statues of Buddha filled the temple 25 00:02:22,500 --> 00:02:23,930 even though historically 26 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:27,150 Buddha himself did not order people to worship Him 27 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:33,160 Many also say that in Buddhism creed and belief in God 28 00:02:33,500 --> 00:02:35,050 is not the main focus 29 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,310 The main focus is on the concept of alleviating suffering 30 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,140 on self-improvement and of things of that Nature. 31 00:02:43,650 --> 00:02:48,610 but as we can see worship plays its role and has its importance 32 00:02:48,650 --> 00:02:51,680 for the faithful as they pray to Buddhathese 33 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,380 The persistence question that was buzzing in human minds till the time being 34 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,250 who is the creator?who deserves to be worshipped? 35 00:03:02,450 --> 00:03:05,500 who is controlling everything around us? 36 00:03:05,700 --> 00:03:11,010 In other words drowning in the sea after losing the final wooden wreck I was Holding to 37 00:03:11,210 --> 00:03:13,750 whom do I call seeking for Help? 38 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:22,600 This is quite similar to what happened during the time of Prophet Noah 39 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,340 peace and blessings be upon him. 40 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:29,450 His people had among them some respected elders 41 00:03:29,452 --> 00:03:33,219 which they greatly respected and later on venerated 42 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:39,970 After their death and they had made statues for them...with time they worshipped them 43 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,250 saying that man throughout history worship literally 44 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:50,130 everything is it wrong at all worship man worshiped stones trees and wooden Statues 45 00:03:50,500 --> 00:03:52,910 later he worshipped golden statues 46 00:03:53,100 --> 00:03:55,870 the Sun the Moon the stars 47 00:03:55,900 --> 00:03:59,700 the wind then he worshiped animals like cows 48 00:03:59,730 --> 00:04:01,870 and mice and he still does action 49 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:04,730 and of course he worshipped other human beings 50 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,720 In Christianity the concept of divinity took centre stage 51 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:13,400 several ecumenical councils were held historically 52 00:04:13,441 --> 00:04:17,420 to deal with some of the controversial issues of the Christian Creed 53 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,960 such as the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE 54 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,410 which spoke about the essence of the Christian faith 55 00:04:25,830 --> 00:04:27,260 the doctrine of the Trinity... 56 00:04:27,770 --> 00:04:31,250 And later the Council of Chalcedon in 451 57 00:04:31,300 --> 00:04:34,570 which dealt with the question of the nature of Jesus Christ 58 00:04:34,700 --> 00:04:38,060 and the reconciliation between his divinity and his humanity 59 00:04:38,700 --> 00:04:41,300 seeking to explain his divinity, 60 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:44,340 the trinity proclaimed that there was one God the Father 61 00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:46,400 one Lord Jesus Christ 62 00:04:46,450 --> 00:04:48,600  and the only begotten Son of God 63 00:04:49,100 --> 00:04:52,610 and thirdly the Holy Ghost and these three are one. 64 00:04:52,700 --> 00:04:56,100 and if anyone thought that the son ship of Jesus 65 00:04:56,450 --> 00:04:58,050 detracted from his divinity, 66 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:03,730 they added the phrases god of God light of light and very god of very God 67 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:09,430  leaving no room for any doubt that Jesus Christ Was God incarnate on earth 68 00:05:10,500 --> 00:05:13,000 When observing all of the above I wonder 69 00:05:13,300 --> 00:05:14,790 why does man have this feverish 70 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:17,700 desire to have something to worship and prostrate to 71 00:05:17,819 --> 00:05:20,310 to the extent of creating it by his own self 72 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:21,200 than worship it. 73 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:23,790 I couldn't find any explanation to this 74 00:05:24,150 --> 00:05:29,300 but that everyone has an urge need to worship something that exceeds him in power and strength 75 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:31,980 something to seek refuge in the time of hardship 76 00:05:32,050 --> 00:05:35,900 and deriving from it the spiritual strength that helps him to live 77 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:51,150 In Judaism there's some debate about the significance of the belief in God 78 00:05:51,900 --> 00:05:56,390  Many scholars argue that Judaism is more a religion of orthopraxy 79 00:05:56,450 --> 00:06:00,930 rather than orthodoxy with its focus more on practice and action 80 00:06:01,350 --> 00:06:03,420 rather than faith or Belief... 81 00:06:04,050 --> 00:06:06,170 and others may say otherwise 82 00:06:06,700 --> 00:06:09,900 In fact there are many names for God in Judaism 83 00:06:09,950 --> 00:06:13,270 the most prominent of which is the tetragrammaton 84 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,570 the four-letter expression YHVH, 85 00:06:18,950 --> 00:06:24,690 pronounced by some as Yahweh and declared to be too sacred to be pronounced 86 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:31,020 by many rabbis and there are other names such as El Shaddai the almighty 87 00:06:31,050 --> 00:06:33,660 and Elohim which connotes Justice. 88 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,160 Yahweh,known as the God of Israel 89 00:06:37,550 --> 00:06:40,120 a phrase which the Bible is replete with 90 00:06:40,750 --> 00:06:46,440 and a concept which seems organically related to the national superiority 91 00:06:46,500 --> 00:06:47,550 of the Jewish people 92 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,520 In ancient Egypt polytheism was rampant 93 00:07:02,900 --> 00:07:07,490 and the nexus of several religions was the Sun 94 00:07:07,700 --> 00:07:13,067 as in many other ancient religions there were many images and icons of these gods 95 00:07:13,267 --> 00:07:17,890 and they worshiped these images.Only the privileged priests 96 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:23,300 would enter the temple,would bathe the image of the God 97 00:07:23,357 --> 00:07:28,100 would feed it and clothe it and also worship it. 98 00:07:28,132 --> 00:07:30,980 There are 22 main religions in today's world, 99 00:07:31,180 --> 00:07:34,100 900 million people who do not believe in God at all; 100 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:36,380 they don't even care about the whole Matter 101 00:07:36,580 --> 00:07:39,320 in addition to hundreds of different faiths and beliefs. 102 00:07:39,350 --> 00:07:42,220 All of these beliefs declare being the right one 103 00:07:42,224 --> 00:07:45,050 and many of them consider all the others infidels 104 00:07:45,127 --> 00:07:47,620 that will end up in the Hellfire after death. 105 00:07:47,624 --> 00:07:49,440 I wondered who is right then? 106 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:07,500 Now we're in a Hindu temple 107 00:08:07,503 --> 00:08:12,360 as you can See,the usage of the icons and the images is quite extensive 108 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:16,180 as in many other religions and each of these images 109 00:08:16,890 --> 00:08:20,700 is referring to one of the gods or some of the companions of the gods 110 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:23,450 Brahma is known as the Creator, 111 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,370 Vishnu as the Preserver, 112 00:08:27,500 --> 00:08:28,790 Shiva as the destroyer 113 00:08:29,500 --> 00:08:31,680 and then you have Krishna  114 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,000 who is an avatar or one of the avatars  115 00:08:35,100 --> 00:08:38,730 of Vishnu But to some Krishna is the supreme god, 116 00:08:38,750 --> 00:08:40,550 but then you have Lakshmi  117 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,300 who is the consort of  Vishnu 118 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,990 and the goddess of wealth and prosperity  119 00:08:46,050 --> 00:08:51,160 and this is precisely what many Hindus ask from Lakshmi. 120 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,750 And you have other gods,and the focus changes 121 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,800 from one Hindu denomination or group to Another 122 00:09:17,500 --> 00:09:21,040 Animals have also had their share of reverence and worship  123 00:09:21,100 --> 00:09:25,600 in different Religions...this is an example what the Hindus call 124 00:09:25,650 --> 00:09:26,920 the god Ganesha; 125 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:30,600 a God with a human body and an elephant head. 126 00:09:30,650 --> 00:09:35,590 Actually many Egyptian ‘ancient Egyptian’deities are half animal 127 00:09:35,620 --> 00:09:36,560 and half-human. 128 00:09:37,260 --> 00:09:41,030 Serpents and snakes have also had their share of worship 129 00:09:41,230 --> 00:09:45,930 in the ancient Egyptian,African,Native American and even Hindu 130 00:09:45,991 --> 00:09:51,630 Traditions.In South America,the Jaguar was worshipped at one time. 131 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,800 As for the issue of cows in Hinduism, 132 00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,740 some say they are just revered,others say they are Worshipped 133 00:09:59,940 --> 00:10:05,140 Mahatma Gandhi-after making a comparison between his human mother 134 00:10:05,142 --> 00:10:07,850 and the cow-gave preference to the cow  135 00:10:07,852 --> 00:10:14,200 and therefore said yes I worship the cow and I will defend cow worship. 136 00:10:14,298 --> 00:10:19,440 Now the Hindu temple is closing and therefore they went to the individual gods 137 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:23,740 and they gave them their food before they closed the curtain 138 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:41,810 God all glory be to Him has sent thousands of prophets to humanity since their inception 139 00:10:42,010 --> 00:10:44,900 with a comprehensive yet simple message; 140 00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:48,390 worship God alone through sincere devotion and obedience  141 00:10:48,450 --> 00:10:51,170 and do not associate any partners with him. 142 00:10:51,341 --> 00:10:54,070 this was the essence of the message of every prophet  143 00:10:54,270 --> 00:10:57,500 beginning with Adam later Noah through to Abraham  144 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:00,640 and later with the prophets of the Abrahamic traditions 145 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:05,270 Moses Jesus and Mohammad peace be upon them all 146 00:11:05,470 --> 00:11:10,400 as each people would corrupt the original message that the particular prophet was sent to convey 147 00:11:10,500 --> 00:11:14,260 God would send another prophet after him to set the people straight again 148 00:11:14,460 --> 00:11:16,950 finally to conclude with the seal of the prophets 149 00:11:17,100 --> 00:11:19,830 Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him 150 00:11:19,900 --> 00:11:22,890 sent to all of humanity with the final Revelation 151 00:11:23,500 --> 00:11:24,780 the Noble Quran  152 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:40,700 Taking into consideration all that we talked about 153 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:43,650 all of the different gods that have been worshipped, 154 00:11:43,850 --> 00:11:49,610 and in all different ways,the question remains:‘does that justify 155 00:11:49,613 --> 00:11:54,870 that humanity worships God in the way they see fit? 156 00:11:56,210 --> 00:11:58,430 what is the purpose of religion? 157 00:11:59,740 --> 00:12:05,000 for many the main objective of religion is character refinement 158 00:12:05,780 --> 00:12:14,500 As important as that may be,character refinement is not the most important aim of religion 159 00:12:14,700 --> 00:12:22,130 the most important aim of religion is to introduce one to his creator. 160 00:12:23,100 --> 00:12:25,550 The most important goal of religion  161 00:12:25,750 --> 00:12:31,940 is to teach one how to worship God in a way that pleases Him 162 00:12:31,944 --> 00:12:41,430 therefore it is not to be left to the subjective whims and desires of the creatures of God 163 00:12:42,970 --> 00:12:46,080 Finally the question remains: 164 00:12:46,700 --> 00:12:48,250 who do you worship? 165 00:12:48,300 --> 00:12:50,000 who is your God? 166 00:12:51,700 --> 00:12:54,220 how do you worship God? 167 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,650 this is the question that every person needs to ask themselves 168 00:12:59,210 --> 00:13:01,800 and I ask you my dear Brother... 169 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,930 my dear sister...my friend. 170 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:09,780 I ask you to listen to that voice deep inside of you 171 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:15,270 telling you that God Almighty cannot be like any of his creatures... 172 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,330 that God Almighty must be unique... 173 00:13:19,850 --> 00:13:23,450 that God Almighty is in a field of His own. 174 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:25,150 and that  175 00:13:27,130 --> 00:13:31,480 the greatest and the most unequivocal  176 00:13:32,350 --> 00:13:36,510 and most absolute and most incontestable truth  177 00:13:37,300 --> 00:13:42,190  is the uniqueness the oneness and the transcendence of God 178 00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:46,470 God Almighty is one... 179 00:13:47,100 --> 00:13:51,400 God Almighty is the eternal refuge... 180 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:54,450 God Almighty did not beget 181 00:13:55,200 --> 00:14:00,200 nor was he begotten and there is none equal to him 182 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,420 Therefore God is without partners... 183 00:14:04,500 --> 00:14:07,370 God is without associates... 184 00:14:07,450 --> 00:14:10,820 God does not have A wife or a son... 185 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:18,530 God is not like his Creatures...God is unique...There is nothing in existence 186 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:21,620 that is like God Almighty  187 00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:27,420 He is the one and only...The relationship with God 188 00:14:27,500 --> 00:14:35,810 is a direct one...Go to Him Directly...speak to Him directly ...complain to Him directly 189 00:14:35,900 --> 00:14:40,550 seek forgiveness from Him without intermediaries ... 190 00:14:40,590 --> 00:14:44,570 Repent to Him without intermediaries... 191 00:14:44,600 --> 00:14:53,300 that is Allah;my God and your God and the God of all existence and all creation 192 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:57,400 whether they know it or not,whether they believe in Him or not 193 00:14:57,850 --> 00:15:06,400 whether they are a Christian or or a Jew or a Hindu or a Buddhist or any other denomination 194 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:08,530 He is God of all 195 00:15:09,220 --> 00:15:12,250 If you know Him,praise Him and worship Him 196 00:15:12,450 --> 00:15:17,550 if you are looking for Him,then pray for his guidance  197 00:15:17,900 --> 00:15:19,010 and you will find Him  198 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:28,500 They said,“We worship idols and remain to them devoted 199 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,550 He said,“Do they hear you when you supplicate?” 200 00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:38,780 “Or do they benefit you or do they harm?” 201 00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:48,120 They said,“But we found our fathers doing this”