# Is God someone I should mainly be afraid of? *God is not a tyrant or a Victorian father: Allah is al-Rahman al-Rahim* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/18/ - Date: 2021-04-13 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #210 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:07:35–1:10:13) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=4055s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/ **Topics:** God and the divine attributes **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: Mufti Abu Layth says seeing God as an angry disciplinarian is a distortion, and that Allah is the Most Merciful who invites people to reflect. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says the picture of God as an angry, strict disciplinarian or tyrant is a distortion, and that Allah is al-Rahman al-Rahim, who invites people to ponder the cosmos. **Evidence, his words at 1:09:24:** “they also infantilize him so they almost at times turn him into like an infant who throws a tantrum gets angry easily he that is wallahi is a distortion of allah” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuHMCz2N3U&t=4164s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth reads a message saying he made the writer fear God less and turned the religion into one of love, and welcomes it despite what critics will say. He says that while studying in his early years the preponderant view he was taught was of a God to be feared, and that the change in his concept of God changed his whole outlook. He says God is not a benevolent tyrant or dictator, nor a strict Victorian father figure who loves his child but would not flinch at beating him, nor an infant who throws tantrums and angers easily; he calls this a distortion of Allah and says he could not worship such a god. To him Allah is al-Rahman al-Rahim, who invites people to ponder the cosmos. ## Sources and names cited - al-Rahman al-Rahim ## Transcript (machine tier, 1:07:35–1:10:13) [1:07:32] uh people who say what it like to say to me is people who say you laugh too much probably look like pepe sad face personally love your humor and humanity must be honestly you've personally helped me and others tremendously with our faith if it wasn't for you mufti sad emoji may allah forever keep you guys smiling i you know this this whole thing of god is this figure who you are meant to be scared of [1:08:05] yes i grew up and in my early evening while studying islam that was the preponderance you know the preponderance view because that's what i was taught by everyone but if one thing i changed that changed gradually but if one thing there was and is that with its change my whole outlook on everything changed it was my concept of god in understanding that god isn't this kind of benevolent tyrant or dictator that we have totally misunderstood god [1:08:44] if that's how we think of him he's way too majestic for this kind of you know how people portray him like this angry like this kind of man in the sky who's like a kind of father figure i guess like from the victorian ages that this one where children you know are to be seen and not heard and where he kind of has this love for the child but he's a strict disciplinarian and he wouldn't you know flinch at kind of beating the child if he had to because that's how he shows love [1:09:24] and then also this figure but they also infantilize him so they almost at times turn him into like an infant who throws a tantrum gets angry easily he that is wallahi is a distortion of allah you know that that to me you know if if i if i was to only if that was the only picture of god then that for me cannot be god i cannot accept a god like that to to me i would not because to me that is not god i cannot worship something like that that is this kind of [1:10:03] um victorian father figure um that's just you know that's his because that that cannot be god who created this cosmos not for me not for me so you know if people want to worship that it's their life it's their choice but to me allah is rahman rahim he's somebody who says look just pondering the cosmos and let that sink so yeah and the laughter thing is is interesting because why do people hate laughter so much i i find that very fascinating as a discussion ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 8XuHMCz2N3U/s/18. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/8xuhmcz2n3u/s/18/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.