Title: God's Insecurity, or Lack thereof Question: Last year, when we were reading parts of the Bible, some students in my Literature class back at Columbia University interpreted the character of God as being tainted by insecurity. They viewed Genesis 6:6 and all of God's punishments (i.e. Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood, etc.) to be born of God's insecurity, which was responsible for his aggressiveness. I actually had to agree with them because Exodus states that God is a jealous deity. However, I do not think the same can be said about the Muslim conception of God. While I have my own ideas regarding God's lack of insecurity, I wanted to know how you might respond if you were faced with the charge: "Your God is insecure and that explains His aggressiveness." Thank you. Best wishes and God bless Omar Answer: God's punishments are not a sign of His insecurity, but are actually a sign of God's Justice, His lack of dependence on any thing and His being free of all want. The word in Exodus 20: 5, which has been translated as 'Jealous' is rendered in the Urdu and the Arabic translation of the Bible as "ghayyoor" , which has a different and a more positive implication of the word 'jealous'. "Ghayyoor" seems closer to 'extremely honorable'. 'Jealously', as we know, can have a much more negative implication as compared to 'honor'. Nevertheless, whatever the case be, God is not insecure. The following verses of the Qur'an, not only mention the reason why God subjected the doomed nations to severe punishment, but also completely refutes the idea of insecurity for God: Thus, because of their crime, their Lord obliterated their traces and completely destroyed them. And [in doing so,] He did not bother about any consequences. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad October 2, 2001