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"Truly, your god is truly
One!" Qur'an
37:4
Who
is Allah?
It is a
known fact that every language has one or more terms
that are used in reference to God and sometimes to
lesser deities. This is not the case with Allah. Allah
is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else
can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender.
This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word
god which can be made plural, gods, or feminine,
goddess. It is interesting to notice that Allah is the
personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus
and a sister language of Arabic.
The One
true God is a reflection of the unique concept that
Islam associates with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the
Almighty, Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Who is
similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to Him. The
Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about
Allah; the answer came directly from God Himself in the
form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is
considered the essence of the unity or the motto of
monotheism. This is chapter 112 which reads:
"In
the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
Say (O Muhammad) He is God the One God, the
Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, nor has been
begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone."
Some
non-Muslims allege that God in Islam is a stern and
cruel God who demands to be obeyed fully. He is not
loving and kind. Nothing can be farther from truth than
this allegation. It is enough to know that, with the
exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the Quran
begins with the verse: "In the name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate." In one of the sayings
of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) we are told that "God is
more loving and kinder than a mother to her dear
child."
But God
is also Just. Hence evildoers and sinners must have
their share of punishment and the virtuous, His bounties
and favors. Actually God's attribute of Mercy has full
manifestation in His attribute of Justice. People
suffering throughout their lives for His sake and people
oppressing and exploiting other people all their lives
should not receive similar treatment from their Lord.
Expecting similar treatment for them will amount to
negating the very belief in the accountability of man in
the Hereafter and thereby negating all the incentives
for a moral and virtuous life in this world. The
following Quranic verses are very clear and
straightforward in this respect:
"Verily,
for the Righteous are gardens of Delight, in the
Presence of their Lord. Shall We then treat the people
of Faith like the people of Sin? What is the matter
with you? How judge you?" (68:34-36)
Islam
rejects characterizing God in any human form or
depicting Him as favoring certain individuals or nations
on the basis of wealth, power or race. He created the
human beings as equals. They may distinguish themselves
and get His favor through virtue and piety only.
The
concept that God rested in the seventh day of creation,
that God wrestled with one of His soldiers, that God is
an envious plotter against mankind, or that God is
incarnate in any human being are considered blasphemy
from the Islamic point of view.
The
unique usage of Allah as a personal name of God is a
reflection of Islam's emphasis on the purity of the
belief in God which is the essence of the message of all
God's messengers. Because of this, Islam considers
associating any deity or personality with God as a
deadly sin which God will never forgive, despite the
fact He may forgive all other sins.
[Note that
what is meant above applies ONLY to those people who
die in a state wherein they are associating others
with God. The repentance of those who yet live is
acceptable to God if He wills. - MSA of USC]
The Creator
must be of a different nature from the things created
because if he is of the same nature as they are, he will
be temporal and will therefore need a maker. It follows
that nothing is like Him. If the maker is not temporal,
then he must be eternal. But if he is eternal, he cannot
be caused, and if nothing outside him causes him to
continue to exist, which means that he must be
self-sufficient. And if the does not depend on anything
for the continuance of his own existence, then this
existence can have no end. The Creator is therefore
eternal and everlasting: "He is the First and the
Last."
He is
Self-Sufficient or Self-Subsistent or, to use a Quranic
term, Al-Qayyum. The Creator does not create only in the
sense of bringing things into being, He also preserves
them and takes them out of existence and is the ultimate
cause of whatever happens to them.
"God
is the Creator of everything. He is the guardian over
everything. Unto Him belong the keys of the heavens
and the earth." (39:62, 63)
"No
creature is there crawling on the earth, but its
provision rests on God. He knows its lodging place and
it repository." (11:6)
God's
Attributes
If the
Creator is Eternal and Everlasting, then His attributes
must also be eternal and everlasting. He should not lose
any of His attributes nor acquire new ones. If this is
so, then His attributes are absolute. Can there be more
than one Creator with such absolute attributes? Can
there be for example, two absolutely powerful Creators?
A moment's thought shows that this is not feasible.
The Quran
summarizes this argument in the following verses:
"God
has not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god
with Him: For then each god would have taken of that
which he created and some of them would have risen up
over others." (23:91)
And
Why, were there gods in earth and heaven other than
God, they (heaven and earth) would surely go to
ruin." (21:22)
The
Oneness of God
The Quran
reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. To the
worshippers of man-made objects, it asks:
"Do
you worship what you have carved yourself?"
(37:95)
"Or
have you taken unto you others beside Him to be your
protectors, even such as have no power either for good
or for harm to themselves?" (13:16)
To the
worshippers of heavenly bodies it cites the story of
Abraham:
"When
night outspread over him he saw a star and said, 'This
is my Lord.' But when it set he said, 'I love not the
setters.' When he saw the moon rising, he said, 'This
is my Lord.' But when it set he said, 'If my Lord does
not guide me I shall surely be of the people gone
astray.' When he saw the sun rising, he said, 'This is
my Lord; this is greater.' But when it set he said, 'O
my people, surely I quit that which you associate, I
have turned my face to Him Who originated the heavens
and the earth; a man of pure faith, I am not of the
idolaters.'" (6:76-79)
The
Believer's Attitude
In order to
be a Muslim, i.e., to surrender oneself to God, it is
necessary to believe in the oneness of God, in the sense
of His being the only Creator, Preserver, Nourisher,
etc. But this belief - later on called "Tawhid
Ar-Rububiyyah" - is not enough. Many of the
idolaters knew and believed that only the Supreme God
could do all this, but that was not enough to make them
Muslims. To tawhid ar-rububiyyah one must add tawhid
al'uluhiyyah, i.e., one acknowledges the fact that is
God alone Who deserves to be worshipped, and thus
abstains from worshipping any other thing or being.
Having
achieved this knowledge of the one true God, man should
constantly have faith in Him, and should allow nothing
to induce him to deny truth.
When
faith enters a person's heart, it causes certain mental
states which result in certain actions. Taken together
these mental states and actions are the proof for the
true faith. The Prophet said, "Faith is that which
resides firmly in the heart and which is proved by
deeds." Foremost among those mental states is the
feeling of gratitude towards God which could be said to
be the essence of 'ibada' (worship).
The
feeling of gratitude is so important that a non-believer
is called 'kafir' which means 'one who denies a truth'
and also 'one who is ungrateful.'
A
believer loves, and is grateful to God for the bounties
He bestowed upon him, but being aware of the fact that
his good deeds, whether mental or physical, are far from
being commensurate with Divine favors, he is always
anxious lest God should punish him, here or in the
Hereafter. He, therefore, fears Him, surrenders himself
to Him and serves Him with great humility. One cannot be
in such a mental state without being almost all the time
mindful of God. Remembering God is thus the life force
of faith, without which it fades and withers away.
The Quran
tries to promote this feeling of gratitude by repeating
the attributes of God very frequently. We find most of
these attributes mentioned together in the following
verses of the Quran:
"He
is God; there is no god but He, He is the Knower of
the unseen and the visible; He is the All-Merciful,
the All-Compassionate. He is God, there is no God but
He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peace, the
Guardian of Faith, the All-Preserver, the All-Mighty,
the All-Compeller, the All-Sublime. Glory be to God,
above that they associate! He is God the Creator, the
Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most
Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth
magnifies Him; He is the All-Mighty, the
All-Wise." (59:22-24)
"There
is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting. Slumber
seizes Him not, neither sleep; to Him belongs all that
is in the heavens and the earth. Who is there that
shall intercede with Him save by His leave? He knows
what lies before them and what is after them, and they
comprehend not anything of His knowledge save such as
He wills. His throne comprises the heavens and earth;
the preserving of them oppresses Him not; He is the
All-High, the All-Glorious." (2:255)
"People
of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your
religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The
Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of
God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a
Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers,
and say not, 'Three.' Refrain; better is it for you.
God is only one God. Glory be to Him - (He is) above
having a son."
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