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Muslims claim that the God they worship, Allah, is the God of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus.
The following is an Islamic view of Allah, written by a
Muslim:
“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.
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 He 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 its
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 say 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 say 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." (4:171)
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