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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 Allah. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about Allah; the
answer came directly from Allah 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) Allah 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. God 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:
"Allah is God; there is no God but Allah, Allah is the
Knower of the unseen and the visible; Allah is the All-Merciful, the
All-Compassionate. Allah 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! Allah is God the Creator, the Maker,
the Shaper. To Allah belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens
and the earth magnifies Allah; Allah is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise."
(59:22-24)
"There is no God but Allah, the Living, the Everlasting.
To Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Allah knows what lies
before them and what is after them. His throne comprises the heavens and earth;
the preserving of them oppresses Him not; Allah 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.
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