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Islam 101 - Allah

Islam is a monotheistic religion and Allah is the Arabic word for 'God'; (Allah == God). Allah is the God of everything and He is all-powerful and all-knowing. Many nonMuslims have the idea that Allah is a different God to what they call God, but He is the same figure, the same God, but we just call Him 'Allah'. Allah is the same God of the Jews and Christians and the ones that speak Arabic call God Allah too! 1 Muslims believe in ONE GOD (a principle called tawheed) and this God is the same God of all the Prophets - Moses, Abraham, Lot, David, Jesus, etc (PBUTA). Muslims differ to the Jews and Christians on what the concept of God is and also in His attributes. It may come as a surprise to non-Muslims who read this article that although Muslims differ to the Jews and Christians about the nature of Allah, they also differ amongst themselves. Different Muslims have different beliefs about God and these different Muslims' beliefs can be attributed to sect or creed. The different sects and creeds have different beliefs so this article aims to point these out. The aim is not to make a mockery of the sects or cause dispute and destroy unity, but to make the picture clearer to those who read this article. Allow me to make an important point: Not all the people who claim to follow a certain sect believe in the things that I attribute to the sect in this article. People are individuals and should be treated as so. Each of us has a unique point of view and attitude to subjects. Belonging to a creed identifies the direction of someone's beliefs, not their current position. Although it is surprising that the Muslims differ on the concept of God, the Christians and the Jews and other people of other faiths do as well. These differences between all people are common and to-be expected, and it features in all faiths so no-one can argue that Islam is worse in terms of these differences than other religions. In fact, if you asked a group of Christians to discuss the concept of God amongst themselves, they would come out from the discussion knowing that each person in the room has a different concept and understanding of God. They would also discover that there would be people in the room who have beliefs that are totally the opposite of theirs and they would discover some concepts that are new & alien to them! Yet they are still Christians. These differences are significant in Christianity because the Christians cannot agree what the relationship between Jesus (PBUH) and The Father constitutes, or their attributes. This is a major dispute on an ultimate concept of that religion, but in Islam such a thing does not exist. In clear contrast, Islam is much more clearer and condensed on the issue and the differences; There are less gray areas and the Muslims agree on many things. The
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reason you will see a lot of differences in the articles on Allah is because we are trying to point these out. The fine-tuning of these personal beliefs on Allah is the duty of every Muslim. Hence, after you have read the articles, I hope you move closer to choosing your Aqueedah, what you believe is correct.

What is Allah (God)?

God is the creator of everything in this universe. Allah is omnipresent,omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnipotent(move your mouse over the words to see the meaning). Allah is the supreme God and is without limits and is capable of everything possible - He knows all and sees all and everything in this universe is His creation and He has power over all things. Allah was there before anything was - Allah is the first and Allah will also be the last, when there exists nothing except Him - Allah is the Alpha and the Omega. Allah is one and cannot be more than one. Nothing is equal-to or like Him. Allah cares about His creation and is just and fair; and it is Allah who sends His Messengers and His communications to the masses to teach them about the supreme reality - Allah. When you read books about objects or people, they are often attributed a gender either male or female. Normally you wouldn't attribute a gender to inanimate objects like the sun or the moon but in language these objects have to be given a gender. e.g. 'The sun shone her warm, orange rays on the pier, glowing bright'. In Islam, the gender of Allah is male by language but He is genderless - neither male nor female - God is not a man. It is befitting that Allah be described using the masculine language constructs (like He, Him, His, Himself) because if God was described as a woman people would try to make sexual fantasies and stories and would attribute weakness to Him, but God is the Greatest, the Almighty. When the Koran is read, Allah often refers to himself in plural as 'We' which gives people the impression that He is more than one. "The use of the first person plural noun (We) is the sign of greatness and magnificence of the person (entity) who is speaking and this is most appropriate and befitting to Allah. Arabs say that the reason for the use of the first person plural noun is considered as proof of greatness that great people are generally not alone. The servants, attendants and other people are always around him to fulfil their needs. That's is why they always used the pronoun We and the use of this word is a metaphor for greatness." (Logic for Islamic Rules,
p163, by Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi & Ayatullah Ja'far Subhani)

Allah cannot be understood fully using our limited mental or physical capacity. We cannot fully understand or comprehend the idea that Allah sees and hears all, or that something can be everlasting, or that God is not limited by time, space or dimension. We cannot see Allah or sense Him, so we cannot depict Him in an image or identify him through a measurement. God does not take-up space and does not have a
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mass. God is not a form of Energy or be the by-product of energy because all energy and matter is His creation and all energy and matter is measurable. The only type of relationship we can have with Allah is through the heart and mind - a relationship of love, faith, dependence and understanding. Allah is not a physical thing and cannot be seen, touched or heard but due to descriptions in the Koran and in Hadiths it has been understood by some Muslims that we will see God, and this is discussed in the article titled 'The voice and body of Allah (God)?'. We know Allah and His nature by what He tells us through His Prophets and in His holy books, especially the Koran, but the verses in this book and in the hadith books have been interpreted in different ways.

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