Allah

An advanced look at God in Islam

You are recommended to read Introduction to Islam and Basic Islamic Beliefs if you know nothing or very little about Islam.
You are recommended to read Can God not exist? if you are an Atheist or are interested in the subject.
Then, you are recommended to read God and Man.
As for this set of articles, they are intended for an educated Muslim audience. You must read the articles in order starting from the beginning.
Thank You.

By Shadow Caster 20/07/2006;

Contents:

- Introduction

- What is Allah?

- A description of Allah

- God's attributes

- The voice and body of Allah?

- Can we or will we see Allah?

- Conclusion

Introduction

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 non-Muslims 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 many things. The 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?

References

¹ If you have a copy of the bible in Arabic (though I doubt you do), you will find that God is often referred to as Allah since the word Allah means God in Arabic. However, a lot of Christian and Jewish Arabs try to distinguish themselves from the Muslims and they say 'Rabb', which means Lord in Arabic, but this word is also used by Muslims, so it is not a clear indication of the faith of a person.
² It is said that all life on Earth depends on the Sun's energy, and this is almost correct save for a few underwater creatures. Allah caused everything in the world to come to existence and He continues to maintain it. It is God that caused creation to have properties or to have a special nature. Were it not for Him then there would be nothing in existence save himself. All the living organisms depend on His material gifts energy and matter - food, sunlight, air, water, etc.
³ [Koran 2.7] "Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes, and there is a great punishment for them".
⁴ God punishes the sinners either in this world or in the afterlife, or both. It all depends on what Allah wills.
⁵ Sometimes, leaving people in their state is a good punishment because sinning is not the key to happiness and people suffer by their own hands and this is most ironic since they are the cause and the cure to their problem! Or it could be seen as God giving man a chance to realize their error and correct it and He will bless them for this! Allah is Most Gracious and Most Merciful!
⁶ [Koran 2.28] - Allah orders your death, but the Angel of death ('Azraeel) takes your soul.
⁷ [Koran 3.109] - "All living things will be made to return back to life on the day of judgment. All the arguments return to Him for His decree". There is proof for this from Hadith, e.g. "If someone kills a sparrow for sport, the sparrow will cry out on the Day of Judgment, 'O Lord! That person killed me in vain! He did not kill me for any useful purpose.'" [Sunan An-Nisaee]. And "Sayyiduna Amr ibn al-Aas mentions, 'The earth will be flattened on the day of Qiyaamat, Jinns, humans, animals and creatures will be resurrected. On the day, Allah will command the animals to take revenge (from the one who oppressed it) to such an extent that if a horned sheep tossed a hornless sheep, it will avenge it. When Allah resolves the matter of retaliation between animals, He will order them to turn into sand. When the disbeliever sees this, he will say, 'How nice if I was also turned into sand.'"" (Musnad Abu Dawud pg. 248)
⁸ [Koran 57.9] - What is meant by the word 'communication' most of the time in the Koran is that Allah has sent many Prophets and Messengers to warn people and ask them to stay on the right path so that they may enter heaven. Other times, what is meant is the books from God, the Torah, Zaboor (psalms), Injeel (Gospel; It is NOT the New Testament), and Quran. Other possible meanings meant can be Imams, angels, dreams and normal people. Allah talks to you through them, and these are the ways Allah communicates with you.
⁹ This is covered in the Misfortune and the Justice of Allah article.
¹⁰ [Koran 85.15, 25.60] - The 'arsh means the Throne of Allah. Different groups of Muslims have different opinions of what the 'arsh is. Most Sunni Muslims believe the 'arsh to be something physical, that it is an object in a place, while most Shia Muslims believe it is something special beyond that of a physical throne and that when it is mentioned in the Koran it shows the power and majesty of Allah. Some Muslims say that the 'arsh is the whole of the creation based on the verse 'His Throne extendeth over the heavens and the earth'.
¹¹ Most Sunnis would have to conclude that this hadith is sahih (valid) as it is from their sahih sources but the Shia would outright reject it for obvious reasons and for coming from invalid sources, however, for the sake of argument, let us imagine that it is a valid hadith...

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