Who is Allah?

Allah’s Name

The fundamental belief of a Muslim is that there is only One God who is known in the Arabic language and by Muslims as Allah.  Allah is not a foreign god, nor an ‘Arab god’. He is not a ‘moon god’, nor any form of idol.  Allah is the personal name used all over the world for the One True God and nothing else can be called Allah.

Allah has no gender and thus Allah is a name that is neither feminine nor masculine, unlike ‘god and goddess’. Allah is One and cannot be made plural, unlike ‘gods’. Arabic-speaking Christians also use the same word for the Almighty. 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.

Muslims believe that there is nothing in the heavens nor on earth that deserves worship except Allah .

Description of Allah

In the Qur’an we read that Allah is the Most Compassionate and the Most Merciful.  He is Kind, Loving and Wise.  He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Healer.  He is the One who Guides, the One who Protects and the One who Forgives. Allah represents the best of all attributes. Allah revealed to mankind ninety-nine of his beautiful names. These names illustrate His great nature.

How Does Allah Describe Himself to Mankind?

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) was asked by his companions about Allah. The answer came directly from God Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Qur’an. This sure is considered to be the essence of the motto of monotheism:

‘Say, ‘He is Allah, [who is] One;
Allah, the Eternal Refuge;
He neither begets nor is born;
Nor is there to Him any equivalent.’ (112:1-4)

Allah is Unique, the Only One of His kind. Allah is the most superior and perfect; it is Allah who people turn to and Allah who people look up to the sky to in despair when afflicted with a calamity. Allah does not have children and never will have, nor is he a child of another and never will be. Allah is similar to nothing and there is nothing at all in any existence that can ever be compared to Him.

The Oneness of Allah

Islam is based on the concept of Tawhid, or Unity of God.  Monotheism refers to belief that there is only one God. Muslims are strictly monotheistic and reject fiercely any endeavour to make God visible or human like.  Islam rejects any form of idol worship, even if it is an attempt to get ‘closer’ to God, and rejects the Trinity or any attempt to make God human.

The Qur’an reminds us of the falsity of all alleged ‘gods’. To the worshippers of man-made objects, we are asked:

’Do you worship what you have carved yourself’ (37:95), ’Or have you taken unto yourself others beside Him to be your protectors, even such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves’ (13:16).

Such idols made of wood or even stone cannot protect themselves from their own destruction nor mutilation at the hands of human or nature.

Human’s Direct Connection with Allah

Allah is magnificent, so great and supreme. Consequently, the entity of God in His entirety is far beyond human sight and understanding.  Yet, at the same time, Allah tells us that he is ‘nearer to us than our jugular vein’ (50:16). Allah gave man the honour to be able to connect with Him and as such Muslims pray directly to God, with no intermediary, seeking divine guidance directly from Him alone.

We are told in Sura Ma’idah “…indeed, Allah is knowing of that within the breasts” (5:7). Allah is telling us that He knows well what He created. He knows our individual  feelings and emotions that we do not express in words. Allah knows the secrets of the inner depths of every heart.

‘And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me,
Indeed I am near.
I respond to the innovation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me.
So let them respond to Me[by obedience] and believe in Me,
that they may be rightly guided.’ (2:186)

Allah emphasises that he responds to the call of every caller; He responds to all of mankind, not just the Muslims, because Allah is the Only God of everyone and everything.

Human cannot Rationalise the being of Allah

Allah is a being that cannot be understood by trying to rationalise Him in the limited bounds of the human mind, but that does not mean His greatness does not exist. For example, try to calculate in your head [2,345,678,264 multiply by 6.5^-0.5]. For the average human it is only a slightest remote possibility that one can derive the correct answer without a calculator, but this does not mean that the answer to this math problem does not exist. There is an answer to be solved, it is merely that our minds are not capable.

Signs of Allah: In the Qur’an people are asked to look around them in the natural world for the signs of Allah.  The balance of the world and the rhythms of life, are ‘signs for those who would believe.’ The universe is in perfect order:  the orbits of the planets, the cycles of life and death, the seasons of the year, the mountains and the rivers, the mysteries of the human body.

‘The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation’ (55:5) ‘and the heaven He raised and imposed the balance’ (55:7).

This order and balance are not haphazard, nor random. The world, and everything in it, has been created with a perfect plan, by the One who knows all.

So which of the favours of your Lord would you deny? (Surah ar Rahman).