Islamic Monotheism

Chapter One

About Allah

1.01 Introduction

Man is endowed with limited knowledge. It is not possible for him to acquire full knowledge of Allah or to have absolute idea about Allah. Allah has very kindly described His Essence and Attributes for the mankind through His Messengers by revelation (wahy in Arabic). The Holy Qur’an is the compilation of the revelations conveyed to the last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him: pbuh). We come to know from the Qur’an and the sayings of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) that Allah is the Creator of the Universe and all the living, nonliving, visible, invisible objects and laws of the Universe. He is All-Seer, All-Hearer and All- Knower. Allah is All-Powerful and He is the cause of all happenings of the Universe. Nothing happens without His wish. Allah is the Lord and Cherisher of the whole Universe. The view about Allah is the proclamation of the Holy Qur’an and the Prophet (pbuh) is the witness of this. The Holy Qur'an declares:

1. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the heavens and Lord of the earth, Lord and Cherisher of all the worlds! And unto Him (alone) belongeth Majesty in the heavens and the earth: and He is Exalted in Power, full of Wisdom!

-45:36-37

Allah has neither parents nor He has any descendant. His existence is not governed by the law of birth and death. In the Divine activities He has no partner and nothing in the Universe is similar to Him. Islamic principle about Allah is that Allah is only One without any compromise whatsoever and that none has the right to be worshiped except Him. This Oneness in Lordship is Islamic Monotheism.

The relation between Allah and His created worlds (Nature) is clearly defined in the Holy Qur'an. Allah is completely different from Nature. He is independent of His created objects. Allah is solely Allah and the Nature is solely Nature. The two, the Creator and the created objects, either man or any other element of Nature is intrinsically different. One is Infinite and the other is finite. One is not the other nor the two are one and the same. Existence of material worlds are limited by space and time whereas Allah is exalted beyond any limit. The existence of Allah is evident in every object of Nature but His Essence is completely separate from the Nature. Allah is the source of all power and all depend on Him alone, but He is independent of all things.

All objects of the Universe are subjected to certain laws framed by Allah. In case of man there is a noble purpose. Allah created man to be His Khalifa, His trustee on earth (verse 2:30). The essential purpose for which humankind was created is to believe in and worship of Allah.

It should be made clear that the Almighty Allah is not in need for human worship. He did not create human beings out of need on His part. Allah is perfect, and He is free of any needs. On the other hand all created things including man have needs and are dependent on Allah. Allah states that He wants to test man so that every person may be recompensed after death for what he has earned (verse 67:2). Therefore man should worship Allah for his own benefits. Worshipping Allah is the key to success in this life and the Hereafter.

This book is a humble effort to highlight the view of the Islamic Monotheism as revealed in the Holy Qur’an and on the basis of Hadiths i.e. sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

1.02 Who is Allah?

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) while preaching the Islamic Monotheism had to face the unbelievers and the polytheists (the Mushrikun) with the following type of questions:

How is your Allah? What is His chronology of descent? What materials He is made of? From whom He has inherited the Universe? Who will be the inheritor after Him?

Allah has given answers of these questions with a few words by a revelation through the Prophet (pbuh) as recorded in the Qur’an: Allah said to the Prophet (pbuh) to answer those questioners:

1. Say: He is Allah, the One; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him.

-112:1-4

The basics of the Essence of Allah and His Attributes have been clearly stated by these few short sentences. Allah has stated mainly five basic points:

Firstly: The Oneness of Allah has been clearly stated in the verse. Allah has been introduced as ‘Ahad’ i.e. as One. This means that Allah is not the conglomeration of many entities or parts. Allah is the only One Absolute Entity. There is no a second entity equivalent to Him. The statement of the verse has negated all the claims or beliefs of the polytheists that the Lord (Allah) of the Universe has many partners in the creation as well as in the execution of His power or the Nature i.e. created objects are parts of Allah or manifestation of Allah.

Secondly: The verse says that Allah is ‘Samad’. This means that Allah is an Entity which has been there from eternity and will remain there for all time to come. He has neither any necessity nor does He depend on anything or anybody. Without depending on anybody He sustains Himself and He is able to do anything He wishes. He is not limited by time, place or situation. All things living and nonliving of the Universe are dependent on Him. Nothing can come into existence without His wish. That is He is the cause of all things of the Universe and all things depend upon Him after their creation as well. All these attributes (Sifat) of Allah have been described by the Arabic word ‘Samad’.

Thirdly: His chronology of descent is that He is not the son of anybody. Allah has no parents similar to the parents of man, animals, etc. In the beginning there was nothing except Allah. He is there from eternity and therefore question of existence of His parents does not arise since parents must exist before Him if He is to become son of the parents.

Fourthly: Allah is above the attributes of human being. Human being gets married, perform sexual activities and gives birth to children, but Allah is pure from all these. Allah has neither wife nor any son nor daughter. The verse thus states that Allah is above the human attributes and also He has no descendent whatsoever.

Fifthly: The last part of the verse has given a very brief glimpse of Allah’s attributes (Sifat). It clearly states that Allah is not similar to anything that man can conceive of. All arguments, counterarguments and imaginations about the essence and attributes of Allah have been answered by this statement. Because of his inherent limited knowledge, man can imagine only within his knowledge not beyond that and can adore Allah only with the qualities known to him. But Allah says in the above verse that He is not similar to or equivalent to anything living or nonliving of the Universe. Allah is not, therefore, similar to man in essence and attributes.

Another introduction to Allah is that He is the Lord of all beings and nonbeings of the Universe. The Holy Qur’an says:

2. (Allah) The Lord of the heavens and the earth and all between them, if ye (but) have an assured faith. There is no god but He Who gives life and gives death, the Lord and Cherisher to you and your earlier ancestors. -44:7,8

Various attributes of Allah are described in numerous verses of the Holy Qur'an a few of which have been discussed in the following sections.

1.03 Essence and Attributes of Allah

Essence in Arabic is Dhaat and attribute is Sifah. The difference between essence and attribute is that essence is the individual (identity) and attribute is the characteristic quality of that individual. Thus, for example say, your name is Aminah (the faithful). This name refers to your essence, meaning that it refers to you as an individual. It also refers to the attribute contained in the name, which is Iman (belief).

It is not possible to describe in language the absolute Essence (identity) and Attributes of Allah. It is difficult to realize Him also from the descriptions of the Essence and the Attributes of Allah as given in the Holy Qur’an and the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh). In this regard the following verse (Ayatal Kursi) is thought provoking.

1. Allah! There is no god but He, the Ever- Living, the Self-subsisting, Supporter of all, No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is thee can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what is before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory).

-2:255

From the above verse we come to know that:

(a) Allah is an Ever-Living ABSOLUTE ESSENCE. He is always in ever-awakening state. Neither drowsiness nor sleep can touch Him. He is always there and never dies.

He was there when there was nothing and He will remain there when everything will perish.

(b) Allah is the owner of infinite knowledge. Without His permission or wish nothing can be done, even for mediating His consent is required.

(c) Allah is independent of time. Past, present and future are known to Him at the same time. Allah is All-Knowing. Man is knowledgeable on himself. Man can acquire knowledge only if Allah wishes and kindly allows him to acquire.

(d) His seat (Throne) and therefore His presence is there everywhere in the Universe. He never gets tired and He does not need rest.

(e) He is the Great and the Most Powerful.

(f) The Essence of Allah and His Attributes are interrelated. Only the Essence of Allah is befitting for His Attributes or in other words Allah’s Attributes are suited to His Essence only.

In reality it is beyond the capacity of human knowledge to comprehend Allah’s essence. Allah’s Attributes are far superior to what man can think or imagine of. The descriptions of the essence of Allah, His attributes, His power of creation, the phenomena of creation, etc. cannot be completed. The Holy Qur’an tells us:

2. If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid. -18:109

Again:

3. If all the trees on earth were pens and the Ocean (were ink), with seven Oceans behind it to add to its (supply), yet would not the words of Allah be exhausted (in the writing): for Allah is Exalted in power. Full of wisdom. -31:27

The 13 Attributes of Allah:

Islamic scholars took special care to mention 13 Attributes of Allah and indicated that it is obligatory upon every Muslim to know them. These Attributes are:

1. The Existence (al-Wujud): Existence of Allah is an eternal and everlasting attribute. Allah exists without a beginning, without an ending and without a place. There is no doubt in the existence of Allah (verse 14:10).

2. Oneness (al-Wahdaaniyyah): Allah is One in His Self, Attributes, and Doings – hench Allah has no equal. Allah is One, meaning He does not have a partner or partners with Him in godhood. Know that no one is God except Allah (verse 21:22).

3. Eternity (al-Qidam, i.e., al-‘Azaliyyah): Allah is the One Whose existence is without beginning and without an end which means He has existed since before the creation, His existence was not preceded by non-existence. Nothing is eternal except Allah and His Attributes (verse 57:3).

4. Everlastingness (al-Baqa’): Allah is everlasting, i.e., His existence does not end. His existence is everlasting and His Attributes are everlasting. There is nothing everlasting in itself except Allah, because annihilation does not apply to His Self. He does not perish, He does not seize to exist which means Allah is the One Whose existence is without a beginning and without an end. Allah is the Eternal, without a beginning, and the Everlasting, without an ending (verse 3:2).

5. Non-neediness of others (al-Qiyamu bin-nafs): Allah is not in need of anything. He does not need one to give Him existence because He exists without a beginning. Also, He does not need one to specify Him with Knowledge, instead of ignorance, or other than that among His Attributes, because His Attributes exist without a beginning. This means Allah does not need any of the worlds (‘Alamin) which means everything in creation. Allah is the Master Who is resorted to in one’s needs (verse 3:97).

6. Power (al-Qudrah): Allah possesses infinite power on His own. He is also the source of all power. Allah has the Power over everything. (2:109).

7. Will (al-‘Iradah): Everything that Allah Willed in the eternity for it to exist must come into existence at the time which Allah Willed for it to exist, nothing will exist unless Allah Willed it to exist (verse 81:29).

8. Knowledge (al-Ilm): Allah has the Perfect knowledge of everything. This means: Allah knows everything and nothing is hidden for Allah, Allah knows about everything before it happened (verse 8:75).

9. Hearing (as-Sam’): Allah is attributed with hearing and sight. This is an eternal and everlasting attribute of Allah with which Allah hears all things that are hearable. He hears without an ear, without means, and without instruments which means: Allah does not resemble any of His creations in any way. He is attributed with Hearing and Sight (verse 2:224).

10. Sight (al-Basar): Allah does not resemble any of His creation in any way. Allah sees all seeable things without the need of a pupil or an eye, or light or any other organ, and nothing is hidden from Allah (verse 10:61).

11. Life (al-Hayah): Allah’s Life is without a beginning and without an end, without a combination of a body and a soul; it is not like our life. There is no God but Allah, and He is attributed with Life, and His existence does not end (verse 2:255).

12. Speech (al-Kalaam): An eternal and everlasting attribute of Allah is Speech. It is not a letter, sound or any language whatsoever, also without a lip, without a tongue. The Qur’an and other revealed Books are expressions of the eternal Kalam of the Self of Allah. His Speech does not resemble the speech of the humans. Allah spoke to Musa with His eternal Kalam (verse 4:164).

13. Non-resemblance to the creation (al-Mukhalafatu lil- Hawaadith): Allah does not resemble any of His creatures- neither in His Self nor in His Attributes nor in His Doings. Absolutely there is nothing like Him (verse 42:11).

(Refer: www.truecreed.org, 02 October, 2012)

1.04 Some Qur’anic Verses on Attributes of Allah

Attributes of Allah have been described or sometimes mentioned without elaboration in the Holy Qur’an. As mentioned above in the verses 18:109 and 31:27, it is not possible to describe all these Attributes by anybody. Some of them, however, are cited below from the Holy Qur’an and an effort has been made to explain them wherever possible.

(i) Allah is Ever-Living, never dies

Living objects including man die. Objects in the sky such as planets, stars, galaxies etc. are subject to destruction. A time will come when the Universe including all the objects within it will perish. But Allah the Supreme Entity, Creator of all these will not die or be destroyed. He will exist as He is existing now, as He has been there from eternity. The Holy Qur’an declares:

1. Allah! There is no god but He, - the Ever- Living… -2:255; 3:2

2. He is the Ever Living, La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). -40:65

3. Everything (that exists) will perish except His Face. -28:88

4. All that is on earth will perish: but will abide (forever) the Face of thy Lord,.. -55:26, 27

5. Allah – He is the Reality -22:62

6. Put thy trust in Him Who lives and dies not..

-25:58

Though Allah is Ever-Living, He does not require any sustenance, He is independent of all needs. All other things are dependent on Him. The Holy Qur’an says:

7. And He it is that feedeth but is not fed -6:14

(ii) Only One Allah

The Oneness in Lordship in Islamic Monotheism is the basic and the most important point. Tauheed claims that there is only one Creator and He is Allah. It negates two or more entities for creation, maintenance and other activities of the Universe. Neither Allah has created this world and allowed anybody to act as a lord on His behalf nor has He created the Universe and maintaining the same on behalf of many other lords. Allah, the only One God has created the Universe and also He is maintaining its affairs. He is the Owner of the Universe and cause of everything of it. The Holy Qur’an gives us this information. Parts of a few relevant verses are cited below.

1. Your God is One God: There is no god but He, most Gracious, most Merciful. -2:163,225; 3:2,6,18,62; 3:6; 4:87; 5:73; 6:102,106; 11:14; 20:8,98; 21:25; 23:116; 35:3

2. …There is no god but He… -7:158

3. Take not (for worship) two gods: for He is just One God. -16:51

4. Your God is One God: submit then your wills to Him. -22:34

5. No god is there but Allah, the One, Supreme and Irresistible, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all between, Exalted in Might, Ever-Forgiving. -38:65

6. It is He Who is God in heaven and God on earth, and all between them… -43:84

7. (He is) Lord of the East and the West: there is no god but He: take Him therefore for (thy) Disposer of affairs. -73:9

One can draw conclusion from the observation of the natural world and the physical laws operating there, that there must be only one designer, and creator of the Universe. We see the same sets of laws are operating everywhere. Thus for example if we take laws of gravitation, which state that all material bodies in the Universe are attracted towards each other, the attraction between two bodies is greater if the masses of the bodies are larger and the attracting force decreases if the distance between them increases, we see that the same set of laws is operating here on earth as well as between two planetary objects or between any objects of the Universe. Similar is the case with other physical laws.

Allah has no any partner. He has created the whole Universe alone and alone He is the Owner of it. To own or maintain this Universe He has no family either. The question is if there were more than one creators or causes of these laws, then there must be some contradiction between the laws and the system of the Universe in that case would not run. It is similar to the case of running a country under several governments, each government would insist to implement its own set of rules and regulations to run the government. There would be collision or contradiction among the governments and their rules and the system of running the country would collapse. The Holy Qur’an says in this respect this way:

8 Praise be to Allah, Who begets no son, and has no partner in (His) dominion: nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation: yea, magnify Him for His greatness and glory. -17:111

9. If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides Allah, there would have been ruin in both! -21:22

(iii) Nothing living or nonliving is similar to Allah

Allah says in the Holy Qur’an that He is above His created objects, and His essence is not similar to any object of the Nature and no vision can visualize Him. The natural worlds and all the objects living and nonliving within them have been created by Allah. He is obvious through His creation but at the same time He is independent of His creation. This exceptional identity of Allah that He is not similar to anything has been mentioned in the following verses of the Holy Qur’an.

1. …there is nothing whatever like unto Him…

-42:11

2. No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision; He is subtle well-aware.

-6:103

3. …there is none like unto Him. -112:4

4. To Allah belong the East and the West: whithersoever ye turn, there is Allah’s Face. For Allah is All-Embracing, All-Knowing. - 2:115

Man is able to think or imagine any unknown entity in terms of shape and size of any object of the natural world known to him and also can assign attributes to it in terms of the attributes known to him only. He cannot think or imagine beyond that. That is why man has a tendency to imagine Allah in some imaginary shape or shapes and assign all the attributes of Allah to those imaginary objects. But Allah says in the above verses that He is not similar to any object. Also man has not been able to see Him visually as no vision can see Him. Therefore, question of making any shape of Allah or creating an idol of Allah does not arise. His attributes also cannot be similar to the attributes of the created objects. He should not be imagined to be of similar nature and shape of a man, any other living being or any object. Allah is supremely beautiful and He has all beautiful names. His image and assigned attributes to it can never give His true picture. Making idol or any similitude of Allah is, therefore, according to Islamic teaching amounts to disrespect to Him. Worshipping these objects can never be the worship of true God i.e. Allah. Man can realize His existence and activities from His creation. Allah’s attributes can also be realized from the innumerable bounties bestowed upon His created objects including man. Allah has, in fact, prohibited man to make any venture in this respect. So, man is not to try to make or imagine an image of Allah. He says:

5. Invent not similitude for Allah: for Allah knoweth, and ye know not. -16:74

6. …shun the abomination of idols, and shun the words that is false, being true in faith to Allah and never assigning partners to Him: If anyone assigns partners to Allah, he is as if had fallen from heaven and been snatched up by birds, or the wind had swooped (like a bird on its prey) and thrown him into a far distant place. -22:30,31

The parable given here has full of meaning. The foot note of this verse given by Abdullah Yusuf Ali in his English translation of the Holy Qur’an reads:

The man, who falls from the worship of Allah, the One True God, is like who falls from heaven. His being taken up with false objects of worship is like the falling man being picked up in the air by birds of prey. But the false objects of worship cannot hold him permanently in their grip. A fierce blast of wind -the wrath of Allah- comes and snatches him away and throws him into a place far, far away from any place he could have imagined –into the hell of those who defied Allah.

(iv) Allah is All-Seer

There are verses describing the superb quality of seeing everything of the Universe by Allah. Whether an object is at the top of a mountain or at the bottom of a sea, or in the dark or in a closed space not seen by anybody, in all situations everything is visible to Allah. It is not only that Allah is in the know of any object or any incident or phenomena, but also nothing is hidden from His vision and knowledge. The following verses testify this Absolute attribute of Allah:

1. Allah is He that heareth and seeth (all things). -4:134; 22:61

2. In whatever business thou mayest be, and whatever portion thou mayest be reciting from the Qur’an, and whatever deed ye may doing, We are Witnesses thereof when ye are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from the Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in heaven. -10:61

3. (He) seeth thee standing forth (in prayer), and thy movements among those who prostrate themselves." -26:218,219

4. Allah sees well all that ye do. -2:110; 3:163; 57:4

5. … How clearly He sees. -18:26

It will be wrong to think that the process of seeing by Allah is similar to that by man. Man has been given a pair of organ called eye to see an object that again when the object is illuminated by light. In the absence of light i.e. in dark man is not able to see anything. Further, he cannot see microscopically small object, hidden object or an object located at very long distance away from him. Again with his limited two eyes man is not able to see two objects at different places at a time, he is not able to see even behind him. Such are the limitations of sight by a man. On the other hand, Allah is free of all the above limitations. Allah sees in light as well as in darkness. Allah sees minutest part of a minute object as well as all big objects, located nearer or farther away from us. In fact all things are always near Allah and all things are seen by Him at the same time. To Him the Past, the Present and the Future are all same. To Him all the incidents or the scenarios that occurred in the past, occurring now and to occur in future are visible and He keeps knowledge of those happenings. It will be wrong to think that Allah possesses eyes like man just because He sees all these.

(v) Allah is All-Hearer

Allah has the faculty of hearing everything. The Holy Qur’an declares this attribute of Allah in many verses.

1. Allah is One Who heareth…

-2:224; 4:134,148; 6:115; 8:42; 21:4; 22:61;

26:220; 29:5,60; 31:28; 34:50; 44:6

2. How finely He hears (everything)… -18:26

From the meaning of the above verses it should not be concluded that Allah has ears to hear similar to that of man. Man has limitation in the process of hearing by his ears. For example, the ears of man can detect the vibrations of air molecules produced by the sound waves. But the vibrations of very low frequency or of very high frequency cannot be detected by the ears. In vacuum, where there is no air, man is not able to hear any sound because there is no medium to produce sound wave. But the process of hearing by Allah, the ALMIGHTY, is different from that of man. Allah hears sounds pronounced by any object, He responds to any call from a place having no air or any other medium. He hears