 | Allah: Encyclopedia II - Allah - Islamic concept of God
Allah - Islamic concept of God
Main article: Islamic concept of God
The Islamic concept of mankind's place in the universe hinges on the notion that Allāh, or God, is the only true reality. There is nothing permanent other than Him. God is considered eternal and "uncreated", whereas everything else in the universe is "created." The Qur'an describes Him in Sura 112: "Say: He is Allāh, Singular. Allāh, the Absolute. He begetteth not nor was begotten. And to Him have never been one equal." (see Tawhid for more). The Qur'an condemns and mocks the pre-Islamic Arabs for attributing daughters to Allāh (sura 53:19.)
Muslims believe that Allāh, or God, is the only true God who deserves to be worshipped. This belief must be accompanied by the acknowledgement that Mohammad was a true prophet of God who was chosen to guide people to believing and worshipping God in the correct manner. God is considered eternal and uncreated; with no beginning, whereas everything else in the universe is created with a beginning. The Qur'an mentions, (approximated in English) Sura 112: "Say: He is Allāh, Without partner. Allāh, the Absolute. He begetteth not nor was begotten. And to Him have never been one equal." (see Tawhid for more).
God is considered by Muslims to be omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. In the Qur'an, God is described as being fully aware of everything that happens in the universe, and knows all things. God also knows what is in people's hearts and minds at all times. It is mentioned in the Qur'an (approximately), "And He it is Who takes your souls at night (in sleep), and He knows what you acquire in the day, then He raises you up therein that an appointed term may be fulfilled; then to Him is your return, then He will inform you of what you were doing. (sura 6:60)"
Placing God inside his creation, or suggesting that nature or creation simultaneously co-exist in God or vice versa, as in other religious traditions, completely compromises exclusive Islamic monotheism. Attributing a partner, spouse, father, son, daughter, mother or other relation(s) to Allah, literally or metaphorically, partially or completely, is considered unquestionably blasphemous by Muslims.
Therefore, Muslims consider it blasphemous to describe Jesus (or another man, woman child etc) as 'Son of God' whether literally or metaphorically. Similarly, Muslims do not believe that God resembles a man (old or young), woman, half man half woman, half man half animal , bird, elephant or other animal or other creation. It is forbidden for Muslims to view God anthropomorphically.
Allah does not resemble any of his creations in any way whatsoever. Allah is not attributed with shape, colour, size, position, location, direction and indeed all of these attributes are found in the creatures Allah created.
Further, Muslims do not believe that Allah is located in a place, whether on Earth, below the Earth, in the Sky, above the Sky, on a Throne above the Sky or all of these places at once or anywhere else or everywhere, but rather, God exists without a place (given he created all places and locations) and the perfectness of his existence is not compromised by his existence not being bound to a created (by Allah) place or location.
God is attributed with complete perfection in his attributes and is free from any defects or any imperfections. Allah is attributed (amongst other attributes) with oneness (without a partner in God's self or attributes), non-beginningness, eternalness, complete freedom from needing others (i.e. each or any of his creations), complete power to do all things, Will (to do as he wills, as and when God decides without any obstruction), knowledge, (of all things simultaneously, past, present and future) hearing (of all sounds without needing any implement or organ to hear), sight (without needing eyes or any other organ or instrument nor light rays to illuminate an area or an object), life (unlike the human or other life which is created and limited, but that which befits him with no beginning or end), speech (unlike the human, created speech which is constituted of languages, letters and sounds but rather an eternal speech which is not a creation but an attribute of God) and the complete non-resemblence of any creation in his self or attributes.
Other related archives1983, 705, 715, 99 Names of God, A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim, Abraham, Abu Bakr, Adam, Ali, Allāh, Allāhu Akbar, Allāt, Aqidah, Arab Christians, Arabian deities, Arabic, Aramaic, Architecture, Art, Bahá'í Faith, Basmala, Bible, Biographies of Muhammad, Bismi-llāh, Calendar, Charity, Christians, Cities, Companions of Muhammad, Deities, El, Elohim, Elōah, English, Farsi, Fasting, God, Greek, Hadith, Hebrew, History of Islam, Household of Muhammad, Hubal, Index of articles on Islam, Indonesia, Inshā'Allāh, Islam, Islamic, Islamic concept of God, Islamic studies, Jesus, Jews, Jihad, Jurisprudence, Liberal Islam, Malta, Manah, Mark, Middle East, Mizraḥi, Monotheism, Moses, Mt 5:8, Muhammad, Muslim holidays, Muslims, Mā shā' Allāh, New York, Noah, Old Testament, Oneness, Philosophy, Pilgrimage, Political Islam, Portuguese, Prayer, Profession of Faith, Prophets of Islam, Pshitta, Qur'an, Quran, Religious leaders, Roman Catholics, Science, Semitic, Sephardim, Shahada, Sharia, Shi'a, Singular, Singular God, Spanish, Subhān Allāh, Sufi, Sunni, Sura 112, Suras, Syriac, Tanakh, Tawhid, Teimanim, The Nation of Gods and Earths, Theology, Unicode, Vocabulary of Islam, Women in Islam, Yahweh, Zabad inscription, al-Hamdu li-llāh, al-Lāt, al-`Uzzah, alif, anthropomorphically, deity, etymologically, exclamation, flag of Iran, flag of Iraq, flag of Saudi Arabia, interjection, linguists, monotheist, native language, neuter gender, ninety-nine names of God, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, phrases, polytheistic, prophets of Islam, reality, scriptures, shaddah, shahādah, sura 53, sura 6, theology, translation of the Qur'an
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Islamic concept of God", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
