Concept of God in Islam

WAMY Series: On Islam No.9.Introduction
God's Attributes
The Oneness of God
The Believer's Attitude
Introduction
It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are
used in reference to God and sometimes to lesser deities. This is not
the case with Allah. Allah is the personal name of the One true God.
Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender.
This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word "god," which can
be made plural, as in "gods," or made feminine, as in "goddess." 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.The One
true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam associates
with God. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of
the universe, Who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to
Him. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about Allah;
the answer came directly from God Himself in the form of a short
chapter of the Qur'an, which is considered to be the essence of the
unity or the motto of monotheism. This is chapter 112, which reads:"
In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say (O
Muhammad), He is God, the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not
begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone".Some
non-Muslims allege that God in Islam is a stern and cruel God who
demands to be obeyed fully and is not loving and kind. Nothing could
be farther from the truth than this allegation. It is enough to know
that, with the exception of one, each of the 114 chapters of the
Qur'an begins with the verse " In the name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate". In one of the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), we
are told that " God is more loving and kind than a mother to her dear
child".On the other hand, God is also Just. Hence, evildoers and
sinners must have their share of punishment, and the virtuous must
have God's bounties and favors. Actually, God's attribute of Mercy has
full manifestation in His attribute of Justice. People suffering
throughout their lives for His sake should not receive similar
treatment from their Lord as people who oppress and exploit others
their whole lives. Expecting similar treatment for them would amount
to negating the very belief in the accountability of man in the
Hereafter and thereby negate all the incentives for a moral and
virtuous life in this world. The following Qur'anic verses are very
clear and straightforward in this respect.
Verily, for the Righteous are gardens of Delight, in the Presence of
their Lord. Shall We then treat the people of Faith like the people of
Sin? What is the matter with you? How judge you?
Islam rejects characterizing God in any human form or depicting Him as
favoring certain individuals or nations on the basis of wealth, power
or race. He created the human-beings as equals. They may distinguish
themselves and get His favor through virtue and piety only.
The concepts that God rested on the seventh day of creation, that God
wrestled with one of His soldiers, that God is an envious plotter
against mankind, and that God is incarnate in any human being are
considered blasphemy from the Islamic point of view.
The unique usage of Allah as a personal name of God is a reflection of
Islam's emphasis on the purity of the belief in God that is the
essence of the message of all God's messengers. Because of this, Islam
considers associating any deity or personality with God as a deadly
sin that God will never forgive, despite the fact that He may forgive
all other sins.
The Creator must be of a different nature from the things created
because if He is of the same nature as they are, He will be temporal
and will therefore need a maker. It follows that nothing is like Him.
If the maker is not temporal, then he must be eternal. But if he is
eternal, he cannot be caused, and if nothing caused Him to come into
existence, nothing outside Him causes Him to continue to exist, which
means that he must be self-sufficient. And if He does not depend on
anything for the continuance of His own existence, then this existence
can have no end. The Creator is therefore eternal and everlasting: "He
is the First and the Last".
He is Self-sufficient or Self-subsistent, or, to use a Qur'anic term,
Al-Qayyum The Creator does not create only in the sense of bringing
things into being, He. also preserves them and takes them out of
existence and is the ultimate cause of whatever happens to them.
" God is the Creator of everything. He is the guardian over
everything. Unto Him belong the keys of the heavens and the
earth" (39:62-63).
" No creature is there crawling on the earth, but its provision rests
on God. He knows its lodging place and its repository" (11:16).
God's Attributes
If the Creator is Eternal and Everlasting, then His attributes must
also be eternal and everlasting. He should not lose any of His
attributes nor acquire new ones. If this is so, then his attributes
are absolute. Can there be more than one Creator with such absolute
attributes? Can there be, for example, two absolutely powerful
Creators? A moment's thought shows that this is not feasible.
The Qur'an summarizes this argument in the following verses:" God has
not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god with Him: for then
each god would have taken of that which he created and some of them
would have risen up over others" (23:91).
" And why, were there gods in earth and heaven other than God, they
(heaven and earth) would surely go to ruin" (21:22).
The Oneness of God
The Qur'an reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. To the
worshippers of man-made objects it asks:" 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).
To the worshippers of heavenly bodies it cites the story of Abraham:"
When night outspread over him, he saw a star and said: This is my
Lord. But when it set, he said: I love not the setters. When he saw
the moon rising, he said: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said:
If my Lord does not guide me, I shall surely be of the people gone
astray. When he saw the sun rising, he said: This is my Lord; this is
greater. But when it set, he said: O my people, surely I quit that
which you associate, I have turned my face to Him who originated the
heavens and the earth; a man of pure faith, I am not one of the
idolators" (6:76-79).
The Believer's Attitude
In order to be a Muslim, that is, to surrender oneself to God, it is
necessary to believe in the oneness of God, in the sense of His being
the only Creator, Preserver, Nourisher, etc. But this belief, later
called Tawhid Ar-Rububiyyah, is not enough. Many of the idolators knew
and believed that only the Supreme God could do all this. But this was
not enough to make them Muslims. To tawhid ar-rububiyyah, one must add
tawhid al-'uluhiyyah. That is, one acknowledges the fact that it is
God alone who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstains from
worshipping any other thing or being.
Having achieved this knowledge of the one true God, man should
constantly have faith in Him, and should allow nothing to induce him
to deny truth.
When faith enters a person's heart, it causes certain mental states
that result in certain actions. Taken together, these mental states
and actions are the proof for the true faith. The Prophet said:" Faith
is that which resides firmly in the heart and which is proved by
deeds".
Foremost among those mental stated is the feeling of gratitude towards
God, which could be said to be the essence of ibada (worship).
The feeling of gratitude is so important that a non-believer is called
'kafir', which means 'one who denies a truth' and also 'one who is
ungrateful'.
A believer loves, and is grateful to God for the bounties He bestowed
upon him, but being aware of the fact that his good deeds, whether
mental or physical, are far from being commensurate with Divine
favors, he is always anxious lest God should punish him, here or in
the Hereafter. He, therefore, fears Him, surrenders himself to Him and
serves Him with great humility. One cannot be in such a mental state
without being almost all the time mindful of God. Remembering God is
thus the life force of faith, without which it fades and withers
away.
The Qur'an tries to promote this feeling of gratitude by repeating the
attributes of God very frequently. We find most of these attributes
mentioned together in the following verses of the Qur'an:" He is God;
there is no god but He. He is the Knower of the unseen and the
visible; He is the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. He is God;
there is no god but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peace,
the Guardian of the Faith, the All-Preserver, the All-Mighty, the All-
Compeller, the All-Sublime. Glory be to God, above that they
associate! He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him
belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the
earth magnifies Him; He is the Almighty, the All-Wise" (59:22-24).
" There is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting. Slumber seizes
Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the
earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him save by His leave?
He knows what lies before them, and what is after them, and they
comprehend not anything of His knowledge save such as He wills. His
throne comprises the heavens and earth. The preserving of them
oppresses Him not; He is the All-High, the All-Glorious" (2:255).
People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say
not as to God but the truth.
" The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and
His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe
in God and His Messengers, and say not "Three". Refrain; better it is
for you. God is only one God. Glory be to Him -- (He is) above having a
son" (4:171).