Islamic Invitation Centre
Allah
Q: What do Muslims believe about Allah?
A: Allah has many names and attributes, some of which are known and some unknown. The 99 names of Allah come from the Qur'an and Hadeeth (sayings of the prophet Muhammad). From this source, some of the attributes muslim believe about Allah are:
- He is the one God, Who has no partner.
- Nothing is like Him. He is the Creator, not created, nor a part of His creation.
- He is All-Powerful, absolutely Just.
- There is no other entity in the entire universe worthy of worship besides Him.
- He is First, Last, and Everlasting; He was when nothing was, and will be when nothing else remains.
- He is the All-Knowing, and All-Merciful,the Supreme, the Sovereign.
- It is only He Who is capable of granting life to anything.
- Allah knows what is in our hearts.
These are some of the basic guidelines Muslims follow in their knowledge of God:
- Eliminate any anthropomorphism (human qualities) from their conception of Allah. His attributes are not like human attributes,despite similar labels or appellations.
- Have unwavering faith in exactly what Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) described Allah to be, no more, no less.
- Eradicate any hope or desire of learning or knowing the modality of His names and attributes.
- Belief totally in all the names and attributes of Allah; one cannot believe in some and disbelieve the others.
- One cannot accept the names of Allah without their associated attributes, i.e. one cannot say He is Al-Hayy - 'The Living' and then say that He is without life.
- Similarity in names (or meanings) does not imply similarity in what is being described (referents). As a robotic arm differs from a human arm, so the "hand" of Allah is nothing like a human hand, His speech is nothing like human speech, etc.
- Certain words are ambiguous or vague in their meanings, and thus may be susceptible to misinterpretation. Only those meanings that are in accordance with what is specified by Allah and His Prophet (pbuh) are acceptable.
A: Allah is the highest. He is high above ALL of His creation. He is ascended upon a Throne, which is greater than the heavens, and the Earth. Much much much greater than the heavens and the earth. So much greater that the heavens and the earth could fit in the footstool of the throne, and they would be like a ring thrown into an open desert. Allah is certainly the greatest.
A: No Allah is perfect. He is not like any of His creation. He has told us that He has Hands, Eyes, a Face, etc. But all of these attributes are befitting to His might and Glory, and a muslim is NOT allowed to compare Allah with any of his creatures.
A Muslim does not say a single thing about Allah other than what Allah says about Himself.
Allah is Perfect, and Unique.
A: Allah is not like the sun. Anyone can see the Sun. But Allah is the most beautiful. Nothing is as beautiful as Allah. Actually looking at Allah is the greatest pleasure of the people in Pradise. This pleasure Allah does not give anyone but the believers. So no one will see Allah before he dies.
A: Allah sees us, and knows everything about us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. There is not a leaf on a tree that blows away, or stays in its place except that He knows it. There is not a dry spot, nor a wet spot, nor a grain in the depths of the earth except that Allah knows it.
Q: What are the attributes given to Allah, in Islam?
A: There are 99 names and attributes that have been mentioned, in the Qur'an and Hadeeth (sayings of the prophet Muhammad(pbuh)). To have a quick look at them, go to [99 names and attributes of Allah].Q: What does it mean to believe in Allah?
A: It means to believe in Allah in total perfection, and uniqueness.
It means to believe in His prophets cause they are His, and He sent them. We cannot pick and choose. A Muslim must believe in all the prophets of Allah.
It means to believe in the Angles! We must love them all, we cannot hate an Angel say, for example, to hate Michael who is charged with rain, and the vegetation of the Earth, or Gabriel who is charged with revelation (brings down the scriptures to the prophets).
It means to believe in Allah's predestination of good, and bad (relative to us, but to Allah everything Allah does is good).
It means to believe in the last day: The day of Judgment.
Q: Does Allah answer my prayers?
A: We know that Allah answers all the prayers of the believers. This can be in 4 ways:
- Get what we are asking for!
- Get something as good or better!
- We get spared something bad that would have happened otherwise.
- We get rewarded on the day of Judgment with a much greater reward than what we were asking for on earth.
Q: When does Allah not answer our prayers?
A:
- When it is bad for us!
- When we ask, but not from our heart!
- When we say: I asked and asked and He did not answer.
- When we eat, drink, and wear unlawful, food, and clothes, and property that wa earned either through interest from the bank, or that was stolen, or if the food was pork, or the like.
A: Allah is neither male nor female. Arabic has no neuter, and the use of the masculine is normal in Arabic for genderless nouns.
Q: Can Allah create a big stone too heavy for him to move?
A: Before something can be possible, it has to first make sense. The law of non-contradiction says that no statement can be both true and false. Hence, although, at first, it seems a perfectly good question, the question embraces a contradiction. Similarly, Can an eternal God destroy/kill himself? Can God create an uncreated? Again, all these questions embrace a contradiction.
Similarly, believing Jesus is both God and man. Can Jesus be 100% man and 100% God? The two natures, divine and human, are mutually exclusive, like that of a circle and a square. To ask whether God can "become a human being" is like asking if God can "create a square circle". That is, they refer to nothing meaningful, such that we could ask if it could exist, but rather are a simple confusion of words.
Hence, the Christian believes God can do anything, even when that "anything" makes no sense, and likewise, the Atheist, disbelieves in God, because God can't do anything, where, again that "anything" makes no sense. Both err. But, as clearly mentioned above, God can do anything, but only when the "thing" makes sense.
For more information, read Gary Miller's Missionary Christianity - A Muslim's Analysis
Q: Do muslims call their God, Father?
A: No
A: Yes
Q: Were we, the human race, created in the Image of God?
A: No
A: No. Only three prophets(pbut) talked to God directly, Adam(pbuh), Moses(pbuh), Muhammad(pbuh). No other human has done, or will do. This only relates to this worrdly life.
A: No. No human, whether they be prophets or not can see God in this worldly life.
Q: Has God ever come down to this World?
A: No.
A: Yes.
Q: Does God live in the clouds?
A: No.
Q: Is God an old man, as depicted in the Bible?
A: No. According to Daniel 7, God is "ancient" — the "Ancient of Days" in the familiar phrasing of the King James Version — replete with hair as white as pure wool (Daniel 7:9).
Allah (God) is free from these false ideas man attributes to him.
Q: Does God regret, as depicted in the Bible?
A: No.
Q: Does God forget, as depicted in the Bible?
A: No.