What is the concept of God in Islam?
I welcome all of you with the greetings of Peace. Now it’s important for us when we speak about God let’s give some context to the concept of God that Islam preaches. First and foremost, we Muslims say that God, the One Creator, He is Allah. So, when we say the Name Allah, we are not worshipping a different God.
In fact, He is the same God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the Prophets. In Arabic we say His Name is Allah. In the Hebrew language you can say Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim because different languages have different names for God. In Spanish it is Dios, in Norwegian it is Good, in English it is God.
In Jesus’ language, he did not say the word Jehovah. He never used that word by the way. He used the word Alaha or Elahi which is very close to the word Allah.
So, our Creator Allah is Merciful, He’s Forgiving, He’s Eternal, He’s Independent, He’s Powerful, He’s a Loving Creator. So, for the love of humanity, He wants to guide humanity. Islam says to guide humanity Allah Himself did not become a human. He appointed from the people Messengers and Prophets.
And gave them the role that they should go and convey the message of Islam, the message of Peace to the whole of humanity.
So, we say that when the very first man was created, Adam, and when he was sent on earth, God gave him the mission go and tell your progeny that they should not worship idols, animals or any other creation. They should only worship the Creator.
So as humanity was increasing all over the world, it says in the Glorious Qur’an in Surah An-Nahl 16:36, that God appointed Messengers and Prophets to all the world and their mission was just one; to invite people to the worship of One God, submission to the One Creator.
So that submission to the One Creator in Arabic is Islam. So, we say every single Prophet, every single Messenger, going back all the way to the very first human, their message was peace and submission to One God. In Arabic that’s Islam.
“And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, (saying), “Worship Allah and avoid Taghut.” And among them were those whom Allah guided, and among them were those upon whom error was (deservedly) decreed. So, proceed through the earth and observe how was the end of the deniers.” Quran [Surah An-Nahl 16:36]
To that affect it says in the Qur’an Surah 42:13, Allah is saying to Prophet Muhammad that the same way of life given to O Muhammad, was also given to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus.
“He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, (O Muhammad), and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus – to establish the religion and not be divided therein. Difficult for those who associate others with Allah is that to which you invite them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back (to Him).” Quran [Surah Ash-Shura 42:13]
Qur’an speaks about Prophet Abraham in Quran Surah Ali-Imran 3:67, that Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. He was an upright person. He was a Muslim. He used to submit to only One God.
“Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim (submitting to Allah). And he was not of the polytheists.” Quran [Surah Ali-Imran 3:67]
Speaking about Jesus Christ, God quotes Jesus in the Qur’an, Jesus is saying to his people,
“Verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone, that is the straight path.” Quran [Surah Al-Imran 3:51]
So, my dear brothers and sisters, what happened is some people in history had deviated from the straight path, they either diluted the concept of worship of One God or they started to worship someone else instead of God.
So, we Muslims say when people started to worship idols and took them as mediators between humans and God that’s how the faith of Hinduism was created, by the humans and not given by God. Some people started to worship the sun and the moon, the faith antitheism, was made by humans and not given by God.
Some people gave up the worship of One God and only retained certain rituals that’s how they made the faith of Buddhism, not given by God but made by humans. So many other people diluted the concept of monotheism. For example, they elevated a human, a Prophet Jesus, to be as God or Son of God and divine. That’s why we Muslims say the faith of Christianity was made by humans and not given by God.
Allah is a Merciful Creator, He is a Forgiving Creator, He is a Loving Creator. Like for example a loving parent, if the kids do something wrong, the parent will help them, he will console them and with a loving smile he will let them know this is the right way to do things.
In this same way our Creator, He appointed Messengers and Prophets to bring these people back again to the worship of One God and to Islam. In that way, Prophet Muhammad, he was appointed as the last Prophet and final Messenger not to just the Arabs but to all of humanity. So, Islam is not a new faith, the concept of God has been universally preached by every single Prophet and every single Messenger.
Allah EXalted He the Only True God:
Allah is, not one in three or any such combinations. Allah is not multiple Gods or multiple idols, He’s one in one just like numerical number one.
Allah is the sole Creator who created the heavens and the earth and all of the creation, no one took part along with Him and no one besides Him.
Allah alone should be worshipped, no one along with Him or besides Him and no mediator between the creation and the Creator, no matter how great that mediator is, may that mediator be a Saint, a Prophet or our parents etc. We approach God directly. God is All-Hearing, He’s All-Knowing, we don’t need to go through someone. God alone should be worshipped directly.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
“It is You alone we worship and You alone we ask for help.” Quran [35 1:5]
Allah’s perfect attributes belong only to Him and not His creation. No human has the attributes of the Creator. For example, I can be merciful to my neighbours, but Allah is the Most-Merciful in His perfection.
Allah does not possess the fallible attributes of the creation. We are fallible. Allah is perfect. His attributes are perfect. Allah does not have a father or a son, He doesn’t have uncles, aunts, He does not have a family. His Oneness is unique.
So, these are the five different ways that define the concept of God in Islam i have given but obviously there are many more ways.
Allah knows Best
Credit Br Habib Rashid