Who is Allah?

Assalamualaikum! 

Let's begin with a small narration. It was during the earlier days of the revelation of the Quran in Makkah. A man, a leader of another tribe came to the Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w) and enquired about the 'new' religion he was preaching. The man put forth questions like: "Who is your new God?" "What is He made of?" "Is he carved out of wood or is he made of iron or gold?" "Where is his lineage from?" "Who is his father?"

The Arabs of those times had worshipped idols carved out of gold, silver, wood or iron. They did not know about a God who did not have any lineage. They had believed that gods had children. Many of the belief systems of the world including the Greek Roman gods and Hinduism believe in a family of Gods. Islam is the only religion believing in monotheism; that Allah is the only one worthy of worship.

In response to the questions of this man, Allah revealed to Rasulullah (s.a.w) Surah Al Ikhlas:

                                     بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

                                 (bi-smi llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīmi)

"In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

1.قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَد

(qul huwallāhu aḥad)

1. "Say, 'He is God, the One'."

'قُلْ' (say) and 'هُوَ' (He) are both used for emphasis, since Allah is responding to the man's question of 'Who is your lord?'. The word 'قُلْ' is used as if to tell us, the believers, that it's our responsibility to preach others about the qualities of our Lord and 'هُوَ' is used, in terms of Arabic grammar, as a pronoun of respect to Allah, to show His unique status. Allah says He is 'أَحَدٌ' i. e He is absolutely unique in His being and that He has no companions. He does not need anyone.

2. ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ

(allāhuṣ-ṣamad)

2."God the eternal"

'ٱلصَّمَدُ' has a more apt meaning of 'the one to whom the hearts turn to during the time of distress'. Linguistically, 'ٱلصَّمَدُ' means He does not eat or drink i. e He has no entity. This was the response to the Qurayshi's question about what material Allah was of (اَسْتَغْفِرُاللهَ).

'أَحَدٌ ' and 'اَلصَّمَدْ' come together to spotlight that Allah is unique and He does not need anyone and that everything needs Him for everything.

3. لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ

(lam yalid wa lam yụlad)

3."He begot noone nor was He begotten"

Allah responded to the question about His lineage and His children this way. He says that neither does He have any ancestors nor does He have any children. It's we who are in need of love, relations and children because we are humans and we die. We need children to carry our family into future after we die. This underlines the fact that Allah has no beginning and He has no end. He is eternal.

4. وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ

                 (wa lam yakul lahụ kufuwan aḥad)

4."Noone is comparable to Him"

Allah stresses on that He is extraordinary. There is nothing similar to Him. He is superior. Allah has no cause and effect; He does not cause anything nor is He the effect of something. He brought things into existence. We cannot even imagine Allah. He is far beyond our understanding. He is transcendent.

This was just a brief tafsir (explanation) of surah al Ikhlas. Each one of us must try to get into it's deeper meaning. It's impossible to perceive His realities to the core because the Almighty's ocean of power is infinite. But a better comprehension about our Creator should help us to build a stronger bond with Him. It will help us to refrain from all immoralities and lead a prosperous life with Iman.

This doesn't end here. Surah al Ikhlas is a blessed surah. We will learn more about its barakah in the next post, In sha Allah...