Who is Allah?
Allah is the Arabic name for God. It is not a different God from the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus — it is the same God, referred to in Arabic (the Qur'an's language) as Allah. Arab Christians also use the word Allah for God.
The Islamic understanding of God is called Tawheed — the absolute oneness and uniqueness of Allah. This is the most fundamental concept in Islam.
"Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute. He has not begotten, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him."
Three Dimensions of Tawheed
- Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah — Allah alone is the Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of all existence.
- Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah — All worship belongs to Allah alone. We do not pray to, invoke, or worship anyone or anything other than Him.
- Tawheed al-Asma was-Sifat — Allah's Names and Attributes are as He has described them in the Qur'an and through the Prophet ﷺ — without distorting, denying, or comparing them to creation.
What Allah is Not
- Allah has no son, daughter, partner, or equal.
- Allah does not resemble His creation in any way.
- Allah was not born and does not die.
- Allah does not need anything; all creation depends on Him.
Some of the Beautiful Names of Allah
Allah has 99 Names (Asma ul-Husna) mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah. Here are a few:
- Ar-Rahman — The Most Compassionate (to all creation)
- Ar-Rahim — The Most Merciful (especially to believers)
- Al-Ghaffar — The Ever-Forgiving
- Al-Wadud — The Most Loving
- Al-Qadir — The All-Powerful
- Al-Alim — The All-Knowing
- As-Sami — The All-Hearing
- Al-Basir — The All-Seeing
Allah Loves You
One of the most important things for a new Muslim to internalise is that Allah is not a distant, angry, or unreachable God. He is closer to you than your jugular vein (Qur'an 50:16). He hears every prayer, every whisper, every du'a. His mercy encompasses all things.
"Say, 'O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.'"