God in Islam
The basic creed of Islam, the Shahada[40] (recited under oath to enter the religion), involves لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ أَشْهَدُ أنَّ (āšhadu ānnā lā ʾilāha ʾilla llāh), or "I testify there is no deity other than God."
[49] As stated in Surat al-Ikhlas: God is Ahad[50] (the unique one of absolute oneness, who is indivisible in nature, and there can be no other like him); God is As-Samad[51](the ultimate source of all existence, the uncaused cause who created all things out of nothing, who is eternal, absolute, immutable, perfect, complete, essential, independent, and self-sufficient; who needs nothing while all of creation is in absolute need of him; the one eternally and constantly required and sought, depended upon by all existence and to whom all matters will ultimately return); he begets not, nor is he begotten (He is Unborn and Uncreated, has no parents, wife or offspring); and comparable/equal to him, there is none.
For the disbelievers in the Hereafter, there is an evil description, or in other words, the most evil attribute (i.e., the most vile), which is their ignorance and ingratitude, and their burying alive of newborn girls, despite the fact that they are needed for the purposes of marriage and not allowing women to even inherit property, and their ascribing female gender to angels and claiming that the angels are the daughters of God while so preferring sons for themselves (this is also mentioned in the verses 37:149-155); whereas to God belong the highest attribute, namely, that there is no deity except him, immensely exalted beyond and above all comparison and likeness.
He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.The Qur'anic verse (42:11) emphasizes that there is no similarity whatsoever between the creator and his creation in essence, in attributes or in actions, and therefore, God is beyond all human concepts of him.
The Hanafi jurist and theologian, al-Tahawi (d. 321/933), wrote in his treatise on theology, commonly known as al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya:[58][19] "Whoever describes Allah even with a single human quality/attribute, has disbelieved/blasphemed.
So whoever understands this, will take heed and refrain from such statements as those of disbelievers, and knows that Allah in His attributes is utterly unlike human beings."
The above statement of al-Tahawi refutes the anthropomorphist's dogmas that imagine Allah has a physical body and human form, and being occupied in a place, direction or trajectory.
Will they still not come to believe?The Qur'an also says in verse (25:2): "and He has created everything and designed it in a perfect measure (and ordained its destiny in a precise manner)."
When referring to God, the Arabic term "Rabb" is usually translated as "Lord" and can include all of the following meanings:[60][61] "owner, master, ruler, controller, creator, upbringer, trainer, sustainer, nourisher, cherisher, provider, protector, guardian and caretaker."
God has full knowledge of everything, everywhere, always and from eternity past, and he is fully aware of whatever one thinks, intends, and does, and the reins of all things and events are in his power.
The divine name al-Samad (the supremely independent, self-sufficient being endowed with all the attributes of perfection to which all else turns in need for existence, life, guidance, help, forgiveness, etc.)
[93][94] Many Muslim communities emphasize the "transcendence of God" over local traditions and "allow...little room for mythological stories", although tales about jinn exist in all of them.
A variant of the theory of the manifestation of a single reality can be found particularly in Mulla Sadra, who was inspired by Muhyī d-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī.
[106] In maintaining that one is not permitted to interpret the meaning of the Qur'anic verses or the Prophetic traditions that mention various attributes of God, Ibn Qudama (d. 620/1223) in his work Lum'at al-I'tiqad [ar] ("The Luminance of Creed") is endorsing the principle of bila kayfa ('without [asking or knowing] how') in Islamic theology.
[107] According to this principle, one has to accept the sacred text as it is, indissolubly linked with tanzih (God's incomparability and transcendence), without trying to interpret its meaning.
[113][114] Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) appears to offer a definition similar to that of al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936) when he discusses tafwid in his exegesis of the Qur'anic verse (7:54) pertaining to God's istiwa'.
On this matter, we follow the good ancestors (i.e., the way of the earliest Muslims, dubbed the pious ancestors, in Arabic, al-salaf al-salih[Note 2]): Malik, al-Awza'i, al-Thawri, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, and others among the imams of the Muslims, both ancient and modern—that is: to let it (the verse in question) pass as it has come, without saying how it is meant (min ghayr takyif), without likening it to created things (wa la tashbih), and without nullifying it (wa la ta'til).
[126][127] These early scholars were often called the People of Tradition (Ahl al-Hadith), or Salaf such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
They left the verses of the Qur'an in question as well as the related hadiths simply as they were, accepting the poetical statements just as they occurred, without applying much reason either to criticize or expand upon them.
[104] However, according to some scholars, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, like the other early Muslims, also gave some figurative interpretations (ta'wil) to scriptural expressions that might otherwise have been misinterpreted anthropomorphically, which is what neo-Salafis condemn the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools for doing.
The two positions disregard the literal meaning of the texts due to the definitive evidences denoting the transcendence of God above the attributes of his created beings as per his words: "There is nothing whatever like Him.
[134] Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 429/1037) in his al-Farq bayn al-Firaq (The Difference between the Sects) reports that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph, said: "Allah created the Throne as an indication of His power, not for taking it as a place for Himself.
"[Quran 57:4 (Translated by Ali Ünal)] He is everywhere by his knowledge and power, and nowhere, without being in a place, direction or location, because He existed eternally before all the creations (including time and space) and is clear from change.
[58] Thus, according to Maturidis and Ash'aris, God is beyond time and space, and is transcendent, infinite (not limited) and eternal, without beginning or end, as per his words: "He is the First, the Last, the All-Outward, and the All-Inward.
"[Quran 57:3 (Translated by Ali Ünal)] A hadith mentioned in Sahih Muslim explains this part of the verse as follows:[142][143] O Allah, You are the First, there is none that precedes You.
He is too holy to be subject to change or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in him, nor any contingencies before him; but he abides with his glorious attributes, free from all danger of dissolution.
Al-Ghazali in his al-Iqtisad fi al-I'tiqad (Moderation in Belief) explains the Ash'ari position that God will be seen in the afterlife despite the fact that he has no physical body, nor any location or direction.
[156][157][158] According to Isma'ilism, God is absolutely transcendent and unknowable;[159] beyond matter, energy, space, time, change, imaginings, intellect, positive as well as negative qualities.
Thus one fundamental difference between Sunnis and Shi'is that the former believes that followers will "see" their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, while the latter holds that God cannot be seen because he is beyond space and time.
[176] Both beliefs Hulul (incarnation) and Ittihad (unification) had been severely denounced by moderate Sunni Sufis, such as 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi (d. 1143/1731), which he described as heresies.
