God in Islam

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Allah
(God in Islam)
"Allah" in Arabic calligraphy
Allah Jalla Jalālah
in Arabic calligraphy
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In Islam, God (Arabic: ٱللَّٰه, romanized: Allāh, contraction of ٱلْإِلَٰه al-’Ilāh, lit. 'the god')[1] is seen as the creator and sustainer of the universe,[2][1][3][4][5] who lives eternally and will eventually resurrect all humans.[6] God is conceived as a perfect, singular, immortal, omnipotent, and omniscient god, completely infinite in all of his attributes.[1][3][5][7] Islam further emphasizes that God is most merciful.[8][9][10] The Islamic concept of God is variously described as monotheistic, panentheistic,[11][12] and monistic.[13][14]

In Islamic theology, anthropomorphism (tashbīh) and corporealism (tajsīm) refer to beliefs in the human-like (anthropomorphic) and materially embedded (corporeal) form of God, an idea that has been classically described assimilating or comparing God to the creatures created by God.[15] By contrast, belief in the transcendence of God is called tanzih, which also rejects notions of incarnation and a personal god. Tanzih is widely accepted in Islam today, although it stridently competed for orthodox status until the tenth century, especially during the Mihna.[16] In premodern times, corporealist views were said to have been more socially prominent among the common people, with more abstract and transcendental views more common for the elite.[17]

The Islamic concept of tawhid (oneness) emphasises that God is absolutely pure and free from association with other beings, which means attributing the powers and qualities of God to his creation, and vice versa. In Islam, God is never portrayed in any image. The Quran specifically forbids ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty, as he is considered to be the absolute one without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to him. Thus, God is absolutely transcendent, unique and utterly other than anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression.[18][19] The briefest and the most comprehensive description of God in the Quran is found in Surat al-Ikhlas.[20]

According to mainstream Muslim theologians, God is described as Qadim [ar][18][21] ('ancient'), having no first, without beginning or end; absolute, not limited by time or place or circumstance, nor is subject to any decree so as to be determined by any precise limits or set times, but is the First and the Last. He is not a formed body, nor a substance circumscribed with limits or determined by measure; neither does he resemble bodies as they are capable of being measured or divided. Neither do substances exist in him; neither is he an accident, nor do accidents exist in him. Neither is he like to anything that exists, nor is anything like to him; nor is he determinate in quantity, nor comprehended by bounds, nor circumscribed by differences of situation, nor contained in the heavens, and transcends spatial and temporal bounds, and remains beyond the bounds of human comprehension and perceptions.[22][23][20]

  1. ^ a b c Gardet, Louis (1960). "Allāh". In Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. J.; Heinrichs, W. P.; Lewis, B.; Pellat, Ch.; Schacht, J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0047. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
  2. ^ Surah Al-Anbiya 21:30
  3. ^ a b Böwering, Gerhard (2006). "God and his Attributes". In McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Vol. II. Leiden: Brill. doi:10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00075. ISBN 90-04-14743-8.
  4. ^  • Treiger, Alexander (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Origins of Kalām". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford University Press. pp. 27–43. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.001. ISBN 9780199696703.
     • Abrahamov, Binyamin (2016) [2014]. "Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Scripturalist and Traditionalist Theology". In Schmidtke, Sabine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. Oxford University Press. pp. 264–279. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.025. ISBN 9780199696703.
  5. ^ a b Esposito, John L. (2016) [1988]. Islam: The Straight Path (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 22, 88. ISBN 9780190632151. S2CID 153364691.
  6. ^ Surah Al-Ankabut 29:19-20
  7. ^ Department of Philosophy, Ogun State University; Department of Philosophy, Olabisi Onabanjo University (2001). Journal of Philosophy and Development. Vol. 7. Department of Philosophy, Ogun State University. p. 132.
  8. ^ Ibn 'Arabi (2015). The Secrets of Voyaging. Translated by Jaffray, Angela. Anqa. p. 51. ISBN 9781905937431.
  9. ^ Stefon, Matt; Mamun, Mudasser; Duignan, Brian; Tesch, Noah; Afsaruddin, Asma; Zeidan, Adam (2022-08-26). "Allah". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
  10. ^ Ockley, Simon (1757). The History of the Saracens. p. xlix (49).
  11. ^ "Tawhid". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference EoI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Ahmadi, Fereshteh, and Nader Ahmadi. Iranian Islam: The concept of the individual. Springer, 1998.
  14. ^ Austin P. Evans A commentary on the Creed of Islam Columbia University Press New York 1950 p. xxiv
  15. ^ Bremer, Ernst; Röhl, Susanne, eds. (2006). Language of Religion, Language of the People: Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Vol. 11. Wilhelm Fink Verlag. p. 136. ISBN 9783770542819.
  16. ^ Williams 2002.
  17. ^ Cook 2024, p. 140–141.
  18. ^ a b Abu Amina Elias (Justin Parrott) (18 December 2010). "Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah in English and Arabic". Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
  19. ^ Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori. "The Creed of Imam Tahawi" (PDF). Afghan Islamic Cultural Centre in London, UK. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  20. ^ a b Çakmak, Cenap, ed. (2017). Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 115–116. ISBN 9781610692175.
  21. ^ Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori. "The Creed of Imam Tahawi" (PDF). Afghan Islamic Cultural Centre in London, UK. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
  22. ^ Hughes, Thomas Patrick (1995). Dictionary of Islam. Asian Educational Services. pp. 144–146. ISBN 9788120606722.
  23. ^ Aslan, Reza. No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam (Updated ed.). Random House. p. 153. ISBN 9780679643777.